Criticwire normally steers away from rounding up festival Twitter reviews — you can follow our own Twitter feed for that — but the reaction to this morning’s press screening of “Spotlight” was exuberant enough to be worthy of serious note. Toronto has been slow to produce a breakout hit this year, but it sounds like Tom McCarthy’s fact-based drama about the Boston Globe’s investigation of pedophile priests might finally be it. After McCarthy’s nutsoid Adam Sandler “The Cobbler” was declared the worst movie of last year’s TIFF, it sounds as if he may have produced one of this year’s best.
Put SPOTLIGHT on A1, above the fold. One of the best films about journalism, how the big story is often buried in the back pages. #TIFF15
— Jake Coyle (@jakecoyleAP) September 14, 2015
SPOTLIGHT is my favorite movie of 2015, and one for all-time. Someone got journalism right, and it was masterful. I am staggering. #TIFF15
— Josh Lincoln Dickey (@JLDlite) September 14, 2015
SPOTLIGHT is tremendous. Thomas McCarthy directed my least favorite movie of 2014, he has now directed my favorite movie of 2015. #tiff15
— Mike Ryan (@mikeryan) September 14, 2015
SPOTLIGHT is flawless: A rigorous, humane investigation story that left this lapsed Catholic (and child of newspaper people) teary. #TIFF15
— Brian Raftery (@BrianRaftery) September 14, 2015
#Spotlight (Boston Globe v. Catholic Church) is excellent. Riveting, economical, propulsive, great characters. I loved it. #TIFF15
— Kate Aurthur (@KateAurthur) September 14, 2015
SPOTLIGHT: A gloriously grown-up and well-cast procedural about the work, the cost, and the impact of great investigative journalism.
— Alison Willmore (@alisonwillmore) September 14, 2015
SPOTLIGHT: Feels like a great disservice to a movie about the importance of longform journalism to tweet a review. Nonetheless: Superb.
— Matt Singer (@mattsinger) September 14, 2015
SPOTLIGHT is terrific. So well structured, paced, written, acted. It’s really something #TIFF15
— Richard Lawson (@rilaws) September 14, 2015
SPOTLIGHT is going to be a big deal.
— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) September 14, 2015
My favorite part of SPOTLIGHT was how it assured me THE COBBLER was an anomaly, not a new status quo, in Thomas McCarthy’s career #TIFF15
— Alexander Huls (@alxhuls) September 14, 2015
SPOTLIGHT: Feels like a great disservice to a movie about the importance of longform journalism to tweet a review. Nonetheless: Superb.
— Matt Singer (@mattsinger) September 14, 2015
SPOTLIGHT: Riveting, fact-based newspaper procedural gets the details right and thankfully avoids sweeping melodrama. #TIFF15
— Piers Marchant (@Kafkaesque83) September 14, 2015
I wish SPOTLIGHT had the visual snap of ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN. The performances are so great, and it builds so well. I hereby say “A-“.
— Jordan Hoffman (@jhoffman) September 14, 2015
It’s instructive how much better SPOTLIGHT is than TRUTH. Still too speech-y but has more snap/feels more lived-in. Ensemble excels. #TIFF15
— Noel Murray (@NoelMu) September 14, 2015
SPOTLIGHT: Everything it should be and more. Strong peformances, taut direction, and a focus on what matters in the story. #TIFF15
— Noah Gittell (@ReelChanger) September 14, 2015
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