I don’t go to the movie theater as often as I used to. When I was in my twenties, I would go probably twice a month. In my thirties and forties, it became once a month. Now, in my fifties, I only go once in a blue moon (3-4 times a year). This could be due to a vast number of reasons, so we won’t go there, since that in, of itself, would detract from this post.
However, exactly because I don’t get out to see movies, there are bunches of “new” movies out there, that are really, really good movies, that I end up not seeing.
[unless I’m in the mood to watch a movie on tv, and while I’m surfing, I find an interesting one, like tonight.]
With that in mind, I’m watching “The Post” tonight, with Tom Hanks, and Meryl Streep, et al.
It’s an eye opener. People my age or a few years younger missed out on so many issues that were occurring in the middle to late sixties, and the early to mid seventies. We were in junior high, or senior high, and the majority of us probably did not read the newspaper, nor watched “the evening news”. So, even though we heard about Vietnam, Pentagon Papers, Watergate, Civil Rights (and the riots), etc., a lot of us “kids” didn’t pay much attention to those ”events.”
If you’ve not seen this movie, I think you should give it a whirl. It’s not “action packed”, and, of course, it’s not comedy. But, in its own little way, it’s both interesting, and exciting.
Also, you start to realize how much simpler “life” was, back 45-50 yrs ago. We didn’t have the internet giving (bombarding) us “the news” every minute of the day. It was usually at 6/7pm, and 11pm, on TV, or whenever you got the paper delivered at your house – either by 7am, or 5pm. If it didn’t make the “printing press” deadline, it had to wait until the next day.
Both Mr. Hanks, and Ms. Streep are excellent in this movie. It took me a minute or two, to recognize Hanks, and same for Bradley Whitford (from West Wing). There are several other good actors, with Bob Odenkirk once again shining, in a more dramatic role than the comedic ones he played in with Breaking Bad, and/or Better Call Saul.
The movie makes a person want to read Bob MacNamara’s book, In Retrospect, H.R. McMaster’s Dereliction of Duty, and to give “The Pentagon Papers” another try (all of which, I’ve now downloaded their Kindle samples onto the iPad).
Another good movie about “The Washington Post”, of course, is “All The President’s Men”, from 1976.
