Genre Grandeur – Spotlight (2015) – MovieRob (Encore Review 3)

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For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – Boston Films, here’s a review of Spotlight (2015) by me

Thanks again to Ryan of Ten Stars or Less for choosing this month’s genre.

Next month’s Genre has been chosen by Vern of the Video Vortex. We will be reviewing our favorite Graphic Novels that have been adapted for the screen.

The one caveat is that it has to be based on a book that has been published.

Example The Killing Joke would be acceptable because it’s based on an actual graphic novel.  The Dark Knight would not because it’s based on characters and there was no book before the movie.

Here is what appears to be the official/unofficial list of film adaptations of Graphic Novels

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/5201.Best_Graphic_Novels_Made_Into_Movies

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of May by sending them to Vernsworld@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box! Great choice Vern!

Let’s see what I thought of this movie:

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“Sometimes it’s easy to forget that we spend most of our time stumbling around the dark. Suddenly, a light gets turned on and there’s a fair share of blame to go around. I can’t speak to what happened before I arrived, but all of you have done some very good reporting here. Reporting that I believe is going to have an immediate and considerable impact on our readers. For me, this kind of story is why we do this. ” – Marty Baron

Number of Times Seen – 4 (23 Dec 2015, 24 Feb 2016, 30 Jan 2017 and 27 Apr 2017)

Link to original review – Here, Here and Here

Brief Synopsis – Based on the true story about how an investigative team of the Boston Globe broke the story of one of the biggest kept secrets hidden by so many people for decades.

My Take on it – Ever since I heard about this film in October 2015, I was so excited to see how such a story could be told and whether it would be as captivating as it seemed to be on paper.

In fact, it’s even better than that.

I can also say that the film gets better and better during each subsequent viewing because you really understand everything that is going on on a deeper level each time.

Love the way that they have an all star cast yet none of them outshine any of the others which lets the amazing storytelling be the true lead character of it all.

I know many people disagree with me but I feel that this is one of the best films to ever win Best Picture at the Oscars in its 89 year history because it is such a gravitating and compelling story.

The fact that the case investigated here was kept secret for so many decades says so much more about the courageousness of the men and women portrayed here who decided to expose the story to the world.

It is such a bold story and is told in a very thrilling way.

The events of yhis story hsve had such an amazing ripple effect over the last 15 years since it happened.

It’s extremely scary to think about the thousands (if not more) victims who’s traumatic stories were kept secret for far too long with no acknowledgement for the pain caused to them by some of the people that they trusted so much.

Bottom Line – Amazing film that really deserved its Best Picture win in 2015 because it tells such a captivating story in a clear cut yet exciting fashion. All star cast does an amazing job here but the true lead character is the story itself. The ability to keep such an event secret for so many years says so much but the courageousness of the reporters to break the silence says even more. Even more enjoyable every time I watch it because of the boldness of it all. The events portrayed here have had such a ripple effect over the years to the point where it’s so scary to think about the thousands (if not more) who’s stories were kept secret for so long with no help or even acknowledgement in sight. Highly Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia –  During an interview on NPR’s “Fresh Air,” director Tom McCarthy said that they built a large set to depict many of the Boston Globe offices where parts of the story takes place. When the reporters depicted in the movie first visited the set, they gravitated to the desks where they had been sitting during the writing of the “Spotlight” piece, and many of them started to re-arrange the items on their desks to the way they had been at the time.  (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (no change from original review)

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