All the Money in the World (2017)

All the Money in the World is based on a true story but the more interesting news about this film is the fact that just six weeks before it was due to be released, Ridley Scott chose to replace Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer so that the film would be released. The film tells the story of Jean-Paul Getty Jr who is kidnapped and held for a $17 million ransom but his grandfather Jean-Paul Getty who at this time is the richest man in the world wont pay a penny. Mark Wahlberg is tasked with finding him.

There’s a moment at the beginning of the film where Plummer tells a story about a Minotaur statue is worth $1.2 million but later on when Michelle Williams wants to sell it to raise some money realises that they are sold in a gift shop. This is quite a downbeat moment just when you think things are starting to go well. There is always a sense that Wahlberg and Williams are just one step behind finding Getty Jr. If I had one issue is that I think it drags on a little bit too long.

The performances are astonishing. I think that Christopher Plummer is the star of this film and bearing in mind how little time he had to prepare for this role, its amazing that the performances as the way it is. Imagine what he could have done if he had been given more time. I like the character because he is obsessed with money and there is a great scene where he is talking about how he spent an hour negotiating with some market trader just to save a couple of dollars. Mark Walhberg is one of those actors who has a rather chequered career. When he’s bad he is in films like The Happening and when he’s good, he is in films like this. Michelle Williams also deserves a lot of credit because she spends 80% of the movie being looking for her son so there aren’t any laughs to be had.

This isnt the sort of film you would expect Ridley Scott to direct really. Its very grounded in reality and when you think of Ridley Scott you think Alien or The Martian or something other worldly. Despite this being one of the most grounded films I think he has ever done, its still a brilliantly told story and Scott does a good job of increasing the tension as the film progresses. I would like to see the Kevin Spacey version just to see how different it would be but I think that the decision to replace Spacey was the right one so that the film could be released but also that Plummer was brilliant and made the film even better. This is a brilliant film and I think it might be one of Ridley Scott’s best films. Not quite on par with Alien but pretty close.

The Post (2018)

The Post tells the story of the Washington Post newspaper trying to publish a story about the pentagon papers. Meryl Streep play Kay who is the owner of the Washington Post and Tom Hanks as Ben who is the executive editor. The poster is simply those two which is perhaps all the marketing that you need and when you add Steven Spielberg to the mix then you have a film that naturally sells itself.

Even though this has a very impressive cast including Bob Odenkirk, Bradley Whitford and Bruce Greenwood just to name a few, the film and story really centre around Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. Streep’s performance of Kay is very similar to Margaret Thatcher in ‘The Iron Lady’, it was a little distracting at times but I did think it still a good performance as someone who wants to do the right think but is being told to squash the story for the sake of her paper. Tom Hanks’ Ben is someone that drives the story and is very excited with what is about to happen and is very confident in what the paper has to do so is the opposite of Kay.

The film is essentially people talking in rooms and the fact that Spielberg manages to make this work shows how good of a director he is. This film would be a great double feature with the 1976 film ‘All the Presidents Men’, this film enda at the point where All the Presidents Men starts and this was almost certainly by design.

The Post isn't the sort of film that you would think off when you say Steven Spielberg but that doesn't mean that its any less of a film than say the Indiana Jones film and yet The Post is a very well told story that isn't perhaps the most exciting story but is done in a way that is dramatic and at times quite tense. I enjoyed The Post and think its worth watching although it might not be in Spielberg’s top 10.