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Funeral Today for Philip Seymour Hoffman

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Fri Feb 07, 2014 at 12:12:57 PM EST
Tags: Philip Seymour Hoffman (all tags)
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Philip Seymour Hoffman's funeral was today.

According to NYC police chief Bill Bratton, his death is not a criminal investigation.

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said the search for the dealer who sold Hoffman the lethal dose was continuing — although he noted it was not a criminal investigation.

“We’re dealing with a death,” Bratton said Friday. “It is, I would emphasize, not a narcotics investigation ... but rather the investigation of a death.”

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    Funeral Today for Philip Seymour Hoffman | 8 comments (8 topical)

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    Rather than discuss untimely end, ... (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Feb 07, 2014 at 12:56:56 PM EST
    ... I'm going to note the three roles of Phillip Seymour Hoffman's that were my favorites:

    • The manipulative and repulsive Andy Hanson in director Sidney Lumet's brilliant veladictory, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, who masterminds the armed robbery of his own parents' jewelry store -- with disastrous results.

    • The sage Oakland A's manager Art Howe in Moneyball. Hoffman studied Howe to the point that he inhabited his character, and had all of Howe's mannerisms down cold.

    • Father Flynn, the jovial priest whose inner bully emerges when he's accused of child molestation by Meryl Streep's equally intimidating Sister Aloysius, in Doubt.

    He was brilliant, of course, in his Oscar-winning turn as the title character in Capote, but honestly, I didn't really care for that film as a whole.

    He will be missed. May he rest in peace.

    How about his performance (none / 0) (#2)
    by jbindc on Fri Feb 07, 2014 at 12:58:23 PM EST
    As the stoner tornado-chaser in Twister?

    Parent
    My two favorites... (none / 0) (#3)
    by kdog on Fri Feb 07, 2014 at 01:02:53 PM EST
    Poor awkward gay Scotty in "Boogie Nights" and the based on a true story embezzling action junkie Dan Mahowny in "Owning Mahowny".

    Parent
    I never saw "Twister" until ... (none / 0) (#6)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Feb 07, 2014 at 04:11:47 PM EST
    ... I caught the last half of it on TNT or TBS. Glad that I never wasted money to see it in the theatre, because I found it a cheesy waste of otherwise perfectly good talent and celluloid.

    But back when that film was first released in 1996, Hoffman was hardly considered "A-list" bankable talent a la Tom Cruise or Denzel Washington, so I suppose that he was probably making the most of whatever was coming his way.

    And in fact, out of the nearly 60 films in which he appeared over his entire career, he really has only five or six lead roles to his credit. The volume of posthumous praise from critics and peers alike that came his way following his death is rather remarkable, if you think about it.

    I'd say that Hoffman's stellar reputation as a character actor in films pretty much rested upon his singular ability to take a supporting role and make it uniquely memorable, such as his turn as influential rock music critic Lester Bangs in Cameron Crowe's somewhat underappreciated 2000 film Almost Famous, or your favorite stoner tornado chaser in Twister.

    And sometimes, Hoffman was really the best thing about an otherwise tired and / or mediocre movie, like his villainous black market arms merchant Owen Davian in Mission Impossible III.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Agreed. For me, (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by KeysDan on Fri Feb 07, 2014 at 05:03:26 PM EST
    a good example of Mr. Hoffman making a supporting role memorable, was his character Freddie Miles, in 'The Talented Mr. Ripley.'  You just knew that  Freddie, the Princeton preppie who showed Ripley nothing but contempt, was destined to be stuffed into that small red car.

    Parent
    How to Stop Heroin Deaths, by an emergency (5.00 / 2) (#4)
    by oculus on Fri Feb 07, 2014 at 01:24:45 PM EST
    medicine physician:

    NYT

    A very good article. (none / 0) (#7)
    by KeysDan on Fri Feb 07, 2014 at 04:42:46 PM EST
    Naloxone is an opioid antagonist that reverses central nervous system and respiratory depression.  As the NYT article points out, this drug has been used for decades to treat overdoses of heroin.  It should also be noted that it serves as an antidote for other opiates, including morphine, codeine and dilaudid.

    Parent
    "The A Team" (none / 0) (#5)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Feb 07, 2014 at 02:15:30 PM EST
    "The A Team"

    White lips, pale face
    Breathing in snowflakes
    Burnt lungs, sour taste
    Light's gone, day's end
    Struggling to pay rent
    Long nights, strange men

    And they say
    She's in the Class A Team
    Stuck in her daydream
    Been this way since eighteen
    But lately her face seems
    Slowly sinking, wasting
    Crumbling like pastries
    And they scream
    The worst things in life come free to us
    Cause we're just under the upper hand
    And go mad for a couple grams
    And she don't want to go outside tonight
    And in a pipe she flies to the Motherland
    Or sells love to another man
    It's too cold outside
    For angels to fly
    Angels to fly

    Ripped gloves, raincoat
    Tried to swim and stay afloat
    Dry house, wet clothes
    Loose change, bank notes
    Weary-eyed, dry throat
    Call girl, no phone

    And they say
    She's in the Class A Team
    Stuck in her daydream
    Been this way since eighteen
    But lately her face seems
    Slowly sinking, wasting
    Crumbling like pastries
    And they scream
    The worst things in life come free to us
    Cause we're just under the upper hand
    And go mad for a couple grams
    And she don't want to go outside tonight
    And in a pipe she flies to the Motherland
    Or sells love to another man
    It's too cold outside
    For angels to fly
    An angel will die
    Covered in white
    Closed eye
    And hoping for a better life
    This time, we'll fade out tonight
    Straight down the line

    And they say
    She's in the Class A Team
    Stuck in her daydream
    Been this way since eighteen
    But lately her face seems
    Slowly sinking, wasting
    Crumbling like pastries
    They scream
    The worst things in life come free to us
    And we're all under the upper hand
    Go mad for a couple grams
    And we don't want to go outside tonight
    And in a pipe we fly to the Motherland
    Or sell love to another man
    It's too cold outside
    For angels to fly
    Angels to fly
    To fly, fly
    For angels to fly, to fly, to fly
    Or angels to die
    Funeral Today for Philip Seymour Hoffman | 8 comments (8 topical)

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