Reviewing the Drama: Broadway, Off-Broadway, Ballet, Movies, and TV Reviews

The nominees for the 88th Academy Awards have been announced. Herein, the full list of nominees. Best Picture The Big Short Bridge of Spies Brooklyn Mad Max: Fury Road The Martian The Revenant Room Spotlight Not that I've seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens , but I'm surprised it is not nominated. There are available slots (there are only eight nominees; there could be ten), and the number of possible nominees was expanded in recent years specifically to make room for blockbusters like Star Wars . Given the nominees, I'd say The Revenant has the edge (it's well represented throughout the full nomination list), though I'm actually rooting for Spotlight in this category. I think it's a powerful film, and represents film making 101: compelling story told well with fantastic actors.   Best Actor in a Leading Role Bryan Cranston , Trumbo Matt Damon , The Martian Leonardo DiCaprio , The Revenant Michael Fassbender , Steve Jobs Eddie Redmayne...

There's been Network . All the President's Men. The Newsroom . Last year's Nightcrawler . All look at the state of the fourth estate. They have different takes, but they make us confront what we expect of journalism. Tom McCarthy 's Spotlight  follows in that tradition, and it makes a powerful impact. Spotlight  (written by McCarthy and Josh Singer ) tells the true story of the Boston Globe reporters who broke the Boston church sex scandal in 2002. The four-reporter team made up the paper's Spotlight division, a vertical dedicated to long-form investigative journalism. There's the self-described player–coach, Walter "Robby" Robinson (Michael Keaton), and his three tenacious team members, Mike Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams), and Matt Carroll (Brian d'Arcy James). The Globe  had covered pieces of the alleged sex scandal before, but when the new editor, Marty Baron ( Liev Schreiber ), arrives, he makes it a Spotlight pie...