rudymaynard
Bryan Cranston's performance as Dalton Trumbo is superb, (even though he figured out a way to characteristically show off his nude physique.) The supporting cast is also excellent, especially Diane Lane and Elle Fanning as members of his ill-used and neglected family. The cinematography is quite good, with perfect production design. But the notion that communists somehow believed themselves to be defenders of free speech demonstrates the foolishness of the progressive left. Under any real communist government, they would simply have become unpersons or been shot for advocating freedom of expression.
Gareth Crook
Cranston is a magnetic on screen presence and Mirren is surprisingly vile, great of course, but truly vile. I'd wondered why I'd not heard of this fellow. That he wrote most of his best stuff (including Spartacus) under pseudonyms having being pushed out of Hollywood due to his politics explains a lot. It's not all dark though, in fact it's all delivered quite pleasantly, with plenty of humour. Not least with Trumbo squaring up defiantly against the John Wayne character in a particularly amusing scene. I've no idea what The Duke was like in real life, but here he's painted a little bit like Charlton Heston, a gun toting good ol boy. It's a scene of brain against brawn, intelligence verses paranoia. It may be a slightly bleak story, but blimey if it's not great!
krocheav
Within its structure of being a re-visitation of events that demonstrated what can happen when democracy heads off the rails, and just how difficult it is to regain, Trumbo is quite good. Performances are uniformly professional (especially Bryan Cranston as Trumbo) as are the technical qualities in all departments. Just one problem holds it back from greatness but, it is an all important one...truth.As the filmmakers are telling a story concerning the lives of actual persons involved in the McCarthy communist witch hunt of the 50s – along with the claim they are basing it on fact – then let them be sure to do just that! We all accept that within a screenplay there will be characters and situations that are either included or excluded - for the sake of entertainment value etc BUT, never should we expect that some 'real' people will be made out to be anything other than they actually were. One seemingly unforgivable instance of this comes in the character of the great Edward G. Robinson. Here, Robinson is accused of naming some of his colleagues as being members of the communist party - an act that's not backed up by recorded transcripts of his actual court testimony. When making movies about past actual events it's not expected producers may color the truth to support what might be their own personal ideologies. This seems to be what director Jay Roach and his scriptwriter/producer John McNamara appear to have done. The transcripts of Robinson's answers do not confirm him as actually naming anyone; instead, he cleverly repeats some names that the court had already previously made known - saying words to the effect; 'well, you've already got them' and in the case of others (who also had been previously named by the court), he simply said 'he had no idea they were involved in communism'. All a far cry from the rather shaky claims of this screenplay. Apart from this (and who knows what other inaccuracies' may be contained within) Trumbo can be seen as being first class entertainment for anyone with an interest in certain historical events that shaped the USA during this period – and continue to do so. Highly recommended, but expect the now usual overuse of unnecessary course language.
blumdeluxe
"Trumbo" was rightfully nominated for some of the bigger film prizes. It tells the story of Trumbo, a writer for movie scripts, that is persuaded by the government and ends on a blacklist of Communists that aren't in the position to work as ordinary anymore.While I really enjoyed most of the movie and it kept me interested throughout the whole playtime, there are mainly two things that prevent this film from being even more powerful in my eyes. Firstly, even though the humor carries bigger parts of the movie and I like the fact that Trumbo is quick-witted, it would have been nice to see a broader variety of emotions. There must have been some situations throughout that time that really left him desperate or sad and you don't really see that in the movie.Secondly, it would have been nice to also see what this policy meant for more common people. A screenplay writer is in a quite distinguished position and I could imagine that someone working in a more "exchangeable" job could suffer even more from the tensions. Of course that's not the fault of the movie, since it only tells the story of Trumbo but it is a false image to think that all you have to be is a good worker to be granted justice.All in all it is a very good, but not an excellent movie. Good movie for a more serious film night.
AD
