Philip Seymour Hoffman

News, Reviews & Features
  • Philip Seymour Hoffman (1967-2014)

    Movie Feature | Ali Gray | 2nd February 2014

    I'm at a loss tonight to describe the measure of Philip Seymour Hoffman's talents. At just 46 years old, you got the feeling he was barely even halfway done showing us what he could do. Just one glance at his CV shows you a range that's unparalleled in Hollywood: heroes, villains, love interests, sadsacks, wacky best friends, rock gods, slimy salesmen, butlers, writers and crooks. Regardless of the circumstances of his death, the loss of Philip Seymour Hoffman is a true tragedy; that he died of something so common as a drug overdose doesn't feel fitting to the man, although it acts as a stark reminder that no one is above or beyond the clutches of addiction.

  • Philip Seymour Hoffman on Law and Order

    TV Video | Ed Williamson | 16th March 2013



    I noticed tonight that there's a 1991 episode of Law and Order on Netflix featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman, so thought I'd take a look-see. This is the cold opening, in which he and Gil Bellows quickly ramp up the crazy. Settled in to watch the rest and discovered Samuel L Jackson's in it too. Just think, if you had Netflix too you could be just like me.

  • The Master

    Movie Review | Ali | 1st November 2012

    For all the talk of The Master being a Scientology exposé – the kind which could feasibly cause the very foundations of Hollywood to crumble – Paul Thomas Anderson's sixth feature is instead an intimate, intense character study that's more interested in the dynamic between follower and leader than sharing the secrets of the snake oil salesman. It won't have you calling for the head of Tom Cruise, but it will make you re-evaluate Joaquin Phoenix post I'm Still Here and it will have you longing for PTA movies at a rate of more than one every five years. Woozy, boozy, sleazy and dreamy, it's impossible not to be seduced by The Master – and, indeed, the master.

  • Masterful.

    Movie News | Ali | 19th July 2012

    A message in a bottle, perhaps? Can't friggin' wait for Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master. (Courtesy of HuffPo).

  • New PTA trailer sparks Master debate

    Movie Trailer | Ali | 21st May 2012

    Nice try Bond, but today's most exciting trailer is the teaser for Paul Thomas Anderson's Scientology parable The Master, complete with creepy Joaquin Phoenix smile and clanky Jonny Greenwood score.

  • Films on TV round-up: the WTF edition

    TV Feature | Ed Williamson | 18th March 2012

    I like to think of this weekly feature as a fairly broad church. In this spirit I bring you a film I've never seen, and another that I have, but in which I didn't have the faintest fucking clue what was going on.

  • Films on TV round-up: ITV's fiendish masterplan

    TV Feature | Ed Williamson | 24th July 2011

    Someone at ITV's had a Eureka moment. "I've got it! We must start showing great films! But then we must show their increasingly poor sequels throughout the same week so that people's memory of the original is steadily soured! Start with a good idea then pump enough cheap, tacky shit into it that it becomes an artless, unrelenting cash-cow! For is that not the ITV way?"

  • Poster for the best film of 2013

    Movie News | Ali | 18th May 2011

    It's blurry. It's unofficial. It's untitled. It's not even in production yet. Seriously though, just trust me on this one.

  • Cinemassholes #8: The Mattress Man from Punch-Drunk Love

    Movie Feature | Ali | 6th January 2011

    Cinemassholes? #8? What? Bear with me - I haven't updated this series since 2005, but I couldn't think of a more perfect place to share with you my love of The Mattress Man from Punch-Drunk Love. Previous cinemassholes included Brodie Bruce, Sean Bateman and The (Now Dead) Old Lady In Titanic. Bitch. You're up to speed. Let's go...