It does look like Scott Z. Burns’ “The Report” will be released by Amazon on September 20th, 2019 [Source]. That is most definitely not a very Oscar-friendly release date, to say the least. The movie was slightly overpraised back in January at Sundance, but I was a fan, by saying it was “a brutal and unforgiving journey into the deepest pits of governmental corruption.” Knowing what’s going on right now with the FBI/CIA abuses being uncovered, I would think this is a fairly relevant movie to watch, especially a few months from now …
It does look like the September release date will mostly just coincide with TIFF, and then be swept away into oblivion in the chaotic fervor of ensuing Oscar season months, but “The Report” could still make a mark, it’s as relevant as any movie likely to be released this year.
I wrote this on AW earlier this weekend:
It started off very slow but the second half is strong. It's not worthy of any awards, but it works, for the most part. Driver is excellent. Ditto Benning as Feinstein. The villain of the whole thing is Obama's former CIA director John Brennan, as played by Ted Levine. It helps that it is very of-the-moment, but I can't see anyone going gaga over this one. It's a very distancing piece of work from Burns, he really goes for ice-cold detachment, which will alienate many.