SummaryThe successful career of 1940s screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) comes to a crushing end when he and other Hollywood figures are blacklisted for their political beliefs.
SummaryThe successful career of 1940s screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) comes to a crushing end when he and other Hollywood figures are blacklisted for their political beliefs.
Bryan Cranston finally translates his critical acclaim for “Breaking Bad” into an Oscar-caliber performance in darkly comic Trumbo, playing an eloquent, witty screenwriter who bucked the Hollywood blacklist and triumphed.
The great Bryan Cranston sinks his teeth into the title role and chews the scenery with such gusto I half-expected him to spit out a chunk of period-piece furniture before we were through. There’s a lot of ham and cheese in the performance, but it’s great fun to watch.
Honestly I'm not sure how this film could have done things better. It can be argued that it rushes through certain moments of Trumbo's life, but I'm glad the experience of such an interesting life was condensed into two hours. It's why we have a movie. It can be argued, on the opposite hand, that not enough happens, but one cannot expect wild fancy in a biopic. Many critics argue that Trumbo was more of a wildcard than he was written, but he doesn't seem like it to me, when I've watched interviews. It has been argued, hilariously, by certain pundits that Trumbo's ideals should not be celebrated, but the only ideal being celebrated here is freedom of speech. My personal experience of this film is probably a 9/10, but honestly as I sat down to write the review I could think of no single reason not to give it a 10. Perhaps the story deserves a 9, but Cranston's performance is one of the best of all time. It's criminal that DeCaprio grunted his way into an Oscar when Cranston was bringing a fascinating man to life. And that's what Trumbo was: a fascinating man. To be unable to see the beauty of him, and the importance of what happened to him, simply because of one's own leanings is nothing short of disgusting. Trumbo deserves to be enjoyed for what it is: a biopic of one of history's most eloquent men, in a time when speech was being silenced.
Trumbo Triumphant.
by jd ep
He fought fire with oil. Dalton Trumbo, novelist turned screenwriter, admitted Communist during the early days of the Cold War, winner of two Academy Awards while on the Hollywood Blacklist, seemingly never saw a fight not worth getting in. Bryan Cranston's performance as the larger than life literary figure captures the subversive qualities of a man who was torn between two world one where he was a warrior for the rights of the working man, and the other, living in the Ivory Tower of being one of Hollywood's most sought after screenwriters, during a rather contentious time in Tinseltown's past. The film spans 30+ years of Trumbo's most turbulent times, from the early meetings of the Hollywood Communist Party to their trials of committing Contempt of Congress by flippantly disregarding the validity of the House UnAmerican Activities Committees's witch hunt, as well as when Trumbo went on live TV to declare he wrote the Academy Award winning 'The Brave One' under a pen name. The film acts as both time capsule, and history lesson; highlighting the grandiosity of the upper crust, hypocrisy of power and in the end does what many Oscar hopeful films do, it makes you love Hollywood at the end.
Masterfully directed by Jay Roach, who started primarily as a comedy director, notably of the Austin Powers films, but he's recently been focusing on the Political arena, the 2016 Presidential Election being around the corner may show some parallels between the likable, over the top socialist Dalton Trumbo and a certain Senator from Vermont. Weaving archival newsreel footage in with what was shot for the film, may be a little iffy, depending on rules imposed by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, though it feels like Trumbo has a solid shot at taking home a few Oscars. The 124 minute runtime flies by, there are laughs abound in an otherwise very serious movie, a great blend of humor and importance. The production design sets the scene perfectly and the score is engaging, adopting an almost Tom Waitsian knock and whir of a typewriter for montage sequences. The cast of supporting characters is solid, with Elle Fanning playing Dalton's eldest daughter, a social rights crusader in her own right, scorned by her father's workaholism. Stephen Root and John Goodman play the King Brothers, schlocky producers who churn and burn productions on the cheap, that hire Trumbo and his otherwise unemployable friends during the Blacklist years, of which Alan Tudyk and Louis C.K. are members of the infamous "Hollywood 10." There are also a few larger than life Hollywood characters that add color to the film with JAG's David James Elliot as John Wayne, The Hobbit's Dean O'Gorman as Kirk Douglas and German actor Christian Berkel as Otto Preminger, the Austrian Alfred Hitchcock. The lovely Diane Lane felt underutilized here as little more than a doting wife with a past, but she keeps the family together during their most tumultuous times. Helen Mirren as Hedda Hopper, Hollywood's premier reporter might seem familiar, to younger audiences, like Harry Potter's Dolores Umbridge, a very prim and proper conservative foil with considerable power and an axe to grind.
Finally, for the man himself. Bryan Cranston as Dalton Trumbo. With Cranston's oeuvre of television work, it's plain to see the man is a chameleon, disappearing into his roles, though with each you know Cranston is in control. Almost on the verge of a Burgess Meredith era Penguin at times, the larger than life Dalton Trumbo was a chain-smoking, whiskey drinking rabble rouser, who wasn't afraid of who he made enemies with, as long as they knew he stood his ground, to the point where he dares John Wayne to punch him in the face to prove a point. Not an imposing man, aside from his mustache towards the end, you simply don't see people like Dalton Trumbo anymore. He had a way with words that puts most writers to shame, and as the film depicts, he had a preternatural ability to crank out scripts. Though this is clearly an awards worthy performance, Cranston's reverence for Dalton is sincere. You never feel like Bryan is just playing this guy too big, you feel like you're actually watching the real Dalton Trumbo, seeing into his world, his idiosyncrasies, what makes him tick, and why he doesn't give up. Maddening as it may be to those around him.
Trumbo is a triumph that could lighten the day of even the most cynical of the Hollywood Elite, and remind them of why they got into the business in the first place.
Movie grade: A
9/10
Trumbo is timely in its portrayal of a moment when political speech is dangerously charged, yet unabashedly old-fashioned in the sincerity of its storytelling.
Trumbo’s writing was so terrific, the film emphasizes, that it outweighed his caustic personality, his unfashionable politics, and the career-threatening dangers of working with him.
Interesting and entertaining movie from start to finish. Cranston is superb, as is the rest of the cast. Excellent (but not annoying an preechy) insight into a turbulent era in the American history. Appropriate for thoughtful audience including young adults. R rating is way to harsh for this film.
drunk in its sober and dry mannerism..
Trumbo
Roach's biographical drama is drunk in its sober and dry mannerism that never appreciates its own mythology. The set of characters that the plot and concept fiddles with, is immensely electrifying especially in its latter stages but Roach seems distracted in here and his eye is on a blurred out vision of accuracy. And this is what's disappointing since the accuracy isn't cinematic or glorifying enough to chisel out the final anticipated product. The narration is undoubtedly gripping and adaptive but it isn't as layered as they might think. But all these issues are piled upon the sensational performance that Cranston oozes in each frame. His raging, complex and logical expressive nature might be subtle on Layman's terms but is actually a melody to encounter it.
The major issue holding it back, would be the continuity. Each event or episode may or may not attain its closure in its allotted span, but it surely changes up the tone that makes it shatter into bits and pieces where the responsible person is the director in charge who fails to blend the entire tale into one big act. The supporting characters are well crafted in here i.e. from Lane to Fanning or Louis C.K. to Mirren, each of them gets their stand alone moments with three dimensional perspective and aptly cooked vision for them. The dialogues are layered and the conversations are pragmatic that can stay with you for a longer time and with a delivery like Cranston's it definitely elevates the momentum. And it's every man for himself at the end, that drags this somewhat sloppy script to as his character does to the script, "make it better". Trumbo is a triumph on terms of performance but Cranston was not the only one that was on the stand, the rest of the work might be contempt for being guilty.
Trumbo is funny, charming, classy and has a heart, but it dose suffer from a lot of flaws that weights it down a little. Bryan Cranston is freaking excellent in this movie and so is everyone else. But this movie dose feel like a TV movie at times and it's way too corny for it's own good. But still, it's watchable.
Trumbo is nothing but a preachy slog that coincidentally ignores the other side. The movie is terribly put together even with Cranston's decent performance. If you're going to make a preachy film, at least try and do it well.
A Hollywood celebration of the character of a man who defended **** and took orders from Stalin. Hollywood seems to have forgotten that Soviet Union and it's supporters weren't leftist, they were totalitarian. Trumbo was an important and fascinating historical figure, but he was NOT the character we see celebrated in this film.
As far as technical aspects, the movie is capable, lifting my score to... a two.