A celebration

The wife and I watched the movie "Doubt" last night. When we first saw previews for this movie, I was excited because the cast is great (Philip S. Hoffman, Amy Adams, Meryl Streep), and the story looked intense. However, around the time the movie released we heard the spoiler that you never find out if the priest is guilty and there's really no closure to the story, just doubt, so it is aptly named. When I heard this, I decided not to see it because nothing annoys me more than art house bullshit where some pretentious director decides to waste 2 hours of your life.
Anyway, Leah rented it from one of those kiosks at Walgreens yesterday and I ended up watching it anyway, and I'm glad I did. Streep and Adams were both as good as they normally are (which is to say very good), but I would have to say that Hoffman stood out to me.

So that's what this post is about. Watching "Doubt" made me realize that more people should celebrate Philip Seymour Hoffman as one of the greatest actors of, certainly, his generation and, most probably, all time. He is as effortless in comedy as he is in drama and his career is full of films that are both socially important as well as blockbuster successes. Here is a list of my top 5 favorite P. S. Hoffman performances:

1. Capote - Truman Capote
2. Magnolia - Phil Parma
3. The Big Lebowski - Brandt
4. Almost Famous - Lester Bangs
5. Boogie Nights - Scotty J.