Eddie the Eagle

Year of Release:  2016
Director:   Dexter Fletcher
Screenplay:  Sean Macaulay
Starring:   Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Iris Berben, Mark Benton, Keith Allan, Jo Hartley
Running Time:  106 minutes
Genre:  biopic, comedy, drama, sports

Those of you old enough and with long enough memories may remember the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, where Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards became the first British competitor in the ski jump event and spectacularly failed to win any medals and ended up coming in last.  However, he became something of a national treasure and something of a beloved character.

This film focuses on Eddie's dogged attempts to make the Olympics.  Deciding that there is no way to get into the Summer Games he focuses his attentions on the Winter Games and, failing to get into the British team as a skier, despite being quite good at it, turns his attentions to ski jumping.

The film takes a lot of liberties with Eddie's real life.  Hugh Jackman's gruff boozed up coach who reluctantly agrees to help Eddie, is entirely fictional.  However, this is a solid heart-warming underdog sports movie.  It's funny, slight and entertaining.  Even though you know how it all turns out, it still manages to make you root for Eddie.

The film could have been a lot crueller, making Edwards a figure of fun, particularly given his eccentric appearance and mannerisms, but to it's credit it really doesn't.  Egerton gives a good performance as Edwards, almost unrecognisable with Edwards' jutting chin, clenched teeth and peering from behind thick coke-bottle glasses.  Jackman is charismatic as the gruff alcoholic ex-ski jumper  who takes the Eagle under his wing.    

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.