National Board of Review

[Big Magilla]

Poor Leo. He should have won for Gilbert Grape when he wasn't so "pretty". Who knows if he'll even be around when he's old and wrinkled.

[anonymous1980]

Leo will probably win his first Oscar on his 7th or 8th nomination and when he's well over 40 or 50 (or older). The Academy generally doesn't like to give pretty boy movie stars their Oscars until they've got wrinkles.

[Sabin]

There's always Leonardo DiCaprio. This will be his fourth nomination, but could just as easily be his sixth.

[anonymous1980]

Clint Eastwod may already have 4 Oscars but none of them are for Best Actor.

[FilmFan720]

I don't think his recent win is too much of a deterrent for Penn. First off, he is showing a different side to him. Second, he is a beloved actor whom most in Hollywood would not begrudge a second Oscar. Plus, he won 5 years ago, which is a longer time span than say Kevin Spacey had before his second Oscar. Add in that he is in a Best Picture frontrunner (possibly...ala Spacey) and you have a good shot at an Oscar here.

[jack]

Mickey Rourke showed up to an interview and apparently started rattling off the word "faggot" like a comma, talking about some "fag writer" who hit on him at a bar.

Yeah, Rourke's a nutcase. Always will be.

I still think he'll win, though. Penn just won. Eastwood has four. It's between Rourke and Langella. Though maybe Jenkins could take it.

There you have it. A good Best Actor list:

Clint Eastwood - Grand Torino
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn - Milk
Micky Rourke - The Wrestler

[Sabin]

Mickey Rourke showed up to an interview and apparently started rattling off the word "faggot" like a comma, talking about some "fag writer" who hit on him at a bar.

[jack]

Eastwood has four Oscars. I think the Academy could resist the temptation.

I'll throw in my two cents and say that Micky Rourke will win Best Actor at the Oscars.

[Sabin]

After watching 'Milk', I have to say that Sean Penn gives the kind of performance that seems like a very good bet for an Oscar regardless of previous victories. Clint Eastwood has a much better chance now. I don't think Mickey Rourke really CAN win an Oscar but this will be Sean Penn's fifth Oscar. He's a beloved actor, if not personality. 'Into the Wild' didn't really go over last year but there was a lot of good will aimed towards him. He may not be as beloved as Clint Eastwood but there is so much joy in Penn's performance.

[dylanfan23]

I'm not saying this this award means anything. I've always thought the national board means about as much as the satalite nominations in the whole sceme of things. But just as the others do, they get you to start thinking.

And i'm thinking if clint can come up with a nomination, i think he comes out of it with a win.

Now i haven't seen the film and i haven't seen penn, pitt, langella, dicaprio or rourke but i'm thinking it might be very hard for them to resist awarding clint espesially if its the type of performance people will totally fall for. And from the early reviews it seems like people do fall for it if they can stand the movie.

So with that and the fact penn has won already and the wrestler might be too much and they might look at the nomination as their way of saying good comeback.

I can see a lot of awards going to penn and rourke and the oscar going to clint...just a thought.

[Mister Tee]

Belatedly, their top 10 indies:

FROZEN RIVER
IN BRUGES
IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS
MR. FOE
RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
SNOW ANGELS
SON OF RAMBOW
WENDY AND LUCY
VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
THE VISITOR



Edited By Mister Tee on 1228426184

[flipp525]

This certainly isn't good news for The Reader -- I thought if it were to perform well anywhere, it would be here.

This doesn't surprise me at all: The Reader (at least the book) is NOT a safe, reassuring, feel-good Holocaust film like Schindler's List; it's quite the opposite, and so the middle-brow NBR rejecting it isn't a shocker.

There's definitely no pat-yourself-on-the-back moment in The Reader. It's shocking and deeply unsettling and the character of Hanna is extremely difficult to pigeon-hole (Is she noble? Is she a monster? Is she, well, human at all?)

[Penelope]

This certainly isn't good news for The Reader -- I thought if it were to perform well anywhere, it would be here.

This doesn't surprise me at all: The Reader (at least the book) is NOT a safe, reassuring, feel-good Holocaust film like Schindler's List; it's quite the opposite, and so the middle-brow NBR rejecting it isn't a shocker.

[rain Bard]

Matter of fact, Foreign Film and Documentary are not listed in their respective lists either...wth is up with these people?

At least in the documentary case, the "top five" list is cited as specifically American, and the winner Man on Wire is a British/French production.

[OscarGuy]

Let's also look at their Best Picture prognostication ability.

In the last 5 years, No Country for Old Men was the only film to carry through to an Oscar victory.

In the last 10 years, add American Beauty to that list.

In the last 20 years, you can add Forrest Gump, Schindler's List, Silence of the Lambs, Dances With Wolves and Driving Miss Daisy to the list. I don't think Slumdog's win here is a preface to anything yet.