Critics are calling Mickey Rourke‘s titular performance in The Wrestler an Oscar front-runner—and easily his best in over twenty years. What this really means is that it’s been that long since the sleazy loudmouth made a movie that film critics could even blink at. In the gallery, we recommend ten films of wildly varying quality that will help the curious understand how a new Marlon Brando quickly became the (very) poor man’s Bruce Willis—and why everyone’s excited for his comeback.
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Sin City (2005): Upstart directors raised on his '80s films love working with Mickey, especially Robert Rodriguez. After casting him in Once Upon A Time In Mexico, Rodriguez gave him a true comeback role as Marv, the grotesque private investigator in this CGI'd smash hit. His surgery-face hidden behind heavy make-up, it was the perfect launching pad for Rourke get his cred back.
