I get how important it is and yet I have to wonder where the greatness is

Rating: 7/10 (26 January 2016)

Chances are Spotlight will walk home with Best Picture of The Year at the Oscars. I'm calling it now. I was very excited to see it because I love Michael Keaton and last year's Birdman was so bizarre. Plus this seemed to be the type of film that could only be great with a great cast and an incredible, disturbing and important subject matter. Spotlight is fascinating. It's at least as good as Trumbo was but the problem with this and Trumbo is that both films were just good. Spotlight is based on the horrifying story of a team of reporters at the Boston Globe who single handedly uncover one of the biggest cover-ups in history of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. It's interesting, it's well acted but it's far from great. The pace is good, nothing gets in the way of the main story and there are strong performances from an ensemble cast. No one really "stars" in the film but rather everyone works at driving the important story. I felt like from an entertainment perspective it wasn't necessarily thrilling but it does tell the story decently. To me a Best Picture nominee should have all their ducks in a row and Spotlight doesn't really fit that bill for me being just "good."
Their is no real "star" in Spotlight because it's an ensemble cast. And despite the big names, no one really stands out because it's not a character driven story really. Still Michael Keaton (who has always been a favourite of mine) brings his usual style and chemistry to the picture and helps properly guide it. I think he gives the best performance even if it is subtle. Rachel McAdams is fantastic in general. I always enjoy her but her performance in this is barely existent and the fact she got an Oscar nomination seems ludicrous. But we all know this can be the case with Oscars. She is background character in this film. Mark Ruffalo is decent and shows a lot of emotion compared to some other characters. Liev Schrieber is also good but a role that is far too small much like Ruffalo's. John Slattery is always a good addition for a character actor but once again, too small of a role. Honestly, everyone else is even smaller roles including Stanley Tucci and Billy Crudup who could have used more screen time. I think the film could have been far more effective if some of the major players have been given more development.
It's hard to speak bad of a film that has received so many nominations and is the favourite it win the Best Picture Oscar but I feel like so far the nominations I've seen this year have been sub-par with the exception of Mad Max. I tend to think there is usually some great gems on the Best Picture list but Spotlight doesn't fill those shoes. Tom McCarthy isn't a well versed director and his previous film was one of the most made-fun of (Adam Sandler's The Cobbler) so how did he end up directing this and why does everything think it's "so great?" I mean Spotlight was good, it's a very important story but a "great picture?" No not even close. I don't know what the critics see in it but Spotlight is average and watchable but won't floor anyone, it certainly didn't floor me. 7/10