Though Capote won him the gong, for me his career-best performance was as the leader of the cult-like movement, The Cause, in Paul Thomas Anderson's challenging drama The Master. This film is an embarrassment of riches as far as performances are concerned: Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams were nominated alongside Hoffman, and frankly it's difficult to pick a best-of-show, but Hoffman's turn as the enigmatic, frustrating, quick-tempered Dodd is a fascinating window into the mind of a complex, ambiguous figure, one who may not be as powerful and wise as he at first seems. If Phoenix sits at front and center and Hoffman's appearances are more scattered throughout the beefy 144-minute run-time, Dodd is an endlessly fascinating character due to the unease of not knowing exactly what's going on in his head. Hoffman conveys that caginess, and ultimately, that desperation, like no other. Quote: "I am a writer, a doctor, a nuclear physicist and a theoretical philosopher. But above all, I am a man, a hopelessly inquisitive man, just like you."
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
