Revisiting an old review: "Spotlight" - Blu-ray

[David Vaughn]

My wife and mother hadn't seen this film, so we sat down and watched it tonight and it was just as powerful as I remember it was when I watched it eight years ago. Here were my thoughts then and seeing it for a second time cements the film as a classic in my mind (and Best Picture and Best Screenplay winner):

Plot
The gripping story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation that uncovered a scandal that rocked one of the world’s oldest and most trusted institutions. Delving into allegations of child abuse within the local Catholic Archdiocese, a tenacious team of Boston Globe reporters exposes a decades-long cover-up that reaches the highest levels of Boston’s religious, legal, and government establishments.

My Thoughts
 After recently watching a similar film Truth, which delved into the 60 Minutes reporting on George W. Bush’s service record during the Vietnam War, I was prepared for another left-wing propaganda piece with Spotlight, but I couldn’t have been more wrong—thankfully! Frankly, Dan Rather and his team of producers could have learned a lot from the team at the Boston Globe and this film will go down as a classic, just like All The President’s Men in how it examines the process of investigating a subject that will touch so many lives and change an entire institution. Another comparison is Fincher’s Zodiac, which also takes place in the newsroom. While the subject matters are different, the masterful filmmaking is bound to draw comparisons.
 
As a child, I went to Catholic school (but thankfully wasn’t sexually abused—just mentally by the nuns, but that’s a different story) and initially raised my kids as Catholics, but when this story broke in 2002 it didn’t take me long to give up completely on organized religion. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in God, but I don’t believe he would condone what the entire Catholic Church was doing in hiding these pedophiles in their system.
 
 
Video 4.5/5 (AVC)
 
Audio 4.5/5 (DTS-HD MA 5.1)


Special Features:
 

• Uncovering the Truth: A spotlight Team Roundtable
• Spotlight: A Look Inside
• The State of Journalism
• DVD + Digital Copy

 Conclusion
Of all the pictures that I’ve seen this year that are nominated for Best Picture, this is by far the best of the bunch. Granted, I’ve only seen four of the eight thus far (Bridge of Spies, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, and Spotlight), but this will be hard to beat. Over the coming months I’ll see the last four (The Big Short, Brooklyn, The Revenant, and Room) but I’m not sure they’ll resonate the way this one has given my upbringing. Be sure to check this one out, it’s an instant classic!

[bmoney]

I saw this when it first came out. Def have to revisit it thanks!

[David Vaughn]

I saw this when it first came out. Def have to revisit it thanks!

Just as good the second time...too bad reporters (and newspapers) don't do deep dives like this anymore. Investigative journalism is dead because unless they are trying to stick it to "the other team," they don't even bother to look. There are some pretty good examples of this in the past 10 years in politics that if someone wanted to dig for information, the public would be shocked at what they see. 

[bmoney]

Just as good the second time...too bad reporters (and newspapers) don't do deep dives like this anymore. Investigative journalism is dead because unless they are trying to stick it to "the other team," they don't even bother to look. There are some pretty good examples of this in the past 10 years in politics that if someone wanted to dig for information, the public would be shocked at what they see.

agreed. def that way in our local networks

[David Vaughn]

Sadly, almost all of the newspapers are owned by just a few "national" entities and local news is all-but dead. I'd love to see someone like Warren Buffett or other uber-rich American set up an investigative journalism endowment fund with a few billion dollars in it to get the fourth estate get back on its feet (or to fund independent journalists to do deep dive investigations). If we don't have this type of oversight, the country is doomed to whatever narrative the national news is selling (and they are all selling you their version of the truth, whether from the left or the right). 

There are a few journalists out there who are still straight shooters (Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, Bari Weiss, Lee Fang, and authors Michael Shellenberger, David Zweig and Alex Berenson)...this list has people from both the left and the right on it, but if you read them you'll see that aren't cheerleaders, they are umpires just calling the balls and strikes with documented sources to back them up. I'd also put Elon Musk in this conversation as well...he's a champion for free speech and what he has exposed via his release of Twitter information before he owned the company should scare the crap out of everyone in regard to suppression of our first amendment rights. 

[bmoney]

What’s a newspaper? Lol

[Paul Heroy]

Obviously there's a ton you could discuss on the state of journalism, politics, and why... but to David's main point about this particular movie, it's interesting to see how reactions to it differ. I watched it a few years ago and discussed with a VERY devout Catholic co-worker, who dismissed it as a pack of lies. I pointed out the large amounts of research and actual data behind the story but, deaf ears basically. NB: I was a believer (not Catholic) into my early 20s but then just accumulated too many irreconcilable things about the world, universe etc. to keep it up. So there's some bias in my viewpoint too.

[David Vaughn]

Obviously there's a ton you could discuss on the state of journalism, politics, and why... but to David's main point about this particular movie, it's interesting to see how reactions to it differ. I watched it a few years ago and discussed with a VERY devout Catholic co-worker, who dismissed it as a pack of lies. I pointed out the large amounts of research and actual data behind the story but, deaf ears basically. NB: I was a believer (not Catholic) into my early 20s but then just accumulated too many irreconcilable things about the world, universe etc. to keep it up. So there's some bias in my viewpoint too.

Well put Paul....I have those same misgivings as well about science/religion. Then again, I pray every now and then just to hedge my bets. I don't want to end up in purgatory for eternity  (my luck I will and it will be an endless loop of crappy movies ).