Based on the real life, journalistic investigation of the Catholic priest scandal, Spotlight is a compelling dramatization of the events around the Boston Globe. There’s a great cast that includes Michael Keaton, Stanley Tucci, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber and others. The stand out actor, however, is Mark Ruffalo. Ruffalo’s intensity as a relentless, dedicated journalist is just great. His accent and body language is so nuanced and natural.

For those of you that lived in a cave on the moon with your fingers in your ears, this is the priest scandal that broke wide open the Catholic Church’s hiding of pedophile priests. The great thing about the movie is that director Tom McCarthy doesn’t over dramatize the events. There’s not love story wedged in there and the characters’ actions and reaction feel very natural. It’s refreshing to see a movie that concentrates on telling the story without adding a lot of unnecessary flair.

Spotlight is a great flick. See it on HBO or On-Demand before it gets rotated out of the line up.

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