Barfly

BEST! Mickey Rourke: I never gave up on Mickey Rourke, even when he was getting kicked off movie sets because he insisted his dog be present every second of the shoot. He's an odd guy, a tortured soul, but one of the screen's most exceptional players, an actor who can funnel... more his uniquely soulful strangeness into any part -- even opposite the Marlboro Man (not kidding). Though "Sin City" gave the actor some terrific reviews, we couldn't really see him. After all, this is the same talent who at one point was deemed the next Brando (with "Diner," "The Pope of Greenwich Village," "Rumble Fish" and "Barfly"), so we yearned to watch that face, no matter how much older and odder it may appear these days. With Darren Aronofsky's fantastic "The Wrestler," we get just that, watching a bruised and battered Rourke take what could have felt like a second-generation "Rocky Balboa" story and imbuing his washed-up, drugged-out, stuck-in-the-1980s pro wrestler with such depth and poignancy and touching humor that you can't leave the movie unaffected by his performance. If he doesn't get nominated for "The Wrestler," I'll ... I don't know ... take a cue from the movie, crank up "Sweet Child O' Mine" and start crying. (Fox Searchlight)