Riveting, taut, and incredibly well written and acted.

Rating: Null/10 (29 November 2015)

Pretty much everything I expected it to be. Taut, riveting, very refined in its writing and filmmaking. The film chooses not tell its story in an overly dramatic, broad, sentimental way and it works wonders. It's also able to develop its ensemble cast of characters without having to dive deeply into their lives to force more sentimentality, which I think is always a strength with a film like this. Like many others have said, there isn't one performance that screams "award winning!', but it's a great ensemble cast. I had heard some complaints about Ruffalo acting with a capital A like he did in The Normal Heart, but thankfully he was fantastic and very much in line with the rest of the film. It's very much a journalism film, it's clinical without being overly so, which I do think will be a reason the Academy goes for it. Best Picture winner though? Hard to say. It may certainly be a consensus choice, but I do feel like it's a film that doesn't garner such a rabid, intense passion. It's a great film, but one that will stand to be very memorable in the eyes of most? I don't really think so, certainly not like Birdman. Still, it's a fine, fine film no doubt.