There are a couple of different ways to start the review for Spotlight. I could talk about the cast (quite possibly the ensemble cast of the year). I could talk about the hypocrisy that is organized religion. I will mention both of these in this post. But I will start with the old-fashioned newspaper reporting that used to be our number source of reliable news. In many ways, it is unfortunate that newspapers aren’t what they used to be, nor will they ever be again. With the invention of the Internet, it was only a matter of time before most newspapers folded while others had to majorly trim their staff, editions, and the number of pages produced with each issue. Where will The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, and The New York Times be in 20 years? Well, if the changes in the previous 20 years are any indication, I’m not sure these newspapers will even be around in 20 years. If they are, they might be entirely electronically based. There will still be a place for prominent metropolitan newspapers, but it will not be in the print variety. There are still things that I am interested in in the Washington DC area that I feel can only be fully addressed in something like The Washington Post. Still, I haven’t purchased a physical newspaper in over a decade and only read one if I saw it sitting at a bar when I’m eating dinner, in the school library, etc. Likewise, I go online to The Washington Post to get the same information that I cannot find elsewhere, but their website isn’t nearly as user-friendly as some other sites I go to. And finally, after I read several articles, I’m told that I reached my limit for the month and that I need to pay for a subscription to read anymore. Well…how hard is it to use a different device that hasn’t yet recognized me to access the same material? And am I going to need to read more than five articles a month? Nope. I have other resources that I still have at my disposal. Long story short…I still want and need these major newspaper articles to survive. Yet, I haven’t given a cent towards any of these papers in over a decade, and I don’t plan to. If these newspapers are going to survive, they need to do something to tap into my monetary resources.
Continue reading Spotlight (2015)
Category Archives: Liev Schreiber
A Walk on the Moon (1999)
I somewhat have an affinity for Viggo Mortensen (The Road, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring). His movie Eastern Promises (the only film he has received an Academy Award nomination for) was the first movie I ever reviewed for my blog. It wasn’t the most straightforward movie to review and one that I would like to see one day again and then read what I wrote for that first review, but that will be something that comes later. He’s a solid actor who seems to do fewer and fewer movies each year, but when he’s on his A-game, there aren’t many who are better. I had never heard of A Walk On the Moon before it showed up as a Netflix recommendation. I quickly threw it in the queue, and I’m glad I did. In addition to a fabulous performance by Mortensen, this was a solid movie with one of the significant foundations of human life at the forefront. It’s the most surprising movie I’ve seen this year, and I may have to reevaluate my 1999 top 10 list. I’m guessing this movie won’t be quite good enough to get on there, but there might be a chance. Maybe this review will be the deciding factor.
Continue reading A Walk on the Moon (1999)
Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013)
Lee Daniels’ The Butler was a well-made movie that many thought would receive multiple Academy Award nominations. It was a good movie, but certainly not one of the ten best of the year. There were fine performances given by the leads Forest Whitaker – (The Last King of Scotland, The Crying Game) and Oprah Winfrey (The Color Purple, Beloved). Still, neither gave one of the top five performances of the year in their category. In addition, director Lee Daniels (Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, The Paperboy) told a story that keeps you interested and involved, but this did not match the direction of Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave) or Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity). In short, this was a good movie worth seeing, but one that most likely would not have been nominated for an Academy Awards, regardless of the year of release. Continue reading Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013)
The Painted Veil (2006)
I will mark The Painted Veil as the best movie I may have *never* seen. A friend and I talked about how much we each love (500 Days) of Summer, and she said I needed to see The Painted Veil, her second favorite movie. She and I have very similar tastes in pop culture, so I told her I would give it a chance. I remember seeing the preview back in 2006 and thinking it was just another typical romantic period piece that I would probably find boring. I was more than pleasantly surprised. This movie was incredible, and I’m so grateful my friend and I had the conversation we had, and she encouraged me to see it.
Continue reading The Painted Veil (2006)
Salt (2010)
The one thing I kept focusing on during my viewing of Salt was that this movie was written specifically with the idea that Tom Cruise would be playing the lead role. Instead, Cruise opted to co-star with Cameron Diaz in the romantic adventure Knight and Day. And while Knight and Day was pleasantly entertaining and a movie I recommend, Cruise would have preferred to have Salt in his filmography rather than Knight and Day. I believe he took Knight and Day because the role allowed him to be a quirky, jovial type of character and also because many might identify Salt as a Mission Impossible franchise movie.