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Movies / On DVD / Frost/Nixon
Frost/Nixon

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Frost/Nixon (2008)

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Reviews Counted:37

Fresh:33

Rotten:4

Average Rating:7.5/10

Consensus: Frost/Nixon is weighty and eloquent; a cross between a boxing match and a ballet with Oscar worthy performances.

Australian Rating: M [See Full Rating] Coarse language

Runtime: 2 hrs 2 mins

Genre: Dramas

Australian Theatrical Release:
Dec 26, 2008 Wide

US Box Office: $18,593,156

Synopsis: Oscar®-winning director Ron Howard brings to the screen writer Peter Morgan's (The Queen, The Last King of Scotland) electrifying battle between Richard Nixon, the disgraced president with a legacy... Oscar®-winning director Ron Howard brings to the screen writer Peter Morgan's (The Queen, The Last King of Scotland) electrifying battle between Richard Nixon, the disgraced president with a legacy to save, and David Frost, a jet-setting television personality with a name to make, in the untold story of the historic encounter that changed both: Frost/Nixon. Reprising their roles from Morgan's stageplay are Frank Langella, who won a Tony for his portrayal of Nixon, and Michael Sheen, who fully inhabited the part of Frost onstage in London and New York.

For three years after being forced from office, Nixon remained silent. But in summer 1977, the steely, cunning former commander-in-chief agreed to sit for one all-inclusive interview to confront the questions of his time in office and the Watergate scandal that ended his presidency. Nixon surprised everyone in selecting Frost as his televised confessor, intending to easily outfox the breezy British showman and secure a place in the hearts and minds of Americans.

Likewise, Frost's team harbored doubts about their boss' ability to hold his own. But as cameras rolled, a charged battle of wits resulted. Would Nixon evade questions of his role in one of the nation's greatest disgraces? Or would Frost confound critics and bravely demand accountability from the man who'd built a career out of stonewalling? Over the course of their encounter, each man would reveal his own insecurities, ego and reserves of dignity -- ultimately setting aside posturing in a stunning display of unvarnished truth.

Frost/Nixon not only re-creates the on-air interview, but the weeks of around-the-world, behind-the-scenes maneuvering between the two men and their camps as negotiations were struck, deals were made and secrets revealed...all leading to the moment when they would sit facing one another in the court of public opinion.

Frost/Nixon is a collaboration between Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Films, with Academy Award® winners Brian Grazer and Ron Howard joining Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner as producers. Joining Langella and Sheen as the colorful real-life personalities who provide the men counsel is a formidable roster of actors including Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell, Toby Jones and Matthew Macfadyen. --© Universal Pictures [More]

Starring: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Rebecca Hall, Toby Jones

Starring: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Rebecca Hall, Toby Jones, Matthew MacFadyen, Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell

Director: Ron Howard

Director: Ron Howard
Screenwriter: Peter Morgan
Producer: Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner
Composer: Hans Zimmer
Studio: Universal Pictures

[See More Credits]

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    Interview Achievements
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    Only One Can Win
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    The Frost Interview
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  • Bad Interview
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    Switched Roles
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    Illegal Acts
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    Ron Howard
    >
  • Sam Rockwell, Matthew Macfadyen & Oliver Platt
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    Michael Sheen
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    Frank Langella
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1 - 4 of 11

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Reviews for Frost/Nixon

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1 - 18 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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It's a deceptively juicy film that runs straight for the audience while reaching for the jugular.

Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia) | comment Comment
12/26/08
Colin Fraser
Colin Fraser
FILMINK (Australia)
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Against the odds, we feel sympathy for this tarnished man.

Full Review Source: At the Movies (Australia) | comment 1 Comment
12/18/08
David Stratton
David Stratton
At the Movies (Australia)
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Political thriller Frost/Nixon is one of the best and most surprising movies of the year.

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
12/18/08
Paul Byrnes
Paul Byrnes
Sydney Morning Herald
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Langella and Sheen deliver striking portrayals that avoid superficial mimicry for something more satisfying

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
12/12/08
Andrew L. Urban
Andrew L. Urban
Urban Cinefile
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More thrilling than a boxing match with no punches spared, this riveting revisiting of a historic moment in time has a little bit of everything %u2013 humour, tension and an exposé of the most compelling ingredient of all %u2013 humanity

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
12/12/08
Louise Keller
Louise Keller
Urban Cinefile
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Stirring stuff that works thrillingly as drama, and should make Sheen a star, even if it compromises on historical insight.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/23/09
Ian Nathan
Ian Nathan
Empire Magazine
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It sounds like an awful night out in the cinema. But you will be amazed. In Frost/Nixon Ron Howard turns this duel between Michael Sheen’s glossy playboy and Frank Langella’s shifty ex-President into a gripping tango of egos.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
01/23/09
James Christopher
James Christopher
Times [UK]
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I found myself disconcerted and underwhelmed by a hugely anticipated movie. It never quite escapes its stage origins, and under a glitzy surface of period stylings doesn't seem to have much to say.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
01/23/09
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
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Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/23/09
Empire Magazine
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Whoever would have imagined that two men facing each other in a room, with producers and minders pacing off camera, would make for such suspenseful cinema?

Full Review Source: MovieTime, ABC Radio National | comment Comment
12/26/08
Julie Rigg
Julie Rigg
MovieTime, ABC Radio National
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The result is involving, engrossing cinema -- more thrilling, in fact, than Howard’s The Da Vinci Code -- filmmaking of a type rarely seen anymore and sorely missed.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
12/16/08
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
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An absorbing film replete with telling moments and powerful performances.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
12/12/08
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today
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It isn't Shakespeare, but it is drama at a level one doesn't often get in movies.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
12/12/08
Philip Kennicott
Philip Kennicott
Washington Post
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The film begins as a fascinating inside look at the TV news business and then tightens into a spellbinding thriller.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
12/11/08
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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What Ron Howard gets, to a degree that's astonishing in a two-hour film, is the density and complexity, as well as the generous entertainment quotient, of Peter Morgan's screenplay.

Full Review Source: Wall Street Journal | comment Comment
12/05/08
Joe Morgenstern
Joe Morgenstern
Wall Street Journal
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It’s twinkle versus glower in the big-screen edition of Peter Morgan’s theatrical smackdown Frost/Nixon.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
12/04/08
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
New York Times
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One of the virtues of Frost/Nixon, Ron Howard’s adaptation of Peter Morgan’s hit play, is that it brings the intelligence back to the forefront without dispelling the elements of menace and fraudulence that were also part of Nixon’s temperament.

Full Review Source: New Yorker | comment Comment
12/01/08
David Denby
David Denby
New Yorker
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Although it all pays off in a potent and revelatory final act rife with insights into the psychology and calculations of power players, the initial stretch is rather dry and prosaic.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
10/16/08
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
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1 - 18 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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