One of the year's best. No doubt about it.

“Doubt”

I’ve never attended a Catholic school or church so I’m not sure how close to reality “Doubt” is. I did follow the huge sex scandal many years back and it did disgust me that this was going on. Before sitting down and watching the film, I was curious how this subject could be turned into a PG-13 film. What director John Patrick Shanley shows is not brutal or graphic visually, but rather mentally.
The film is set in the Bronx in 1964. It revolves around the private Catholic school St. Nicholas. Meryl Streep plays Sister Aloysius Beauvier, a nun who you would never want to meet or work with. She is tough, strict and downright cold. Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays Father Brendan Flynn, a priest who loves his job and everyone around him.
When Sister James (Amy Adams) has a strange suspicion that Father Flynn is having an inappropriate relationship with Donald Miller, the only African American student at the school, she reports it to Sister Beauvier.
Sister Beauvier suspected something was up and was hoping Sister James would never have to report it. Now with the suspicion arising, Sister Beauvier is determined to get to the bottom of things.
Father Flynn finds out that Sister Beauvier suspects something. However, he says nothing inappropriate has occurred between him and Donald.
Is he telling the truth or is he hiding something?
Meryl Streep ignites the screen as Sister Beauvier. She doesn’t take no for an answer from anybody. She is a hard ass, by the book, tough as nails nun who one may never want to encounter.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman is compelling as Father Flynn. He fills his character with so much power and emotion that the viewer feels sorry for him yet no one is sure what is real and what is not until the film’s final moments.
One actress who has a small role stands out as possibly the best performance of the entire film. Viola Davis plays Donald Miller’s mother. Her role as a mother who is worried, confused and on the brink of devastation and possibly depression is remarkable. Her segment only lasts for about ten minutes but will stick for an eternity in the viewer’s heart. If William Hurt can snag an Oscar nomination for his ten-minute segment is “A History of Violence,” I don’t see how Viola Davis won’t be able to snag a nomination for her role in this movie.
If someone else did this adaptation of the famous play, it might have gone in a different direction that might not be as remarkable. It’s a good thing Shanley, who also did the play, signed on for the film adaptation. He knows what he wants the actors to do and he knows how he wants the story to go.
Roger Deakins (“There Will Be Blood,” “No Country for Old Men”) is the cinematographer for “Doubt” and shows again that he can capture pure realism with beautiful shots that fit the film’s setting perfectly.
Without a doubt, this is one of the best films of the year.

Rating 4 stars (out of 4)

“Seven Pounds” a little too heavy

When Will Smith took on “The Pursuit of Happyness,” he was able to give a great performance with a script that may have seemed a little formulaic but it still worked. In “Seven Pounds,” he has to work with a script so scattershot and uneven that his good performance can’t even save it.
The opening scene has Ben Thomas (Smith) calling 911 and reporting his own suicide. From there, the viewer is taken back to what has happened before that scene.
Ben Thomas is an IRS agent who wants to help people pay off their late taxes and get them back on the right track. However, he finds in some of his first cases presented on screen that the people he’s trying to help have something he doesn’t agree with and he shuts them out.
One case is that of a man named Ezra Turner. Ben calls Ezra out because he is a blind telephone operator for a meat ordering company who is also a vegetarian. This baffles Ben and he throws harsh insults at Ezra over the phone. Surprisingly, Ezra is able to keep his cool and finish the conversation without blowing steam.
There are some cases where he tries to help people and they don’t want help from a stranger. One is that of Connie Tepos a mother of two living with her abusive boyfriend. Ben doesn’t know her but he wants to help her. She refuses his help, seeing as how she doesn’t know him and also she doesn’t want her issues to become public.
He meets Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson) who changes his life around after he finds out she has a congenital heart problem. However, she’s not too sick to be put on the donor’s list for a new heart. He realizes her situation and decides to put what she owes on hold until she can find a donor.
The story’s main focus is on the relationship between Emily and Ben. He wants to help these other people you meet but the main person he cares for the most is Emily.
They fall for each other and Ben tries to keep the relationship steady without it ruining what he wants to do.
The film overly dramatizes many scenes and spends way too much time reminding us of how Ben has become an emotional wreck and why he is doing this. It’s first hinted at the viewer in the beginning of the film through many flashbacks and nightmares. It continues to hint more scenes as the movie progresses but it becomes clear and simple what happens after the third flashback.
The sound guys worked way too hard to make this movie as dramatic as possible. There were many scenes where the phone rings in echoes because Ben feels disconnected and delusional with reality. I think one time may have been enough. I didn’t keep track of how many times it happens in this movie but I know it happens more than once.
This film has a lot of religious undertones. Ben seeks for forgiveness and redemption as he helps these people. The rest of the themes are hard to explain in this review without giving away the film. It’s pretty easy to figure out.
The concept is interesting and Smith and Dawson are able to keep good chemistry between each other. If it wasn’t for the preachiness and illogical moments (especially the end), this film may have worked. What we have is a film that looks and sounds good on paper but disappointingly fails in front of a camera.

Rating: 2 stars (out of 4)

There are some reviews I am missing. Mini reviews of those coming soon.