With the Oscars almost upon us I ventured forth and watched a remarkable film. A little long perhaps, but brilliant enough to hold me in thrall for all of its 128 minutes.

Milk is the story of Harvey Milk. A man who is assassinated after becoming elected to the position of one of San Francisco’s Supervisors. This made him possibly the first openly gay elected officials in the United States. It also painted a big target on his back as he was living in less than enlightened times.

Do yourself a favour and go and see this film.

Now I’m left with a conundrum. Having seen the equally brilliant “The Wrestler”, I just wonder who’ll get the nod for lead actor.

Rourke or Penn? Penn or Rourke?

At the time of writing, Betfair has the odds in MickeyRourke’s favour. Rourke has odds of 1.58 compared to Penn with 3.5. If I was a betting man I’d pop a few bob on Penn because his character is so believable, a complete transformation and at 3.5 in a two horse race, that’s good value.

But I think the odds don’t lie. Rourke’s open and emotional display should tug at the heart strings and secure his first Oscar. Don’t forget, we all love the underdog.

Now, if you really get into the Oscars you should download the Internet Movie Database’s Oscars 2009 Ballot. Make your choices, print it out and pop some corn. Nice.

Let’s just hope Heath Ledger takes the win for supporting actor. Betfair has him as the unbackable favourite. His odds are 1.06 compared to the next contender at 26, Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Enjoy peoples.

Again in my boredom or more accurately my pracrastinative state, I perused the venerable youtube. I came across some clips put together by people. Funny about that. This internet thing is so clever, but it’ll never catch on.

Anyway I digress. These clips were cut together pieces of movies under the title “funniest movie scenes ever“. Big call. They had the usual suspects – Mike Myers, that guy from Rush Hour (not Jackie Chan), Ron Burgundy, and some Monty Python. Funny? Yes. Original? Maybe not, except for the goonish Monty Python blokes.

So I’ve had another peek to see if I can find some of my favourites:

Peter Sellers asking about a dog

Sorry…Peter Sellers at a Party

Who’s on first?

Steve Zissou does his dance

Oh, I could go on, but I can’t find the clips.

Except for 1 of my top 2:

Fast forward to 4 minutes and see a slapstick master in action (the rest of the clips are great as well)

My other favourite is of Bill Murray’s Bob Harris character in Lost in Translation. He’s on some gym equipment and it’s running backwards while yelling at him in Japanese (if you find the clip send it to me!).

Anyhoo – I’m sure you won’t find my favourites as funny as your favourites, but that’s just taste. Enjoy.