Skip to main content

The Post Review

What I liked: The lemonade stand. The tie ins to Water Gate (though I'm not totally convinced that the two events were that closely related). I didn't really know anything about this event, so it was interesting to learn about what was at least characterized as the rise of the Washington Post to a respected national newspaper and the rise in animosity between the press and the presidency. I liked the linograph machine. I've seen those in museums.

What I didn't: Paisley. The formal MuMu. Mustaches. Excessive side burns. Polyester. So essentially 70's fashion. Also rotary phones and pay phones. Some one should really invent an automatic page feeder for xerox machines, not that I don't enjoy dramatic photocopying, it just seems like it could be a whole lot more efficient. Who ever decided to stage a loud heartfelt conversation in a room with sleeping children clearly did not consider the fact that those children's parents would probably prefer that they stay asleep. There were two main messages of the movie: the importance of a free and independent press and the changes in society that allowed women to run large companies. The women part seemed sort of shoe horned in and didn't mesh as well with the rest of the plot. There was more swearing than I would have expected in a 1970's professional environment. Since the New York Times published the story first it would have been interesting to see more of that side of the story. The other story that I would be interested in knowing about is the two poor corporate lawyers (a phrase one doesn't usually think of putting together) who had 1 day to prepare their case for the federal court and one week to prepare for the Supreme Court case. I don't usually love legal dramas but that scenario is already giving me stress without any dramatic music, montage shots, or dramatic poses.

Who should watch this? It's a solid drama with good acting, especially good if you want a little bit of politics thinking.

Would I watch it again? I was glad to see it. It was timely and an important story but if you are just hoping for a movie about a newspaper you might have other options. After extensive thinking, I know of six movies about newspapers: Citizen Kane, Pelican Brief, Newsies, Spotlight, His Girl Friday, and the Post. Of those Newsies is the most fun, Pelican Brief is the most exciting, and Spotlight is the better drama. Don't watch Citizen Kane.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ready Player One Review

What I liked: I bet all of the developers loved making this film, I saw so many video game and movie references in the background of scenes. I bet all the developers just inserted their favorites like the ninja turtles, a whole platoon of halo soldiers, and orcs. That it was a video game made it possible and exciting to have all kinds of absolutely random physics and logic defying things happen. Obviously, I loved the T. Rex and who would not enjoy seeing Mechagodzilla or a cyborg orc driving a monster truck? Early in the movie they made good use of the video game architecture in a way that reminded me a bit of secret rooms in super mario. The characters visit the world of the Shining, which was amazing and hilarious. I loved the variety of characters, vehicles and weapons that we get to see and it is more fun (at least for me) that they draw from more than strictly the 1980's. I also really liked the music, for the most part the selections were great for the scenes. The book was
3 comments
Read more

Solo Reveiw

What I liked: The architecture of a heist movie has 4 stages: stage 1 explain how hard the job is, stage 2 come up with a ridiculously elaborate plan to accomplish the job and acquire hard to find equipment, stage 3 execute the plan but something goes terribly wrong, stage 4 sneaky twist and huge pay off. The Solo movie takes the bold move of streamlining the first two and a half steps, picking up with stage 3.5 "Something goes terribly wrong". This saves everyone the slow wind up to the actual action. This saved time translates into a movie with not one but all the heists. We have grand theft, customs evasion, train robbery, vault robbery, the classic hustle, and of course smuggling. I guess they may have tried to crowd too a little much in because they also almost always skip stage 4. This stage skipping also means that we don't know if the things they are doing are actually hard or they are just incompetent. I'm surprised more heist movies don't explore this
2 comments
Read more

Wrinkle in Time Review

What I liked: I liked Charles Wallace, that kid was funny. I liked that the ladies in crazy dresses were warriors and that the kids were warriors too. You know me I'm all about a good action movie with awesome fighting, but I liked that at least in this universe the defining characteristics of warriors were compassion, kindness, and love. Similarly, I liked that the bad guys weren't launching a massive military conquest of the universe, I mean everyone is doing that these days. Surprisingly, I liked the Mrs's dresses. They were crazy and over the top but it was fun that they changed with every teleportation and that they were completely absurd. The outfits were rather like the Mrs's wearing them, over the top and fantastical. Knowing all of them from other shows I may have had some unfulfilled expectations. At no point did anyone say "You get a wrinkle, and you get a wrinkle, Everyone gets a wrinkle!" which I must admit was a little disappointing. I also think
2 comments
Read more