Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here. I love FIVE CORNERS and JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO. Oddly, Shanley’s Oscar-winning screenplay for MOONSTRUCK is one of my least favorite pieces by him, but even that has a great loopy lovelorn sensibility that marks most of his work. I’m excited to see him directing again, and this time adapting one of his own plays from stage to screen. Will this be one of 2008’s big giant awards season contenders? Don’t doubt it...
Hey Guys, I’ve never written one of these reviews, but I just got out of a sneak peek of a movie WAY in advance -- that we'll definitely be hearing a lot about in the fall. So I thought you might be interested to hear about tonight’s preview of "Doubt," directed by John Shanley and starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams. (I saw it at Sony Lincoln Square in New York.) Shanley wrote and directed the movie based on his play (which won a Pulitzer). I've really been looking forward to it for a while ever since they announced it was going to be a movie, and I didn't expect I'd get a chance to see it this early. I'm so glad I did because it lives up to expectations. “Doubt” is set in 1964 and is the story of a nun (Streep) who accuses a priest (Hoffman) of molesting one of his students. But it is MUCH MUCH more than that. It's also about some big themes like faith, conviction and truth. This is definitely some heady stuff and the movie has got some great performances to pull it off. Meryl Streep is a mean nun on a mission who makes her Miranda in "The Devil Wears Prada” look like a softy. She's at the top of her game and this is another notch on her belt. Hoffman, always fantastic, goes toe to toe with Streep – and their face offs are explosive. Hoffman’s intense, vulnerable and sinister all at the same time. One minute you think he’s guilty, then innocent the next (no spoilers here!). This role was made for him. And the beautiful Amy Adams, who's generally known for her cute, quirky characters, shows she has got some real chops (She plays the nun in the middle of this moral tug of war). She plays her character with a real sense of inner strength amidst all of these battles. Adams is one of the many pleasant surprises of this movie. The movie isn't perfect though. It's pretty long at almost 2 hours and takes a while to get the action going. But even when my mind started to drift, it was hard to pull my eyes away because of these great performances. And also Roger Deakins' beautiful cinematography (he got robbed at this year's Oscars!). But I'm sure we'll be seeing him and the rest of this movie come awards time. Dave Feldman
