The Post

Is it cliché to call this movie an Oscar cliché?

Even if the answer is yes, that's The Post, in a nutshell. It hits all the right beats. Serious historical drama (it covers a newspaper contemplating printing government lies about the Vietnam War), mega-famous director (Spielberg), and beloved, award-winning stars (Streep and Hanks). To top it all off, this movie is timely. A movie about newspaper courage at a time when our nation's free press is under attack, it's almost too perfect. Delicately arrange all these ingredients nicely on a fancy dish, and we should have a five-star meal. But we do not. Instead, the result is something that is just fine. It's a lower-middle class version of Spotlight.

That likely reads harsher than I intend it. Spotlight is incredible. Mentioning any movie in the same breath is an honor. The Post is a perfectly adequate, important movie, not a Best Picture winner. There's no shame in that.

There's very little blatantly wrong with the movie. Grading via a high school-style rubric would result in an A for following all the instructions and including all the required criteria. Yet, it does not quite reach the level of "WOW."

Figuring out why it doesn't "WOW" is tricky. Maybe shooting and editing a movie that quickly (reportedly completed in only a few months) is too tall a task even for a master like Spielberg.

Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep play the leading roles and do so fantastically. Streep is especially strong in capturing the hesitancy of a woman in charge who doesn't act like she's in charge. This is the other element that's important for 2018. Women can lead effectively and bravely. She slowly learns that she is fully capable of seizing control and making the tough decisions, just like any successful leader.

The supporting actors all likewise play their roles well, without exception. Everyone feels a bit underutilized, which I suppose they understood when they accepted the parts. The inclusion of so many famous faces could be viewed as a statement emphasizing the importance of the film.

While I mentioned that there is very little blatantly wrong with the movie, I did personally find certain parts troublesome. Specifically, I call attention to the beginning and ending. Without spoiling anything, they felt oddly out of place, or at the very least, they felt unnecessary.

Perhaps Spielberg included them to make clearer the message of the movie. He wanted to establish the stakes. I didn't think we needed that. Movie viewers are smart enough to understand what makes this movie important. Thankfully, the movie avoided becoming overly preachy, aside from a couple sigh-worthy instances.

If you're down for a textbook "important history lesson" movie, The Post is for you. Just don't expect to leave the theater in stunned silence, like you did after seeing Spotlight.

I enjoyed this movie. It must be kept in mind this is a movie, a drama and not a documentary. As such, this is a good movie. The pace is good and we follow the events and decisions that had to be made. Meryl Streep shows why she wins Oscars, the self-doubt and hesitation that she portrays was a masterful performance. Tom Hanks' character was serviceable and pretty one note, and the only nice character turn was near the end after speaking to his wife about the heroics of Streep's character.

A number of people said the movie was too preachy and was worried about that before seeing the movie. I didn't find that at all after watching the movie. Yes, verses a documentary, this movie did have a theme and message, but I knew what this movie was about freedom of the press before going to see it. I grew up in that time period, so I knew the outcome also.

Print media may be dead, but the crusader journalist movie is alive and well. "The Post" is just as much a paean to the newspaper's heyday as it is a warning against corrupt government, complete with top-shelf cast. Given the Washington Post's lasting legacy (to this day), you can easily tell that the Pentagon Papers weren't the certain doom they seemed to spell out for the paper. Yet Spielberg jumps right into the material, creating excitement even in mundane printing press scenes. This is a stirring tale, masterfully directed and timelier than ever. Sure, it's probably Oscar-bait, but you can't argue with that level of quality.

8/10

I'm a sucker for any movie that involves close-ups of newspapers being printed, but this story was particularly well told - as polished as you would expect from Spielberg, Streep, Hanks and co. It was funny and enthralling and just plain solid storytelling. In fact, Spielberg even managed to tone back his over-the-top-ness. There are few moments where odes of love to the press could be more important. So while there are flaws here (in pacing and in storytelling devices), this is as entertaining and informative of a Saturday night as you could ask for.

Economic, specific, brilliant. That should be enough to sing the praises of a work of art but in "The Post" there is more. much more. We can't ignore the fact imposed by the historical moment we're living right now. The press under attack. Belittled, insulted but not ignored. No, never that. Steven Spielberg puts everything at the service of the story and the magic stroke is Meryl Streep. She creates a real life woman again, after Margaret Thatcher, Julia Childs, Lindy Chamberlain and once again she creates a fully fledged human being and this time she plays a woman without a known voice until she finds it and when she does, she uses it. I'm absolutely transfixed and moved very moved by her performance