All The Pope's Men

Journalism. A profession which involves a lot of writing, a bit of research, and occasionally, some changing the face of a country. There was Watergate in 1972, the revelation of the extent of the NSA's surveillance in 2013, and there was even The Daily Telegraph's discovery of the MPs Expenses scandal in 2009. But the journalists of today's film did not just upset a nation. They upset a worldwide institution. This is Spotlight.

The 'Spotlight' department of The Boston Globe are a specialist group of investigative journalists headed up by Walter 'Robby' Robinson (Michael Keaton) and when the new boss, Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber), takes over the running of the Globe, he notices an old article on child molestation by a priest. Eager for the story to be followed up, Robby's department is nominated to look into it. The process is simple - Matt Carroll (Brian d'Arcy James) looks into the old clippings on the topic, Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams) looks into the potential victims, and Mike Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo) runs around the city looking for any more leads - but what they discover is much more difficult to handle. Several dozen covered up cases of molestation by priests in the Boston area, and the revelations just keep coming.

The Spotlight team

It is rare for a film to completely embrace the notion of an acting ensemble; a cast that works as a unit, all cogs functioning in harmony to create a riveting piece of cinema. There is no lead in the traditional sense, there is four of them. Of the four, Ruffalo's Rezendes particularly stands out from the pack. He is the most energetic of the group, dashing into offices, charming information out of Stanley Tucci's Garabedian, and essentially pestering anyone who might know anything. But this is a cast all at the top of their game. Keaton continues his fine form after Birdman last year, and this is easily a career high for McAdams and d'Arcy James.

Michael Keaton and Rachel McAdams as
Walter 'Robby' Robinson and Sacha Pfeiffer 

Spotlight is not comfortable viewing. Around every corner there is a further revelation that takes us deeper into the rabbit hole of the church's actions and their cover ups. What makes Spotlight so exciting, however, is the thrill of finding out how deep that rabbit hole goes and how the characters navigate through that darkness to gain their answers. Written with wit, intelligence, and sincerity, the film perfectly balances a disturbing subject matter with a light handling and effective editing. Take a scene where two victims are interviewed simultaneously and the camera cuts between the two, never allowing the audience to listen to a full dialogue, but exposing the full story through the similarities of the two testimonies. Its narrative is gritty, but it is honest; the Catholic Church have even praised the film for its representation of the facts.

There a few examples in film that so clearly demonstrate the snowball effect as the story grows larger and darker. The bitter taste left in your mouth as the credits roll remind you that his is real. That this happened. It is no All The President's Men - the film's closest relative - but the story is one that is just as worthy, if not more so, of being told. Spotlight does just that, and does it brilliantly.

History In Paris

Every so often a film comes out that people are aware of, but no one seems to know what it is. For me, this was Midnight in Paris. I knew of it, but I wasn't sure what it was going to be or if it would even be any good. I sat down to watch it, completely clueless about what I should expect. Knowing it was nominated for four Oscars (Direction, Screenplay, Art Direction and Picture, and it being recommended to me by several people, I was getting rather excited for it. So does it live up to its, somewhat secretive, hype?

The film opens with a variety of shots showing Paris throughout the day, right through until midnight. We then get thrown into writer, Gil, (Owen Wilson) and his fiancée, Inez, (Rachel McAdams) life as they are visiting Paris. Gil wants to move to Paris once they are married but Inez disagrees. Gil truly believes that living in Paris will do wonders for his creativity so that he can move on from screenplays and write proper literature. While in Paris, the couple hit some speed bumps. Gil has problems with his novel, old friends Carol (Nina Arianda) and pedantic academic Paul (Michael Sheen) begin to take over their time, Gil and Inez’s parents disagree on very fundamental things. Gil gets stressed by all this and goes for a midnight stroll. On this stroll, he is picked up by a car on the dot of midnight that takes him back in time to the 20s, what Gil considers to be the Golden era. The film tells the story of a man meeting his idols and taking a journey of discovery in both art, and life. 

The Hangover Part III was going to be slightly more formal.

I think it is completely safe to claim that this is Owen Wilson's best performance to date. He is absolutely perfect in this role. Admittedly, Woody Allen did rewrite the role for him, but that's unimportant. He is a perfect combination of charming, lovable, accepting, and, most importantly, real. There's something very real about Wilson's performance. Gil is a hardly a character; he is completely believable as a real man. He comes to life through Wilson. The rest of the cast are excellent too. It's nice to see familiar faces popping up in supporting roles throughout the movie. Tom Hiddleston appears as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Alison Pill (a.k.a Kim (a.k.a the drummer) from Scott Pilgrim) is his emotionally unstable spouse. Adrien Brody appears as a very funny and surreal Salvador Dali, or DAH-LEE, as he exclaims when he meets Gil. Kathy Bates and Marion Cotillard play important parts in Gil's adventures as Gertrude Stein and Adriana respectively. Also performing to perfection is Michael Sheen as Paul. His perfectly agitating character is a brilliant example of a person who does nothing seriously wrong except conform to all of your pet peeves. A nice guy who you cannot stand captured perfectly.

'I swear, the fish was this big'

This is screenplay writing at it's best. A solid contender for the Screenplay Oscar. The dialogue is completely flawless and smooth (except when it's not meant to be) and it touches every emotion the heart can feel. It blends fiction and fact sublimely. This is Woody Allen on form. The score and soundtrack are absolutely wonderful. There's either a French heart or an upbeat 1920s rhythm to every song that plays and it is an example of the music perfectly setting the scene in a movie. The camera work shows some glimpses of beauty. There's a wonderful tracking shot early in the movie that perfectly follows Gil, Inez, Paul, and Carol as they wander French monuments. It's cheating I suppose, to shoot a movie in Paris, as every shot is guaranteed to look wonderful. This is some of Woody Allen's best directing in a long time and will be placed just under the likes of Annie Hall and Manhatten.

A delightfully charming, exceptionally witty, and wonderfully satisfying piece of cinema. It is submerged in art and literature and drips culture but doesn’t require its audience to be pretentious art collectors. At points it’s hilarious and at others, very touching. A great story told in a fantastic way. Owen Wilson at his best and Woody Allen returning to form. A perfectly solid film. Completely enjoyable. Definitely one of the most all–round decent films of 2011. A must see. 

Best bit? This is really hard. There's a wonderful laugh out loud joke at the very end, but I'll go with the discussions over Picasso's Adriana; firstly in the 1920s and then again in 2010. Classic.