Frost/Nixon (2008)

“That’s our tragedy, you and I Mr. Frost. No matter how high we get, they still look down at us.” – Richard Nixon

Number of Times Seen – 2 (24 Dec 2008 and 24 Jul 2017)

Brief Synopsis – Recounting of the historic debates between Former President Richard Nixon and Talk Show Host David Frost in the mid-70’s that helped define what history thinks of both of these men.

My Take on it – This is a film that actually sounds like a boring idea but is so engaging because of the way it is presented to us by Director Ron Howard.

The pacing of the story and the explanation of the background of the personalities involved is done extremely well and by the end, it’s easy to understand how groundbreaking and monumental this debate between these two men really was.

Michael Sheen and Frank Langella are both superb here and are so much fun to watch because they keep their characters so engaging throughout the film.

They do a wonderful job of keeping the discussions between the two of them feel like a seesaw because both of them manage to have their highs and lows during their verbal debates.

This film is definitely deserving of its Best Picture Nomination that year but I’m not sure it really had much of a chance at winning because there were definitely stronger contenders in the running.

Bottom Line – Sheen and Langella make this film so fun to watch because they are both such engaging characters. The discussions between them through the course of the film seem like a seesaw because both have points where they are up and points when they are down, but each is doing his best to stay at the top. The fact that a story like this can stay engaging for the entire two hours says so much about the directing by Howard.  Definitely deserving of the Best Picture Nomination, but not the strongest contender that year so I wouldn’t have expected it to win. Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The phone conversation at midnight between Frost and Nixon never actually happened. Screenwriter Peter Morgan got the inspiration from well-known phone calls at midnight, that Nixon did to some government members during the Watergate scandal. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy

_______________________________________

Check out my *updated* movie stats here

To see my reviews of Oscar Winning Performances check out this link

To see my reviews of all Oscar Best Picture Winners click here (now complete)

Here is a link to my movie index A-Z