All the Way (2016)

Did you people see the same film I saw?

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

All the Way is a great TV movie with a very well developed plot and an outstanding cast. It is very engrossing as we follow US president Lyndon B. Johnson in his first year in office. We are captivated almost immediately as it kicks off straight with him learning of the death of JFK, and discovering he is now the most powerful man in the world. His world is soon turned upside down with all these new expectations and responsibilities, it is truly fascinating to see how he handled this first hand.I think there could have been a bit more set up to the main story, instead of having it kick off almost immediately. I would like to have seen a brief period focusing on John F. Kennedy prior to his assassination, and to give the audience a feel for the relationship between him and LBJ, it would have been an interesting way to begin this film.The performances are stellar, there is not a poor portrayal here, Bryan Cranston absolutely shines as LBJ. Being a role he had already perfected on Broadway, you could really see him slipping in to this part effortlessly. Anthony Mackie is also stellar as Martin Luther King, conveying the man's struggles and aspirations with great purity, as well as subtlety, his scenes with Cranston were without a doubt the highlight for me.Told in a powerful, inspired manner. Very well acted and intriguing, All the Way is certainly worth the watch for anyone looking for a good drama or biography film. Follows Lyndon B. Johnson in his first year as president after the assassination of JFK. Best Performance: Bryan Cranston

This television does a great job of trying to bring to life the struggle of a leader who got destroyed by a Vietnam War in History books. LBJ did so much, but the question of why he did what he did is what this history tries to show. While it does accurately address the events and a talented actor does bring life to him, it kind of misses script wise LBJ's real motivations to an considerable extent. This starts with stark scenes of the immediate thrust into the Presidency after JFK's murder. While the scenes are stark here, the script shows an almost emotionless LBJ after an incident which touched the emotion of every American. His assumption of office is presented as sudden but the real LBJ would not be as wooden as this one. From here, it does get better to an extent. It goes over all the major battles on race discrimination, and tries to present LBJ's encounters with MLK (Dr. King) and FBI head J.Edgar Hoover. It does show how cagey he could be maneuvering people to get what he wants. In his human side, it does a great job presenting how he feels he will die young because of others in his family.Because this is a TV production, it mentions the great society programs but does not really go into the battles LBJ had getting them passed. The focus here is race and voting rights. By presenting a shallow picture of MLK here, it really makes it look too much like Johnson alone got this done. This is presented deliberately into making the history say that because of this LBJ battle that the Democrats lost the South in the 1968 election because of Republicans, which is not really the true history. George Wallace really had more to do with the Humphrey loss in 1968 than Nixon. Still, the LBJ Legend, and the 1968 spin which has been used make it look like Democrats are something they are not is still being sold as fact where the Democrats stand today, despite the fact that current leaders of that party had racists as mentors, is an interesting theory still being advanced in Education. Between the lines stands LBJ, he is an important bridge in the history of equal rights, and the development of the most comprehensive programs addressing poverty and health care in the United States. Those accomplishments stand high above the presentation of them in this film. Medicare and Medicade funded what is now the most advanced health care system in the world. The equal rights is a landmark the rest of the world still trails behind the US. The trouble is current leaders are trying to destroy this legacy, and they should be ashamed of that.

Far removed from his roles on "Malcolm in the Middle" and "Breaking Bad", Bryan Cranston plays Lyndon Johnson during his first year in office. Having taken the reins after the Kennedy assassination, Johnson made a strong effort to get the Civil Rights Act passed. "All the Way" - based on Robert Schenkkan's play - depicts the 36th president as a folksy type who sees that the time has come to do the right thing (ironically, it was around this time that he escalated the Vietnam War).Cranston does a fine job in the role, as does Melissa Leo as Lady Bird, and the rest of the cast as other political figures of the era. One important things that the movie makes clear is that LBJ faced a lot of opposition from the southern Democrats, who felt that he as a southern Democrat was betraying the party. Nevertheless, he pushed through the bill, knowing full well that it would cost his party the south. Also noted in the movie is the FBI's wiretapping of Martin Luther King Jr.The recent political-themed movies that Jay Roach has directed mark a sharp turn from the Austin Powers and "Meet the Parents" trilogies. And he's done a great job with this one. Everyone should see it.

There's no doubt that there are lots of strong performances in this movie: Cranston as LBJ, Leo as Lady Bird, Whitford as HHH, and Langella as "Uncle Dick" Russell. But you can tell this movie was based on a play, because, try as they might to infuse this movie with any action and excitement, the film is mostly a bore, and I found myself nearly dozing off multiple times. And maybe their portrayal of the sleaze of politics also bothered me, most notably with Humphrey coming up to MLK at the Democratic convention and bubbling over with enthusiasm about a "great deal" they reached with him when HHH knew it was a terrible deal. Finally, while Anthony Mackie is fine as MLK, he physically looks nothing like him, and since they made an effort to have so many other characters look like their real-life counterparts, Mackie's appearance stood out like a sore thumb.