Go see "Spotlight!"
Jan. 19th, 2016 02:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bex77I actually got out to the movies yesterday! And I liked the film!
I'm not much for going due to the price and rude people etc. but the Oscar-nominated film, "Spotlight" caught my fancy and I got out to see it at the Kendall Square Cinema yesterday. I highly recommend it to you! I was surprised how good it is. I could see why the Academy and other awards organizations are focusing on it. The script, the set design, the editing, directing and acting... even the music fit in a subtle way. WOW. It reminded me of "All the President's Men." It was great to see Boston scenes on the big screen, and get the background on how a huge, tragic story made it to press, a story I followed closely in 2002 and it's still going on. They do talk frankly about the abuse of children by priests, so if that is a trigger, this one is not for you. But for me it was so wonderful to see people listening to them and finally doing something about it! And making it so that could happen all over the world. I was also touched with how people who were raised to go to church had to stop, and how they talked about it.
It is the only Oscar-nominated film I could fathom seeing, and it is sticking with me. I find myself thinking over the facts and figures and the craft of presenting them, of cramming 6 months into 2 hours and so many Boston characters whose names we all know. The script is based on first-person interviews and you can tell. The actors got to hang out with the real people and are spookily similar-looking and acting. Unlike most movies, you can assume most of what they're showing is true.
Take someone with you if at all possible - I needed someone to talk through it afterwards and it was great that the person knew what I was talking about!
The Boston Globe has a bunch of articles that are a great read:
Ty Burr wrote an insightful review. He brought up the point that this movie was not Hollywood-ized - it focuses on the story, and how they got it published.
www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2015/11/03/superb-spotlight-tells-story-journalists-who-investigated-clergy-sex-abuse-scandal/fHKF2YxUGUXcLVl3lfs2MI/story.html
How the movie got made
www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/names/2015/10/30/how-spotlight-movie-got-made/wXVXUiYPkoF3hEP9K4dydP/story.html
The real people the movie is about
http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2015/10/28/the-real-people-behind-spotlight-characters/SktMepoMe7ZB2c0cIF90HI/story.html
And my favorite, where the reporters talk about what it's like to have an A-list actor be you in a movie.
www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2014/11/29/spotlightfilm-intro/d8Tp3MQ4Y0OQA3JZgABkeO/story.html
It's rather sad that most of the reporters are not with the Globe anymore, and the heyday of the local newspaper is over. I glanced at the other work the Spotlight team has done recently - I had not heard of it. If it doesn't show up on Facebook or the drive-time radio broadcast, I'm unlikely to know about it. And with them charging for online access (after 5 articles a month), there are many other free sources to tell me news.
So that's your tip for today!
-B
I'm not much for going due to the price and rude people etc. but the Oscar-nominated film, "Spotlight" caught my fancy and I got out to see it at the Kendall Square Cinema yesterday. I highly recommend it to you! I was surprised how good it is. I could see why the Academy and other awards organizations are focusing on it. The script, the set design, the editing, directing and acting... even the music fit in a subtle way. WOW. It reminded me of "All the President's Men." It was great to see Boston scenes on the big screen, and get the background on how a huge, tragic story made it to press, a story I followed closely in 2002 and it's still going on. They do talk frankly about the abuse of children by priests, so if that is a trigger, this one is not for you. But for me it was so wonderful to see people listening to them and finally doing something about it! And making it so that could happen all over the world. I was also touched with how people who were raised to go to church had to stop, and how they talked about it.
It is the only Oscar-nominated film I could fathom seeing, and it is sticking with me. I find myself thinking over the facts and figures and the craft of presenting them, of cramming 6 months into 2 hours and so many Boston characters whose names we all know. The script is based on first-person interviews and you can tell. The actors got to hang out with the real people and are spookily similar-looking and acting. Unlike most movies, you can assume most of what they're showing is true.
Take someone with you if at all possible - I needed someone to talk through it afterwards and it was great that the person knew what I was talking about!
The Boston Globe has a bunch of articles that are a great read:
Ty Burr wrote an insightful review. He brought up the point that this movie was not Hollywood-ized - it focuses on the story, and how they got it published.
www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2015/11/03/superb-spotlight-tells-story-journalists-who-investigated-clergy-sex-abuse-scandal/fHKF2YxUGUXcLVl3lfs2MI/story.html
How the movie got made
www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/names/2015/10/30/how-spotlight-movie-got-made/wXVXUiYPkoF3hEP9K4dydP/story.html
The real people the movie is about
http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2015/10/28/the-real-people-behind-spotlight-characters/SktMepoMe7ZB2c0cIF90HI/story.html
And my favorite, where the reporters talk about what it's like to have an A-list actor be you in a movie.
www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2014/11/29/spotlightfilm-intro/d8Tp3MQ4Y0OQA3JZgABkeO/story.html
It's rather sad that most of the reporters are not with the Globe anymore, and the heyday of the local newspaper is over. I glanced at the other work the Spotlight team has done recently - I had not heard of it. If it doesn't show up on Facebook or the drive-time radio broadcast, I'm unlikely to know about it. And with them charging for online access (after 5 articles a month), there are many other free sources to tell me news.
So that's your tip for today!
-B
