A Star is Born

A Star is Born

The music was outstanding. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper have great chemistry, but as the professional actor Cooper displayed more emotion and pathos. This being her first movie role and Gaga did a good performance playing Gaga with different levels of makeup. She starts out as a struggling singer/waitress sans make up. If you saw her walking down the street you would look like any other young women. As her career takes off there is more make up and in the last set she is the full blown Gaga, the one we know and love.

This is the fourth iteration of this movie. Alley’s, the Gaga character, stardom is on a rocket. With  help from Jackson, Cooper’s character, she shots right into stardom. There is no blood, sweat and tears. Her character would have been more compelling  if her stardom was more of a struggle. She did a good job playing herself. As an inside joke much is made of her nose, as being too big a drag on her career. This is reminiscent of her acting teacher at NYU saying she was too ethnic.

Cooper is a double threat. Besides staring he directed the film. The film was cohesive and conveyed a strong story. Jackson is a tortured soul who is an acholic/ pill popper. He also suffers from tinnitus, which for a musician can be career ending. There are  demons in his past which he drowns with alcohol and pills. Cooper delivers a captivating performance.

There are wonderful supporting stars. Sam Elliot plays his brother. Elliot is the older brother who raised Jackson after their father died. It is hinted that Elliot’s music ambitions were eclipsed by his brother. Elliot uses his throaty voice to project his love and frustration for this brother.

It was a delight to see Dave Chappelle and Andrew Dice Clay. Both were meatier and not easily recognizable. Chappelle was a friend of Jackson, and it is implied that Jackson had crashed  at Chappelle’s home a few times. Clay was Gaga’s father, a prefect role for Clay. He claimed he could sing better than Sinatra but is a limo driver now. His scenes were brief but he showed some good acting chops.

If you are a fan of  the Star is Born movies  definitely see this movie. If you are a Little Monster, enough said. Coopers performance is a good enough reason to see the film plus he is a dam good director.

BlackKlansman

BlackKlansman                                                                                                                                  8/29/18

I am only familiar with a few of Spike Lee’s movies but I think this must be one of his most powerful movies. It tackles race issues in the 60’s and 70’s. In the present political upheaval it’s poignancy remains relevant.  It is based on the true story of Ron Stallworth, the first black cop at Colorado Spring. His conflict is how to the support the burgeoning black power movement and be a cop protecting  both blacks and whites at the same time.

The movie starts with a racial harangue  delivered by Dr. Kennebrew Beauregad, played by Alex Baldwin. He nearly spits out his racial epitaphs and almost busts a vein. Ron, played by John David Washington,  is a rookie in the intelligence unit. Ron contacts the KKK from an ad in the paper. Using his white voice he manages to secure a meeting. Obviously he can not go the meeting so they recruit a white cop named Flip Zimmerman, played by Adam Driver.  Ironically Flip is Jewish, another favorite target of the Klan.

Aside from infiltrating the Klan, Ron finds himself in the rise of black power with Stokely Carmichael, aka Kwame Ture, giving a passionate speech. He is conflicted by two forces empathizing with the black power movement and his duty as a police officer.  He does not see them as mutually exclusive.

The Klansmen are stereotypical rednecks. Castigating anyone not white Christian, drinking beer and shooting guns. One  gun range had metal cut outs of racist black targets riddled with bullets. As the camera pulls back the cut outs look like slaves on a march. An almost comical scene is when black Ron, using his white voice, elitists compliments from David Duke.

John David Washington plays the role confidently cool. He keeps his pride and anger in check even when  he is disparaged  on the force. He is not discouraged and keeps his swagger in check. Adam Driver, who plays white Ron in his usual laid back style, finds himself in some perilous situations with the Klan. His wit and acting like a bigot gets him through some life threating situations.

The great Harry Belafonte has a cameo as a civil rights  activist from the 60’s telling a true story of a past lynching. By showing past racial violence Lee is making a connection to current white supremacists.

 At a Klan gathering there is the rallying cry of “America First”. This is an unvarnished reference to Trump and his supports. In the end of the movie there is news footage of the  2017 melee at Charlottesville. Transitioning  from movie to news footage makes the Klan visceral.

By depicting the start of the black power movement and ending with the Charlottesville riot, Lee is almost asking  has anything changed? Wearing chinos, polo shirts and marching with tiki torches is superficial but hate is intractable.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Sometimes movie critics are idiots. This movie earned some negative reviews and an underated 51% from Rotten Tomato. Critics said there was more dino chasing and poor character development. This is the fifth movie of this franchise; the audience has a pretty good idea of what to expect. Critics need to manage their expectations. This is not a great movie but for the genre it is still entertaining. There is action, rampaging dinosaurs, villains, lingering romance and comic relief.  A common element of these movies is duplicity; some seemingly good guy with ulterior motives . From an evolutionary perspective these films are about what can go wrong will go wrong. This perspective takes over the movie and causes mayhem. It is an old formula but it works.

On one level this is a simple movie. You have a good idea which bad guys are going to be dino chow. Their anticipated demise keeps your attention. You also have a pretty good guess which dinosaur is the good or bad.

Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard have good chemistry and are nicer to each other in this film. There are some funny scenes mostly from a new character played by Justice Smith. His character  shrieks a lot as do the others. Another hallmark of these movies are kids. Isabella Sermon plays Maisie, the granddaughter of Sir Benjamin Lockwood (former partner of John Hammond). Aside from running away from dinosaurs and shrieking, there is a subplot regarding her which comes in a bit late and is a throwaway. A greyer Jeff Goldblum has  brief appearances in the beginning and ending of the movie, mumbling his dour predictions. Geraldine Chaplin has a small roll as Maisie’s nanny. The woman is ageless, she still looks 100 years old.

For fans of this franchise this is a fun movie. Critics need to lighten up This film is not aiming for the Oscars, rather its target is the box office. The film cost $170m to produce and has an international box office north of $1b. With this type of revenue sequels are hard to resist. What will be cloned next, cavemen?

Infinity Wars

Infinity Wars

I was skeptical that this movie would work. With the confluence of super heroes there were too many egos to manage. But the narrative worked and this was the glue that kept this movie together. The story shifted from different scenes and different battles but you could follow the connections.

There are too many super heroes to mention, but some featured more than others. Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy had more leading roles. On one level the story is simple. The bad guy, Thanos, wants to collect the six mythical stones giving him tremendous power threatening the universe. Each stone is in a different location in the galaxy, including earth, and this is where the battles take place. Thanos is played by a computer generated avatar of Josh Brolin, nearly unrecognizable except for his voice. The movie does not take itself too seriously, with banter and good natured jabs contributing to the movie’s enjoyment. The film ties in prior movies giving it recognizable reference points.

The special effects were of course amazing. They had to be to maintain the nearly three hours attention span needed to watch the film. Honestly, it did not feel like three hours because the movie was well paced. The production budget is between $300m-$400m meaning they have to clear about $1b in box office to make a profit. I attended the 9:30 am Imax show and the theater was nearly full.

As for the ending, I am not even going to talk about the ending. When I got up to leave I noticed no one else was leaving. So I sat through the credits. There were so many credits it turned the screen white. The reward was coming attractions, albeit quite short but they portend a sequel.

For fan boys and fan girls a must see. For you civilians you could do worse.

A Quiet Place

This is a little movie with good suspense and moments of sheer freight. The movie is about a family that must silence all sources of noise to survive. There are monsters who attack upon hearing sounds. To quash noise the family walk in bare feet on sand, they eat their meals on leaves using their hands and play monopoly using crocheted pieces. They use sign language to speak. The monsters are hideous with huge ear canals and are mindless eating machines.

The family lives on a farm. The father is played by John Krasinski, who also directed the film. Emily Blunt plays his wife and they have three kids. They live in a state of pervasive fear.  Every motion has to be though out as life or death situation. This is especially hard with kids who unwittingly are prone to noise. One of those kids Millicent Simmonds, who is actually deaf, gives an outstanding performance. The entire cast is great. Emily Blunt has some tense scenes that will make you cringe.

My knowledge of directing is limited but I think Krasinski has done a fine job for his maiden outing.

The films has some plot holes. Where did the creates come from, where is everybody, how are corn fields still well tended, who keeps the electricity going? With a modest $17m production budget the film went to the heart of the story and peripherals are left to the audience’s imagination.

This movie is a spiritual successor to the Twilight Zone or the Outer Limits. It felt more like a novella rather than a complicated script. I think Rotten Tomato was over generous giving the film a 95% (this is not the Godfather or Deer Hunter). That said the box office is to date $88m. Guess Kraninski will get more directing gigs.

At $15+ a ticket you may want to watch this On Demand. By all means, go to the movies if you wish, but keep the noise down.

Ready Player One

Ready Player One

I am not the right person to write this review. I do not play video games, nor do I know the culture. This movie is targeted to gamers and probably those under 40. The movie is based on a book of the same by name Ernest Cline. In the gaming/sci-fi genera it is a classic. The movie is like a video game. A super rich (first trillionaire) game creator hid a virtual Easter Egg in a virtual world called the OASIS. The winner gets his fortune and control of the OASIS.

The movie switches back and forth between the real world and the virtual world. Maybe I do not have the attention span of a teenager, but the swapping was disconcerting. The Lego movie was more enjoyable since for the most part it stuck to one reality. This movie gave homage to other some movie classics. Scenes from The Shining were prominent and the Iron Giant made an appearance.  The film is littered with other gaming icons which are above my head. For some reason every time a virtual bad guy losses a limb coins gush out him.  Mario was not in the movie; him I would recognize.

The plot is convoluted (in my mind) and simple. Win the egg and make sure the bad guys don’t and you get the cash and the OASIS, whoops spoiler alert. There are A listed actors and lots of B’s. Mark Rylance plays James Halliday the creator of the OASIS. Simon Pegg has a small part and not screen time. Other actors are recognizable and other not. This picture is not about acting, it about the “experience” which the aficionados buy in.

This is a $175m plus advertising (could be 50% of production cost) production cost. To date the box office looks OK, especially with overseas tickets. Spielberg needs a win and not another goose egg (The BFG).

Annihilation

Annihilation                                                                                                                              March 25, 2018

If you have drugs use them before seeing this movie. The movie is mind bending in plot and visuals. There is this structure called the “Shimmer” which covers an area of land with a lighthouse as its focal point. The Shimmer is like a bowl of cosmic jello. Time, physics and biology are warped. Different species are cross fertilized making fantastical creatures (this is when your drugs should kick in). Some creatures are beautiful others are horrible.

Natalie Portman is a cell biologist and a former army solider. She wants to find out what happened to her husband and she joins a band of female soldiers who enter the Shimmer. As demure as Portman seems she is a dual citizen with Israel and served in the Israeli army, so she knows how to handle a gun. The others were Jennifer Jason Leigh, who was nearly unrecognizable, Gina Rodriguez (plumped out) and Oscar Isaac. Isaac plays the husband Kane and for most of the movie he is a dazed suffering the effects of the Shimmer. Jennifer Jason Leigh is a psychologist who leads the group and slowly losses her mind as do the others.

This is not a movie great acting film. For a good portion of the movie everyone is terrified and shooting at things. Portman plays her role well, but no awards are in sight. All the parts taken together make the movie worth seeing. It is a combination of Sci-Fi and horror. The script, the acting and creatures all combine for a sold suspenseful story. It holds your interest because you cannot guess what is coming next. There as some parts where you should close your eyes. The Shimmer reveals it purpose towards the end of the movie, but it is very subtle. The Sci-Fi geeks will catch on.

2018 Oscar picks

Here is my 2018 Oscar picks:

Best Picture:

“Call Me by Your Name”
“Darkest Hour”
“Dunkirk”
“Get Out”
“Lady Bird”
“Phantom Thread”
“The Post”
“The Shape of Water”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Lead Actor:

Timothée Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name”
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Phantom Thread”
Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out”
Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour”
Denzel Washington, “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”

Lead Actress:

Sally Hawkins, “The Shape of Water”
Frances McDormand, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya”
Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird”
Meryl Streep, “The Post”

Supporting Actor:

Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project”
Woody Harrelson, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Richard Jenkins, “The Shape of Water”
Christopher Plummer, “All the Money in the World”
Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Supporting Actress:

Mary J. Blige, “Mudbound”
Allison Janney, “I, Tonya”
Lesley Manville, “Phantom Thread”
Laurie Metcalf, “Lady Bird”
Octavia Spencer, “The Shape of Water”

Director:

“Dunkirk,” Christopher Nolan
“Get Out,” Jordan Peele
“Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig
“Phantom Thread,” Paul Thomas Anderson
“The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro

Animated Feature:

“The Boss Baby,” Tom McGrath, Ramsey Ann Naito
“The Breadwinner,” Nora Twomey, Anthony Leo
“Coco,” Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson
“Ferdinand,” Carlos Saldanha
“Loving Vincent,” Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman, Sean Bobbitt, Ivan Mactaggart, Hugh Welchman

Animated Short:

“Dear Basketball,” Glen Keane, Kobe Bryant
“Garden Party,” Victor Caire, Gabriel Grapperon
“Lou,” Dave Mullins, Dana Murray
“Negative Space,” Max Porter, Ru Kuwahata
“Revolting Rhymes,” Jakob Schuh, Jan Lachauer

Adapted Screenplay:

“Call Me by Your Name,” James Ivory
“The Disaster Artist,” Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
“Logan,” Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green
“Molly’s Game,” Aaron Sorkin
“Mudbound,” Virgil Williams and Dee Rees

Original Screenplay:

“The Big Sick,” Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani
“Get Out,” Jordan Peele
“Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig
“The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Martin McDonagh

Cinematography:

“Blade Runner 2049,” Roger Deakins
“Darkest Hour,” Bruno Delbonnel
“Dunkirk,” Hoyte van Hoytema
“Mudbound,” Rachel Morrison
“The Shape of Water,” Dan Laustsen

Best Documentary Feature:

“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail,” Steve James, Mark Mitten, Julie Goldman
“Faces Places,” JR, Agnès Varda, Rosalie Varda
“Icarus,” Bryan Fogel, Dan Cogan
“Last Men in Aleppo,” Feras Fayyad, Kareem Abeed, Soren Steen Jepersen
“Strong Island,” Yance Ford, Joslyn Barnes

Best Documentary Short Subject:

“Edith+Eddie,” Laura Checkoway, Thomas Lee Wright
“Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405,” Frank Stiefel
“Heroin(e),” Elaine McMillion Sheldon, Kerrin Sheldon
“Knife Skills,” Thomas Lennon
“Traffic Stop,” Kate Davis, David Heilbroner

Best Live Action Short Film:

“DeKalb Elementary,” Reed Van Dyk
“The Eleven O’Clock,” Derin Seale, Josh Lawson
“My Nephew Emmett,” Kevin Wilson, Jr.
“The Silent Child,” Chris Overton, Rachel Shenton
“Watu Wote/All of Us,” Katja Benrath, Tobias Rosen

Best Foreign Language Film:

“A Fantastic Woman” (Chile)
“The Insult” (Lebanon)
“Loveless” (Russia)
“On Body and Soul (Hungary)
“The Square” (Sweden)

Film Editing:

“Baby Driver,” Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss
“Dunkirk,” Lee Smith
“I, Tonya,” Tatiana S. Riegel
“The Shape of Water,” Sidney Wolinsky
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Jon Gregory

Sound Editing:

“Baby Driver,” Julian Slater
“Blade Runner 2049,” Mark Mangini, Theo Green
“Dunkirk,” Alex Gibson, Richard King
“The Shape of Water,” Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Ren Klyce, Matthew Wood

Sound Mixing:

“Baby Driver,” Mary H. Ellis, Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin
“Blade Runner 2049,” Mac Ruth, Ron Bartlett, Doug Hephill
“Dunkirk,” Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo
“The Shape of Water,” Glen Gauthier, Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Stuart Wilson, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick

Production Design:

“Beauty and the Beast,” Sarah Greenwood; Katie Spencer
“Blade Runner 2049,” Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola
“Darkest Hour,” Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
“Dunkirk,” Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis
“The Shape of Water,” Paul D. Austerberry, Jeffrey A. Melvin, Shane Vieau

Original Score:

“Dunkirk,” Hans Zimmer
“Phantom Thread,” Jonny Greenwood
“The Shape of Water,” Alexandre Desplat
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” John Williams
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Carter Burwell

Original Song:

“Mighty River” from “Mudbound,” Mary J. Blige
“Mystery of Love” from “Call Me by Your Name,” Sufjan Stevens
“Remember Me” from “Coco,” Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez
“Stand Up for Something” from “Marshall,” Diane Warren, Common
“This Is Me” from “The Greatest Showman,” Benj Pasek, Justin Paul

Makeup and Hair:

“Darkest Hour,” Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski, Lucy Sibbick
“Victoria and Abdul,” Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard
“Wonder,” Arjen Tuiten

Costume Design:

“Beauty and the Beast,” Jacqueline Durran
“Darkest Hour,” Jacqueline Durran
“Phantom Thread,” Mark Bridges
“The Shape of Water,” Luis Sequeira
“Victoria and Abdul,” Consolata Boyle

Visual Effects:

“Blade Runner 2049,” John Nelson, Paul Lambert, Richard R. Hoover, Gerd Nefzer
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner, Dan Sudick
“Kong: Skull Island,” Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza, Mike Meinardus
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi,”  Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Chris Corbould, Neal Scanlan
“War for the Planet of the Apes,” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett, Joel Whist

Black Panther

Black Panther                                                                                                               February 20, 2018

Black Panther achieved several mile stones. The box office over the President’s weekend will be north of $200m and with some estimates of $1b, including forgein markets, projected. The film has been lauded for its positive portrayal of black super heroes and the uplifting effect for Afro-American youth. This film establishes a new “tentpole” for this Disney which can generate sequels and character spinoffs under the Black Panther franchise. With this potentially huge box office this is clearly a cross over movie.

The film it is a spectacle. It has all the super hero elements. Handsome hero with super powers, bad guys, one handsome the other not. Beautiful women; some bald carrying electro charge spears. A wise mouth sister who is a science wiz.

Chadwick (Chad to his friends) Boseman is the Black Panther. Boseman is a versatile actor playing various roles: Jackie Robison, James Brown and Thurgood Marshall. He plays Black Panther, or his royal name T’Challa, with an air of seriousness subverted by sibling jabs. His powers lie in an impenetrable suite made of a rare mineral called vibranium. The vastly advanced scientific achievements of Wakanda are at his disposal. There are plenty of fight scenes and battles featuring a mélange of new and old weapons.

Michael B. Jordan (Creed) is the main villain. With all the modernity of Wakanda the fights between Boseman and Jordon are hand to hand combat which harkens more traditional films. The uniqueness of this film is combining traditional African motifs with advanced scientific achievements created by the proud indigenous population.

Lupita Nyong’o is T’Chatta’s former lover and warrior who displays fighting chops. Forrest Whitaker is a sort of shaman. This a cream puff role for Whitaker, but great performances is not mandatory for super hero movies. Martin Freeman is a recognizable face and plays a CIA agent who is an ally of T’Challa. Andy Serkis is a South African actor, he is the ugly bad guy. I cannot say anything about Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), without being attacked as a plot spoiler. One comment about Angela Bassett, Queen Mother, she is an ageless beauty. The star power of this movie is impressive but with so many stars their air time is limited, except for Boseman.

For authenticity in the movie they speak the South African language isiXhosa. This was the langue of Nelson Mandela.

This movie more like an experience than just a film. At some point you should catch it.

p.s.-As with other Marvel movies there is the “Where’s Waldo” gambit; here Waldo is Stan Lee.

Molly's Game

Molly’s Game                                                                                                                January 20, 2018

This movie is a patch work of scenes from Molly Bloom’s life. From little Molly learning how to ski, to an Olympic skier, to a novice poker manager, to a high stakes poker entrepreneur, to a felon. These scenes are managed through flash backs but make the narration awkward. The problem with this segmentation is it limits character development. Michael Cera (whose acting is best described as warm milk on a warm day) is Player X in a key poker sequence. The relationship with Molly could have been good or bad, but was equivocal because the scene ended

.

Molly, played by Jessica Chastain, is an Olympian skier who suffers a career ending accident. She takes a gap year on her way to law school which lasts about ten years. She becomes an entrepreneur of a high stakes poker attracting film celebrities, athletes and Wall Street titans. Pots are in the hundreds of thousands. The film feels like a docudrama. A lexicon of poker terms are explained  and are quickly forgotten. Little poker cards float in the air displaying winning and losing hand. Like a docudrama Chastain practically narrates the entire movie.

Chastain’s roles vary from rebellious daughter to damaged athlete to a high stakes poker entrepreneur. She gives a good performance, but the material limits her scope. This film lacks pathos. The film’s moral imperative is not whether to publish the Pentagon papers or to seek revenge for a murdered daughter, but to keep Molly in the game and out of prison. The tawdriness of the film is like a gossip magazine.

The two strongest interactions are Chastain with her father and her lawyer. Kevin Costner plays her father as a hard driving perfectionist, whose unyielding parenting drives her away. Costner plays the role cold and detached, not a stretch for him.

 The best scenes are with her lawyer played by Idris Elba. Their interaction is spirted and heated. He is a reluctant lawyer and she an unsympathetic client. The exchange is compelling because he strips her down to the essential and she is vulnerable and needs his help. They have good chemistry.

This is not a movie about pulling yourself out of poverty by your boot straps, but rather balancing yourself on stiletto heels wearing a skin tight mini dress. This movie is more voyeuristic than dramatic. Rather than a must see movie it is at best a nice to see movie.

The Post

The Post         

                                                                                                                                     January 5, 2018

In 1970 my draft number for the Vietnam war was 254, not good. My college deferment kept me out of the draft for four years. By 1974 the war was winding down along with my chances for selection. That is the closest I got to the Vietnam war.

This movie is brilliant. With the trifecta of Streep, Hanks and Spielberg it is hard to miss. They deliver on the movie’s hype. Spielberg captures the electricity of the Pentagon Papers drama. It was a time when the freedom of the press was in peril and the Nixon Justice Department was in full tilt trying to crush publication and the First Amendment. Nixon’s Machiavellian paranoia makes Trump look like a hand puppet.  

Robert McNamara was the Secretary of State under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. He commissioned the Pentagon Papers which documented the history of the war from Presidents Truman to Johnson. The study revealed lies perpetrated by the US government, political assassinations, coup de tas and clandestine wars. The study concluded the war was unwinnable.

Streep was fantastic, she delivered a master class in acting. Katrin Graham became the publisher of the Washington Post after her husband committed suicide. Graham never worked in her life and now she was the publisher of the Post. Streep displays Graham’s trepidation with darting eyes, nervous hands and heavy sighs. These nuances are make her character rich.

I am reluctant to say there was a subplot in the movie, it is more of a co-plot. In 1970 Graham was a woman in a man’s world. She sought the support and advise of the all-male board of directors. As the movie progresses she becomes her own boss with daring boldness.

Tom Hanks pays Ben Bradlee. He plays the role with a bit too much cheek. Hanks was not reinventing himself for the is role he rather was pulling in parts from older characters he played. Nonetheless, his brashness was a counterpart to Streep’s trepidation.

There are a number of other actors. Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Sol) plays Ben Bagdikian who precures the Pentagon Papers from Daniel Ellsberg. Odenkirk plays the role with a mixture determination and fear. Peddling government secrets leads to jail time. Bruce Greenwood is a dead ringer for Robert McNamara.  Even on the verge of revelations of government’s lies, he was unapologetic and still rationalizing the war.

Streep has twenty Oscar nominations and won three. I think another nomination is a good bet. Her performance is good enough to win. This movie can win best picture.