28 Years Later (2025)

With Danny Boyle back in the director's chair and Alex Garland back on writing duties, it's safe to say that 28 Years Later was one of the films I was most looking forward to seeing this year. That level of expectation also brings some anxiety though. What if it just ended up being not very good.

28 Year Later is not very good. It's pretty brilliant. And it's nice to see marketing that, for once, ends up helping to mislead people and tie in to the main themes being explored (perception and misplaced faith being the elements that stood out to me).

It is, as you'd guess from the title, 28 years since the rage virus first took hold of people in the UK, as shown in a wild and horrific opening sequence. Europe managed to fight it back, leaving the UK as an isolated infected zone. Small pockets of people have come up with ways to survive, including one group living on Holy Island, which is separated from the mainland by a causeway only usable when the tide isn't high. This is where young Spike (Alfie Williams) lives. He's about to be taken to the mainland by his father figure, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and he'll go through the ritual of his first kill. Meanwhile, Spike's mother, Isla (Jodie Comer), is very ill. Maybe Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) can help her. But Dr. Kelson seems preoccupied with gathering corpses and burning them. Everything also depends on Spike surviving his "hunting trip".

Although I haven't seen any Danny Boyle film that I've not enjoyed, 28 Years Later feels like a bit of a statement announcing his return to bold and adult content after the sweetness and light of Yesterday (a film I enjoyed way more than most people). The opening sequence alone is more disturbing than many other horror movie moments, and there are more grisly times ahead. That's all front and centre, however, as Boyle and Garland start to guide viewers on a journey that moves from the visceral horror to more emotional moments. Rage remains all around, sometimes visible and sometimes not, but the vacuum it creates is soon filled with memories and sadness. And memories aren't the same for everyone, depending on how you have viewed certain events.

I could spend hours dissecting a number of key scenes here, but let's just say that it's a testament to the power of the work that this proves to be so moving and thought-provoking, after ensuring that the requisitie scares and tension have been delivered. Not everyone will appreciate the directions that the movie goes in, but it's impossible to deny the confidence and boldness of the vision.

Williams is basically the lead of the film, and he's absolutely fantastic in every moment that he's onscreen. Strong when he needs to be, but vulnerable as he's pushed along a very steep learning curve, he's simply a great choice to be the heart of the film, newcomer or not. Taylor-Johnson is fine, and it's certainly easier to appreciate his casting when his character becomes a bit less likeable (I just can't put my finger on it, but Taylor-Johnson would rarely be my first choice for most of his acting roles). Comer works hard around a wobbly accent that wasn't really necessary for her character, but the rest of her performance is as good as you'd expect, and Fiennes gets to enjoy portraying a character who looms large over events even before people actually get to meet him. Most of the other performers play infected individuals, and play them well, although Edvin Ryding has a good couple of moments as a soldier named Erik and Jack O'Connell turns up in a scene that will ensure viewers either love or loathe how this instalment ends.

You get some fun camera tricks (although I couldn't help thinking that one gimmick feels like the same kind of thing that had Uwe Boll being harshly criticised just over 20 years ago), a great selection of music supplied by Young Fathers, and production design and set decoration that consistently help you to view the UK as a place with a very low population and a very high threat level. While I also enjoyed the second movie in this series, this feels like a return to the high of the first film. I'm intrigued to see where things go next.

9/10

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Side By Side (2012)

A documentary that looks at the current choice being made by film-makers to either shoot traditionally or move towards digital, Side By Side contains some nice pieces of information, but is mostly a chance to hear a variety of directors talk about their approaches to film-making and their passion for whichever format they choose.

Keanu Reeves is the constant element here, conducting interviews with directors and people who work in other areas of the film business. The list of names includes, but isn't limited to, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, David Fincher, Danny Boyle, Steven Soderbergh, Robert Rodriguez, George Lucas, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Greta Gerwig and Joel Schumacher.

Directed by Christopher Kenneally, who also wrote the linking narration, this isn't a documentary to win anyone over, and it's not full of surprises. If you like the feel and look of actual FILM then you'll feel that you've been proven right in your choice as the end credits roll. But so will anyone who likes the options provided by filming digitally. And if you can't already guess what side of the fence James Cameron and George Lucas fall on then you've never seen a James Cameron or George Lucas film lately. The two men end up being two of the duller subjects interviewed, funnily enough, with Lucas being almost laughable in his passion to convert everyone to the world of digital.

The greater fun here comes from people either putting up a great variety of reasons for their choices, with Rodriguez being just as passionate about digital as Cameron or Lucas but putting forward his argument in a much more practical manner, or from listening to people who can state their own personal preference while also looking at the bigger picture and the pros and cons of each method.

A film for film lovers (on any format), Side By Side is a pleasant, civilised debate that serves to remind people of just how much blood, sweat and tears went into creating the movies that are now beloved classics. When remembering all of those movie memories, the main argument becomes a lot less significant, but no less interesting. Well, that's how I felt as I smiled throughout the whole thing.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-By-DVD-Keanu-Reeves/dp/B00B74R3CQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390658737&sr=8-1&keywords=side+by+side

Trainspotting (1996)

I don't think it's overstating the fact to say that Trainspotting was one of the defining films of the 1990s. Slowly but surely, almost everyone involved with the film developed a pretty successful film career (with Ewan McGregor, arguably, going on to be the most successful). Danny Boyle confidently delivered on that film-savvy potential that he'd shown with Shallow Grave. The soundtrack was one of the best of the decade, and the marketing and poster design is still being utilised to this day (even if it is usually used to push lesser Irvine Welsh adaptations, see Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy - or don't, actually).

Trainspotting is a landmark film, and it holds up, easily, as one of the best British movies in modern cinema. I'd happily put it on a list of the best British movies ever. It wouldn't take the number one spot, but it would easily crack the top ten.

The central storyline, although the film is more a series of interweaving strands moving back and forth between the main characters, follows Renton (Ewan McGregor), a heroin addict who starts the movie by vowing to clean up his act. This isn't the first time that he's tried to go clean, and it may not be successful, but he's going to try really hard this time. Unfortunately, normal life is just boring. Especially when his friends include Spud (Ewen Bremner), who's sweet but a bit useless, Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), who comes off heroin at the same time just to show him how easy he can manage it, and the slightly psychotic Begbie (Robert Carlyle), who happily looks down his nose at the addicts while downing copious amounts of alcohol and smoking like a chimney. There's also Tommy (Kevin McKidd), but Tommy doesn't really have many vices or problems, which sometimes makes him the most annoying of them all. Of course, everyone may be a bit different by the end of the movie, affected in various ways by Renton and the decisions that he makes to get his life back on track. Or, at least, back on a track deemed suitable by society.

Having STILL not read the source material, which is a situation I really must rectify (as I am a big fan of almost everything I've read by Welsh), I can't really comment on what was kept and what was lost on the way to the big screen. What I can say is that the screenplay by John Hodge is just top notch. The characters are all fully fleshed out, the humour running throughout often helps to sugar-coat a bitter pill, and the fact that viewers stay on Renton's side, despite what a selfish asshole he is, shows just what a fantastic piece of work it is.

Of course, a lot of Renton's likeability comes from the winning performance from McGregor, who puts in a performance that remains one of his very best. Boyle is a director who often seems to get the best out of his cast, and this has rarely been more obvious than it is here, with everyone else onscreen stepping up to easily hold their own alongside McGregor. Miller, McKidd, Bremner and, especially, Carlyle all create characters that you won't quickly forget. Then there's Peter Mullan as Mother Superior (because of the length of his habit) and Kelly Macdonald, who enjoys such a fantastic cinematic debut that the rest of her career seems disappointing in comparison, despite the fact that she's been working solidly for the past 15+ years.

But let me save the last bit of praise for Boyle, once more. A man who impressed me with his debut feature, blew me away with this film, and has continued to delight and entertain me ever since. He brings everything together so perfectly, and with such apparent ease, that it's often easy to forget how dark a lot of the movie is. It's about a heroin addict, it features horrific violence, a number of moments focusing on fecal matter, there are at least two disturbing death scenes, and one sublimely-filmed OD sequence.

And then Born Slippy starts to play, the end credits roll, and you want to watch it all over again.

10/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trainspotting-Ultimate-Collectors-Edition-Blu-ray/dp/B0014MY1GM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1390495368&sr=8-3&keywords=trainspotting