UNITED STATES
Las Vegas Review-Journal

By Christopher Lawrence
Las Vegas Review-Journal

It isn’t quite as foolhardy as asking a teenage girl to lead a rebellion against a brutal police state.

But it’s close.

Both “Spotlight” and “Room” deal with the trauma of sexual abuse. As two of the year’s best films, they’re expected to be Oscar contenders. And they both face an uphill battle at the box office while most moviegoers will be occupied with “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2.”

It’s a tough task, but if any small films can gain traction against Katniss Everdeen, it would be these.

“Spotlight” follows the Boston Globe’s investigation that exposed the Catholic Church’s protection of pedophile priests. And, much like the explosive stories that followed, there’s very little flashy about it.

Upon his arrival from Miami, new Globe editor Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber) tasks the paper’s Spotlight team —…