Trumbo

Year of Release:  2015
Director:  Jay Roach
Screenplay:  John McNamara, based on the book Dalton Trumbo by Bruce Cook
Starring:   Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Louis C.K., Elle Fanning, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg,
Running Time:  124 minutes

This is a very entertaining slice of Hollywood history.  In the late 1940s and 1950s, acclaimed screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Cranston) becomes one of the "Hollywood Ten", investigated by the House Committee on Un-American Activities, and blacklisted from the entertainment industry, forbidden to work in film in any capacity, all due to his Communist leanings.

The film is intelligent, funny and well-made. The acting is fantastic, especially from the Oscar-nominated Cranston as Trumbo, and Helen Mirren as venomous gossip columnist Hedda Hopper.  As with all based on fact films, the idea of this being entirely accurate need sot be taken with a pinch of salt, but as entertainment it definitely works.  It also works as a fascinating look at a shameful moment in Hollywood history.