10th Anniversary TLDR: Spotlight (2005)
This is not just Boston. It's the whole country. It's the whole world.
Plot: The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.
Direction: This is Tom McCarthy's best movie by far. He never wrote or directed anything this good again and it's unlikely that he will rack up this many awards and accolades - with his Oscar nomination for a story credit on Up the closest he's otherwise been. If he keeps making movies like Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made, Spotlight will be his opus. And that would be alright with me - it's excellent.
Screenplay: McCarthy co-wrote the screenplay with Josh Singer, whose next project was Spielberg's newspaper picture The Post - don't you hate it when Hollywood pigeonholes you? Their Oscar-winning screenplay is about as tight as it gets, an excellent rollercoaster of emotions, perfectly structured, and every scene ends with a great button. It still holds up.
Performances: This is a Murderers' Row of great actors. The Globe team alone is Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams (gosh, I just love her), Brian d'Arcy James (I'm so glad movie audiences got to see how great this stage actor is) Liev Schreiber, and John Slattery. Then we get Stanley Tucci, Billy Crudup, and Len Cariou for support. And then we get all of those great testimonial performances. Everywhere you turn, it's a great actor.
Cinematography: Masanobu Takayanagi is Tom McCarthy's guy, which means, luckily for him, he got to shoot Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made (I promise that's a real movie.)
Best Moment: Brian d'Arcy James realizing who his neighbors are.
Fun Fact: There aren't a whole lot of "fun" facts when it comes to Spotlight, so we will go with this - Spotlight was the first movie since 1952's The Greatest Show on Earth to win Best Picture but only one other Oscar.
Imaginary Accolade: Fourth Most Boston Movie Ever, behind The Town, The Departed, and Good Will Hunting
Everything is too long! Is it too long? It's one of the very few times I wish this was made now so it could be a six-episode series.
Rating: Deservedly won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Credit: Plot synopsis from Letterboxd via TMDb.