Hoffman List: Haywire & Mission Impossible 3

A couple great villain roles this time around.

—

Haywire (2012)

Starring:Ewan McGregor (with Gina Carano, Michael Fassbender, Charming Potato, and Michael Douglas)

McGregor’s Role: Bad boyfriend of the main character and *SPOILER* main villain.

Performance Grade: Hoff-win.

Review: Seeing Ewan McGregor play a bad guy, albeit a spindly sneaky type rather than a massive badass, is oddly exciting. I love him as the charming misguided type, but he plays hate-worthy dick quite well. The rest of the film is serviceable; action and fighting are surprisingly great, and most of the acting is top-notch, though star Carano’s obvious inexperience in the acting world makes her character feel a bit stilted.

Film Grade: A nerve-racking Haywire act.

Mission Impossible III (2006)

Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman (with Tom Cruise, Michelle Monaghan, Ving Rhames)

Hoffman’s Role: Cold-blooded bad guy Owen Davian.

Performance Grade: Hoff-win.

Review: If you’ve only ever seen P.S.H. in his more artsy roles, seeing him as one of the most straight-up evil villains in recent blockbusters can be jarring. His viciousness is matched only by his cleverness, which is much like the film itself. Despite a less than stellar pedigree, J.J. Abrams made a sequel that outguns its original.

Film Grade: Mission Thrill-possible

THE HOFFMAN LIST: BIG FISH, MR. MAGORIUM’S WONDER EMPORIUM, MARY AND MAX

Back from an extended break, my quest to watch every film starring the members of a list I’ve dubbed The Hoffman List continues, this week with three “children’s” films (some of which might be too weird and sad for kids).

Big Fish (2003)

Starring: Ewan McGregor (with Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Helena Bonham Carter)

McGregor’s Role: The young version of the protagonist, Edward Bloom.

Performance Grade: Hoff-win

Review: This was the film that ignited the spark of my love for Ewan McGregor. The guy’s so affable and infectiously energetic in this movie, containing a boyish enthusiasm within a grown-up, confident face. He doesn’t get to show off his usual crying chops, but the film’s ending will leave you weeping enough even without him. The movie hasn’t fared as well in terms of coherance (it’s oddly paced, upon reflection), but it still gets me every time, and might be the most pleasant movie Tim Burton’s ever made.

Film Grade: Not too fish-y

Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium (2007)

Starring: Dustin Hoffman (with Natalie Portman, Jason Bateman, a bunch of kids)

Hoffman’s role: The titular Mr. Magorium, owner of a magical toy shop and dispenser of ancient magical wisdom.

Performance grade: Hoff-win

Review: Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium is one of the most criminally underrated children’s movies of the last decade. Its plot is a little muddled, especially in the third act, and the ending is a bit weak, but Hoffman makes the movie dazzle. Plus, he delivers one of my favorite monologues in the history of film, which I won’t spoil for you but involves King Lear. It’s funny, cute, and heart-warming to the maximum.

Film Grade: Wonder-ful

Mary and Max (2009)

Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman (with Toni Collette and Eric Bana)

Hoffman’s role: Max, a sad, lonely, mentally-handicapped man from New York City who becomes pen pals with a sad, lonely girl from Australia.

Performance grade: Hoff-win

Review: This is one of the saddest claymation pictures you’ll ever see. Also, it’s one of the strangest. But there’s a real sense of love for these characters written into this script, and the voice actors (Hoffman especially) make their tragedies (and they have many) into deeply moving adventures.

Film Grade: To the Max

Hoffman List: Wag the Dog, The Ides of March, The Ghost Writer

For the first Hoffman List review, I decided on a three-for-one: One film I saw recently for each of the three current members of the list, to give folks a look into how the process works. So! Here goes:

Wag the Dog (1997)

Starring: Dustin Hoffman (with Robert DeNiro, Anne Heche, and Woody Harrelson)

Hoffman’s role: Stanley Motss, a Hollywood producer who’s asked to fake a war for the U.S. government to distract the nation from a major scandal.

Performance grade: Hoff-win

Review: Wag the Dog is a delightfully disturbed film in many ways, laughing in the face of war as though it were nothing more than a Saturday morning cartoon. And while all the actors do a fine job, Hoffman steals the show. It’s classic Hoffman: A character who’s just smart and likeable enough so that he charms everyone around him and gets away with madness, but also crazy and spoiled enough for us to laugh at him as much as with him. He anchors a strong cast and makes what could be an uncomfortably real satire wonderfully surreal.

Film grade: Wag-tastic

The Ides of March (2011)

Starring: Phillip Seymour Hoffman (also Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, and Paul Giamatti)

Hoffman’s role: Paul Zara, campaign manager for presidential candidate Mike Morris

Performance grade: Hoff-win

Review: Modern political thrillers tend to range from the bloody to the boring. Thankfully, The Ides of March is neither. Though it’s not exactly earth-shattering either; for the first half of the movie, much of the audience will be wondering why the characters are overreacting to what is really a minor political scandal. For the second half, when a major shift occurs in the story, the audience will likely wonder why people aren’t reacting more to what is really a huge political scandal. All in all, though it’s a good film, focused primarily on Gosling, who is exceptional. Hoffman, meanwhile, is suitably fiery and gives some great monologues (as he is wont to do) but is severely lacking in screen time.

Film grade: Ides-ee it again

The Ghost Writer (2010)

Starring: Ewan McGregor (also Pierce Brosnan and Olivia Williams)

McGregor’s role: The unnamed “Ghost” hired to pen an autobiography of the disgraced British prime minister

Performance grade: Hoff-win

Review: For all his faults and legal problems and possible molestation rapey-ness, Roman Polanski knows how to direct a picture with vitality and tension. While it takes a while to get off the ground, the dramatic revelations of its secrets are so tantalizing the story propels forward deftly. More to the point, Brosnan and McGregor have extraordinary on-screen chemistry, shifting their relationship through a range of emotions that really bring out the best in them both. McGregor doesn’t get a stand-out crying scene (easily his best attribute; it should be in all of his contracts), but he still brings his A-game.

Film grade: Ghost write-on

Introducing The Hoffman List

I’ll say it loud and proud: I love Dustin Hoffman. The man’s a prince among men; in acting, he’s one of the greatest that ever lived. He makes even terrible movies watchable, and he makes good movies great. He plays every character as if it’s the most important one of his career, and he always brings up his supporting cast.

I enjoy watching his movies so much that I’ve decided on a mission: Watch every movie ever to feature Dustin Hoffman, however obscure or ridiculous, and write about it here.

And because I’m a glutton for punishment I have a thirst for good acting, I’m going to include another Hoffman into the list: None other than Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

PSH and DH are in very similar positions as actors, though at very different times in their careers; they’re both considered wildly talented but are often forgotten when people talk about the best actors of their respective generations.

And hey, you know what? I decided I wanted to open this list up to actors not named Hoffman. So the first honorary inductee into the Hoffman list will be: Ewan McGregor.

Does that seem wrong to you somehow?

Well it shouldn’t; McGregor is one of the world’s most underrated movie stars. He’s the only actor who didn’t have to earn my love back after the Star Wars prequels (Natalie Portman did it with V for Vendetta, Liam Neeson did it with Kinsey, and Samuel L. Jackson did it by continuing to be a BAMF in all situations). He made Angels and Demons acceptable. He’s been in some of the best forgotten movies of the last two decades (Trainspotting, Big Fish, Stay, The Ghost Writer). He even made me not hate Moulin Rouge (briefly).

So I start this list with three: Dustin Hoffman, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and honorary inductee Ewan McGregor. Follow along, there may be some surprises in store.