Great performances just one highlight of ‘Spotlight’
Spotlight is directed and co-written by Tom McCarthy. Since the early 2000s, McCarthy — Win Win, The Station Agent — has been my favorite screenwriter and director. He and co-writer Josh Singer — who wrote the Julian Assange flick The Fifth Estate — cover the Boston Globe’s investigation of the Catholic church’s many yearslong coverup of priests sexually abusing children.
Liev Schreiber (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) is Martin Baron, the paper’s new editor. He orders Michael Keaton’s Walter Robinson — who runs an investigative unit called Spotlight — to look at rumors about the Catholic church and its priests.
The investigation won the paper a Pulitzer Prize in 2003.
Spotlight is packed with great performances from Keaton, Schreiber, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci and Brian d’Arcy James. Like other McCarthy vehicles, Spotlight is written with rich, deep, three-dimensional characters faced with unique and difficult life problems.
And though you know how it turns out, Spotlight is also a nail biter.
I’ve been a journalist all of my life, and I love journalism movies. Spotlight is one of 2015’s best movies — maybe even its best movie — and ranks up there with my favorites, All the President’s Men, Good Night and Good Luck, Network and Shattered Glass.
This is also the second real-life journalism film to come out in the past month. Truth, the Cate Blanchett-Robert Redford vehicle about the downfall of CBS News anchor Dan Rather was released a couple of weeks ago. It’s a propaganda piece designed to defend and justify the poor decisions Rather and his producer Mary Mapes made about a hatchet-job story they did on then-President George W. Bush.
It’s pure liberal spin.
As a contrast, McCarthy’s superb writing and storytelling skills give you a taut, intense thriller. No spin here. This turns the who, what, where, when and why of journalism into the who, what, where, when and why of great movie making.
Spotlight
Director: Tom McCarthy
Stars: Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci, Brian d’Arcy James
Mr. Movie rating: 5 stars
Rated R for mature themes and language. It’s playing at the Carmike 12.
5 stars to 4 1/2 stars: Must see on the big screen.
4 stars to 3 1/2 stars: Good film, see it if it’s your type of movie.
3 stars to 2 1/2 stars: Wait until it comes out on DVD.
2 stars to 1 star: Don’t bother.
0 stars: Speaks for itself.
This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Great performances just one highlight of ‘Spotlight’."