Trumbo Movie Review

Article by Gabe Zia

Lazy Film Critic Movie Reviews

Trumbo

Trumbo is a biographical film about the life of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted in the 50s for being a communist, and thus couldn't continue his career or his passion as a writer. The film is directed by Jay Roach... Which is an odd shift in career from the guy who directed Austin Powers. It stars Bryan Cranston as Dalton Trumbo, and the supported cast includes Louis C.K., Alan Tudyk, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, John Goodman, Elle Fanning, and Dean O'Gorman.

This movie is a fairly important film as far as oscar contenders go, seeing as how it's the first starring role film with Bryan Cranston since Breaking Bad made him one of the most talked about actors right now. And much like with Breaking Bad, Cranston is absolutely outstanding in this movie. There have been a lot of really good performances this year, however this is one of the performances I think could (and frankly should) win the oscar.

When you're making a film about a legendary hollywood writer, it's basically a given the writing should be good. And the writing is definitely a highlight of this movie, especially the case of where the dialogue is concerned. While the dialogue between the characters in conversation is pretty good, it seems like anytime Bryan Cranston is talking, everything he says is gold. This movie is insanely quotable, the kind of quotable similar to Pulp Fiction where there are a ton of lines in this movie that you could get on your tombstone, and it would seem appropriate.

Now, I know I don't normally comment on the editing of the film, because most of the time you barely notice it. But here, there is some pretty great editing at the works here, specifically in any scene that involved any kind of news segment or re-enactment of a film. None of it is stock footage, the actors are all acting in place of the scenes, but between the audio, the grain on the screen, the way each of those scenes looked made it all feel incredibly real. Again, it's not something I normally notice, but when it works, it works.

Final Rating
Trumbo is a really solid film, this is another one of those films this year that I'm honestly hard pressed to think of anything I didn't like about it. Granted this movie may not be for everyone, but if you want to see a good movie with a fantastic performance in the lead, or if you're like me and you generally want to see the Oscar contenders before the Academy Awards happen, then I suggest you check out Trumbo.