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4K Ultra HD DVD case for The Post
4K Ultra HD DVD case for The Post

The Post,

directed by Steven Spielberg

(PG-13, 1 hour, 56 minutes)

Plenty of people know about Watergate. It helps that big-face Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman play the Washington Post's investigative journalists who uncovered the scandal that brought down President Nixon in the 1976 drama All the President's Men.

The Pentagon Papers? Not as famous. But this film could change that.

Meryl Streep plays dithering socialite Katharine Graham, the first female publisher of the Washington Post, considered respectable but not quite ready for prime time in the late 1960s. Along with hard-boiled editor Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks), the paper races to catch up with The New York Times in its debate on whether to expose a massive cover-up of government secrets regarding the Vietnam War that spanned three decades and four U.S. presidents. Careers are at risk, and drama is high.

Streep and Hanks (despite his disconcerting hairstyle) are superb, as are supporting cast members Bob Odenkirk, as determined journalist Ben Bagdikian, Matthew Rhys as risk-taking military analyst and activist Daniel Ellsberg, and Michael Stuhlbarg (who's in everything lately) as New York Times executive editor Abe Rosenthal. It's a thrilling story that restores and perpetuates pride in the American media. And, unlike many Spielberg films, it has only one ending.

The Commuter (PG-13, 1 hour, 45 minutes) A stylish, convoluted, and not-very-memorable suspense tale in which insurance salesman Michael MacCauley (Liam Neeson) learns that it's not always smart to talk to strangers. That's because in the course of his daily commute, he encounters a curious woman (Vera Farmiga) who cons him into figuring out the identify of another passenger before the last stop -- an assignment that seems like a puzzle-solving game, until it isn't. With Sam Neill, Patrick Wilson, Elizabeth McGovern; directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.

Honor Up (R, 1 hour, 24 minutes) A drug lord's lieutenant struggles to maintain the code of honor -- protect the family -- within his unruly crew after a Harlem shootout.

The Only Living Boy in New York (R, 1 hour, 29 minutes) A recent college graduate who dreams of becoming a writer falls all over himself, smitten with an older woman; it so happens that she's the mistress of his father, a powerful figure in the New York publishing industry. What to do? It's a stylish story, with the class that comes with casting Pierce Brosnan as the dad. But it's not all that interesting. The Graduate has nothing to worry about here. With Callum Turner, Jeff Bridges, Kate Beckinsale, Cynthia Nixon, Debi Mazar, Wallace Shawn; directed by Marc Webb.

Humor Me (not rated, 1 hour, 33 minutes) A likable, lightweight comedy in which successful New York playwright Nate Kroll (Jemaine Clement) suddenly finds himself in despair as he becomes wifeless, jobless and homeless. With nothing to lose, he moves in with his widowed father, Bob (Elliott Gould), and gets a job at a community center, where he helps the quirky, stubborn senior citizens put on a musical. With Bebe Neuwirth, Annie Potts, Priscilla Lopez; directed by Sam Hoffman.

MovieStyle on 04/20/2018

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