Movie Review: Lion (2016) “Beautiful Story A Bit Long in the Telling”

Every now and again when the Academy announces its nominees for Best Picture they manage to throw me a curveball of a film I’ve heard absolutely nothing about (and that’s kind of hard to do).  I remember two years ago when Whiplash got nominated and I thought, what is this?  A movie about a jazz band?  How good can that be?  Phenomenally good.  This year’s curveball was Lion, and while I have my issues with it and it’s certainly no Whiplash, I probably never would have seen this amazing story without the spotlight of the Oscars, so I big them a rare thank you (I know, it’s shocking; don’t worry, I’ll make up for it on Oscar night and the world will return to….what passes for normal now).