Doubt

Heather got me to watch this Doubt movie on Saturday night. I realized I hadn't seen a movie in a while (I haven't watched any of these married movies yet), but was neither excited nor dreading watching this particular one. It was nominated for all kinds of awards among them being Oscars for Best Supporting Actor (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), Best Actress (Meryl Streep), Best Supporting Actress (Amy Adams AND Viola Davis), and Best Writing (whoever wrote the screenplay for this movie).

As you may be able to tell from the Academy Award nominations the acting was top-notch. Four of it's five nominations were for acting performances. I am a huge Phillip Seymour Hoffman fan, and I can't think of any movie he's been involved in that I disliked (Punch Drunk Love being one of my favorite of his roles). I think he's one of the best around and he gives another great performance in this. All of the ladies were good as well. As far as recommending this I'm not so sure. I think it was really well done, like I said the acting was great great, and the plot interesting. My hesitation to recommend is similar to my hesitation for recommending Hard Candy some time ago. There was definitely a discomfort level while watching it. I personally like to be uncomfortable when watching movies or TV shows (my love of Curb Your Enthusiasm is one example, also while I didn't love the movie, the discomfort that Meet the Parents gave me was also something that I embraced). So while I may be OK with some weird feelings when viewing a movie, I might hesitate to recommend it to everyone. Perhaps a plot synopsis will help you understand this. Take from IMDB:

It's 1964, St. Nicholas in the Bronx. A charismatic priest, Father Flynn, is trying to upend the schools' strict customs, which have long been fiercely guarded by Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the iron-gloved Principal who believes in the power of fear and discipline. The winds of political change are sweeping through the community, and indeed, the school has just accepted its first black student, Donald Miller. But when Sister James, a hopeful innocent, shares with Sister Aloysius her guilt-inducing suspicion that Father Flynn is paying too much personal attention to Donald, Sister Aloysius sets off on a personal crusade to unearth the truth and to expunge Flynn from the school. Now, without a shard of proof besides her moral certainty, Sister Aloysius locks into a battle of wills with Father Flynn which threatens to tear apart the community with irrevocable consequence.

The whole Catholic school thing definitely brought back some Calvert Hall memories, but I am realizing that Calvert Hall wasn't so strict as the stereotypical Catholic school as portrayed in movies. Regardless, there were some similarities. Nothing relating to the main plot though, I swear. Anyway, Doubt was a really good movie. If the plot is something that interests you I say go for it full-force. I enjoyed it, and while I won't watch it again I am glad I watched it the first time.

One thing that I can recommend to lovers of weird music is an AMAZING interview with one of my all-time favorite musicians, alto saxophonist Tim Berne (interviewed by Ethan Iverson of The Bad Plus). This definitely isn't for everyone but if you are a Tim Berne fan it is a must read. If you like weird music but don't know of Tim's music check out Part TWO where you can listen to some clips and read about them. The Bloodcount clip is particularly incredible (as could be expected). Anyway that article is on Do the Math RIGHT HERE.

Almost Famous (2000)--Cameron Crowe

This entry could be alternately titled "I Already Dropped the Ball" and it could be an apology to my many, many loyal readers. The intent of Friends Recommend is for daily updates and feedback on some of my friends' favorite things. And a little over one week into this and I've already missed an entry. I swear my reason is valid, and has something to do with me being in Michigan all weekend in sub-zero temperatures, but who wants to hear about that?

A little further into this entry we'll address the fantastic movie Almost Famous, but I can already see that I'm going to run out of days this week to cover all of the Cory picks that I stand behind whole-hearted. So I'm just going to give some backup and props to a few of these picks that I might not get to. Hopefully I'll get to cover some of them in the next few days, but if not these are a few of my all-time favorite things that made it to Cory's list and I feel everyone would/could enjoy. They are the Bartok String Quartets, Bjork's Vespertine (sorry, no love for you Medulla!), Slaughterhouse Five (Vonnegut's Bluebeard nudges this one out for me, but I still love this book), Amelie, Donny Darko, and the British Office (although I think I am won over as a Michael Scott fan). All of these things are worthy of your ears and eyes and if I don't give them adequate recognition this week, I hope to in the future.

When I look over these lists of my friends, I generally try to comment on the things that I have some knowledge of that might be slightly lesser known to this audience as a whole. For instance Cory's list initially had the Harry Potter books on it, which I know he loves. However I decided to remove them (with his approval!) because most people have already formed an opinion, and if they were going to read them they have probably already done so. I've already made the decision that I will probably never read these books, so a recommendation doesn't weigh too heavy with me. I also try to apply this point of view to the things from a list that I choose to comment on during the week. Today's commentary does not follow this point of view. I know most people have seen Almost Famous, and most people I know already love it. But when I was going through Cory's list I found a Youtube clip of the scene that ends this post and I couldn't resist getting it up here. It has contributed strongly to my strange and unhealthy love of this song.

If you have never seen Almost Famous, I am recommending that you go out and get a copy now or put it at the top of your Netflix cue. If you don't like it you can blame me, but if you don't like it we probably don't have all that much reason to be friends anyway. If you fall into this category and you rent it based soley on my recommendation and really dislike it, please comment and tell me why. I need to know.

The basic story line is of an aspiring teenage rock journalist, William Miller, and his pursuit of writing a cover story for Rolling Stone on the fictional band Stillwater. Philip Seymour Hoffman is his usual amazing self in the role of Lester Bangs, and Kate Hudson and Jason Lee are both standout in their roles of Penny Lane and Jeff Bebe. All-time favorite funnyman Mitch Hedberg also makes an appearance as the Eagles road manager. This is one of my favorite scenes from the film and if you tell me you weren't singing along by the end I would probably call you a liar. The scene is a testament to the powers of Elton John's Tiny Dancer.