Review of The Post (2017) by Hee Sung K — 05 Mar 2018

Let's get one thing strait, The Post is not bad movie. In fact, it's a very well made movie. The performances, from the supporting cast up are fantastic, and each character is given a time to shine with a number of enthralling monologues. The story is a fascinating, and frighteningly relevant to our time.

So why then, I keep asking myself, did I find The Post so boring. The term, "oscar-bait" is thrown around a lot, and yes is displays all of the symptoms: academy darlings in the lead roles, a topical subject matter that affirms the righteous political views of it's demographic, "Based on a true story", But plenty of movies that might be considered, "Oscar-Bait" have stuck with me.

In the same way that a football player may be incredible in the college league, but be average in the NFL, so too is The Post a cut above many lesser scale period dramas, but doesn't do any one thing to make it stand out (even among this year's nominees). Steven Spielberg feels like he's sleepwalking here, with the shots going between being par-for-the-course, and the most obvious possible choices.

Still, it's fun to see Bob Odenkirk in a high production film being his most Bob-Odenkirky, and both Streep and Hanks get a couple of great moments that i'm sure will show in not a few highschool dvd players. If you're dead set on seeing all of this year nominees, or are interested in the film's subject matter, I would say it's worth a rental. Otherwise, fans on the newspaper drama would be better off digging up 2015's Spotlight.