Directed by Steven Spielberg, and starring both Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, The Post was bound from the start to succeed. And did it succeed? It did. The story is set in 1971 in Washington, D.C. when former-President Richard Nixon’s administration was in full force against the media. The titular newspaper company, The Washington Post, was a then-local newspaper that strived to be one on the national level. After The New York Times became barred from publishing any material related to The Pentagon Papers, which essentially detailed how the government had been intentionally misinforming the public regarding the Vietnam War, the editors and journalists at The Washington Post decided that they should pick up the torch and publish the papers before they become barred from doing so as well.

Hanks, plays The Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, and is very good throughout the movie. All in all, he delivers a typically strong performance. Streep, however, is the real MVP, and could score not only another Oscar nomination, but potentially even a win. Streep’s character is Kay Graham, who after her husband’s death (her father was the original founder of The Washington Post, but passed it down to her husband before her) becomes the first female president of a newspaper. Various cast members are excellent such as Bob Odenkirk’s memorably stumbling journalist who would do everything to catch a lead, with the other members of the cast not succumbing to becoming the weak link.

“I thought it was really good and Steven Spielberg did an amazing job directing it and Tom Hanks was phenomenal,”  Noah Landsberg said.

Spielberg laid his eyes on the screenplay for The Post a mere nine months before the film was eventually released, which is a remarkable turnaround. Gladly, the film never once feels rushed in any of the ways that that same problem has plagued many other promising films, with some directed by Spielberg.

The story is timely and relevant, once you get down to its core. Protection of the first amendment and freedom of the press is what is on its mind. After Nixon had barred The New York Times from publishing The Pentagon Papers, but not The Washington Post, Tom Hanks’s character says “the only protect the right is to publish.” By the end of the film, that ideal is communicated effectively, successfully and thoroughly.

Rating: A