Cast: Meryl Streep (Sister Aloysius Beauvier), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Father Brendan Flynn), Amy Adams (Sister James), Viola Davis (Mrs. Miller)
For complete info, see IMDb's Doubt page.
I thought the play was great, so when I heard they were making Doubt into a movie, I was a little concerned. Fortunately, the author of the play (John Patrick Shanley) also wrote the screenplay and made sure that they stuck to his original idea. The movie was very well done. Definitely not a happy subject, but if you're in the mood for a drama, I highly recommend this play. It's a great play and they did a good job taking it from stage to screen. The cast is amazing and they used their locations well.
Grade A-
Labels: 2008, Amy Adams, Best Play, drama, Meryl Streep, movie, Philip Seymour Hoffman, play
Reviewed by Kat at the 10:15 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Tom Hanks (Rep. Charlie Wilson), Amy Adams (Bonnie Bach), Julia Roberts (Joanne Herring), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Gust Avrakotos)
For complete info, see IMDb's Charlie Wilson's War page.
The cast of Charlie Wilson's War was amazing, so there was no question that I would rent it. I didn't know much about the movie, since I avoid news on a movie once I've decided to see it (I'd rather see it for myself than hear all about it first) and was surprised by how much this movie moved me.
Movies like this based on real people with real flaws (and Charlie Wilson had plenty, it seems) always interest me. This movie shows the real events that took place in Afghanistan in the late 80s and shows how Charlie Wilson helped the Afghans. If you like biographies and/or war movies, you should definitely rent this one.
Grade: B
Labels: 2007, Amy Adams, biography, drama, Julia Roberts, movie, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tom Hanks, war
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:30 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Tom Cruise (Ethan Hunt), Ving Rhames (Luther Strickell), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Owen Davian)
For complete info on this amazing cast, see IMDb's Mission: Impossible III page.
Just as the cast continued to improve with each of the Mission: Impossible movies, the movies got much better with each new installment. I was very unimpressed with the first Mission: Impossible movie. The second was a lot better and a pretty good movie. Mission: Impossible III is very good! We saw it in a digital theater and it was definitely worth doing that for the special effects. If only it was on a giant screen digitally...
Perhaps the fact that this movie is better than the others has something to do with J. J. Abrams (Alias, Lost) taking over as director of this installment of the series. I hope he does the 4th movie!
I definitely recommend catching this Mission: Impossible movie in a movie theater before it goes away. With The Da Vinci Code, Posseidon, and X-Men: The Last Stand coming out this month, I'm not sure how long that'll be.
The special effects were wonderful. The cast was amazing. I couldn't believe how many great actors they got to be in this movie. Good to see that Tom Cruise's crazy antics haven't scared away any of the big players in the industry for movie purposes. :-)
Naturally, parts of the movie were very predictable and easy to figure out, but it was still a very enjoyable way to spend a couple hours and worth the money spent!
Grade: B+
Labels: 2006, action, adventure, Billy Crudup, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, movie, Philip Seymour Hoffman, thriller, Tom Cruise
Reviewed by Kat at the 4:05 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman (Truman Capote), Catherine Keener (Nelle Harper Lee), Clifton Collins Jr. (Perry Edward Smith), Chris Cooper (Alvin Dewey)
For complete cast info, see IMDb's Capote page.
I didn't know much about Capote's life or the way he wrote his books before seeing Capote and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the movie. After seeing Good Night, and Good Luck. and not being as impressed with it as I thought I would be, my expectations were lower for this Oscar-nominated film. However, I think Capote fully deserved every nomination and award it received.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman did an amazing job as Truman Capote and Catherine Keener as Nelle Harper Lee was also wonderful. The entire cast was great, the sets were well done, the soundtrack was good... I definitely recommend this movie! Everyone I know who said to see it was totally correct, though they agreed that I could wait to rent it, since there was nothing that would be missed on a 36" screen, which was not true of films like The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and others out around that time.
Surprisingly, as much as we studied To Kill a Mockingbird in school, it took the film Capote to tell me that it was written by a woman using only her middle and last name to publish rather than including her first name (Nelle). It was neat to learn this little tidbit I wasn't expecting to find in a film about Truman Capote. I didn't realize they were friends, though I guess it makes sense for great authors to be friends with one another.
Rent Capote if you didn't get a chance to see it in the theater.
Grade: A-
Labels: 2005, crime, drama, movie, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Reviewed by Kat at the 7:30 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Ben Stiller (Reuben Feffer), Jennifer Aniston (Polly Prince), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Sandy Lyle), Debra Messing (Lisa Kramer), Alec Baldwin (Stan Indursky), Hank Azaria (Claude)
For complete cast info, see IMDb's Along Came Polly page.
This was a much funnier movie than I anticipated from the previews. Of course, I'm glad that they didn't give away everything. Hank Azaria was completely hilarious as Claude and the rest of the cast was good, too. The story about a risk analyst whose perfect life gets turned upside down when his wife leaves him on their honeymoon for another guy and he meets up with an old classmate who's totally wild and free is funny and enjoyable to watch.
Grade: B+
Labels: 2004, Alec Baldwin, comedy, Debra Messing, Jennifer Aniston, Philip Seymour Hoffman, romance
Reviewed by Kat at the 5:00 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Jude Law (Inman), Nicole Kidman (Ada Monroe), Renee Zellweger (Ruby Thewes), Brendan Gleeson (stobrod Thewes), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Reverend Veasey)
For complete cast info, see IMDb's Cold Mountain page.
A wounded Civil War soldier tries deserts and tries to get back home to Cold Mountain, NC so he can be reunited with his sweetheart. I didn't read Charles Frazier's novel, but I was very impressed with Cold Mountain. This movie examines the way war affects people long after the war is officially over and deals with the harsh reality of war in the Civil War era.
Definitely not for those who can't handle blood (this is, after all, a war drama), but if you can (even if you have to look away), the story is very well done and worth watching.
Grade: B+
Labels: 2003, drama, Jude Law, movie, Nicole Kidman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Renee Zellweger, romance, war
Reviewed by Kat at the 1:55 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Matt Damon (Tom Ripley), Gwyneth Paltrow (Marge Sherwood), Jude Law (Dickie Greenleaf), Cate Blanchett (Meredith Logue), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Freddie Miles)
For complete cast, see IMDb's The Talented Mr. Ripley page.
This twisted tale of a young underachiever who decides to assume the life of a rich playboy when he's sent to retrieve him from Europe is very intriguing. I know some people who saw it and didn't get it, so I guess this is either a love it or hate it film. The Talented Mr. Ripley is not your run of the mill thriller and that's what I loved about it. I was interested in the story of Tom Ripley from the beginning of the movie and was captivated till the end of the movie. This movie actually makes you think, which is a refreshing change of pace.
If you haven't seen this yet, I highly recommend checking it out when you're in the mood for an intelligent thriller.
Grade: B+
Labels: 1999, Cate Blanchett, crime, drama, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Matt Damon, movie, Philip Seymour Hoffman, thriller
Reviewed by Kat at the 5:45 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Robin Williams (Hunter 'Patch' Adams), Daniel London (Truman Schiff), Monica Potter (Corinne Fisher), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Mitch Roman)
For complete info, see IMDb's Patch Adams page.
This story about a medical student who treats patients more with humor than medicine was sweet, but somehow lacking in substance. I think it's still definitely worth seeing, but it wasn't as good as I expected from the previews. Robin Williams is wonderful, though perhaps a bit too over the top for this particular role. No one could have done the scenes where he uses humor to make the patients laugh better. However, the fact that he's so good at comedy puts the focus on him more than might be warranted in this movie about cancer patients.
I still recommend renting it, though. It's a good movie.
Grade: B
Labels: 1998, comedy, drama, movie, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Williams
Reviewed by Kat at the 1:15 PM show | 0 screams