THE POST
Steven Spielberg’s latest offering The Post is certainly a Very Relevant Movie, and it takes a few too many pains to inform audiences just how relevant. It’s easy to see why, as many of its themes, such as, say, a newspaper struggling to stay afloat while holding the powerful accountable in the face of a secretive, malicious presidential administration obsessed with destroying anyone it perceives to be an enemy, ring uncomfortably true today.
MUDBOUND
It’s the rare film that is able to combine love, optimism, and realism so well. Mudboundis very aware of how transformative friendship can be. It can overcome obstacles both within and without, and help us understand each other even in the midst of a hateful time and place bent on keeping us apart. But let the viewer beware, because Mudboundalso knows that even the best of us can still be twisted and torn by such an environment. This is not a feel-good story of an interracial friendship overcoming all odds.
