British movie fans vote Mickey Rourke `man of the year'

LONDON (AP) _ British movie fans have voted Mickey Rourke ``man of the year'' for his portrayal of the swaggering down-on-his-luck Marv in ``Sin City.'' <br/><br/>``Batman Begins,''

Monday, October 31st 2005, 9:45 am

By: News On 6

LONDON (AP) _ British movie fans have voted Mickey Rourke ``man of the year'' for his portrayal of the swaggering down-on-his-luck Marv in ``Sin City.''

``Batman Begins,'' the most recent adventure of the comic superhero starring Christian Bale in the title role, was voted top film of 2005.

The movie fought off competition from ``Star Wars: Episode III _ Revenge of the Sith'' to land the No. 1 spot in the poll of 15,000 film fans by Total Film magazine. The poll was released Sunday.

Scottish actor Ian McDiarmid, who played Supreme Chancellor Palpatine in ``Revenge of the Sith,'' was named best movie villain; 11-year-old Dakota Fanning was named best child actor for her role in Steven Spielberg's ``War of the Worlds''; and the nut-eating squirrels in Tim Burton's ``Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' were named best movie animal.

```Batman Begins' was a smart but funny reinvention of an iconic figure and had fantastic performances. It was also excellently directed by Christopher Nolan,'' said Total Film editor Nev Pierce.

``Film fans want more and `Batman Begins' overcomes the horrible taste that previous outing `Batman & Robin' left in people's mouths,'' Pierce said.