Frost/Nixon

Title: Frost/Nixon
Year: 2008
Director: Ron Howard
Writer: Peter Morgan, based on his play
Starring: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen
Music: Hans Zimmer
Distinctions: Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor (Langella) and Best Editing
Length: 122 minutes
Synopsis: a British talk show host interviews the ex-president
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great)
Objective Rating: 10/10 c. 3.7/4 (Great)

I expected it to be good, but I didn't expect to like it. As a rule, I don't care for biopics or based-on-a-true-story movies, and I don't care for politics. And I can't say I've ever really liked a Ron Howard movie before. So I'm not sure why I rented it, but I'm glad I did; it was a really great movie. It seems strange to say, but it felt like an action movie more than a drama - there's a hero and a villain and a series of escalating showdowns. Very effective suspense, even though the end is spoiled by the trailer (and by history, I suppose, but my high school history classes weren't nearly so thorough). I was surprised to see that Zimmer did the score; it sounded unmistakably like Thomas Newman.