In Memory of Philip Seymour Hoffman

After hearing the very sad news of Philip Seymour Hoffman's death on the 2nd February Ollie and I decided straight away to hold a special film night dedicated to him, watching three of his best/most talked about films. I feel like Philip appeared in so many brilliant films, but his talent was never really recognised, until Capote that is when he received the best actor Oscar. And that is the film we start with..

Capote

Philip in this film is simply sublime. I think it was his best role, and having seen it when it first came out I was eager to make sure it made the cut for our Philip special. PSH plays writer Truman Capote in this biographical feature and follows the events surrounding the writing of Capote's book, In Cold Blood. As well as the film being compelling and interesting, PSH is astoundingly good in his role of Capote; his voice completely different, and his acting very true. If you only want to watch one film from this list, make it this one.

Doubt

Another critically acclaimed film starring PSH, Meryl Streep and Amy Adams; all three are brilliant. The film looks into a Catholic school and questions the very uncatholic things which may be going on inside of it; a priest (played by PSH) is suspected of an ambiguous relationship with a troubled young alter boy. I have to say Meryl Streep makes this movie, she is so good at playing hardened school principle that shes actually scary. Myself and Ollie compared the film to Matilda; Meryl being Mrs Trunchbull and the very innocent Amy Adams (playing a teaching nun) being Miss Honey. This film was quite slow, and it didn't come to a resolution at the end, which was quite nice. 

Boogie Nights

After a long night of films I wasn't really looking forward to this but I'm very glad we watched it. It reminded me ALOT of The Wolf of Wall Street which Ollie and I recently watched, the only big difference being Boogie Nights is about the porn industry, which made some very awkward watching with my dad. I really enjoyed this film, and even though PSH was a very small role, he was the star of the show, and Ollie and I couldn't help but find his character so cute. Mark Wahlberg  was very good in this; it was nice to see him in something that isn't an action shooter, and so was Julianne Moore. The film is funny but does have a very dark undertone, which is explored more in the second half of the film. A good watch.

 

Post By Rosie.