SPOTLIGHT [2015]

Tom McCarthy was well on his way to becoming one of my favorite film directors but then The Cobbler dropped out of his ass and all that blew to hell.
Fortunately he redeems himself with the biographical drama Spotlight.
Based on the 2001 true story of a group of Boston Globe investigative reporters who struggle to expose a massively buried series of child sex abuse scandals, spanning across decades, within the local Catholic priest community.
It's impressive ensemble cast are fully committed to allowing the story speak for itself making it all the more engrossing with unglamorous believability.  Quite often films like this seem to bury themselves in holier-than-thou self-gratification but Spotlight is just as interested in honest journalism as it is solid story-telling.  It's an engrossing testament to why we can't forget about the blood, sweat & tears put into disappearing newsprint journalism in the digital age of social media.

3½ missing documents out of 5

THE COBBLER [2014]

With strong leading performances from Peter Dinklage, Richard Jenkins and Paul Giamatti in his previous works, I found it odd that director Thomas McCarthy would pick Adam Sandler for his latest film, The Cobbler.
A depressed shoe repair man discover when he steps into someone else's shoes he actually physically becomes the footwear's owners.  With Sandler in the lead I was somewhat doubtful of this film, but McCarthy's previous movies all impressed me so that gave me some hope for this one.  That hope was diminished pretty quickly with this unbalanced disaster.  It can't decide if it's a McCarthy character piece or a juvenille Sandler flick and with that it never manages to join the two comfortably in the middle.  The former SNL funnyman is at his best when he's restrained, as he effectively proven before but there's far too many flashes of his manboy humor just threatening to boil over into this unfocused mess.

1 pickle out of 5

WIN WIN [2011]

I love how the harmless simplicity of Thomas McCarthy films leave room for the characters to flourish in a funny yet realistic manner like in The Station Agent or Pixar's UP.  The Paul Giamatti led drama Win Win continues this wonderful tradition.
The premise doesn't really stand out as anything amazing but it's the writing, characters and performances that make the film memorable and worth recommending.  It occasionally stands on the edge of sappy schmaltz but somehow manages to narrowly avoid it with well-timed humour and believability.

3½ noisy hot water heaters out of 5

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THE VISITOR [2008]

Much like Thomas McCarthy's previous film, The Station Agent, The Visitor sneaks up on you, then floors you with it's thoughtful and emotional impact.

The story focuses on a lonely man who is introduced to the world of playing music at a late age and then the horrors of racial identity in a post-911 New York.

Richard Jenkins and Hiam Abass give in absolutely compelling performances that demand recognition.  It follows an obvious formula but McCarthy has a knack for evading all the cliches along the way and never comes off as phony schmaltz.

4 kick ass jam sessions out of 5