Spotlight

This stands as one of the all-time great films about newspaper reporting, and the story at its center is a remarkable one. In 2001, Spotlight, an investigative division of the Boston Globe, gets tasked with investigating child-molesting priests. What starts as a few cases grows to near 90 criminal priests in the Boston area alone, none of them criminally prosecuted. There are many performers in this film worth noting, but a special kudos goes out to Mark Ruffalo as Mike Rezendes, the real life reporter who helped bring the story to the public. Ruffalo captures the spirit of a hungry reporter without resorting to any clichés. His Rezendes just feels like the real thing, and there's a moment where he loses his temper, giving Ruffalo one of the better screen moments 2015 has to offer. He's not alone in the brilliant category. Michael Keaton is terrific as Walter ‘Robby' Robinson, the Spotlight editor who suddenly finds himself and his staff up against a powerful Catholic Church. Rachel McAdams is totally convincing as reporter Sacha Pfeiffer, while Liev Schreiber gets his best role in years as head editor Marty Baron. The film also costars Stanley Tucci, John Slattery and Billy Crudup. They, and everything about this film, are first rate.