{"id":1538,"date":"2024-05-30T13:36:17","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T13:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/?p=1538"},"modified":"2024-05-30T13:36:17","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T13:36:17","slug":"cineworld-danny-boyle-season-sunshine-shallow-grave-28-days-later-trainspotting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/?p=1538","title":{"rendered":"Cineworld Danny Boyle Season: Sunshine, Shallow Grave, 28 Days Later, Trainspotting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Not exactly sure what the motivation was behind putting on this season (I guess the 4K restoration of Trainspotting<\/em> has recently been released?), but Cineworld have chosen some good ones from Boyle\u2019s filmography. Let\u2019s give \u2018em a mini review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Sunshine<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ok, I\u2019ll level with ya here. I\u2019d booked my seat, purchased my obligatory sweet stuff outside the cinema (who buys the over expensive tomfoolery that the cinema sells? Not worth it, my dude), and… then I got an extra work shift that clashed with this one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I didn\u2019t technically watch this at Cineworld, although I have watched it years ago at home. From memory, it had an awesome soundtrack with a similarly great performance from Cillian Murphy, not to mention great secondary roles from up-and coming stars like Chris Evens, Michelle Yo, Benedict Wong and Hiroyuki Sanada. It\u2019s got some outstanding visuals and a (mostly) compelling plot too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I say \u2018mostly\u2019 because Sunshine<\/em> falls into the common Danny Boyle pit hole of the weak third act, which changes the film from a brooding science fiction treatise into an off the wall slasher movie once Mark Strong\u2019s character gets involved. There are still plenty of things to enjoy here, it\u2019s just a shame that the screenplay took such a wild turn in the last parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shallow Grave<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boyle\u2019s debut, and one I hadn\u2019t seen before. I\u2019m not sure why Cineworld showed the films in the order that they did, but I guess they had to put Trainspotting on last to emphasise the 4K restoration release (I got a free poster, yay!). It\u2019s also interesting to consider films in Boyle\u2019s oeuvre which they chose not to show (no inclusion of Boyle\u2019s Best Picture smash hit Slumdog Millionaire<\/em>, for example). But still, there\u2019s some interesting stuff here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shallow Grave<\/em> basically functions as a prototype for Trainspotting<\/em>. You\u2019ve got a ragtag group of mates who perform various unsanitary activities until something goes wrong, with the something in this example involving a dead body. It\u2019s great to see actors like Ewan McGregor and Christopher Eccleston having fun in their early careers (I think this was Eccleston\u2019s big break?), even though the screenplay isn\u2019t as tight as Trainspotting<\/em>, Boyle\u2019s magnum opus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s pretty difficult to feel sympathy for the main trio, and that\u2019s due in part to a lack of backstory. It\u2019s not like we need a tonne of context, but it\u2019s difficult to work out why they got together, making the ensuing chaos with the body more difficult in terms of rationalising their actions. It\u2019s particularly hard to decipher the motivations of Kerry\u2019s Fox\u2019s Juliet, who flips back and forth between loyalties with little to no reasonable justification. Nonetheless, it\u2019s an intriguing debut that\u2019s full of promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

28 Days Later (Rewatch)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another amazing performance from Cillian (and one that boosted him into the stratosphere of bigger Hollywood productions), but unfortunately one that suffers from the Danny Boyle Third Act Problem. Yep, I\u2019ll put all of that in capitals to make it seem like a recognised trope. Because I\u2019m sure nobody\u2019s ever thought of it before. Ah, sarcasm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But 28 Days Later<\/em> nonetheless has some incredibly powerful scenes and spectacles, with the particularly genius opening images of a destitute London. And once again, the soundtrack is outstanding. Heck, they even use Brian Eno\u2019s \u2018Ascent\u2019, a major league tune that I listened to on loop throughout precisely 100% of my A level revision. You\u2019ve gotta give credit for that. And John Murphy (who also composed Boyle\u2019s Sunshine<\/em>) has also got some fine tunes on display, particularly \u2018In the House \u2013 In a Heartbeat\u2019, which blasts into full force during Cillian\u2019s feral murder scene near the end (the song was also used in Kick Ass<\/em> during Big Daddy\u2019s badass takedown of Frank\u2019s goons).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also a great performance from Brendan Gleeson on display, as well as Naomi Harris, who I\u2019m generally not a big fan of, but she\u2019s solid here. Like Sunshine<\/em>, 28 Days Later<\/em> has so much great things going for it, it\u2019s just a shame that things get lost in the plotting later on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trainspotting (Rewatch)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, onto the big guy. The man, the myth, the legend. Boyle\u2019s classic is getting close to its thirtieth anniversary, and it hasn\u2019t lost any of its bite or brutality. There\u2019s plenty of black comedy to enjoy, but also plenty of disturbing imagery too (there\u2019s no way Boyle didn\u2019t take a bit of influence from The Exorcist<\/em> with \u2018that\u2019 baby scene). It works so well because of the commitment from every single actor, whether it\u2019s Johnny Lee Miller\u2019s Sickboy waxing lyrical about the virtues of Bond during dire situations or Robert Carlyle\u2019s Begbie being…well, just Begbie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve watched Trainspotting numerous times, but it\u2019s easy to forget how much of an irredeemable excuse for a human being Begbie is. The character Carlyle\u2019s playing is a stereotype that eerily not too far from the truth, with each crazed expression and action foreboding violence and chaos. Ewan Bremner also puts in a sweet performance as the misguided Spud, whether he\u2019s providing an unconventional job interview on speed or trying unsuccessfully to hide a desecrated matress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film works so brilliantly as a whole through its genius pacing. A story about drug addiction could easily get lost in the minutiae and morality of drugs, but Boyle manages a subtle balance of energy and pathos with ease. Renton\u2019s opening and ending monologues made their way onto many a film poster at time of release, and remain iconic enough to make it onto the poster I picked up at the screening:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Choose the big screen\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Choose a brand new 4K restoration\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choose life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not exactly sure what the motivation was behind putting on this season (I guess the 4K restoration of Trainspotting has recently been released?), but Cineworld have chosen some good ones from Boyle\u2019s filmography. Let\u2019s give \u2018em a mini review.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1538"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1539,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1538\/revisions\/1539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}