Newly implicit in the awards show gauntlet is the poison-picking question, "Joey Fatone or Lisa Rinna?" SAG nominee James Franco selected Fatone rather than his TV Guide Channel cohost. He chose unwisely.

Whether or not Josh Brolin was drunk again last night's NBR ceremony, his speech featured so much gin-soaked verisimilitude that we fully expected him to end it by slur-shouting, "Josh Brolin's got issues!"

A day after clearing his name in Shreveport and clearing his throat in New York, Josh Brolin wants to clear the air about where he stands with "asshole" former co-star Russell Crowe.

Sean Penn and Josh Brolin appeared together at last night's New York Film Critic Circle awards dinner, where their Milk characters' rivalry reportedly gave way to a more collegial, tipsy thaw.

Mickey Rourke can't give himself a break. He finally mounts a comeback with The Wrestler—they're talking Oscar...nomination—but he has to go and ruin it by starting shit with his main competition, Milk's Sean Penn.

As this year's Best Actor race begins to winnow down toward a Mickey Rourke/Sean Penn face-off, Rourke has cleverly masked his one misstep—calling a journalist a "faggot"—by casting texted aspersions toward his rival.

In a pivotal Milk sequence, James Franco strips naked and dives into a rich gay man's pool, his creamy buttocks thereby setting in motion the ripples that would lead to a sweeping social revolution.

A political pundit who sometimes acts, Sean Penn won widespread admiration for finally appearing likable on-screen in the Oscar-buzzed Milk. Now, though, some are calling his political associations anti-gay.

It's little things like the recognition of Kate Hudson and Mary-Kate Olsen that keep the status-quo from suffocating us in the thick of Oscar season.

Oh happy day, awards season has really started! The Golden Globe awards nominations have been announced, sending some hopes soaring and others to dash themselves on the rocks and die a quick death.

No looming strike will slow down this year's Golden Globe Awards, nominations for which were announced this morning with a few mildly head-cramping surprises.

For members of NY Film Critics Circle, an average morning before its awards vote goes like this: 1. Order breakfast. 2. Refresh memory on last month's releases. 3. Review LA Critics' awards the day before.

The Washington Post grumbles today about male actors kissing each other in movies. Not that they think that it's wrong, just that in every fucking press interview ever the only question anyone really wants the unfortunate straight actor to answer is "so was it gross and weird to make out with another dude?" It's a tiring line of questioning that can start to feel really offensive and gross—in that way that it indicates some sort of insidious bedrock masculine patriarchy in our society, and other bullshit college phrases—though some actors, like Milk star James Franco, handle the questioning maturely enough. Really what the whole Issue tells us is something pretty simple. We need more openly gay actors.

Fears that the R-word would keep audiences from the movies this weekend were unfounded, as the name "Reese Witherspoon" still proved an impressive multiplex draw. Have another helping of turkey-chip pancakes topped with cranberry syrup and a pat of yam, as we grind down to the last of the leftovers and run down the box office numbers:

As Gays across the nation make last-minute plans for their Milk screening parties—a lot like Sex and the City parties, except instead of Manolos and cocktail dresses you and your best girlfriends show up in Adidas Gazelles and crack-riding gym shorts—we thought we'd once again pay a visit to its white-hot screenwriter. That would be Dustin Lance Black, the frequently shirtless recovering Mormon introduced to you recently on this very blogspot.

Welcome back to a special holiday edition of Defamer Attractions, your weekly guide to everything new, noteworthy and/or stillborn at the movies. And this Thanksgiving, we're grateful for a slate of Wednesday releases granting us a reprieve from another day of Twilight chatter. Not that any of them will surmount last week's blockbuster, but we have a quick and dirty forecast for long weekend's hits, sleepers and subplots, including a glimpse at the biggest disappointment and underdog to come. As always, our opinions are our own, but are easy to bake for that last-minute dessert idea. The full recipe is after the jump.WHAT'S NEW: Speaking of recipes, Four Christmases sure has a fresh one! Mix Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn. Add two cups of diced ensemble players including Robrt Duvall, Jon Favreau, Kristin Chenoweth and Sissy Spacek. Flavor with ball-kicking, pratfall and baby-vomit jokes. Bake for two hours. Serve lukewarm. It's good for about $40 million over five days. Transporter 2 is a little simpler hors d'oeurve for the guys out there, with Jason Statham liberally seasoned with bullets, quick cuts and decibels, turning out $18 million before the main course on DVD. But if you're allergic to the multiplex, you may be best best suited to skip ahead to this week's new home video releases; the art-house kitchen appears to be closed to deliveries for the holiday weekend. THE BIG LOSER: Australia is almost three hours' worth of the expansive (and expensive, at $130 million) hisorical epic no one makes anymore. And despite Oprah Winfrey's lavish endorsement, there's a reason for that: It's one in a generation that actually finds any traction in the two female quadrants whose repeat viewings push it toward box-office longevity and, almost necessarily, Oscar luster. Fox needs half a Titanic here (thus its Hugh Jackman heartthrob push at non-starter Nicole Kidman's expense) to make this work, and for the sake of the studio and director Baz Luhrmann and all involved, we hope they get it. But the middling, $26 million reality — especially on Twilight's likely second week at No. 1 — is what it is.

The year-end demolition derby that is Oscar season is ramping up, and among the next big films to face the gauntlet is Gus Van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic, Milk. Already the recipient of oodles of pre-release buzz (so there, says Focus Features), its release Wednesday will cap a period of real-world gay activism that has unmistakable parallels to the events in the film. Senior editor S.T. VanAirsdale and associate editor Kyle Buchanan have already seen the movie and are ready to share their thoughts; so which editor wanted to see more James Franco, and which wanted to see more of James Franco's stunt phallus? Read on to find out!KB: So, Stu, you and I have both seen one of the year's most anticipated movies, Milk. I'm curious about our reactions, because we both came to from a different place. I saw it before the election, and you saw it after. Also, I'm a gay man, and you're not (aside from that one time at summer camp). STV: True, true. KB: So what did you think of it? STV: I liked it! Well-made prestige Oscar bait. KB: On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate its Van Santyness? Or perhaps, on a scale of Finding Forrester to Gerry? STV: 1 being Finding Forrester, Milk is right around a 3. KB: It's pretty straightforward, except for the occasional fun pop touch. I liked the film too, although I felt it ends better than it begins. The beginning is verrry biopic-y, every introduction is portentous and expositional. STV: It's a problem throughout, though. KB: People say things like, "Let me tell you something, CLEVE JONES..." I am pretty sure I never use people's last names when talking to them. Though maybe I would if I knew they'd be famous one day! STV: Try it with me some time, let's see what happens. KB: Do you think we'll see a single review of this film that won't mention Milk's parallel to Obama, or Prop 8? STV: This one won't be it, I guess. I hope so, though. KB: The Prop 8 stuff is pretty hard to ignore, considering Milk is trying to overturn the anti-gay Prop 6 in the movie. He even makes some remarks, like that the anti-Prop 6 ad campaign was "closeted," that I heard about the "No on 8" campaign. STV: So we need 100 critics saying it's relevant?

For a while we were worried that James Franco's epic prosthetic schlong story might be the most insidery background we'd hear about his more intimate moments shooting Milk, but David Letterman finally coaxed the definitive "kissing Sean Penn" tale during the actor's Late Show appearance last Friday. It's packed with all the sheepish eye-rolling and chuckling embarrassment that has been Franco's public stock in trade since he was cast as Harvey Milk's lover Scott Smith, but don't let the modesty fool you: Franco is ready to kiss any man, any time, anywhere — even David Letterman. And to his credit, the host is game. It's not quite the post-Prop 8 statement of solidarity we might have hoped for, but it's a breakthrough of some kind, we think. [The Late Show]

Flavor Savers. While we can say with some confidence that we got the mustache beat covered, BestWeekEver.tv is doing some wonderful work in the realm of celebrity beard sciences. Today they bestow their First Annual Milk NYC Premiere Beard Awards. Each was later presented with its own Golden Beardie— a trophy which, legend has it, was modeled after Mimi Rogers's naked, neglected body. Heads up: Valentino has a naked face, but will not fail to surprise and delight. [BWE]

Supporters of Proposition 8 have something of a homophobic patron saint in Anita Bryant, the former beauty queen/orange juice-spokeswoman whose spunky brand of hatred is revived for a new generation in the upcoming Milk. Archival footage features some of her more winning moments ("If gays are granted rights, next we'll have to give rights to prostitutes and to people who sleep with St. Bernards and to nailbiters" is in there somewhere) from the campaign for Proposition 6, which in 1978 would have allowed for the firing of openly gay public school teachers. But that was then, we're hearing — Anita Bryant is saved! (Sort of.)Marc Malkin called up Bryant's ministry in Oklahoma to see what the 68-year-old firebrand thought of Gus Van Sant's new film. A man identifying himself as her second husband, Charlie Dry, commenced stonewalling against the gossip's inquiries, though we think we spot a glimmer of hope between the grumpy Bible-Belt lines: