Movie review: Spielberg's 'The Post' is a suspenseful, endearing tribute to the freedom of the press

If Steven Spielberg thinks print is dead, then he’s certainly given it a loving eulogy.

Set in 1971 in Washington, D.C., Spielberg’s “The Post” is based on the fascinating true story of the Pentagon Papers, a revealing and extensive series of documents that exposed backroom U.S. involvement in Vietnam stretching back to the Truman administration.

Tom Hanks stars as Ben Bradlee, the executive editor of the Washington Post. Thanks to a leak named Daniel Ellsberg (Matthew Rhys), and some stealthy reporting by Ben Bagdikian (Bob Odenkirk), Bradlee gets access to a top secret report that suggests multiple past American presidents were aware that a war in Vietnam would be a fruitless effort. But since the war is still on, there is some question as to whether printing the report would be damaging to the U.S. military effort.

Things are further complicated by the fact that the New York Times has already broken the story and been shut down by the Nixon White House. If the Post also goes to press, they could also face legal action — even prison time for Bradlee.

Of course, Bradlee isn’t the one making the final call. Meryl Streep plays Katharine Graham, the Post’s publisher, who is still wrestling with her groundbreaking position as the female head of a major paper. She’s already facing internal and external criticism and could join Bradlee in jail if things go south.

Spielberg skillfully sets up the drama as a confrontation of principles and ideals, though admittedly, things are weighted pretty heavy on the side of freedom of the press against that old reliable bad guy, President Richard M. Nixon (whose actual voice is used for certain scenes in the film). And given the timing of the film — which trails off with a foreboding finger toward the Watergate scandal to come — it isn’t hard to read “The Post” as a criticism of our current administration, which has had an especially combative relationship with the media.

Spielberg may see “The Post” as a criticism of the Trump administration, but as he unpacks the publishing process in a way that is both informative and engrossing, his film also becomes an indictment of our modern 24/7 news cycle, which has a tendency to spit out headlines and half-formed stories without so much verification as determination.

But even aside from the ideological themes, “The Post” feels like an endearing tribute to a past era. It is also interesting to see the portrayal of a time where fraternization between highly placed politicos such as Robert McNamara (Bruce Greenwood) and press figures like Graham was much more casual.

Movie fans will enjoy seeing Hanks as Bradlee, the iconic news figure who was previously immortalized by Jason Robards in 1976’s “All the President’s Men,” and Streep’s performance is meant to underscore a theme of female empowerment (Graham was also the first female CEO of a Fortune 500 company).

Regardless of what you take from its message, though, “The Post” stands as a tribute to Spielberg’s skill as a storyteller, imbuing his backroom story with generous suspense and tension without needing the spectacular action scenes of so many of his celebrated past films.

"The Post" is rated PG-13 for language and brief war violence; running time: 115 minutes.

Watch a trailer for the Chernobyl VR Project interactive documentary

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine — the date that a nuclear power plant outside the town of Pripyat melted down, releasing deadly amounts of radiation into the surrounding area. The disaster killed 31 people in the immediate aftermath, afflicted many more with cancer or birth defects, and turned an 18-mile radius around the plant into an abandoned "Exclusion Zone." But in the years since then, the space's eerie emptiness — especially as nature begins to reclaim it — has made it a popular destination for visitors. Later this year, an ambitious project hopes to capture this feeling, using the medium of virtual reality.

The experience is called The Chernobyl VR Project by game studio The Farm 51, and we've written about it before. It combines 360-degree video shot across the Exclusion Zone with walkable 3D versions of some inside spaces, created by meticulously photographing each area and transposing its textures onto rendered objects. I tried an early version at last month's Game Developers Conference, and while some elements felt a little too clean-lined to be real, others are surprisingly realistic — at certain moments, it's almost impossible to tell the difference between a still photo and the 3D reconstruction. Some of the footage can be found in the 360-degree trailer above, watchable on a flat screen or on Google Cardboard for Android users.

THE PROJECT PROMISES TO FOCUS ON PEOPLE STILL LIVING AND WORKING IN THE EXCLUSION ZONE

Beyond the spaces themselves, The Chernobyl VR Project promises to focus on people who still live or work in the Exclusion Zone, creating a series of individual stories that can be pieced together during the experience. That means alongside the ruins that appear in countless photo essays, viewers can see things like the construction of a new "sarcophagus" that will seal Chernobyl's reactor in 2017. "There are tens of documentaries and fiction movies made about Chernobyl. Most of them are focused on the events of the incident, lost lives, or simply exploit various myths," says the team on a Kickstarter campaign page, where they're asking for around $33,000 for post-production and more 360-degree filming. "None of them truly explore the life of today's Chernobyl and the Zone."

The project was originally supposed to see release today, but it's since been delayed until June; it will start on the Oculus Rift, then move to other headsets. After release, the team has promised to donate a percent of each sale to organizations that support victims of the Chernobyl disaster

Kelly Ripa returns to Live: 'Our long national nightmare is over'

Live! With Kelly and Michael

Kelly Ripa opened Live this morning by quipping “our long national nightmare is over” before thanking fans for “welcoming me back to the show.”

After standing quietly through an extended audience ovation, Ripa — dressed in a sleeveless red jumpsuit — stood in front of a camera alone to address the scandal that plagued the show and kept her away from the company that’s employed her for 26 years.

“I earned the right [for a break away from work],” said Ripa, who hadn’t been at Live since Tuesday when she was “blindsided” by the news of Michael Strahan’s departure to Good Morning America. “I know half of you called in sick to be here so we get each other.”

“I gained perspective,” Ripa continued. “I always speak from my heart. I didn’t want to come out here and say something I will regret… This started a much greater conversation about communication and consideration and most importantly respect in the worksplace.”

Ripa’s message — read from a Teleprompter — featured a few jokes but it did appear as if she strayed from what was written by cracking, “I’m fairly certain that there are trained professional snipers with tranquilizer darts in case I drift too far off message.”

“Apologies have been made,” she said. “The best thing to come out of all of this is that our parent company has assured me that Live is a priority.”

Ripa wrapped her short message by saying, “My dad, who was a bus driver for 30 years, thinks we are all crazy. I think he’s right.”

After joining her co-host at the desk, Strahan thanked Ripa again for the opportunity to work with her. “You love this show, you love the fans, you love the staff. I love you,” he said. “This is has been tranforming for me, You are the queen of morning TV… I’m happy you are here.”

“I don’t know where else to be,” she replied. 

Watch the video and read Ripa’s full opening speech below:

Our long national nightmare is over. Please be seated. I am going to be completely honest. I’m fairly certain that there are trained professional snipers with tranquilizer darts in case I drift too far off message. I first want to honestly, sincerely thank you for welcoming back to this show. The love, the show of support through this bizarre time has been really overwhelming. I really need a couple of days to gather my thoughts. After 26 years with the company, I earned the right — and let’s be honest, I know half of us called in sick to be here today, so we get each other.

“In that time, I gained some perspective. I always speak from the heart, I didn’t want to come out here and say something I might regret. So what transpired though over the course of a few days has been extraordinary, in the sense that it started a much greater conversation about communication, and consideration, and most importantly, respect in the workplace. And since we’re being honest, I don’t consider this just a workplace — this is my second home. This is a place that I’ve devoted myself to not just because of you, our loyal viewers but because of all of the producers and incredible crew who work on this show. We have an incredible team completely devoted to one another. We are family. Apologies have been made and the best thing to come from all of this, you guys, is that our parent company has assured me that ‘Live’ is a priority. (Guys, calm down, they didn’t say anything about Christmas bonuses.) But there is a commitment to this show and the people who work here and to you, the viewers, who have watched us every day for 30 years.

“I am thrilled for Michael, I am thrilled for you. This is a tremendous opportunity and I couldn’t be and we couldn’t be prouder of you and everything we’ve accomplished together. So back to the show. This is entertainment. it’s supposed to be entertaining, so let’s get back to what we do best and start the show.

“Incidentally, I just want to say one thing: My dad, who was a bus driver for 30 years, thinks that we’re all crazy, and I think he’s right.”

The NFL and Tom Brady need to cut a deal and kill Deflategate for good Les Carpenter

Now that they have each won a round in court the best thing Roger Goodell and Tom Brady can do is split Brady’s four-game suspension and move on. Neither man has a reasonable point left to make that will justify months and years of appeals to a Supreme Court that will probably tell them to get lost anyway. 

Nobody should be surprised that on Monday the NFL won the right to suspend Brady in the case known as Deflategate. The questions from the three US second circuit court of appeals judges in last month’s hearing made clear they believed the league’s players had given Goodell, as NFL commissioner, the power to punish them through their last labor deal. Whether you think Goodell has become a dictator run amok was always irrelevant to this case. It was more about the league trying to preserve a right they had won from a players’ union attempt to seize it in court. 

What the appeals court said on Monday in restoring Brady’s suspension is that the NFL’s players gave Goodell a broad power to punish them when they negotiated their last CBA and that much of the parsing of the league’s Deflategate report has been irrelevant. The court also said that Goodell had a reasonable, legal right to assume Brady was hiding evidence when he destroyed his phone with its texts to the Patriots equipment men who were accused of deflating game balls for him. But football fans don’t want years of courtroom wars over a controversy that has simmered for 15 months now. They don’t care that the NFL v The League’s Most Famous Quarterback has long stopped being about who did what to those footballs that day in New England and has turned into posturing over a clause in the CBA. An endless labor fight waged in a courtroom is of interest to no one save for a few lawyers with unlimited billing hours. After a time, nobody – not Brady, not his team the New England Patriots, the players or the NFL – wins.

These points alone will make it tough for Brady to continue winning in court. There is a chance he could land another hearing before the full second circuit, but such hearings are rare. All another appeal would do is table further the uncertainty of his suspension, leaving the Patriots to spend another summer in limbo, wondering if their quarterback will be able to play the first quarter of the season or not.

Likewise, the NFL’s win was little more than a temporary block against player challenges to league suspensions. Even if Brady sits the first four games of next season, other players will be emboldened by the way he has been able to draw out a punishment he was supposed to serve last year. The NFL Players Association has always had better success suing the league than they have during labor stoppages where leverage is hard to maintain. The league has never been at their best fighting on courthouse steps. Forcing Brady to serve his full suspension risks more legal tussles that will be a public relations disaster.

If Goodell felt the need to be harder on New England in Deflategate because many teams feel he wasn’t strong enough on the Patriots when they were caught filming the New York Jets signals in a 2007 game, then his point should have been made by now. In refusing to give back to New England the first-round pick he snatched away, he has weakened the Patriots far more than any advantage Brady got from a slightly softer game ball. The rest of the NFL now knows he can hit New England as hard as anyone else.The punishments Goodell gave Brady and the patriots in Deflategate never made sense. They were arbitrary and extreme. One of Goodell’s great flaws as a commissioner is his habit of ruling by public relations, overreacting to the biggest cases by delivering outrageous sanctions that don’t fit the crime. Suspending Saints coach Sean Payton a yearand general manger Mickey Loomis six months over the team’s bounty program was ridiculous. Hammering Brady for four games and taking away New England’s first-round pick in this week’s draft for squeezing air from game balls was like killing a wasp with a sledgehammer.

Both Brady and Goodell have now had their victories and after months of wrangling we are right back to where we were 50 weeks ago with the Patriots losing a first-rounder and Brady staring at a four-game suspension. The fight can go on but what will it yield? The Patriots aren’t getting back into Thursday’s first round and Brady’s suspension isn’t likely to get overturned again. Any further attempt by the NFL to crush Brady will come with the risk of alienating fans and advertisers who don’t care that the league stopped a labor maneuver to the relief of their billionaire owners.

There is no more winning left in Deflategate. The lawyers can go home now. Roger Goodell and Tom Brady need to do what they should have done way back in February of 2015. They need to sit in a room, find a way to cut Brady’s suspension and get back to football.