The Post: Review

• This is a NON-Spoiler review for Steven Spielberg's "The Post" Plot Summary: "Katharine Graham is the first female publisher of a major American newspaper -- The Washington Post. With help from editor Ben Bradlee, Graham races to catch up with The New York Times to expose a massive cover-up of government secrets that spans three decades and four U.S. presidents. Together, they must overcome their differences as they risk their careers -- and very freedom -- to help bring long-buried truths to light."

• I know it’s cliche but Steven Spielberg is my favorite director of all-time. Spielberg is one my heroes. I don't think there's any other filmmaker that's influenced me more. I know it's a cliche choice, but it's a deserved cliche. It's not just how amazing his movies are, which there's plenty of those - Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, Close Encounters, E.T., Jurassic Park, etc. It's incredible how many remarkable movies he's made. But he's also an awesome guy. I've watched countless interviews with him. And he is always the most enthusiastic guy in the room. After all of these years, he is always excited about whatever he's doing. And he's also incredibly honest about what he likes and doesn't like about his own work. I think that you can't get a better director than Steven Spielberg as far as the number of great movies and just being a good man behind the scenes. I've never heard anyone complain about Spielberg on a personal level. I am just a mega Steven Spielberg fan. And here's the thing, I have missed the old Spielberg.

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• He's been on a giant kick of the same type of movies. It started off with Schindler's List (which I still need to see), and then he did Amistad, Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, Munich, War Horse, Lincoln, Bridge of Spies, and now The Post. I'm just a little tired of Spielberg doing history movies. There have been some exceptions in between those movies I just named. Don't get me wrong, I've LOVED all of his history movies so far. I'm just getting tired of the greatest director of all time using all his time to do the same kind of stories over and over again. I wouldn't use the word sick of history movies but I would say if he makes another history movie after he finishes Indiana Jones 5 and it's not INCREDIBLE, I'm gonna be sick of them. Which is why I am DYING to see Ready Player One. I am beyond excited to see Spielberg direct another sci-fi film and even better, it's about our nostalgia for some of the classics that Spielberg was apart of. Spielberg finally comes back to sci-fi and he gets to speak on our nostalgia for it. Man! I've gotta see that movie NOW.

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• So when I watched the trailer for The Post, I was mildly excited because it is my favorite director and one of my favorite actors being Tom Hanks. I just kinda knew what I was going to get. I do realize that this movie was made very fast. Spielberg was in the middle of post-production on Ready Player One when he got the script for The Post.  So I realize that Spielberg didn't have the time to reinvent the wheel on this one. And I completely understand why he would drop everything to make this movie. But that doesn't change the fact that I really didn't find this movie memorable. I enjoyed The Post. But I've seen it once now and I have spent very little time thinking about it. It's by now means a bad movie. It's a good movie. But I think that you could have stuck any acceptable directors name on this story and you would still get a fine movie. I don't think it has anything to do with maybe Spielberg putting enough effort into this. I can't think of any way that the story that was being told on screen could have been told better without it being ingenuine. I think Spielberg made the best movie possible out of this story. I just wasn't that into it.

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• This may be the most acting and dialogue driven Spielberg movie maybe ever. This seriously could have been a stage play. You may as well have gotten Aaron Sorkin to write and direct this movie. Because it is pretty much just a lot of people yelling at each other in an office. And don't get me wrong, it is interesting. It's a very well written and directed movie. There are a few really good character scenes or visually storytelling scenes sprinkled throughout. And the acting is perfect. Neither Tom Hanks or Meryl Streep's characters having anything to do that makes me think they should be nominated for Oscars (even though I guarantee she will). But I do think that there are perfect in this movie. Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks both play very strong and brave characters that I admire.

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• Spielberg and his cinematographer Janusz Kaminski knew exactly how to frame these two actors. You didn't need to have all these fancy shots and over edit the scenes, you just need to put the camera where you can see both of these amazing actors act. This movie has arguably the best director of all time, arguably the best actor of all time, and arguably the best actress of all time, and arguably the greatest composer of all time. You're going to get some well-made scenes. Some other good really good performances that stood out to me were Bob Odenkirk, and Sarah Paulson, and Bruce Greenwood. Particularly Bob Odenkirk. I haven't watched Breaking Bad or Better Caul Saul. But I thought he did a fantastic job and had an interesting character.

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• So I think that this is an important story to tell. I can't think of anything more I could have asked from this movie without it being ingenuine. I don't think of this as a political thriller, but it's really just a political drama. I enjoyed The Post for the directing, the writing, and the acting. But overall, I really don't find this movie memorable. And I'm a little sad that I have to say that about a Spielberg movie. But it's my opinion. So let's look forward to Ready Player One and Indiana Jones 5. My grade for The Post is a B. Also, if you'd like to learn more about this movie, you should check out the podcast The Director's Cut which I'm a fan of. They always have famous directors interviewing famous directors. They recently just had an interview with Christopher Nolan interview Edgar Wright for Baby Driver. And they just did an episode with Patty Jenkins interviewing Steven Spielberg for The Post. Here's the link - https://goo.gl/43zWaV