Spotlight Movie Review

I finally completed my list just on time. So cheers to me.

I have now changed my decision for Best Movie to Spotlight.  The movie is a true story about the journalists who went against the church (or the system as the movie calls it) for numerous cases of child abuse carried out by priests in Boston and later discovered to be around the world. It is a tale in the ideals of reporting (investigative journalism) and how it should be done while not downplaying the trauma or emotional state of the involved people. It is also inspirational in a sense that it tells you to not just aim small but look for the bigger goals especially if you want to establish a balance of order.

Tom McCarthy deserves a lot of credit for both his direction and screenplay and how he manages to drop all the wonderful actors with none of them stealing the "spotlight" so to say and only existing to serve the bigger story. You see there is a consistent theme here and I love the movie for that. He previously co-wrote the animated film Up and I felt the same emotional attachment to this movie as well. The story kept me engaged throughout in this 2 hour long film and I was never bored which can often be the case especially considering the subject matter. All the actors from Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber among others, as I said before, serve their purpose and are great at it. On a lighter side, what's up with that guy with a really good hearing? :P. The music is subtle enough to add to the situation of a scene.

Unlike the last two movies, Room and Brooklyn, I did not have any negatives about Spotlight for now. And so I have picked it to be my choice for the Academy Awards and perhaps for Best Director too.