Spotlight (2015) film review

Year: 2015
Running Time: 128 minutes
Director: Tom McCarthy
Writers: Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy
Cast: Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, Liev Schreiber, Brian d'arcy James, Stanley Tucci, Billy Crudup, Gene Amoroso, Jamey Sheridan, Neal Huff

Spotlight is now showing in Australian cinemas and is distributed by eOne.

Absolutely engrossing and the stunning example of story driven tension, Spotlight is a superb film with an incredible screenplay that brings to light terrible issues while not actually telling a story about them.

In 2001, members of The Boston Globe's Spotlight team were given the assignment of looking into allegations of child molestation by Catholic priests within the city and determining whether there was any evidence of a pattern among them. What they discovered over the year that they spent investigating and speaking to the victims was sufficient evidence of a cover up within the church on a much greater scale than they or anybody else could have ever imagined.

Spotlight is ultimately not a film about the actions of the Catholic Church and it's priests, although it will no doubt stimulate thought and conversation about the subject. It is a film about the journalists who were part of the Spotlight team and how they came to expose the cover up. So at it's core, Spotlight is essentially about investigative journalism and how it has the power to increase knowledge and awareness and bring about change.

Tom McCarthy's film is in the same class as All The Presidents Men, the 1976 film about the reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal. Like All The Presidents Men, Spotlight will become a film for all journalists and journalism students to watch as it is not only an example of extremely good investigative reporting, but it is also what all journalists strive for, which is to put the pieces together and uncover something that nobody else has. Of course All The Presidents Men and Spotlight are extreme and very rare examples of what journalists can achieve, yet they remain inspiring for those who are in the profession.

The power of investigative journalism is at the heart of Spotlight, but again the actions of the Catholic Church are brought to light in the process. It is impossible not to be moved by the revelations that the Spotlight team make over the course of their investigation, but the wonderful thing is that it is not the witnessing of these atrocious acts that bring about emotion. It is all in the dialogue spoken by those who uncover the shocking information and by the victims telling their stories. There are no confronting visuals of the actual acts of molestation in the film. This may be comforting to some, but the truth is that the imagination can conjure up mental images that are just as frightening.

This is what makes Spotlight such a brilliant piece of work. It is not a film with a great deal of action, but it is it's story and dialogue that are so powerful that they create emotion, tension and suspense by themselves. The outcome of the investigation is inevitable, yet there is still a build up with a sense of heightened tension leading towards the conclusion.

While the film's strength lies in it's screenplay, it's visuals help support the story and say the things which aren't being verbalised. The investigation by the Spotlight team takes place over the course of a year and this time period is shown with the cinematography involving the changing of seasons. Visually, the film is very neat and refined. One particularly special moment of the film is at Christmas time, when all the main characters are shown in a montage that expresses how they are feeling accompanied by the sounds of children singing a Christmas carol. It is a rather haunting moment.

Spotlight is essentially about the team of journalists who uncovered something truly incredible and were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for their work. However, the film does not glorify the individuals or make them out to be heroes. They were just people going to work each day and doing their jobs. Despite this, the cast of Spotlight all give strong and memorable performances. Mark Ruffalo gives the most passionate performance as Mike Rezendes. His character's commitment demonstrates how the deeper into the investigation he got, the harder it was to not get emotionally involved. Michael Keaton stars as the head of Spotlight, Walter Robinson and gives a strong performance, but it is not one that requires much emotion or variation.

As Sacha Pfeiffer, Rachel McAdams gives the best performance of her career thus far. Her character develops the most throughout the film as she is the one who had the greatest connection to the church beforehand and her internal struggle while she sympathizes with the victims is rather moving. Stanley Tucci gives a very interesting performance as Mitchell Garabedian and although he is rather hostile, is intriguing to watch and has a great deal of character.

Spotlight demonstrates not only the power of investigative reporting when all the pieces come together, but how suspense and emotion can be achieved by superb storytelling and direction.

9/10

The Butler (2013)

 

 

Year: 2013
Running Time: 132 minutes
Director: Lee Daniels
Writer: Danny Strong (screenplay), Wil Haygood (article)
Cast: Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo, Cuba Gooding Jr., Lenny Kravitz, Robin Williams, John Cusack, Terrence Howard, Elijah Kelley, Yaya Alafia, James Marsden, Minka Kelly, Live Schreiber, Alan Rickman, Jane Fonda

The Butler opens in Australian cinemas on the 31st October 2013 and is distributed by Hopscotch Films.

Whilst The Butler may not be the flawless masterpiece that many were hoping it would be, there is still no denying that it is an enjoyable and entertaining slice of modern American history on the big screen.

Lee Daniels latest is a fine feature which offers the viewer a great deal of information regarding the changing face of America's racial relations and the role of presidency in the White House. Although The Butler is extremely thorough in it's examination of the major events in the USA of the past 60 years, this attempt to cover so much results in the depth and emotion of the film suffering. Yet, the representation of the times and the acting being so impressive means that there is still so much to marvel at in The Butler.

The butler is Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker), a man who's journey takes him from slavery in the cotton fields of Georgia to the White House in Washington, DC. He is directly effected by the changes that are slowly taking place for the coloured of America as his son, Louis (David Oyelowo) becomes active in trying to orchestrate these changes. As the years progress, Cecil serves and has his own special encounters with each of the American presidents. While he is told to make sure the presidents feel as though there is no one in the room when he is present, all the presidents are aware of Cecil's presence and value his contribution to the White House and their presidency.

There is so much covered in The Butler which is both a blessing and a curse at the same time. It is a blessing because, as previously said, it is a thorough study into recent American history in regards to racial relations and the office of President. Lovers of American history will find this film to be an absolute treat for how much they will see being recreated. The period of the 1960-70's in the southern states is very well done, but still quite disturbing. There is also the perfect musical score to accompany each period in time represented. It is the portrayals of the different presidents that many Americans will be interested to see in The Butler and these portrayals are definitely intriguing. Unlike many other historical films which past US presidents have been featured in, these presidents are not the focal point of the film, but are the supporting players in Cecil's story. Dwight Eisenhower (Robin Williams), John F. Kennedy (James Marsden), Lyndon Johnson (Liev Schreiber), Richard Nixon (John Cusack) and Ronald Reagan (Alan Rickman) are the presidents featured in the film, and there is also a small scene with Martin Luther King (Nelsan Ellis).

As well as these historical representations, there is also Cecil's personal family life which is featured greatly throughout the film. While all these events are taking place, Cecil also fights to keep his marriage to Gloria (Oprah Winfrey) alive and well and to be a present and effective father to Louis and Charlie (Elijah Kelley). As one may expect, this is a lot to fit into one film. At 132 minutes, The Butler is not a short film to begin with, but it is still not long enough to pack all of this in without it feeling rushed. So much is covered yet isn't covered in great detail. It feels like many details are just skimmed over and not gone into too much detail as there is just not enough time to. As a result, it does feel as though there is a lack of depth and emotion in the film. This isn't to say that it doesn't evoke emotion at all, because the film absolutely does. However, this emotion could have been pushed further and just as you begin to feel something, it is lost as you have to move onto the next thing. Even though the film is enjoyable, it does feel considerably rushed (particularly the last decade of Cecil's term), which is a strange thing to feel in a film which is over two hours long.

Forest Whitaker is wonderful as Cecil Gaines. Towards the beginning of the film he takes seizes the chance to make his character as likable as possible so that the audience can go on this journey with him and feel connected. Again, there are times which he could have taken his performance much further emotionally, but this isn't to say that his performance flat-lines in the emotional department.

Oprah Winfrey makes an incredible return to the big screen as Gloria. Her character is a very real woman with a great deal of character. She has her flaws, but also her undying love for her family, She is superb, and you stop seeing the talk show host in her as soon as she opens her mouth for the first time.

David Oyelowo is also very good and displays wonderful character development throughout the film as his character grows from a boy into a man. Yaya Alafia also does very well as Louis' love interest, Carol. Cuba Gooding Jr and Lenny Kravitz are great to watch on screen, especially Gooding who provides much of the comedy relief. Although each of the actors who play the presidents do well, none of them are really given enough of a part to be outstanding. However, Minka Kelly and Jane Fonda, who play Jacqueline Kennedy and Nancy Reagan, do particularly well as the first ladies.

You can tell that The Butler intended to be far more than it actually is. Yet, it is still entertaining and a bit of fun to watch.

7/10

Salt

Salt
Year: 2010
Director: Phillip Noyce
Cast: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor

In My Own Words
Lets talk teaser posters and trailers. When I say teasers, that’s exactly what they are. They don’t reveal anything about the movie, or if they do, they only give you very little to work off. Not that it is a bad thing to let everyone know before the movie comes out what it is about because the majority of people want to know what they are getting themself into, but teasers create an air of excitement about the movie. I bring this up in this review because that is very much our first exposure to “Salt” was. The first poster released was a close up of Angelina Jolie’s face with the tagline “Who Is Salt?” What did this poster tell us about the movie? Besides the fact that Jolie is in it, nothing. Love her or hate her, there is no denying that Jolie has an amazing amount of star power. This is the first movie she has done since the birth of her twins, Knox and Vivienne and it is as though she never left. She is still box office magic whether people know what the movie is about or not.

Of course this tactic doesn’t work if a big star isn’t in it or if it isn’t a Disney movie. Disney is great at teasing. Let’s use “Up” as a case study. The poster and trailer for it reveal not much more than it is a movie about a man who lives in a house with balloons attached to it and his young friend and dog. The movie could go in any direction from there. “Inception” is also a great example of teasing. I would’ve given an award to anyone who could tell me what “Inception” was about after watching the first trailer released. It gave nothing away, but everyone was intrigued because there was Leonardo DiCaprio, it was directed by “The Dark Knight” director Christopher Nolan and there were some amazing special effects. I love the idea of teasers. They make the movie watching experience just that bit more exciting even before you step into cinema. Terrific marketing .

These are my own words and here is my review.

Review
“Who Is Salt?” The perfect tagline and the question that bugs you for 100 minutes through “Salt” and will for days after you have seen it. It is so refreshing to see a smart action film, one that combines great special effects, a smart script and a tough female lead. It is rare that an action film will challenge you so psychologically and rely solely on special effects and bomb blasts to move the film along and keep the audience entertained. Not to say that these aspects of the film aren’t entertaining or hurt the film, because they certainly do not. Evelyn Salt. She’s a CIA agent who is blissfully married to an arachnologist. Or is she who the strange Russian man who has turned himself into the CIA says she is, a Russian spy who is on a mission to kill the Russian president?

There is not much more you can say about “Salt’s” plot without giving away too much about the film. It is brilliantly written and exceptionally well directed by Phillip Noyce. It is far more mentally challenging than one would expect it to be based on the plot summary. It is not a lazy film by all means and far from a mindless action film. Throughout the film, it is a struggle to see where the film is going as it is completely unpredictable, another sign of great writing and directing. The cinematography is very well done with some great special effects and action shots throughout the film. For once, an action film that is not based on an old TV show, old movie or a comic book. It stands alone as a great story in itself. It is almost as though writer Kurt Wimmer, took a politics and decided to throw some action into the equation.

The Noyce and Angelina Jolie combination proves to be a winning combination, as it did now over 10 years ago in “The Bone Collector”. She is perfectly cast as Evelyn Salt. Not only does she cover all bases that a female action star should, she also shows her true acting ability. Everyone knows Jolie is a great actor, she has shown her versatility in many of her films and this is just another one of those films. She goes between two extremes in this film and does brilliantly at all times. She creates a great deal of mystery and the film would be nowhere near as successful as what it is without her. It is interesting that this film was originally written with a male as the lead, and that male lead was to be played by Tom Cruise. When he pulled out, Jolie stepped in and the film was rewritten with a female lead. It’s hard to see how the film would have been as good with a male lead, and having Tom Cruise as the lead would have been too much of a flashback to “The Firm”. Schreiber is as good as he can be in his role as Salt’s business partner, Ted Winter, but is better in some parts than others. Chiwetel Ejiofor is very good as Peabody, changing the way the audience sees him throughout the film.

Although Jolie is Salt and is the star of the film, she is not the only part of this film that makes “Salt” a winner. It is extremely clever and very well made. It is not only action fans or Angelina fans that will enjoy this film. Although a mentally strenuous film to watch at times, it is completely refreshing and a tribute to Noyce and to Jolie.
8/10