Technically speaking, the last movie I watched was "Doubt" (
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0918927/), and despite seeing it several days ago with others this is oddly the first I will have talked about it with anyone.
3 out of 5 Tommys
To sum it up: Despite brilliant performances and strong writing, a surprisingly average feeling movie....
I should mention that I'm a huge fan of Meryl Streep (like Denzel Washington, one of those few actors in history who's presence is compelling on screen in most of their roles), and am sold on Philip Seymour Hoffman as one of the emerging greats of our era. So I expected (and got) incredible, thought provoking performances out of those two. And that's pretty much the ballgame: excellent writing, thorough set design and two great actors given the stage in a movie that feels like Broadway.
However, to put it in basketball terms: this is the "Give it to Bird, everyone get the hell out of the way" approach to filmmaking. The direction and camera work is intentionally average enough to scurry out of the way of the two stars, but it leaves you feeling like it could have been more than it was. Still, credit where credit is due, the film did not feel long, it didn't often expound, and didn't feel overly pretentious (which is practically a miracle when doing a top heavy film adaptation of a period stageplay).