The Wrestler opens today!

Mickey Rourke? Remember him? Many of you probably don't as his big shot at stardom came in the mid 1980s. What happened to him? From what I've read and heard, he squandered what could have been a fantastic career as he had become known as a "difficult to work with actor." Many believe that as a result, someone like Bruce Willis in Die Hard took the spot that Rourke could've had.

Now 20 years later, the much older and time worn Rourke returns to the big screen as the much older, time worn pro wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson. The similarities between both the actor and the character are so striking that many can see exactly why there is such strong Oscar buzz behind Rourke's performance. Its almost as if Rourke is exorcising his demons just as his character is. The Ram is a broken down 80s wrestler who refuses to hang up the boots. The days of wrestling in front of thousands in sold out arenas is long gone. Now he wrestles in front of crowds that are considerably less. Sounds familiar to Rourke's acting career which he completely left some time back to become a pro boxer, which too didn't last.

You can read about it everywhere, The Wrestler is getting rave reviews and Oscar buzz. This year's Oscars is shaping up to be very interesting so far. Two movies about wrestlers and comic books are in serious contention for awards. Who ever thought that such a thing was possible? What I would love to see is Rourke and Ledger win for their respective roles as they both churned out truly great perfomances. Keep your fingers crossed.