Older 28 Weeks/Days posts:
28 Weeks Later
Danny Boyle: filmography to date

I’m of course making reference to the very famous scene in the 1978 version of the film The Thirty Nine Steps with Robert Powell. Check out the vid:

Now I’ve still not seen the 30s Hitchcock version (yes, I know) but I really love the iconic clock scene which is peculiar to this incarnation. Sadly, a great deal of the comments on Youtube point out the inaccuracies of the clock’s inner workings and how one would not be able to successfully stop Big Ben from ticking in this way. Sod them, I say! Accurate or not, it is an absolutely superb set-piece in a great piece of cinema. It fits snugly into the world that the film creates and you’d be hard pushed to come up with a more memorable climax. Did anyone see the TV version they put on at Christmas? It starred Rupert Penry-Jones (of Spooks fame) and though it lacked the ‘78 version’s Big Ben scene, was wonderful. You should also check Rupert out in Whitechapel, the second part is on Monday and if you hurry you’ll be able to watch last week’s episode on iPlayer.

I also found this, which gives a list of cinema’s top ten film locations. I’d say they’re certainly onto something with the likes of The Thirty Nine Steps, 28 Days Later and Notting Hill.

I was watching this Movie Connections program on Trainspotting earlier. It’s interesting to see various people talk about their involvement in the film, book and the Trainspotting play with Ewen Bremner as Renton (who becomes Spud in the film version). Certainly worth a watch if you’re into the film.

- the only embeddable version of this I could find was taped off a tv by someone watching it on their Xbox!

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

A fantastic, vibrant, rags-to-riches love story. Check out my previous post for a little more on this gem and the trailer, below. Remember, it’s in cinemas now, so go see it!

Sunshine (2007)

Danny Boyle’s epic sci fi revolves around seven astronauts and their journey to reignite our dying sun by dropping their payload – a stellar bomb, into it. Sunshine is visually stunning but the characters are one-dimensional and for me, disappointing. Capa (Cillian Murphy – Breakfast on Pluto, The Wind That Shakes the Barley) does his best alongside Cassie (Rose Byrne – Damages, 28 Weeks Later), Chris Evans (Fantastic Four, Cellular) and the rest of the edgy, bored crew. Some complained about the sudden pace and direction change in the last third of the film, although there’s no denying that the bomb room – where the actors are able to stand on any four sides of the cube without falling off, looks fantastic. Sunshine’s plot is very similar to Event Horizon (1997), starring Sam Neil and Laurence Fishburne.

Millions (2004)

Sandwiched between Boyle’s horror (which would spawn an unnecessary, but very competent sequel) and his sci fi Sunshine, Millions tells the story of two little boys Damian (Alex Etel) and Anthony (Lewis McGibbon) who discover a suitcase full of money. Millions is a colourful, funny and big-hearted tale lifted high above similar productions due to its warmth and detail. Ronnie (James Nesbitt), plays the boys concerned dad. Another stella soundtrack supports the film with a quality bit of Muse during the heist sequence.

28 Days Later… (2002)

28 Days Later put Cillian Murphy in the spotlight and Danny Boyle back on the map as he rebooted horror films in general. Danny Boyle’s “Infected” (rage-filled super fast monsters sometimes mistaken for zombies), have been emulated in movies (the Dawn of the Dead remake) and several video games (Left 4 Dead, Resident Evil 4) ever since 28 Days’ release but the originals remain most frightening over six years on.

Jim (Cillian Murphy) trudges through a staggeringly empty London before teaming up with Selena (Naomie Harris), Frank (an excellent performance by Brendon Gleeson) and Hannah, his daughter (now a musician who looks like Marilyn Manson but sounds like Avril Lavigne – no, I don’t understand either).
Visually 28 Days is superb, filmed almost entirely in digital and the ending in 35mm. A deserted London and scattered remnants of humanity really hit home and it all feels horribly plausible. Also the violence is truly disturbing and in parts, sickening.

Many consider the second half of the film to be weaker when we are taken out of London. Personally I like the second half a lot, from the dialogue dealing with existence to the beating rain following the film’s mid-point watershed. I like the desperation, the chase and the isolation when Jim is split from the group. I also like the soldiers and Sergeant Farrell’s rant about mankind only being around for the blink of an eye. I also (also, also!) reckon Christopher Eccleston gives an excellent performance as Major Henry West and the In a House, In a Heartbeat crescendoing music sequence of the final act is superb.

The Beach (2000/I)

Many thought The Beach a disappointment while environmentalists got hacked off when the production decimated Ko Phi Phi Lee beach to shoot what they considered to be a more accurate representation of paradise. I’d argue that The Beach is a good film, from Leonardo DiCaprio’s narration to his downward mental spiral. This also marked a turning point as Boyle cast DiCaprio rather than McGregor for the starring role of Richard. Plenty of rumours have bounced around over what Ewan has or hasn’t said, but it’d be awesome to get him and the rest of the Trainspotting cast together for another Danny Boyle-helmed Trainspotting sequel (see the video at the bottom of this post).

I’d agree with the guys at CineFiles (see bottom of post) who mention that little girls were probably expecting the heartthrob they’d seen in Titanic, only to get an entirely different animal – one who would go a bit bonkers during the course of the film, culminating in a neat video-game sequence. Incidentally I’m a big fan of DiCaprio’s work, in my opinion he gets better and better. See Catch Me If You Can, The Aviator or his superb performance in Blood Diamond if you don’t believe me.

A Life Less Ordinary (1997)

Ewan and Diaz team up for this patchy comedy. Some moments sparkle, others don’t. It’s certainly worth a watch anyway, if only for the karaoke scene and cool animation sequence near the end.
I’ll flesh this one out when I get my hands on another copy as I haven’t seen it in a couple of years.

Trainspotting (1996)

Based on Irvine Welsh’s novel of the same name (written in phonetics, with dashes instead of speech marks), Trainspotting made Ewan McGregor a superstar and Danny Boyle the director of the day. Trainspotting is one of those fabulous British films that reminds the world what we can create when we put our minds to it. Or what Danny Boyle can create, haha.

One thing that irks me is how some believe this magnificent piece of cinema glorifies drugs. After first seeing this film I was revolted by the idea of sticking a needle in my arm, being so desperate that I’d hunt through mine and other people’s poo for suppositories and/or getting aids and a brain haemorrhage. Oh and then there’s the cold turkey scene with the dead baby crawling on the ceiling. No, I didn’t really get the glam part of the film. Perhaps I should watch it again? It’s my theory that the people who think Trainspotting says drugs are cool are the very same people who think that Slumdog casts India in a poor light, depicting it as one giant slum with zero merit. For a start, it doesn’t. It actually made me want to go and experience India for myself – more than ever before (and I’ve been talked to a lot about India in the last few years by family and friends). Second of all, it’s a film about someone who has grown up in a slum. Get it?!

Shallow Grave (1995)

Alex Law (Ewan McGregor), Juliet Miller (Kerry Fox) and David Stephens (Christopher Eccleston) are somewhat offensive flatmates looking for a forth. When their new resident ODs and pops his clogs in his room they discover his suitcase full of money (a recurring theme in Boyle films). Things get dark from hereon in, with the three opting to keep the money, but at what price? Which raises another question – what would you do? Shallow Grave is awesome due to it’s clever script and the chemistry between the three brilliant leads.

Danny Boyle Talks Trainspotting 2

An interesting short interview with Danny Boyle discussing Trainspotting 2, which he says will be very loosely based on Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting book sequel “Porno”.

The CineFiles – The Films of Danny Boyle

This is an awesome video where three Americans discuss all of Danny Boyle’s films up until Sunshine. It’s almost half an hour in length but well worth a watch if you’re interested in Danny Boyle’s films.

Initially I wondered if the film would feel rather fragmented – after all, it must be difficult to explain how a boy knows all the answers to Who Wants to be a Millionaire and make a coherent whole. I needn’t have worried though. I can’t think of many films that manage to fit violence, swearing, laughs, travel, a love story and a torture scene together and leave you feeling great by the end of it all.

The three central characters, Jamal (Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Tanay Hemant Chheda, Dev Patel), Salim (Azharuddin Mo. Ismael, Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala, Madhur Mittal) and Latika (Rubina Ali, Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar, Freida Pinto) are born slumdogs, gradually working and thieving their way through adolescence. We watch them grow up and witness the answers to the game show’s questions in between snippets of Jamal’s appearance on the show itself, hosted by the slimy Prem Kumar (Anil Kapoor).

Having never been to India it’s difficult for me to say how accurate some parts are. Ultimately the story is sheer make-believe, but I got the feeling that despite Boyle’s endearingly whimsical storytelling I was also seeing parts of the real India, with energetic backdrops, interesting and diverse characters and clever situations.

The score compliments the film nicely – during the action sequences your pulse pounds along to the drums and M.I.A. provides two fitting tracks – most notably Paper Planes when Jamal and his brother Salim are riding around on the tops of trains.

I mentioned a few posts back that some consider this film to be a return to form for Danny Boyle. While I’m not going to retract my comment when I said he’d never left, I would like to point out that this film has much more heart than both Sunshine and 28 Days Later. It has a great deal more in common with Trainspotting (although ultimately this is less harrowing) and Millions.

Stay for the excellent credits sequence by the way – most people in the cinema did (such is the film’s enchantment over the viewer). Go see it, it’s something special!

Expect a follow-up post in the next day or two dedicated to Danny Boyle’s films to date.

M.I.A.’s Paper Planes:

Slumdog Millionaire sees the slum-dwelling Jamal Malik (Dev Patel of Skins fame) as a contestant on the Hindi version of Who Wants to be A Millionaire?. As there have been many real-life instances in which professors and the like have cheated to get on the show in India, it’s been made considerably more difficult, with questions on advanced physics popping up early on. For this reason when Jamal starts to win, suspicions arise and the story of how he comes to know the answers unfolds. I’m gonna try and see this pretty sharpish because apart from being by one of my favourite directors it sounds like just the ticket to lift the spirits at this rather grim time of year.

Completely unrelated, here are two little clips of stand-ups talking about Australia and the Australian accent, courtesy of a Polish friend. Pretty funny stuff:

Outnumbered

Perfectly-paced comedy with an exceptional cast. Brill concept, brill kids, brill adults, brill situations, brill lines. Watch it. Tragically this’ll probably get less recognition than the abominable “My Family” which somehow swept up a bunch of awards for being unadulterated cack. Anyone who has a) a family and/or b) is a human being will probably enjoy this.

Lead Balloon

Another brilliant comedy, Lead Balloon is back and better than ever. Join Jack Dee as Rick Spleen and a handful of other notably quirky characters like Magda and Sam, Spleen’s uselessly endearing daughter. It’s hard not to love Dee’s deadpan and thoroughly miserable trudge through each episode. Glorious.

Screenwipe

Now in its forth series, Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe is a breath of fresh air in a world whose media (and a world whose world) is clearly bonkers. It’s nice to see someone running against the dumb tide of overly-PC, jobsworthy cretins who earn a bundle while we sit and wonder where it all went wrong.

Survivors

I’ve only seen the first episode so far and it played out like 28 Days Later the series, but without the zombies. Still, I had a blast. It was either that or Heartbeat and the concept is brilliant. What would you do you if you survived a terrible pandemic? trash a supermarket, if the trailer for episode 2 is anything to go by.

Here, have a nice bit of Ash: