Here are review links for this film submitted by our members:
- Marco Albanese @ Stanze di Cinema [Italian]
- Excerpt: Il lungo elenco finale, che mette in fila tutte le città nelle quali sono scoppiati scandali sessuali nel clero locale è la chiusa efficacissima e necessaria per mostrare che non si può e non si deve abbassare la guardia.
- Dragan Antulov @ FAK.hr [Croatian]
- Excerpt: Stara škola dokudrame koja pod svjetlo reflektora na ozbiljan nacin stavlja ozbiljnu temu.
- [New – 2/25/16] | Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan
- Excerpt: Spotlight, the film based on the Boston Globe investigation of the Church’s handling of pedophile priests, is sparse, direct, and straightforward. It is a sharp film that does not sensationalize the issue and which gives an intelligent version of the events as they occurred.
- José Arce @ LaButaca.net [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Genial propuesta que desde la aparente sencillez estructural triunfa dentro del género del cine de investigación periodística. Fantásticamente dispuesto e interpretado, estamos ante un estremecedor y terriblemente veraz drama humano. Grande.
- [New – 2/25/16] | Sean Axmaker @ Stream On Demand
- Excerpt: Spotlight is the kind of film that takes on the Big Subject with modesty and self-reflection, drawing the viewer into the world of the reporters and culture of Boston in 2001 to better understand the scope of everything that’s at stake.
- Jason Bailey @ Flavorwire
- Excerpt: McCarthy’s work is taut and forceful, his script (written with Josh Singer) is unfailingly intelligent, and each performance is better than the last. A thrilling, powerful piece of work.
- Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ Spirituality & Practice
- Excerpt: A convincing affirmation of investigative journalism and a ringing condemnation of sexual abuse by Catholic priests.
- Bill Clark @ From The Balcony
- Excerpt: Spotlight is one of the great journalism films; compelling, flawlessly acted, and successful in its invitation to join in the hunt for the truth.
- Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: …doesn’t have the cinematic sweeping grandeur of Pakula’s 1976 film, instead focusing on the day to day doggedness required to uncover heavily shrouded secrets and how easily a community, including its reporters, can miss evidence right out in the open.
- Andy Crump @ Paste Magazine
- Excerpt: …a film about the looming terror of spiritual betrayal, set among communities that treat the church as significant components of their collective backbone.
- Edwin Davies @ A Mighty Fine Blog
- Excerpt: Spotlight is built on small moments which portend far bigger ones, on the pebbles that create tidal waves. It’s telling that the most suspenseful moment in the film is a montage of the Spotlight team using rulers to mark names in a directory before entering the data into Excel.
- Mark Dujsik @ Mark Reviews Movies
- Excerpt: This is a film that not only understands the journalistic process but also respects it enough to delve into the particulars.
- James Jay Edwards @ FilmFracture
- Kimberly Gadette @ doddle
- Excerpt: Though worth seeing, the film’s electricity suffers from brownout … sometimes a surge, sometimes a flicker. And nowhere near the neighborhood of McCarthy’s earlier marvelous work.
- Panagiotis Pete Gkaris @ Movies Ltd. [Greek]
- Susan Granger @ www.susangranger.com
- Excerpt: Taut and compelling, illuminating a timely, still-relevant issue
- Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: Spotlight is a pragmatic and clear headed approach to investigative journalism.
- MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: An elegy for old-school reportage and the people who pursue it, and a journalistic procedural with a snappy rush of urgent discovery and consequence.
- Charlie Juhl @ Citizen Charlie
- Excerpt: Spotlight is about the process and pain of pure investigative journalism. We catch brief glimpses of the psychological effects of burying the truth, but this is not the victims’ story, it’s the reporter’s journey from rumor to devastating fact.
- Steve Katz @ The Alpha Primitive
- Excerpt: It is easy to forget the power and influence of newspapers as it has declined so steeply barely a decade after the article was published, but a film like Spotlight is a wonderful reminder of the unique place print media has in culture.
- Jeremy Kibler @ The Artful Critic
- Excerpt: It is going to be cat nip for real-life journalists more so than the average viewer, but still, this is solid, mature filmmaking about journalism that seems to get that line of work right and should be seen.
- Benjamin Kramer @ The Voracious Filmgoer
- Kristin Dreyer Kramer @ NightsAndWeekends.com
- [New – 2/25/16] | Alan Mattli @ Maximum Cinema [German]
- Excerpt: Tom McCarthy’s finally made it onto the big stage – and he does so with a rousing journalistic thriller that deservedly honours the enduring value of print journalism.
- Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: With a smart script, perfectly paced direction, and superb acting, this is a work that manages to be as entertaining as it is important.
- Jason McKiernan @ Film Racket
- Simon Miraudo @ Student Edge
- Jared Mobarak @ BuffaloVibe
- Excerpt: McCarthy, cast, and crew continuously driving home the notion that it’s time to no longer stay silent is crucial to the film’s success. They let emotion rise to the surface and make this case more than a mystery to solve.
- Darren Mooney @ the m0vie blog
- Excerpt: Spotlight on Spotlight.
- Pat Mullen @ Cinemablographer
- Excerpt: Print might be dying, but Spotlight makes a solid case for the value of a free, impartial, and intelligent press
- João Pinto @ Portal Cinema [Portuguese]
- Kristy Puchko @ Pajiba, Comic Book Resources
- Excerpt: It’s McCarthy’s proprietary blend of observational wit, profound warmth, and riveting drama that makes Spotlight is brilliant. Hands down, it’s one of the best films of the year.
- Nuno Reis @ Antestreia [Portuguese]
- Excerpt: É duro de ver e não tem nenhuma história paralela facilitadora. São apenas jornalistas que se dedicam exclusivamente a isso, às vezes com prejuízo da vida pessoal, porque o público precisa de saber e os culpados terão de ser afastados das potenciais vítimas.
- Jonathan Richards @ www.jonrichardsplace.com
- Excerpt: And the underlying drama is a murder tale, shining a spotlight on the slow death of the American newspaper, whose traditions of independence and diligence have made possible the exposure of the kinds of horrors spotlighted here.
- Tom Santilli @ Examiner.com
- Excerpt: As a showcase of the importance of investigative journalism in today’s world, Spotlight is spot-on.
- Courtney Small @ Cinema Axis
- Cole Smithey @ ColeSmithey.com
- Excerpt: “Spotlight” is a labored reportage procedural that arrives a decade too late.
- David Upton @ Front Row Reviews
- Rob Wallis @ Of All the Film Blogs
- Excerpt: As a drama about child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, Tom McCarthy’s latest, Spotlight, has a lot to do with second chances.
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