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Tim Robbins
'Mystic River'It's been a long time since anyone talked about Tim Robbins as an actor. For the past decade, Susan Sarandon's longtime companion has been better known as a director, and a very fine one at that; his only previous Oscar nomination was for helming the death penalty meditation ''Dead Man Walking'' (1995). Of course, he has also cut a notable political profile -- protesting the war in Iraq, championing labor rights, stumping for Ralph Nader. This is not to say that he hasn't kept busy as an actor, though his recent films have been forgettable (''The Truth About Charlie''), memorable for the wrong reasons (''Mission to Mars''), or just...whatever (''Antitrust''). The term ''money jobs'' comes to mind, and here's hoping his family, causes, and theater troupe, the Actors' Gang, have reaped the benefits.
What they have obscured, however, is that Robbins is an actor of no small talent, and despite his distinctive good looks (tall, tony, and boyish, he looks like a British royal born again as an Eagle Scout), the man has range: hilariously guileless in ''Bull Durham,'' cunningly desperate in ''The Player,'' and woefully unrecognized in the emerging classic ''The Shawshank Redemption.''
His nomination for Clint Eastwood's ''Mystic River'' is a deserving make-good. Putting down his airs, dimming the erudition, Robbins' Dave is a movingly tragic creation, a damaged blue-collar man saddled with squashed dreams and useless anger, slumping through life like a wounded animal waiting to be put down. It's been some time since we've seen Robbins play humbled and hurt, and it looks good on him. So would an Oscar in his hand. But as you're preparing that acceptance speech, Tim, keep it light. We offer two words of caution: Michael Moore.
