Spotlight (2015)

[Schweedie]

hendersonrocks, very interesting to hear a then Boston resident's take on the events!

I really, really liked this movie. I thought it flowed so well; never felt slow or drawn out despite there not really being any sort of action at all. No flash, just good dialogue, excellent acting and a good story. I also hope it's not overlooked come awards season.

 

The one actor that seems to be consistently overlooked is Brian d'Arcy James, who isn't in big letters on the poster nor mentioned anywhere else I've seen. I thought he was great.

 

I absolutely love Brian d'Arcy James - he's a Broadway favourite of mine, having done some great shows, and if you haven't seen him lipsync Hamilton's "The Schuyler Sisters" you've been missing out - and I also thought he did a wonderful job in this. Understated and in the background, but yeah.

[truthaboutluv]

I loved this movie but I have to say, after watching it, I am starting to understand why it's been so ignored in terms of the individual performances. It was a strong ensemble piece with no weak links but in my opinion, no one really stood out in a shining moment sort of way. So it's hard to single out an individual performance. Again, really good movie and I absolutely agree with all the Best Picture and Best Ensemble nods it's gotten but I do understand why the individual actors are getting snubbed in the individual acting categories. 

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Last time I can recall seeing a great film about journalism, was Shattered Glass.

Finally, another one.

Edited January 17, 2016 by MrsRafaelBarba

[Artsda]

Saw this last night and I think that was the best of the Oscar nominated films I saw. Amazing ensemble piece all around, writing, acting, directing. I was captivated from start to finish.

[queenbee9b]

I loved this movie but I thought Mark Ruffalo was the weak link. He is always so intense and over the top. I feel like I can see him acting whereas a Stanley Tucci or a Liev Schreiber disappears into his role.

I thought that in most of the outdoor shots, a church was visible in the background. It symbolized how the church was such a presence and loomed so large in the lives of Catholics. I happened to be in the theater at the same time as a couple of nuns I know. They were so angry and disgusted. We had quite an interesting conversation about whether things would be different if women had full participation in the church.

  I loved the churches in the background. The feeling you couldn't get away from it.

 

Also liked the scene where Mark Ruffalo's character is talking to the expert on the phone, he is warning him that he will get pressure from the church, they get disconnected and the doorbell rings. You and the character probably think it is some church henchman, but it is Bradlee with pizza, but he does make a joke about it at the door. 

Edited January 19, 2016 by queenbee9b

[Traveller519]

I recently saw this one as part of my Oscar watch. I'd known nothing about it until a friend mentioned it early in January. Seeing the cast I knew it would be worth checking out.

 

Incredibly well acted, important story, and a very good frame by which to tell it. I really appreciated the shooting styles to hammer things home. The multiple shots with the churches in the background, the pan from BC High to the Globe as Robby and Sacha walk out from their meeting, Joe Paterno coaching a Penn State football game on the tv in a bar, and the golf course. Normally scenes shot on a golf course are shot to show off the course, or show just how far away it is from everything. Choosing to shoot on that hole with the massive hill allowed the Boston skyline in the background to hammer home that this game wasn't an escape, and that everything really was intertwined.

 

I quite enjoyed Ruffalo's performance. When I compare it to Foxcatcher last year I appreciate how different the roles were and how they felt like separate characters and not just Mark Ruffalo playing different roles.

 

Mad Max still heads up my 2015 list of films for it's overall ambition and production, but I certainly appreciate Spotlight.

[Inquisitionist]

Haven't seen it yet, but plan to.  Mark Ruffalo first caught my attention in You Can Count on Me.  While Laura Linney was good, it bugged me that her performance got all the attention.  I thought MR gave a very natural performance and that the two of them were credible as siblings despite the lack of any physical resemblance.

[Rick Kitchen]

Haven't seen it yet, but plan to.  Mark Ruffalo first caught my attention in You Can Count on Me.  While Laura Linney was good, it bugged me that her performance got all the attention.  I thought MR gave a very natural performance and that the two of them were credible as siblings despite the lack of any physical resemblance.

 

Double plus agree with this.

[Danny Franks]

Seriously powerful film. The sort of movie where you don't care about the run time, or about the slow pacing, because you just want to absorb all the information and watch the actors doing the same. Nothing over the top and no false, manufactured drama, just a slow drip feed of information, building up the story and the anger of the viewer. I love a good movie about the crusading (and right-minded) press. It's something we need more of in society.

 

I am a lapsed Catholic myself (well, I say lapsed, I never believed but was christened because my dad's family expected it) so I have a bit of an idea of just how respected and above any sort of suspicion or criticism. In a city like Boston, challenging that sacrosanct position is a brave and potentially foolhardy thing to do, and this movie got that across perfectly. These reporters were risking everything to get to the truth.

 

These priests are pillars of the community, they live within the community. As has been said, they're seen as agents of God, especially by the poor and needy, and vulnerable. And the hostility the Spotlight crew brought on themselves by challenging that felt all too real (which, of course, it was). The anger of being forced to face unwanted truths.

 

I like that the cast of characters was able to run from the plucky young reporter to the comfortable older guy who is used to schmoozing with the city's great and good. As someone else said, it wasn't a story of 'underdog newsmen vs the big bad institution'. They all had the same ideals, but different approaches. I thought Michael Keaton was excellent as the collected, poised Robby Robinson, just as Mark Ruffalo was great as the firebrand young idealist, and Rachel McAdams as the smart and perceptive Sacha Pfeiffer. The extended cast were great as well. Stanley Tucci, Billy Crudup, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery. All understated and all magnetic.

 

I was absolutely flabbergasted at the scene where Sacha Pfeiffer spoke to that old, retired priest who openly and unashamedly admitted that he molested children, but it was fine because he didn't get any "gratification" from it, and he himself had been raped. Talk about layers of tragedy, and self-perpetuating abuse! And the repeated hints that the newspaper itself had aided and abetted the covering up of the story. Burying documents, neglecting to investigate leads. This is how these crimes continue, with people turning away from the truth.

[Mrs. P.]

I saw Spotlight several months ago, and its impact still stays with me. I've also seen The Big Short, which was a good film, but I really hope Spotlight beats it for the Best Picture Oscar.

[Harry24]

Joe Paterno coaching a Penn State football game on the tv in a bar

 

I've seen Spotlight twice and missed this both times!  Thanks, Traveller519.

[Sharpie66]

On The Eve Of Clerical Sex Abuse Commission Meeting, The Vatican Held A Screening Of ‘Spotlight’

[vibeology]

I saw this a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. It wasn't so much about the characters, but the process. I found the way the story unfolded so well done. For a "talk-y" movie, I felt so much tension as the conspiracy unraveled. I think Liev gave the strongest performance with Stanley Tucci right behind him, but the whole cast save one exception was very strong. Ruffalo was the weak spot to me. I'm sure that performance was accurate to the real person, but it was so showy compared to everyone else and the subject matter that I just didn't love it. Of all the movies seriously being discussed for Best Picture (because for Mad Max, the nomination itself was the prize) this is my favourite.

[Milburn Stone]

It's on Apple TV as of this week, and we finally saw it.

 

They could have given ten out of the twenty acting nominations to actors in this movie and I would have been a happy camper. I hope Liev Schreiber, Stanley Tucci, et. al. are taking it in their stride.

 

Agree with all the praise here, and one thing I don't think has been mentioned, that really impressed me, is the way the movie got across the non-evilness of the Church along with the evilness. The Church was not a cardboard-cutout "bad guy" in this telling. You could see the sustenance it gave to the people of the city. You could see that even some of the bigwigs who were helping in the coverup were not doing it out of evil, but out of love for the Church, out of a wish, central to their identities, to see the Church continue to do good works and connect its believers, in their hearts, to God. You could see why breaking faith with the hierarchy of the Church, even in the cause of justice and ending victimization, was not an easy thing for them to do. A pretty amazing achievement.

[anyanka323]

 

Incredibly well acted, important story, and a very good frame by which to tell it. I really appreciated the shooting styles to hammer things home. The multiple shots with the churches in the background, the pan from BC High to the Globe as Robby and Sacha walk out from their meeting, Joe Paterno coaching a Penn State football game on the tv in a bar, and the golf course. Normally scenes shot on a golf course are shot to show off the course, or show just how far away it is from everything. Choosing to shoot on that hole with the massive hill allowed the Boston skyline in the background to hammer home that this game wasn't an escape, and that everything really was intertwined.

I can't help wonder if the Penn State football footage is intentional on the filmmakers' part.  The Penn State cover up of Sandusky's misconduct is probably the second most significant sexual abuse scandal in recent American history.  Both the damages financially to Penn State, both to the university and athletic department, and to the reputations of the individuals involved, especially Paterno were enormous.  I'm a big college football fan and can remember my shock when it came out.  

[hendersonrocks]

I can't help wonder if the Penn State football footage is intentional on the filmmakers' part.

 

I think just about everything in movies - from the shows on in the background to the newspapers people are holding to the beverage they are drinking - is intentional. And in this case, there's zero doubt in my mind it was a very conscious (and powerful) decision.

[Nidratime]

I can't help wonder if the Penn State football footage is intentional on the filmmakers' part.

 

 

I'm pretty sure it must have been. Even though it involved Pennsylvania and not Massachusetts, the Penn State sex abuse scandal was equally brushed under the rug for years -- albeit by a smaller group of people -- because Joe Paterno and his team were viewed as institutions which had been a positive selling point for Penn State, even to the point of a movie being made about the team, e.g., "Something for Joey." People believed in this guy and this program and didn't want to face that something "so good" was hiding horrible wrongdoing.

[Sharpie66]

Oh, man, I forgot that Something for Joey was about Penn State! Now I am a bit creeped out about that TV movie...

[Eolivet]

Just saw this movie. What struck me as being so unique is, to me, it captured the perfect storm of Boston's insular nature that allowed this to happen. Boston is the sixth largest media market in the country, yet it feels like a small town. One totally pitch-perfect (no pun intended) scene was how all the reporters and editors are going to the Red Sox games and the new editor-in-chief just kind of looked askance at them, like "...This is a thing?" I mean, Boston is full of Irish and Italians -- you don't get more Catholic than that. I don't believe the Catholic church wields that kind of power and influence in a larger city, where there are so many more people and ethnic groups. I think it happens, absolutely -- as Jeffrey Sipe said -- but that kind of widespread, systemic, decades-long abuse and active coverup (with, as pointed out upthread, help from the courts) only happens on that grand a scale, in as small an area as Boston.

 

I also agree with the comment upthread that it brought back the anger that I felt when this happened -- the utter arrogance of Bernie Law and the outright gall of assigning him to some higher church in the Vatican and that he wasn't immediately excommunicated...I mean, I don't think it was coincidence that a number of churches around the Boston area closed in the decade following this investigation. Parishioners no longer feel like being charitable when the parish is no longer honorable.

 

I hope this movie wins Best Picture, but I worry it's so quiet, so relatively small, so devoid of the bombast that usually accompanies a Best Picture, that it might not have a chance with the glitterati of the Academy in L.A. But I absolutely loved it -- as a journalist, as a resident of the Boston area, as someone married to a Catholic. Just an outstanding movie.

Edited February 13, 2016 by Eolivet

[annzeepark914]

Stanley Tucci is not only the MVP, he also had the best line.  His character said that it took an outsider to get the ball rolling (Marty Baron, the new hire and a Jew). And he included himself, an Armenian, as also being a very important cog in the wheel.  One other thought I had was that Ben Bradlee, Jr. had a similar experience to his dad's Watergate investigation experience.  Two big city newspapers went after VIP targets successfully.  I wonder if his dad (who in 2001 would have still been healthy), gave him advice.

Edited February 15, 2016 by annzeepark914

[Dancingjaneway]

I finally saw this tonight and it was amazing. It was paced beautifully and there was just enough intrigue to keep you watching. The acting was top notch. Michael Keaton was my favorite. He did a great job of portraying a man who knew that he had messed up but was determined to make sure he did the right thing. Stanley Tucci did a wonderful job as well. Mark Ruffalo was perfect and I thought his outrage was spot on. He was the most emotional and outspoken of the group so  it made sense for him to kind of blow up. This movie highlighted all the reasons why I detest the catholic church(and most churches). They are not questioned, not held accountable and the people that follow them to the letter are disgusting people who are in no way "true christians" The Christian Religion is a lot like the mob and this movie proved that. If this doesn't win the Oscar for Best Picture it will be a big mistake by the academy. 

[thuganomics85]

Congrats to the film for winning Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay!  I was worried it was losing momentum to The Revenant and/or The Big Short, but I'm glad it got the big one.  Still one of my favorite films of 2015, and I really hope more people start watching it.  It still amazes me how much corruption went on, just how powerful the Catholic Church can be, and how hard the journalists fought to expose it.

 

Either way, I'm happy!

[Eolivet]

Tom O'Neill of Goldderby fame switched his Best Picture pick from The Revenant to Spotlight two days ago. The reason he gave? People's eyes lit up when they talked about Spotlight. It was clearly a film that people loved, not just admired.

 

Solid performances + great script + powerful storytelling = Best Picture

[Mrs. P.]

I'm really glad that Spotlight won. It was definitely my favorite film of the year and I wanted it to win, but I had resigned myself to its losing to The Revenant or The Big Short. I squealed when Morgan Freeman announced it as the winner. Very well deserved.

[galax-arena]

I didn't watch the Oscars, but I clicked on this thread and... Spotlight won??? Yessssss. I figured it didn't stand a chance in hell. So glad it won out over the likes of The Revenant and Mad Max and The Big Short. 

[SeanC]

Congratulations to Spotlight.  Of the three films that seemed to really be in contention for the win (along with The Revenant and The Big Short) it was my favourite, and my third-favourite overall (behind Mad Max and Room).

 

Trivia-wise, it's the lowest-awarded Best Picture winner since 1952, where The Greatest Show on Earth won only Picture and Story.  Thankfully, Spotlight is a much better movie.

[Slade347]

Interesting that it ended up winning the first and last awards of the night, but nothing in between.

 

I finally got around to seeing it this past weekend and it was well worth the wait. A terrific piece of film making with a superb cast. I was very happy to see it win Best Picture. 

[CaughtOnTape]

I just cannot believe that ANYONE, let alone alleged men of God, could justify this shit and let it go on unchecked/unpunished. I was horrified at the priest who confessed to Sasha that he'd molested boys and was all "well, I didn't get off on it, so it's ok", like, what in the actual fuck????

 

This same thing happened in the documentary "Mea Maxima Culpa".  When Murphy was confronted with it, he seemed to think he'd done nothing wrong and had no issues admitting what he'd done.  He said something along those same lines "Well, I was helping get the demons out of them so it was fine..."  and I just....my mouth hit the floor.  

 

I was raised Catholic and I walked away before these revelations were ever brought to light but holy shit I cannot imagine having to deal with that.  Unbelievable.

[vibeology]

Honestly, I believe that priest in the movie was so abused himself that he actually had no idea anything he was saying or anything he had done was wrong. That moment was more powerful because it showed that this wasn't just a problem at one point in time in one place but a long-term systemic issue within the Catholic Church. The crimes and cover-ups go back so much farther than this team had the capacity to deal with and the story they did uncover was only a small part of the actual crime.

[sacrebleu]

So pleased that this won Best Picture-- truly a deserved honor. I was a little gobsmacked when I recognized the screenwriter Tom McCarthy. For those of you who don't know him from "The Wire" he played a journalist with very questionable ethics. (I won't say more to avoid spoiling). But that's where I recognized him-- I'm shocked to find out the excellent films he's written.

 

Anyone who hasn't seen "The Visitor" really should. Richard Jenkins deserved all the awards for that performance.

[Inquisitionist]

Anyone who hasn't seen "The Visitor" really should. Richard Jenkins deserved all the awards for that performance.

 

Seconding this.

[Danny Franks]

I'm really glad that Spotlight won Best Picture, ahead of the self-indulgent looking The Big Short, and the self-importance of The Revenant.

 

The thing with this movie is, it's engaging throughout, without being melodramatic or over the top. It just quietly and consistently makes its point in ways that capture the attention of the audience. The acting is all understated and on point, and there's no scenery chewing other than Ruffalo's late outburst. It's all controlled and comfortable in its own skin, and it managed to make a very troubling subject watchable. 

[Schweedie]

I said this in the Academy Awards thread, but I was SO happy to see this win Best Picture. I was sure it was going to be the Revenant, and it's really great so see a non-flashy film like Spotlight win this statue.

 

Re-watching the film I kept thinking that I wished Liev Schreiber had got more attention in the lead up to the awards. I've always liked him and he's gotten better and better over the years, and he's just terrific here.

 

Another random little thing I noticed on re-watch - the scene where Sacha and Robby go to see Macleish the first time, and Macleish says how the church is tough, and so your best chance is to try those cases in the press, and then adds, "...Like I did on Porter." I just found that a great acting moment from Crudup, the small pause and a brief glance back at Keaton - which makes sense once we find out that he tried to get the Globe onto the whole thing years ago.

 

There really was a whole lot of great acting in this film. Rachel McAdams' face in the split second when Sacha realises she's standing in front of Father Paquin is also brilliant.

[DollEyes]

 Glad that Spotlight won Best Picture both at the Independent Spirit Awards and at the Oscars. Everything about it is perfect, whether it's the script, the directing or the acting, especially the latter. The whole ensemble was flawless. Mark Ruffalo's performance didn't bother me because I thought that his character was speaking for the audience. That the local Catholic Church not only knew about the abuse for years, they did nothing to stop it is outrageous and Ruffalo's character expressed it, in no uncertain terms.

 

  Someone in the Oscars thread said that Spotlight could have been a glorified Lifetime movie, which I find insulting. Given the caliber of talent on & off-screen, if it belonged on any TV network, it would have been HBO, not Lifetime. From the looks of things, if any filmmaker wants their film to win Best Picture at the Oscars, they should just cast Michael Keaton.

 

  On a serious note, Spotlight is a great film about a story that not only needs to be told, it should have been told much sooner. As far as I'm concerned, the more survivors tell their stories, the less likely that anything like this will ever happen again.

Edited March 4, 2016 by DollEyes

[scarynikki12]

Lifetime would have insisted on contrived romances and made one of the reporters a survivor so that It Would Be Personal.  It also would have given the movie a general tone of sensationalism and would never have included the scene where they're compiling data and organizing spreadsheets.  In short, on Lifetime it would have sucked.

[Bruinsfan]

Can Lifetime even make movies if the tragedy/abuse dealt with didn't happen to a pretty young female lead who overcomes her trauma to find out that Mr. Right has been in front of her face the whole time?

[JBC344]

I don't understand the "Lifetime movie" criticism.  You could say that about a lot of the movies nominated.  Room, Carol, Spotlight, Bridge of Spies, etc.  All of those movies could of been lightweight, silly, cheesy television movies.  What made them best picture contenders was the execution by the filmmakers and the talent involved. 

[Dejana]

I thought "Lifetime movie" was the pejorative of choice aimed at quiet Oscar bait dramas headlined by women: Carol, Brooklyn, Room, Still Alice from last year's race. I've generally seen the disses for Spotlight be more along the lines that it's just a glorified Law & Order episode. I wonder if these people have seen an episode of SVU recently? IMO, it's the sort of cheap, lazy criticism often lobbed toward lower budget, traditional, non-flashy dramas directed by solid but not legendary directors.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Dejana

[Readalot]

Mr Readalot and I watched it last night and again tonight. We are still trying to comprehend the anger we feel. An all around gear film. I have no complaints. Def going to recommend this movie to all.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Anyone here seen the Canadian tv miniseries The Boys of St. Vincent?

It depicts the Mount Cashel Orphanage sexual abuse scandal.

That was exposed in the 1980's.

Hundreds of young boys were sexually/physically abused by Priests.

It was a tv movie that aired in the early 90's.

PBS aired it in the US.

A sequel followed, showing the trial of one of the Abusers.

I saw it on dvd, it's on my One and Done film list.

Excellent movie, but I'll never watch it again.

Edited March 8, 2016 by MrsRafaelBarba

[Bruinsfan]

I remember seeing part of that ages ago, but I don't really remember any details beyond it being about molester priests.

[Rick Kitchen]

 

Anyone here seen the Canadian tv miniseries The Boys of St. Vincent?

 

Yeah, it's because of his performance in that that I had a hard time accepting Henry Czerny in "Revenge" (his being an evil bad guy in that, didn't hurt, though)

[MrsRafaelBarba]

I remember seeing part of that ages ago, but I don't really remember any details beyond it being about molester priests.

Unlike other films on this subject, Boys of St. Vincent actually showed the sexual abuse.

During a flashback montage, while the boys gave their statements to the police.

That was quite difficult to sit through.

Other films that also went there, was the 1999 family drama The War Zone.

And Bastard Out of Carolina.

[NutMeg]

Yeah, it's because of his performance in that that I had a hard time accepting Henry Czerny in "Revenge" (his being an evil bad guy in that, didn't hurt, though)

I can relate, after watching Mystic River, which I thought was an extremely powerful movie but one that I don't plan to watch ever again, it took me a while to be able to watch Kevin Bacon in anything else. I know it doesn't make any sense, but yeah...

[Bruinsfan]

I remember seeing L.I.E. and being deeply disturbed that Brian Cox made his pedophile character Big John so sympathetic. Of course, my first awareness of him was as Hannibal Lecktor in Manhunter so it's not as if he were shattering some cuddly reassuring image he'd previously had.

[galax-arena]

I've seen Boys of St. Vincent. I think it might still be up on Youtube.

 

And yeah, the abuse scenes were disturbing. The scene that bothered me the most wasn't a flashback, but the part when we saw Lavin (Czerny) unbuttoning Kevin's shirt and kissing him. Milder than what was going on during the flashbacks, but I think it skeeved me out more because we saw the whole thing happening. What I mean is, that was really Czerny kissing Johnny Molina (Kevin's actor) on his bare chest and touching him, whereas the flashback scenes were done via angles and suggestive movements but (obviously) the young actors weren't actually being touched that way. 

[Crim]

I thought Spotlight was quite tame in terms of provoking an emotional reaction, actually. And I'm not saying this as a criticism of the movie itself, since its scope was the Spotlight team and their investigation. If you really want to get your blood boiling, I think Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God does it; not via the personal confessions, though those were effective, but by how clear it made the fact that those who tried to do something were ignored or silenced by an institution so twisted and perverted that not even a higher position in the hierarchy meant anything.

Edited March 10, 2016 by Crim

[hendersonrocks]

I thought this was a good short on the work of the real Spotlight team.

 

[Ms Blue Jay]

I thought Spotlight was quite tame in terms of provoking an emotional reaction, actually. 

 

I felt similarly.  The epilogue made me cry and cry, but the movie itself, while I was interested and didn't feel like the pace was slow at all, actually, didn't really move me the way I thought it might.  I guess it was deliberately made in a style that was very dry and understated.  Very detached and removed, with the biggest emotional outburst being Mark Ruffalo's.  I do kind of wonder whether the epilogue provoked such a reaction in me because of the film leading up to it, but I can't really be sure.  It was better than The Big Short, though -- I'm still confused about all of the acclaim there.  It's a good way to look at it though - the film is meant to focus on the Spotlight team.

 

Count me as another who thought Liev Schriber was great.  There was no bad acting in the film but I thought Rachel didn't really have THAT much to work with.  I absolutely adore her but it was a very subtle part.  I assume it is very much based in reality (without fake dramatization, gratuity etc.) and that's where the acclaim comes from.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[CaughtOnTape]

I finally got a chance to watch this this weekend.  

 

I don't really see why any of the main players got acting nominations to be honest.  I mean, they were good, but most of their scenes involved either being confused or astonished by what they were hearing (all except for Michael Keaton who seemed to have the most to do outside of the things I just mentioned).  The people who did deserve noms, IMO, were those actors who had to act out the scenes where they were recounting what happened as a victim.  The guy that played Patrick broke my heart.  As did John who was such a total sweetheart and seemed so innocent even as an older man that I felt like I wanted to throw up when he was done with his story.  Not to mention the actor that played Father Paquin who flat out admitted he molested children but didn't gain any pleasure from it.  I don't know how in the hell you get into a head space to act that kind of dialogue out and make it as believable as he was.

 

As a whole, I'm glad it got Best Picture because it deserved it.  I was riveted the whole time.