CarpenterKen

Wondering why director Tom McCarthy would not credit Academy Award nominee Richard Jenkins, who "appears" as a telephone voice. (McCarthy directed Jenkins to his Oscar nod in "The Visitor.")

Jenkins voices real-life psychotherapist Richard Sipe in several phone conversations, and his character adds very important information to the investigation at the heart of the film.

"Spotlight" joins a long list of excellent films about working journalists. Be sure to watch these, too:

• "All The President's Men" — The granddaddy of them all. (10 stars out of 10.)

• "Shattered Glass" (9 stars)

• "Absence of Malice" (9 stars)

• "Veronica Guerin" (10 stars)

• "State of Play" (8 stars ... starring Rachel McAdams, also in "Spotlight")

• "The Hunting Party" (8 stars)

• "The Paper" (8 stars ... starring Michael Keaton, also in "Spotlight")

• "The Bang-Bang Club" (9 stars)

• "The Insider" (9 stars)

— 30 —

Wow, how bad was that movie experience? Slow, boring, complicated,nearly impossible to follow story lines, lumbering acting, overly long ... I had high hopes for "Syrianna," but it was just a couple notches above truly awful. If this was supposed to be the second-coming of "Traffic," it got lost on the highway somewhere! Anyone who praises this film is a pretentious blow hard. It's crap, basically. Stephen Gaghan may have written "Traffic," but he shows very little talent as a director in this effort. He'll be relegated to screenplays from now on. And George Clooney needed a shower and a shave throughout the whole thing. I felt grimy when I walked out.