The Post (2017)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Katharine Graham	Meryl Streep
Ben Bradlee	Tom Hanks
Tony Pinchot Bradlee	Sarah Paulson
Ban Bagdikian	Bob Odenkirk	½
Fritz Beebe	Tracy Letts
Arthur Parsons	Bradley Whitford	½
Robert McNamara	Bruce Greenwood
Daniel Ellsberg	Matthew Rhys
Lally Graham	Alison Brie
Meg Greenfield	Carrie Coon
Roger Clark	Jesse Plemons
Howard Simons	David Cross
A. M. Rosenthal	Michael Stuhlbarg
Anthony Essaye	Zach Woods
Philip L. Geyelin	Pat Healy

Review

Anyone who has followed Steven Spielberg's later career will know what to expect from The Post, in which the once so poignant director in a most prosaic matter dissects the situation around The Washington Post's decision to publish extracts from the Pentagon Papers in the early 1970s. It's a well-made film, but whatever life can be drawn from it can be attributed to nostalgia and a couple of fairly whole-hearted performances from Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. For the uninitiated, the film may feel like a two-hour debate show, but for anyone with some connection to the historical period or political situation depicted, the film will work as an interesting lecture; to elaborate and fill in the gaps about an important juncture in modern American history. Whatever parallels you're able to draw to the current state of affairs will be your own achievement. Spielberg is more interested in musing over the old newspaper printing press – and what a remarkable piece of machinery that was! John Williams' score is among his least characteristic in recent years. It works fine within the context of the film. And so does Bob Odenkirk, who gives the best of many solid supporting performances as Ben Bagdikian, the recipient of the Pentagon Papers in The Washington Post.