This based on true events, movie deserves all the spotlight, it has been getting. It's a well-made superb film.

Rating: 9/10 (16 January 2016)

In the midst of the chaos of the first year of the new Millennium, a new editor-in-chief Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber) hope to shakes things up more at The Boston Globe when he re-assigns the paper's "Spotlight" team of reporters; Mike Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams), and Matt Carroll (Brian d'Arcy James) to dig up an old story about a local priest. Led by editor, Walter "Robby" Robinson (Michael Keaton), the team uncover more than one story, but a massive child molestation scandal within the city's Catholic Churches that would bring the issue of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests into the national limelight. Directed & co-written by Tom McCarthy, Spotlight is able to show the power of investigative journalism, and how a small group of journalists were able to take on, a large social entity. Because of that premise alone, the movie kinda remind me, a little bit of 1976's film, All the President's Men with its all-star cast. The main actors that make up, this small group are amazing. Each one of them, really did shine, but if I had to pick, two, it would be Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo. Both really put, most of their emotional weight in this film. There are also strong supporting characters in this movie that it makes many of the minor scenes, very appealing to watch, but if I had to showcase some, I would pick character actors like Stanley Tucci & Billy Crudup. The reason why, I felt they were awesome in their small roles, is because they really did seem like lawyers with hidden agenda to the best degree. Its characters like them that made the film, so engaging. Because of that, the film feels like it hardly has any slow and tedious moments. But if I had to pick a slow moment, it would be any scene dealing with Boston College High School. I found those scenes to be, a bit too controversy and turn-offish to be, worth watching. Still, for the most part, I love how the film delicately balances its focus on giving the story somewhat room to breathe and the survivors their voice. The music by Howard Shore add to it, with its tone of feeling of disgust with a mix of hope. However, some parts of the film, can be a bit confusing with the limited exposition and somewhat rushed, due to the quick pacing. A good example for me, is how I got confused, between dialogue talking about Cardinal Bernard Francis Law (Len Cariou) and that of, Canon Laws. I really didn't know, who or what, they were talking about. There are plenty of dialogue full scenes like that, where a few names, local places, judicial process, and historic events are said by characters that might go over many moviegoer's head. While, I found the movie, somewhat engaging because of the dialogue, I think a little research on the subject matter, beforehand, would help, make sense of it, for the viewer, when watching this film. But if you can't find time to do that, and you going to watch this movie, pay close attention to ever detail in this film because there will be stacks, and stacks of information that your mind has to wrap around. The astrosphere for the film was also great. You really get that feeling, of change, going around. You really do sense, the end of newspaper business with this film with how outdated, some of their methods are. I just love, the details of seeing tons and tons of papers folders, scatter around the office and the journalist calling from, flip phones. It shows the industry in its last hurrah, before getting crush under the weight of online v-blogs, interactive media, & conversation threading. Small talks in the film about how the internet will change, how journalism is run, is amazing to hear. The same with the church; you really get the sense, that social institutions like that, are losing its control on the people. Just ask any Christian today, and you will see more and more people are not as devout, as they use to be. A lot of strong Christians, are even lapsing or questioning, what does it means to a man or woman of the faith. As more and more information is available through the internet, it's easier to see the hypocrisy that Church for so long, try to hide. Indeed, this is the informative age. For the most part this movie is very accuracy to the events that came to be. While, researching for this review, I couldn't find much to couther this. Overall: While, this movie is a bit predictable, much of film's massive appeal, go primarily to the stellar cast, and the screenwriter Josh Singer, who approached the subject matter with palpable and empathy, care. While the movie is Rated R for some language including sexual references, Spotlight is surprising, not that overly graphic. You don't see, any graphic sex scenes, here, just adults talking about how, when they were children, they got molested. It wasn't too much of a turn-off. In the end, while Spotlight isn't for everybody; it's a film worth watching if you get the chance to. After all, horrible things like child molestation must stop.