SPOTLIGHT: This Little Light of Mine

Director: Tom McCarthy
Writers: Josh Singer, Tom McCarthy
Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci, Brian d'Arcy James
Runtime: 128 mins.
2015

I can't think of anything special about Spotlight. That sounds like a slight but in this case it is not. As a friend put it on facebook, 2015 has been a great year for solid, classical filmmaking. Spotlight may be the foremost example of this, a procedural drama low on panache but high on unshakable craftsmanship.

The film follows the Boston Globe's Spotlight team of investigative reporters through every step of their journey down the rabbit hole of child molestation in the Catholic Church. The ordeal begins inauspiciously enough, with the team digging around an old story while trying to remain sensitive towards the power and respect that the Church commands in their city. As threads start to unravel, it becomes clear that this is not an isolated incident, but rather a wide-ranging systemic cover-up. The scandal grows, and the team finds that they have poked an enormous cultural hornets' nest.

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON - Growing Pains

Director: Joss Whedon
Writer: Joss Whedon
Cast: Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, James Spader, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Paul Bettany, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Andy Serkis
Runtime: 141 mins.
2015

The Avengers: Age of Ultron is immediately different than its predecessor: it opens with a bang and a crackle. Scene 1 has the Avengers careening through a snowy wood, laying the ever-loving beatdown on a host of HYDRA thugs. Far more engaging than the dank exploding bunker opening of The Avengers, Age of Ultron shows the group at the height of camaraderie and teamwork. We see definitively that the Avengers are back. For now.

So begins the first of many comparisons between this game-changing series' first and second installments. The comparisons are unavoidable, occasionally unflattering, and often enlightening. Age of Ultron is a movie about growing pains. It's droopier, gloopier, stuffier, and a great deal more complex than the original. So if you're looking for more of the same thrills of discovery and wonder, you might be disappointed. Rightly so. Not everything can be a beginning, and the honeymoon phase has to end sometime. Joss Whedon seems to know this better than anyone, and gives us an Age of Ultron that has a handful of flaws, numerous successes, and never stops challenging the viewer.

Which is better? Everyone will benefit if we put that question to bed right now. Age of Ultron is a step forward in development, which means change has to happen, and change can be hard. But that doesn't mean fresh newborns are inherently better than awkward adolescents.