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Spotlight poster

Movies that feel likeSpotlight (2015)

The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.

If you loved Spotlight, the closest films we have are Black Mass (2015), Just Mercy (2019) and BlacKkKlansman (2018). All three share Spotlight's contemplative and epic feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Andrei Rublev (1966).

🍅 97% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.1 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Tom McCarthycontemplativeepicgritty
7 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Apple TV

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If Spotlight hit the spot, these will too

Black Mass poster
Black Mass
2015 · dir. Scott Cooper
🍅 74%★ 6.8drama · crime · history

Common ground: a true story

The difference: Sits closer to crime than Spotlight does

The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.

Just Mercy poster
Just Mercy
2019 · dir. Destin Daniel Cretton
🍅 85%★ 7.6drama · crime · history

Both are built on the same subject: judge

The powerful true story of Harvard-educated lawyer Bryan Stevenson, who goes to Alabama to defend the disenfranchised and wrongly condemned — including Walter McMillian, a man sentenced to death despite evidence proving his innocence. Bryan fights tirelessly for Walter with the system stacked against them.

BlacKkKlansman poster
BlacKkKlansman
2018 · dir. Spike Lee
🍅 95%★ 7.5crime · drama · historyRent or buy

Both keep coming back to the same thing: a true story

Colorado Springs, late 1970s. Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer, and Flip Zimmerman, his Jewish colleague, run an undercover operation to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.

Killers of the Flower Moon poster
Killers of the Flower Moon
2023 · dir. Martin Scorsese
🍅 93%★ 7.5crime · history · dramaApple TV+

Both land stillness and scale at once

When oil is discovered in 1920s Oklahoma under Osage Nation land, the Osage people are murdered one by one—until the FBI steps in to unravel the mystery.

Gangs of New York poster
Gangs of New York
2002 · dir. Martin Scorsese
🍅 72%★ 7.5drama · history · crimeParamount+Starz

Drama with a pulse of grit, in both cases

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

In early 1860s New York, Irish immigrant Amsterdam Vallon is released from prison and returns to the Five Points, seeking revenge against his father's killer, William Cutting, a powerful anti-immigrant gang leader. He knows that revenge can only be attained by infiltrating Cutting's inner circle. Vallon's journey becomes a fight for personal survival and to find a place for the Irish people.

All the Money in the World poster
All the Money in the World
2017 · dir. Ridley Scott
🍅 79%★ 6.8crime · history · thrillerRent or buy

Epic history, and it commits to that

The difference: Takes it somewhere less contemplative than Spotlight does

The story of the kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III and the desperate attempt by his devoted mother to convince his billionaire grandfather Jean Paul Getty to pay the ransom.

J. Edgar poster
J. Edgar
2011 · dir. Clint Eastwood
🍅 44%★ 6.5drama · crime · history

Drama built on stillness, twice over

As the face of law enforcement in the United States for almost 50 years, J. Edgar Hoover was feared and admired, reviled and revered. But behind closed doors, he held secrets that would have destroyed his image, his career, and his life.

The Revenant poster
The Revenant
2015 · dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu
🍅 78%★ 8western · drama · adventureMax

Gritty history in both cases

In the 1820s, a frontiersman, Hugh Glass, sets out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling.

The Post poster
The Post
2017 · dir. Steven Spielberg
🍅 88%★ 7.2drama · historyMax

Reporters tracing a cover-up all the way to the top of government

The difference: A publisher's courage story, less about the grind of reporting

A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country's first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented battle between journalist and government. Inspired by true events.

The Last Duel poster
The Last Duel
2021 · dir. Ridley Scott
🍅 85%★ 7.3drama · historyRent or buy

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

King Charles VI declares that Knight Jean de Carrouges settle his dispute with his squire, Jacques Le Gris, by challenging him to a duel.

Patriots Day poster
Patriots Day
2016 · dir. Peter Berg
🍅 80%★ 7.3action · crime · dramaPrime Video

Another one that scratches it

In the aftermath of an unspeakable act of terror, Police Sergeant Tommy Saunders joins courageous survivors, first responders and investigators in a race against the clock to hunt down the Boston Marathon bombers before they strike again.

Andrei Rublev poster
Andrei Rublev
1966 · dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
🍅 96%★ 8drama · history

A streak of grit through both

The difference: Made in the 1960s, in a different era of the craft

An expansive Russian drama, this film focuses on the life of revered religious icon painter Andrei Rublev. Drifting from place to place in a tumultuous era, the peace-seeking monk eventually gains a reputation for his art. But after Rublev witnesses a brutal battle and unintentionally becomes involved, he takes a vow of silence and spends time away from his work. As he begins to ease his troubled soul, he takes steps towards becoming a painter once again.

In the mood for more contemplative?

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The best-reviewed films that share Spotlight’s defining feeling.