It’s the Dream team.
In The Post, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, and Steven Spielberg team up to deliver a hard-hitting drama inspired by true events surrounding the cover-up by the United States government spanning 30 years on the Vietnam War. Determined to publish the Pentagon Papers, Streep plays Katherine Graham, the first female newspaper publisher in the US who, together with a gritty editor, joined hands to start an unprecedented battle between the press and the US government.
Delivering stellar performances, Streep and Hanks give us a gripping newsroom story that’s got us rooting for them all the way. And if you love this newsroom drama involving politics and featuring a strong female character, you might love these movies too.
If you love newsroom dramas, you’d like…
Spotlight (2015), of course. Winner of Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay at the 2016 Oscars, the movie is a true story about a team of investigative journalists from the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team who brought down a web of conspiracy involving the Catholic Church, which had been hiding a dark and dirty secret. Catholic priests had been molesting children for decades and after stumbling upon the story, the team, led by Michael Keaton (Birdman) and including Mark Ruffalo (The Avengers) and Rachel McAdams (Red Eye), exposed one of the biggest scandals in the US.
If you like movies based on true stories, you’d like…
Trumbo (2015). Based on the controversial story of Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who wrote classics like Roman Holiday, Spartacus and Exodus. Dalton is blacklisted and jailed by the US Government for his political beliefs. Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) injects the right amount of angst and determination into Trumbo, who decides to devote himself to writing better stories to prove his peers, who ostracised him for his beliefs.
If you like political thrillers, you’d want to watch…
Kill The Messenger (2014). In this journalism thriller, Jeremy Renner (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol) plays Gary Webb, an actual journalist in the mid-90s who on the hunt for the truth behind CIA’s role in importing huge amounts of cocaine into the US as fund-raising for the Nicaraguan Contras' rebel army. Stopping at nothing to get to the bottom of the truth, Webb finds himself in a smear campaign orchestrated by the CIA that is threatening his family.
If you like movies about strong female characters, you’d like…
The Trials of Cate McCall (2013). A story about truth, honour and family, Kate Beckinsale (Underworld) plays Cate McCall, a former assistant district attorney who never loses a case, until she did. She spirals out of control after she realised she had wrongly put a man in jail for 11 years. She becomes an alcoholic and is on the verge of losing custody of her daughter. Instead of completely giving up, she picks herself up, sweeps her personal pain aside and takes on a case to help someone in need and redeem herself in the process.
If you like Meryl Streep, then you can’t miss…
Mamma Mia! (2008). You often saw Streep playing serious characters like Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady (2011) and a domineering mother in August: Osage County (2013), it’s nice to see her let loose in a romantic drama. And she sings! Adapted from the stage musical of the same name, Streep takes on the role of Donna, a once free-spirited girl who settled down on a Greek Island to raise her daughter. Streep shares great chemistry with fellow cast Christine Baranski and Julie Walters. This feel-good Streep vehicle will see a sequel coming our way later this year.
