Film: Spotlight

GENRE: Drama

RATING: R for sexual language about abuse
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 8 minutes

STARRING: Michael Keaton (Birdman, Batman, Jackie Brown )

Mark Ruffalo (Avengers, Foxcatcher); Rachel McAdams (True Detective)

DIRECTOR: Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent, The Visitor)

WRITERS: McCarthy (Win Win) & Josh Singer (West Wing, Fifth Estate)

PLOT: The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the child molestation scandal and cover-up within the local Catholic church.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I knew about the scandal existing but not much about how it all went down.  

STORY STUFF: I was fascinated with the amount of research put into one big article about the Catholic molestation scandal. It was some tough stuff to learn about. I love that they made the journalist fallible as well. I will say that I was confused for the first part of the movie confusing the character Cardinal Bernard Law (Len Carious from Damages) for an institution called ‘Cardinal Law’.

ACTING STUFF: Great acting all around. What a stellar cast. Ruffalo is an amazing actor but I was annoyed with his character’s mannerisms of putting hands in his pockets, chewing gum and the way he sat down. I realize that he is most likely basing these things off the real Mike Rezendes but it distracted me at times. Ruffalo’s emotions were bang on though.

ARTISTIC STUFF: Not much to note. There were a couple good walk-and-talks. Some powerful visuals of the church overshadowing homes. The music sometimes reminded me of John Grisham movies but for the most part was unobtrusive.  

VERDICT: Four stars

SEE IT IF: you enjoy investigative films like All the President’s Men or Zodiac or want to see some great Oscar-caliber acting. 

UPCOMING REVIEWS: The Big Short, The Hateful 8