The Post (12A) - Movie Review

The order of the day in ‘The Post’ is a step back to a place and time when the White House in the Vietnam War era, and the national media were all wrestling with their own consciences.
Most know the gist of the Watergate story, ie burglars with links to the Nixon (Republican) White House were caught robbing the Watergate building, which was the Democratic Party headquarters.  However this motion picture, directed by Steven Spielberg tells a story that predates the 1972 burglary.
An employee of the American military, Daniel Ellsberg, played by Matthew Rhys discovers a major government cover-up concerning Vietnam, which dated back to the 1950s.  Ellsberg copies the documents, and passes some of them to the New York Times, who publishes them as a major scoop.  
Welsh actor, Rhys is currently starring in the Cold War US tv drama, ‘The Americans’.
The Washington Post editor and management are livid with missing the story, but after a period of cat and mouse, the Post eventually manages to get a full copy of the report, which gives a damning to previous US governments.  Court and judges comes into the equation, and huge battles begin between, government, court, editor and journalists, and the Washington Post’s owner.
In the movie, ‘The Post’, the set of the major US newspaper is almost a direct copy of the one in the brilliant 1976 Watergate movie, ‘All the President’s Men’, and the two movies could be looked at as companions. 
‘The Post’ gives a terrific insight into how things used to be done before mobile phones, and digital this and that.  Here it’s all telephones and typewriters, and pure sweat, blood and tears in smoke-filled rooms.  It’s also interesting to watch the true depiction of the 1971 US lifestyle, ie many people smoking everywhere.
Meryl Streep is nominated for an Oscar as Katherine Graham, and while she delivers a good performance, it is no better than any she has done before.   The role wasn’t her most challenging, like when she played Margaret Thatcher in ‘The Iron Lady’ in 2012, and deservedly won the Oscar.
Tom Hank’s role was challenging as editor Ben Bradlee – a strong character, who was played by Jason Robards in the 1976 Watergate movie   
There are great supporting performances from the likes of Sarah Paulson as Bradlee’s wife, Bradley Whitford, Allison Brie and Bruce Greenwood.
The movie is palatable, and is one to savour.  They don’t tell many strongly told stories like this anymore, writes David Flynn.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (12A) - Movie Review

Here we return to long long ago, and the space world of Star Wars where the Empire and the Jedis are still fighting.  It’s more than forty years since we first encountered the young jedi twins, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia (now General Leia).
This is the eighth Star Wars film since 1977 and while it is faithful to the original storyline, sadly much of the Jedi and Empire world seems to have got lost in Hollywood over the years.  The original director, George Lucas sold on his interest in the Star Wars saga to Disney films in the past few years.  However Star Wars: The Last Jedi does have the required special effects that a Space Opera requires.   Also there is important conflict among the characters Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and young jedi Rey (Daisy Ridley) on Skellig Michael in Ireland, which doubles for an outpost in the farther regions of the galaxy.   Also Rey’s powerful encounter with new Darth Vader Kylo (Adam Driver), who has gone to the Dark Side, is an important part of the film.
The story sadly allows the action to tell too much of this episode of the saga, and not enough character conflict, and that has been a problem with the Star Wars movies (1999-2005).  However the final showdown featuring most of the main characters in The Last Jedi is worth sticking around for, writes David Flynn.
Also it’s sad to see Carrie Fisher in her final performance as Leia, poignant though that be, since the role she first played in 1977 set her on the road to her Hollywood journey.  Carrie died at Christmas 2016, just after wrapping The Last Jedi.   She gave good value for money as the Princess (now a General) fighting a major war across the galaxy.
Skellig Michael is worth seeing for its magnificence and rugged beauty, and it won’t do Irish tourism the least bit of harm.  Also speaking of Ireland, Domhnall Gleason as the wimpy, General Hux showed that the actor has talent that crosses many fields.

There is also an interesting appearance by 2018 Golden Globe winner Laura Dern as a rebel Admiral.  She won the Globe a few weeks back for the tv series, Little Big Lies.  There are also sightings of old favourites such as robots C3PO and R2D2, and the beloved Chewbacca, although it seems strange not to see his old familiar sidekick with him.
The movie is too long, but as said earlier, it’s worth sticking around.