Spotlight: Actually it's about ethics in journalism.
I think Spotlight was really deftly done, covering the coverage of a story that is highly sensitive (exposing the breadth and coverup of the child molestation by the Catholic church) in a way that avoids easy targets. It's not about demonizing the Catholic church but about the daily grind of journalism and chasing leads, which doesn't sound compelling, but this does a fairly good job about depicting that process without making things boring or trying to depict the characters as heroes. I actually think its restraint is the best part of it. There are so many potential Hollywood moments that would have completely sunk the movie, as well as opportunities to do ACTINGand yell and scream with the "For Your Consideration" text scrolling on the bottom of the screen, but it never bites. Its moments are stated on an appropriate level and it never goes for full blown melodrama, although the score occasionally highlights a scene more than I would like. It gets its drama through showing process and the minor victories of discovering how to follow up on a lead or securing a source. I liked it and am interested if its choices to be more understated might actually hurt it come Oscar time. Like, it has Oscar-worthy subject matter but tells the story straight, but it does an effective job and doesn't dress anything up more than it needs to. It just reminds me about how I'm annoyed at Hollywood choices (again, the Imitation Game sticks out here) and how glad I was that this mostly avoided them.
Also it is weird to me that the director (Tom McCarthy) did this and the Cobbler, which is apparently an awful sack of shit even compared to other Adam Sandler movies, in the same year.
