The period film, which recounts the Washington Post's attempts to publish the Pentagon Papers, stars Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep.


The first critics' reactions to Steven Spielberg's The Post have started to trickle in and the consensus seems to be a thumbs up for the timely tribute to investigative journalism.


Full reviews for The Post are under embargo until Dec. 6, but critics were allowed to give their opinions on social media on Monday night.


In the age of "fake news" and with journalism under attack from The White House, the Fox newspaper drama couldn't have arrived at a better time. The film recounts how the Washington Post's publisher Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep) and editor Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) teamed up to catch up with The New York Times and publish the Pentagon Papers, risking court sanctions to expose a massive cover-up of government secrets related to the Vietnam War that spanned three decades and four U.S. Presidents.


Slashfilm's Peter Sciretta tweeted "The Post is an important film, not just to history, but to the now." Awards Circuit's Clayton Davis said the film was a "crowdpleaser," The Guardian's Jordan Hoffman described it as "dynamite" and Mark Harris said it was "fantastic."


Many felt the film had awards potential. Vox critic Alissa Wilkinson said, "The Post is definitely not the best movie I have seen all year but it will probably win best picture and I won’t be mad." The Atlantic's David Sims also felt it would win a bunch of Oscars.


The reactions weren't all glowing, THR's Jon Frosch was a tad more lukewarm, describing the film as "elegant and efficient" before it turns "clumsy/corny" at the end.


Also starring Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, David Cross, Tracy Letts, Sarah Paulson, Jesse Plemons, Michael Stuhlbarg, Bradley Whitford and Zach Woods, The Post hits limited theaters Dec. 22 before expanding wide Jan. 12.


Here are some of the early reactions to The Post on Twitter.


https://twitter.com/jon_frosch/status/935380198534479872

https://twitter.com/slashfilm/status/935381019061915648

https://twitter.com/davidlsims/statu...73550734790656

https://twitter.com/AwardsCircuit/st...72750562234368

https://twitter.com/PNemiroff/status/935374552741298177