Just got out of an opening night screening here in LA, followed by a Q&A with director Thomas McCarthy, and mark my words... unless Carol heats up, The Revenant is an absolute masterpiece (which it may very well be), or Joy somehow manages to stand out among an incredibly busy Christmas Day slate... Spotlight is your 2015 Best Picture winner. There is absolutely nothing splashy about it - it's as straightforward and stripped down as a movie can be - but man, it's just so incredibly good. Like a modern day All the President's Men, with a hell of an ensemble cast...

- Michael Keaton
- Mark Ruffalo
- Rachel McAdams
- Leiv Schreiber
- Stanley Tucci
- John Slattery
- Billy Crudup

I won't detail the plot here - just watch the trailer below - and then see this one the second it hits your city. It's out in New York, LA, and Boston this weekend, and begins expanding next weekend (check the rollout schedule here: http://spotlightmovietheaters.com ). Not only is this an important movie, but they rarely make 'em like this anymore, and it deserves all the attention it can get. Can't wait to hear what you guys think.

Average Joe here. Looks good, and will definitely watch.

Help me out with why movies get limited release when they are supposed to be Oscar-worthy. Is flyover country still not important to the patrician elites in Hollywood?

It has absolutely nothing to do with ignoring "flyover country" or anything like that...

A) Movies cost a sh*t ton of money to release. Many smaller films / distributors simply don't have the budget to release a movie in every theater nation wide, on day one.

B) Movies cost a sh*t ton of money to market. Many smaller films / distributors simply have the budget for a big / proper marketing campaign.

C) So, if a movie fits either or both of those criteria, and it's good / Oscar worthy, a limited release can be a way to market the movie - for free - by word of mouth. The buzz / anticipation builds, and then the distributor can count on the audience to likely be there when they do put the money down to expand to more theaters.

Do you really think Hollywood "elites" don't want to make money? That they're content only releasing in New York and Los Angeles? Trust me, Hollywood wants to make money by any means necessary. If it was viable to release something like Spotlight nationwide, on day one, they would.

Also, you put a movie like Spotlight in wide release against something like Spectre and the story is, "Spectre dominates the box office with $75M, Spotlight comes in seventh at $4M." Instead, Spotlight, releasing in only six theaters, will likely have a higher per-screen average than Spectre, and that becomes a story. And instead of making $4M this weekend and then fading away, with a rollout release, Spotlight stays in the conversation longer, because it's NEW to different parts of the country every week for an entire month, and also something that's increasing its box office every week, which becomes yet another story.

Oscars are elitist, so the less money this makes, the likelier it is to get BP.

Ahem, titanic

Looks good to me.

Thanks TC.

We all want a chance to see great movies without having to go to one of the coasts to see them in a theater.

I, like many others, am not a fan of the Oscars whenever they decide to award a film that causes the general public to collectively say "when did that come out?". It gives off an air of hipsterish "you've probably never heard of it" syndrome from the Academy and it's members.

Just a reminder that this hits Dallas and Houston tomorrow. Austin next week...

http://spotlightmovietheaters.com

I was in tears during certain parts of this movie. Constant chills during the rest. Could not recommend this movie more.

I wonder when Hollywood is going to make a movie about their hidden pedophile problems.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/05/hollywood-s-pedophilia-epidemic-exposed-in-an-open-secret.html

Woody Allen
Roman Polanski

Etc etc.

Meanwhile, they do a dozen movies on this same scandal. Just seems curious.

As a pure spectator, cannot wait to see this movie.

Anyone else seen this yet? It's officially out in College Station today, along with a few other major Texas cities...

http://spotlightmovietheaters.com

Very good movie...

Oh here's the thread. This is my favorite movie of the year, seen it twice now. It's powerful, low-key, and has an amazing ensemble cast that will be hard to beat this year.
A+

I've heard very good things. Hopefully it's still in theaters when I've got time to see it in a few weeks.

This is the one about journalism, right? I got my degree in Journalism from A&M so I'm looking forward to seeing it. How does it compare to The Paper? And is it pure coincidence that Keaton is in both?

This movie was incredible. I truly hope this wins best picture of the year. Well deserving! Ruffalo and Keaton could/should win as well so believable in their roles.

For 7 years, I prosecuted child sexual assault cases. Worst of the worst! This movie did a great job showing the hopelessness you feel when you are trying to help the survivors.

Loved this movie.

Waiting to see Revenant next. I saw Spotlight last night.

But this is the best film of the year. Every scene & every minute of the film digs you deeper into the investigation.

Awesome movie

Finally watched it on iTunes. I echo everyone's sentiment. Great movie.

I've seen 5 of the 8 BP nominees (still missing Big Short, Revenant, and Room) and I have no issues if this takes home the prize. It isn't splashy or inventive or original, it's just old school storytelling done extremely well.

Saw it a couple of weeks ago. Great movie. Incredibly disturbing topic. Even if you are fairly well informed on it.

Saw this last night and found it an amazing movie. Ruffalo in particular did a great job of bringing personality and life to his character.

Finally was able to watch. Fantastic. Ruffalo great as always

Good movie. Discusting what happened to those children. How many thousands of lives were ruined. To me there is nothing lower.

Saw this last weekend. I thought it was excellent. The entire cast was great and I thought the hype Ruffalo is getting is well deserved, but personally I thought Liev Schreiber had the best performance. The role was probably too small to be deserving of an award nomination, but I thought he absolutely knocked it out of the park.

Just watched this and if there is a better movie this year I'd like to see it. The whole thing was incredible and just a gut punch the whole time.

I don't think enough can ever be made
Of this story and the end when they published that over 1,000 victims came forward and then published the names of the cities really drove it home. I'm glad the movie was made to put more attention on this subject and I hope that it further impacts the establishment as a whole.

A lot of the times I think Hollywood and some media outlets overstate their importance in the world, but all I can think aboutroght now is how important a role they can play.

Bravo

Saw it last night on OnDemand. Great movie about the dying art of investigative journalism, almost as good as All the President's Men. Interesting that Cardinal Law now has a nice job at the Vatican.

Watched this a few days ago and really enjoyed it. I felt it was a little slow to get going, but once it did the storytelling was great. It didn't have as strong of an emotional impact as Room for me, and obviously doesn't have the stunning visuals of Mad Max or The Revenant, but overall it was very well done with a fantastic ensemble cast.

Really interesting how the emotional impact of the story in many ways play second to the journalists battle to get the story written in the first place. It's as much a story of the newspaper business as it is about the molestation of children

I've watched every Best Picture nominee (except for The Room) and in my opinion Best Picture should go to Spotlight or Brooklyn. I don't think that The Academy will agree with me, but those are my Top 2.

Lies, nobody has seen Brooklyn.

I saw Brooklyn. It was good.

I've seen 7 of the 8 (missing Revenant) and Room was my personal favorite.

Saw this last night and echo what everyone is saying. When they found out that it wasn't 13 but 87 in the Boston area alone was very shocking to me as a viewer. Then when 1k victims and then listing all the cities in the world, very sad and shocking.
One question I have that really wasn't discussed is why? Why is this part of the Catholic culture and why did some many priest in the Boston area do these things? I thought they were going to address this when RMcA finds the older priest who was very forthcoming with his molestation background and he even said because that is what happened to him. But that was all. Are we to believe that these 87 priest are abusers that just happen to be priests? Or is the priesthood and Catholic culture that made them abuse others?
Just some after viewing thoughts....

Rooting for Spotlight tonight, followed by Room and the Revenant