A few years ago, I had seen every Oscar-nominated movie of the year. I was up to speed on all of the actors that were in the running for a coveted statue, and I even had a viewing party with some of my friends.
Oscar season was one of my favorite times of the year. But last year, I only saw one movie that was up for an award before the show. How had I let myself get to such a low point in my life? It was after coming to the realization that I had failed my once Oscar-loving self that I decided to change that this year. I’ve decided to make sure that I see every movie that gets nominated for an Oscar this year.
I owe it to the film crews, the actors and most importantly myself to embark on this award season journey. So I invite all of you to follow me on my journey with a series of movie reviews that I will be writing throughout the coming months.
To kick off the first of my reviews, I’ll be discussing Spotlight, which I had the pleasure of seeing yesterday. As many journalists do, I love the film All the President’s Men, which follows the two journalists who uncover the Watergate Scandal in the ‘70s. There’s just something about watching journalists do one of their most important jobs by exposing dirty politics and informing the public that kindles the passion I already have for the profession.
Spotlight was able to do that same thing for me, if even more so than All the President’s Men. The film is about a team of investigative reporters from the Boston Globe who begin to investigate allegations against a priest in Boston. What begins as looking into a priest blossoms into discovering a scandal much larger than they ever could have imagined.
With a cast of big names like Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo and Stanley Tucci, I went into the film with extremely high expectations—and I was not disappointed. All of the performances in this film were superb. Though a lot of characters in the film did have the stereotypical Boston aggressiveness we see so much, the main characters were thankfully much more complex. Though Keaton's character is a seasoned journalist with a thick skin, we see his passion for his work and investigative team throughout the film.
Not only did the actors do a phenomenal job, but the writers did as well. The story that’s being written throughout the movie is certainly complex to say the least. The writers were able to present the details of horrid events that the film is centered around in a manner that was upfront, but not at all abrasive.
They did not sugar coat any details in fear of scaring audiences, and we should all be very glad they did not. We are left watching this raw and horrifying story unfold in front of us alongside the characters. The takeaway from this film wouldn’t have been what it needed to be if the writers hadn’t done their job as well as they did.
My recommendation for all of you? Go see this movie as soon as possible (especially if you’re a journalist). It leaves you sitting in your seat, absolutely speechless for a moment. I’ve missed not being able to shake that feeling of awe that you get after seeing a movie like this. I’ve missed you, Oscar season, and I’m sorry I was such a horrible friend to you last year. I promise I’ll keep making it up to you, one film at a time.
