Doubt (2008)

Busy days - have to find the time to watch movies :)!

So managed to fit in Doubt last night (some time after the Eminem concert in Johannesburg which was also last night - Fucking Epic!) - have been wanting to watch the movies for the longest time, so I am glad that it has been kicked off of the list.

I enjoy movies about religion, religion is such a pertinent subject to life as we live it in daily, and more often than not tales set in the arena of religion deal with a lot of contentious issues - in this case we are dealing with the age old issue of priests and alter boys.

Doubt is a film adaptation of the play Doubt: A Parable. This film production brings together Meryl Streep, Amy Adams & Philip Seymour Hoffman, to tell the story of a school principal (Streep) who distrusts the relationship between a priest (Hoffman) and one of the school students.

I have previously raised the some times overly lauded nature of Meryl Streep - because she is just as good as she is, there is that feeling that Meryl would get an Oscar Nomination for merely stumbling into a film set by accident - this just happens to be one of the problems with being the greatest living actress, Shame! This is not the feeling which is felt when watching her in Doubt, she is frustratingly fantastic in the role of the Principal,  Sister Aloysius Beauvier... I say frustratingly because she would not win the Academy Award this year, not to take anything away from Kate Winslet in The Reader (which I will of course rewatch), but Meryl is so brilliant in this role, it is most probably my favourite of her most recent works (and in my humble opinion far surpasses her turn in The Iron Lady - although this is a far more subtle role). This is not a likable character by any stretch of the imagination, but Meryl Streep outdoes herself, to the point of being almost unrecognisable (and this is a role which has her seemingly stripped of make-up)!

Philip Seymour Hoffman (stupid, Stupid man), Amy Adams and Viola are also very good in their Oscar nominated supporting roles in the movie (this is almost the entire cast), but this movie offers to the audience a clear definition of what a Supporting Role is, as they fulfill the role of supporting the main actress Meryl Streep's spine-chilling portrayal of the stern, seemingly bitter and unkind Principal, and the story in it's telling - and what a story, keeping you guessing right to the last and raising a lot of questions in the process, to a topic which is long-standing.

Side Note: Amy Adams and Meryl would reunite the next year for Julie & Julia, far more inferior a piece of work than Doubt, but worthy of mention (as it has been partly responsible for the direction this blog has taken).

It is performances like this one which make me love the movies!

The 2014 Oscar's are upon us - excitement is in the air (perhaps also because the long awaited Oscar Pistorius trial gets under way tomorrow), starts late here (so let's see if I make it or will need to watch the replay tomorrow night - and spend the day avoiding all possible references - Radio, TV, Print, Web), love this time of year!

Ain't no Doubt (Lol) about it, gonna have to weigh the performances of the 2008 season against Meryl Streep in Doubt, the 23rd Oscar nominated movie watched for this blog...

nuff said...