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Starring: Meryl Streep, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis.Directed by John Patrick Stanley. Drama. Synopsis: A Catholic school in 1960s New York is the scene ot turmoil beneath the surface when the actions of a priest towards a boy who is the first African American student in the school are questioned by the school principal and develop into accusations.

O.k., if what you like in your flicks is to be challenged, and to be able to use the story you've just seen as sort of a spotlight into your own feelings and prejudices or if you just want to engage in a spirited debate about what the flick was really about with your friend(s) after the movie , well, you can't do much better than Doubt. 

As you know, I'm a firm believer in the old adage that good story + good acting = good movie. Doubt proves that and also shows the formula works if you substitute 'great' for 'good'. IN our story, it's the mid 1960s and Donald Miller is the first African American student at this school populated mainly by working class people. Things actually seem to be going fine, Donald has especially taken a liking to Father Flynn (Phillip Seymour Hoffman Boogie Nights) a popular priest who likewise seems to have taken a special interest in Donald.

Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep The Manchurian Candidate) is the prinicipal and fairly old school when it comes to things, youy get the distinct impression that she is not as welcoming to Vatican II changes as others might be, such as her young protege, Sister James (Amy Adams Catch Me If You Can) who is obviously still getting the feel of her teaching position.

Nothing we can't handle or relate to, until Sister Aloysius has a suspicion, and a strong one at that, that something improper has happened between Donald and Father Flynn. Does she have any evidence? Well, no, but she does have circumstances and the certainty of her suspicion. She enlists a reluctant Sister James to help her get to the bottom of whatever lurid things might be going on.

Sister Aloysius is not afraid to confront Father Flynn directly and, when she does, it is one of the most powerful scenes you will see, both Hoffman and Streep are just outstanding. And, believe it or not, neither of them may be the outstanding actor in this flick, that might just have to go to Viola Davis (Law Abiding Citizen), playing Donald's mother who has her own titanic confrontation with Sister Aloysius and, when accused by the stern sister about her seeming reluctance to think ill of Father Flynn, gives a very compelling and startling response to the question of "What kind of mother are you?" 

Very strong stuff and, trust me, the moral ambiguity is so thick you need an axe to cut it. In other words: awesome.  I believe this movie is one of the few that can take you places you might not necessarily want to go, but that is what makes it so powerful, in my opinion. What do you do when your feelings of certainty and/or judgment are questioned? And by that, I mean questioned by you.

That is where Doubt comes in.   

Directed by Jonathan Demme. Starring Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Liev Schrieber, Jon Voight, Jeffrey Wright, Vera Farmiga, Kimberly Elise. Sci/Fi/Drama.  Synopsis: An Army officer with disturbing dreams after the Gulf War finds that his curious memories of one major incident are exactly the same as other soldiers who were there, particularly one former soldier who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroics and is now on the short list for Vice President. But, is the memory real, or was it somehow planted in all of them for political purposes?

My first disclosure is that I have never seen the original of this film, which I know is considered by many to be a classic. Clearly, it is not a complete remake since it is modernized to the present day and the antagonists are not a foreign communist power but a seedy, greedy corporation...named Manchurian.

In this version of the story, a Gulf War combat veteran officer (Denzel Washington Inside Man) is doing public relations for the Army, in particular telling people about the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation's highest. This is of particular relevance because one of the soldiers (Liev Schreiber The Omen) who served under him in Kuwait is no a representative from the State of New York who is a dark horse candidate to land a spot on the presidential ticket in the Vice-President slot.

He also happens to be the son of a very influential and manipulative Senator (Meryl Streep The Devil Wears Prada)  Now, all of this sounds just fine, but some of the other member of the unit who are still alive when their hero comrade makes his run for office realize that they share the exact same memories of that fateful night in Kuwait...and now share the same nightmares all these years later.

As you might predict, Denzel's character is the one who takes it the furthest, coming to believe that he and his fellow soldiers have been the victim of some kind of brain washing experiment, maybe even to put one of them into the White House.

I know this movie did not do as well as expected at the box office, given the Hall of Fame cast and the fact that the original film was such a classic. I don't know, maybe you can't go home again, but I don't think the story is dated in the way we might have thought if it had been released in, say, 1998, when the biggest threat to our security-at least publicly-was seen to be a oversexed Commander in Chief and a loose intern. No, the story is not dated and it works for me, with the required suspension of disbelief.

The performances of the actors is wonderful as you would expect. To me, the definition of "wasting time" is to actually spend minutes on a blog saying that Streep and Washington are outstanding as the leads...what else am I going to "tell" you? That the sun will rise in the East?

Schreiber is real good here, too, and he has to be, since the film really revolves around the viewer feeling some empathy for him, as he is not really the bad guy here. Who is? Well, I'm no spoiler, but I will give a hint to those who have not seen the film. The term "bad guy" should not be taken too literally.

So, I liked it, though I would be interested to hear the views of people who have seen and enjoyed the original with Frank Sinatra. That would be interesting.