Movie Review: Important message outshines 'The Post'

20th Century Fox

The Post (2017, directed by Steven Spielberg. U.S.A., English, Color, 115 minutes) As a journalist I'm automatically bias toward films about my profession. I get wrapped up in watching the whole process of sourcing, interviewing, uncovering great secrets, the emotional attachment to the story; I love it all and "The Post" doesn't disappoint on that front.

Released at the most appropriate time when the press is constantly being discredited and attacked, "The Post" is a throwback to one of the defining journalism cases of the 20th century: The publication of the highly classified Pentagon Papers. Unfortunately, "The Post" uses that watershed moment as nothing more than a platform for the filmmakers' own political message. This story deserved more than what Steven Spielberg rushed to get made.

'Spotlight'ing the 'Truth': Journalism in Cinema, 2015

Boston Globe/Entertainment One

Who knew 2015 would become a hit year for journalism in cinema?

It started off with the little seen Jonah Hill pic "True Story", and now two more films about the truth-seeking industry are being released in the heat of Oscar season: "Spotlight" and "Truth".

Both films take place around the same time, early- to mid-2000's, but they couldn't be anymore different. "Spotlight" is an underdog story of sorts about a group of watchdog journalists at The Boston Globe taking down the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, and "Truth" is a group of television legends at CBS covering up their "errors" in a report about Pres. George W. Bush's time in the National Guard.

Neither of these holds a flame to the paramount journalism film "All the President's Men", but damn if they aren't good. And how suiting is it for Robert Redford to star as Bob Woodward in "ATPM" and now portray Dan Rather in "Truth"? Redford is definitely an iconic part of the world of journalism, and that's not even his profession.

At the core of both of these films is the hunt for facts, the hallmark of journalism.