Of the best picture nominees I only saw the two political films, Frost/Nixon and Milk...ha...shocking right? So having to choose between those two, I would have went with Frost/Nixon as best picture. I just thought it was the overall better film of the two plus the subject matter was something I've long had an interest in, so a bit biased there. Also Frost/Nixon really stuck with me after the film but again Richard Nixon really interests me so I am showing a bias here. Milk was a good story being told at the right time with (finally) a part Penn could really lose himself in and challenge himself with. Remove Penn from that picture though and there is no way it's as good. Slumdog and Benjamin Button just looked way too...ahh...soapy to suck me in to going to see them. The Reader I just don't know anything about at this point. I really have to say this does not seem to be a good year for films if these are the five best. 2007 was far better I think.

In the Best Actor category I do a little better having seen 3 of the performances, Rourke, Penn, and Langella. I have to admit these were all great efforts and in truth I expected Penn to win this once it was clear it was between just him and Rourke. If I were choosing though I would have gone with Langella. Rourke was great and even though a lot of people discount his performance because he was sort of "playing himself" I think being that naked about yourself is not an easy thing to do and I actually think it is easier for an actor to lose himself or herself in a part that is nothing like them and in a way a lot more comfortable. Filming The Wrestler Rourke was forced to confront a lot about himself and a lot of that stuff basically screamed "You are a has-been loser!" This could not have been fun.

Penn is a great actor, no question, but you know these days I really prefer him as a director. His own films are so much better than the stuff he gets to act in. I think this is the main problem, people want Sean Penn in their films, for obvious reasons, but once they get him they don't really know what to do with him it seems. I'll be honest, I like Penn as an actor when he gets to totally immerse himself in a part and though Penn would likely not dig hearing it my favorite performance from him was as Daulton Lee in The Falcon and the Snowman. This is honestly the performance that always comes to mind when I think of him as an actor. I was riveted by him and he was so damn good that character has never left my head. Granted for an actor to be good and memorable he needs some help, good writing and direction are huge. This is part of why Penn is such a great director I think, he understands what the actor needs to be good and he gives that to them in spades...at least I assume this is the case based on the evidence his own films provide. In Milk Penn finally got a part, a director, and some writing that allowed him to do that amazing high wire act he is capable of that, at least to me, we don't get to see that often. It was great to see but again in some ways he towers above the film. This is a problem I think for an actor like Penn, once you reach a point where you are that big you just become the 800 pound gorilla in the room and it becomes more difficult to vanish into the part, not because of what he is doing and his acting but due to what there is to work with and what is going on around him. He proved again that he can in Milk and for this fact you can't take anything away from him. I have to admit I like there to be something unusual or some sort of odd twist in the characters Penn plays because this is what he is, a character actor, he is not the dull leading man type.

So why Frank Langella? Well, there are three people from my lifetime that I think are basically impossible for an actor to play, Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali, and Richard Nixon. Were I an actor I'd turn down any offer to play these men. All three of these guys had huge and very unique personalities and they displayed them in front of the public so often that for an actor to attempt to become them will always highlight how small that actor looks in comparison and reveal more of the actor than his subject. It does not help that all three of these guys were also pretty unique in their physical appearance and mannerisms such that parody or mockery becomes easy but an honest portrayal becomes impossible.

In Oliver Stone's Nixon they caught on to this fact and you actually see Anthony Hopkins make-up drastically change during the film as they played with the best way to portray him. There are scenes in the film where they obviously made him up to look more like Nixon, giving him the Nixon nose for example, and then this make-up job disappears as they obviously worried about slipping into parody.

In Secret Honor Philip Baker Hall basically gives us what appears to be Nixon's id, a seething naked sore of a man gone mad. Granted this is how many people probably saw him or wanted to see him when Altman made the film and it is an intense portrayal but it was a bit hard to picture the real Nixon going so totally batshit. Sure it was fun but it could be described as a bit over the top. For the record I love the movie and Hall's performance but I would not argue with people who do not. It is interesting to note that like Frost/Nixon (and thanks so much to Cass for bringing it to my attention!), Secret Honor was also a play before it was a film.

So Langella gives us what I think is the best and really most amazing portrayal of Nixon thus far committed to film. Nuanced, graceful, full of soul, and wit (funny these are not words that come to mind when you think of Nixon and I am referring to the actor and his performance) Langella often made me think I was watching and listening to the man himself. Langella, of course, does not look like Nixon but due to his capturing what seems to be the true essence of the man, at times when the camera catches him just right you think you are looking at Richard Nixon. It is a masterful performance and I would certainly have gone with it over Penn and Rourke this year. Some may say Langella had a huge advantage because he did the run in the play he had more opportunity to live with his character. I honestly don't care how he got there the point is he really got there! I actually think Frost/Nixon will be the best remembered film of the bunch as time passes.

So, Milk is sort of a film of the moment, the timing of its release was perfect and Penn's performance and the story are well worth the attention of the public. The Wrestler is a well made small film using a pretty well worn sports story as the backdrop. Rourke makes the film and frankly I think he surprised some people who felt the guy forgot how to act. Without Mickey though I think the film amounts to very little. It very much reminded me of (and I pretty much thought Aronofsky stole the whole thing from) John Huston's great film Fat City.

Frost/Nixon and Frank Langella's performance were, to me anyway, the most interesting and worth seeing again and again.