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Hoffman Film Fest, Day Five

Nobody was more surprised than I was when it was announced that Philip Seymour Hoffman would be starring as the villain in the third installment of the “Mission: Impossible” films.  I have always been quite a big fan of these movies—they’re a little smarter, a little edgier, a little more artistic than you’re expecting—but it still seemed way outside what we 001are accustomed to from Phil.  But of course, the moment he pops on screen—about 2 seconds into the movie—you forget you ever thought it might be strange casting.  Phil is immediately perfect in his role.  In addition, he is later required to play Tom Cruise’s hero character wearing a hi-tech mask that looks exactly like Philip Seymour Hoffman (it’s kind of meta, but makes sense when watching it and it’s totally amazing).

Below is the opening scene in the film (about two minutes into the movie…it’s part of the movie’s genius that it appears to begin in the middle of the story)…if you haven’t seen this movie yet, WATCH THIS CLIP.  It’s incredibly exciting, and features not just a surprising and badass job by Phil, but a bravura performance by Tom Cruise, an actor I continue to love dearly and defend intensely:

This entry was posted on February 7, 2014 at 11:07 PM and is filed under Hoffman Film Fest with tags , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Hoffman Film Fest, Day Five”

  1. Kyle Sundgren Says:
    February 7, 2014 at 11:36 PM

    So crazy I was just flipping channels and this was playing on AMC. It was right at the part where Tom Cruise is waiting for the PSH voice to kick in and he keeps coughing to stall. I still haven’t seen this movie and honestly it would take nothing short of a hot lady or a terrorist to get me to. I have no doubt I’d probably enjoy it and the other movies in the series, but yeaaaaaaaaah no thanks.

    If you haven’t read it yet read Aaron Sorkin’s obituary about him.

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  2. Kyle Sundgren Says:
    February 8, 2014 at 6:13 PM

    I forgot to mention that only 2-3 weeks before his death Kevin Smith, of all people, started doing an uncanny impresssion of Hoffman from this movie on one of his live podcasts. He recites the part where he’s talking to Tom Cruise. Roughly, “do you have a wife or a girlfriend? Cuz I’m gonna find her and I’m gonna hurt her.”. I’d pull a clip but it’s always buried deep in an hour plus podcast and only for a brief moment. It’s pretty funny. So eerie that he almost seemed to pull the impression at random and then a few weeks later the guy dies. I doubt it will be done any more on the show now.

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