5. Father Brendan Flynn in Doubt
Watching Doubt is as close as we'll ever get to seeing Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman wrestle one another physically. While that's kind of a shame, thank goodness this film at least offers a hint of what that would be like; fantastic apparently. Set in a strict Catholic school in 1964, Hoffman plays a friendly priest who locks horns with Streep's authoritarian headmistress, Sister Aloysius Beauvier. While initially Hoffman's Father Flynn appears as a kind, caring and joyous individual, a close relationship between him and a bullied 12 year old student raises the suspicions of Sister Beauvier. The shouting matches between Hoffman and Streep in this film honestly beggar belief in the intensity of acting prowess on display. Streep's pernicious delivery pairs off majestically against Hoffman's bellowing incredulity at the claims sanctioned against him. It's Streep vs. Hoffman in the acting ring and after some devastating blows it comes out as a straight tie. The film ends ambiguously; whether his character committed these heinous crimes is never revealed and his performance is the perfect catalyst for creating such a tone of doubt, the film's own namesake.