The Post: Steven Spielberg achieves quite a lot: a tightly paced and efficient procedural, a fine history lesson, and a manifest about two causes very much in vogue in present times; it’s also, first and foremost, very entertaining and well-done. It is, simply put, a great and important story. Director of photography Janusz Kaminski’s camera is elegant, fluid; the film is filled with beautiful long takes, both static and dynamic. Production and costume design are quietly efficient, not calling attention to themselves. It’s an enormous cast, all great faces; due to the nature of the film (that is mostly plot-driven), the only performer with a proper character arch is Meryl Streep, and she delivers in spades (first the insecure charm, later on the strength). That’s not to belittle anyone else’s acting, to be clear, as every one is very convincing; Tom Hanks and Bob Odenkirk are the other stand-outs. Nevertheless, the real star of the film is its spirit of defiance at the face of a proto-tyrant.