Movie #1478 "The Post" -- the other day I saw three movies in one day (trying to catch up on the Oscar frenzy) , and this one ended up to be the best of the lot --- better than many I have seen this year --- one of the best, and I guess it's mostly the quality and the topic of the film. As the film opens, there are about 10 minutes dedicated to the Viet Nam War, and I couldn't look away --- instead, I was marveling at the lighting on the soldiers' eyes, the beautiful way the ugliness of the war was being photographed --- all a reminder of what a master filmmaker Spielburg is. Besides having the movie in the best hands, the actors are exemplary, esp. Meryl Streep. I thought from the trailer that this was going to be a ho hum production for her, but I couldn't be more wrong. Yes, at the beginning while she's getting this stiff character of Katharine Graham across, one notices that evidently Graham was cold, stoic, using her face very little, so that's what you see in Streep. That makes her uninteresting, until you get deeper into her psyche --- and who better than Streep to get that across, sometimes with little dialogue. Hanks is okay, and helpful, but not Academy Award calibre --- the secondary crew are good, but not really on screen for long enough to show a multisided character --- and it was nice seeing Tracy Letts in still another good job at supporting (he's in "Lady Bird" as the dad, too). But to the crux of why I preferred this movie over the others --- the subject matter. It speaks to the times now on a subject that is near and dear to me --- the truth and the importance of journalists speaking the truth. Esp. now when we have a president in office who very rarely speaks the truth and accuses his opponents of "fake news," we have to get a knock in the head once in a while to remind us just how important journalists are. In a time period where approximately 75% of the public do not respect the media, this film shows some hard at work to get the truth to the pubic, no matter what the consequences. That's a valuable message. And then cap it off with the other story going on here --- one female vs. all the men in the room telling her how dangerous it is to make a decision to publish the Pentagon papers. (or what a wrong decision it would be not to) With the Time's Up attitude, this film couldn't come at a better time. And Spielburg pushed this film forward when he found out The orangeman would be the next president --- what better time for a film on the hard work most journalists do to get the truth out! I'd give this a solid 4 out of 5 stars and recommend you see it!
"THE POST" PG-13 2017
When the "Washington Post" agrees to publish the leaked Pentagon Papers -- which point to a secret escalation of the Vietnam War -- the Nixon administration tries to block publication, setting off an epic legal and political battle.
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