Jay Roach’s shift from broad comedy (the “Austin Powers” pictures, “Meet the Parents”) to lower-key, politically tinged comedy (“Game Change,” “The Campaign,” “Recount”) is a cheering one, even if small scale. The splendidly acted while tonally eccentric “Trumbo” engages all sorts of adult concerns missing from movies these days, not limited to gently dramatizing the life of one of the most colorful characters affected by the late 1940s and 1950s Hollywood blacklist. Bryan Cranston’s a crotchety character actor all the way here, making for a more modest performance than his “Breaking Bad” life-changer, but there’s a keen twinkle here that pops up sporadically among all the other real-life, if not necessarily true-to-life figures. (Roach directs Cranston again in “All The Way,” the forthcoming HBO adaptation of Robert Schenkkan’s play about Lyndon Baines Johnson.) With Helen Mirren as Hedda Hopper, John Goodman as “Gun Crazy” producer Frank King, Elle Fanning, Diane Lane, Louis C. K., Alan Tudyk and the always-welcome Michael Stuhlbarg as Edward G. Robinson 124m. (Ray Pride)
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
Seeing The Elephant: A Review Of Babylon The boisterous, brawling yet melancholy "Babylon," is a variation on film history, but more drawing for drama. It's gaudy and mean, celebratory and sorrowful.
Heart: A Review of Soul The real world is soulful, too, in Pixar's bountiful life of the mind.
Spawn Sacrifice: A Review Of The Creator "The Creator" is richly detailed, punchy, pulpy, punkish entertainment that still has highly serious subjects in mind, without growing didactic and with substantial heart.
Heart of Darkness: A Review of The Batman The three-hour film noir unfolds briskly, an intensive study in the pervasive interplay of power, money and corruption in what seems like perpetual rainy night.
Fine Line: A Review Of Shortcomings It's a season for the comeuppance of a curmudgeon in Randall Park's smart, biting "Shortcomings," adapted by Adrian Tomine from his graphic novel of the same name.
