28 Years Later (2025)

It hasn't quite been 28 years since 28 Days Later was released, but it's close enough. This was originally intended to be the capper to the 28 Days trilogy, though it's confusingly been repurposed and designed as the first part of its own new trilogy, so we don't even get the satisfaction of a proper ending. 

Anyway, 28 years on, the infected still linger in the British Isles, as well as survivors who are indefinitely quarantined. A boy learns survival techniques through his father while caring for his sick mum. There is a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing, as well as the typical frenetic editing we've come to expect from this series. In typical Alex Garland fashion, the first 3/4ths are exceptionally strong, but then it shits the bed at the very end. I'm torn as to how to rate this, since we obviously have to wait for the next installment(s) for any kind of structural narrative resolution, but I give it a very reluctant:

3½ memento mori out of 5

Note: 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is set to be released January 2026.

T2 TRAINSPOTTING [2017]

20 years later, director Danny Boyle returns to the Trainspotting world, loosely based off of Irvine Welsh's novel, Porno.
T2 sees the boys crossing paths again as they discovers old wounds don't always heal and there's always a new get-rich scheme to hatch when hard drugs are involved.
Obviously it doesn't come with the same cultural impact as the original film but it's certainly armed with far more emotional weight for those still heavily invested in it's characters.  There's plenty of callbacks to the original (with good reason), a wicked soundtrack and good laughs that all come together to produce a pretty solid sequel proving itself worthy to it's predecessor.  As depressing as it might be with it's "what the fuck have you done with your life" it also manages to be just as uplifting as well.  Time is a real prick-arsed cunt.

4 bathroom stall reunions out of 5

STEVE JOBS [2015]

Director Danny Boyle & screenwriter Aaron Sorkin together craft a near-perfect autobiographical drama about priggish Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs.
Broken up into three distinct parts, the film follows Jobs' three major demo launches: the Macintosh, NeXT PC & the iMac G3, all while trying to juggle the troubles that surround his personal life.  
The film interestingly choses not to allow the settings take place anywhere else rather than back-stage of each launch given it a torando-esque feel of enticing dialogue and a fittingly hurried pace that never misses a beat.  Boyle knows the script is the star here and allows his usual frantic style of film-making to take a back-seat (apart from a few distractions) and resorting to using some subtle techniques only film-lovers will probably pick up on.
It's the welcome type of movie that isn't too heavy.  Isn't too light.  It's really just right.

4 Judy Jetson Easy-Bake Ovens out of 5

SIDE BY SIDE [2012]

Side By Side is probably one of the most fascinating documentaries for die-hard film junkies and most definitely one of the dullest for the casual popcorn muncher.
Actor dude Keanu Reeves interviews a slew of modern directors, editors & cinematographers about the pros & cons of digital and celluloid film.  Reeves makes for a wonderful interviewer, asking all the right questions with an impressive knowledge of the subject, aided by a quiet charm and wit about him.  The film itself never picks sides (it's not shot on film by the way) and with all the arguments made from each side I found myself rooting for both by the end.  Either way, as it so firmly exclaims, as long as the heart of the film is in the right place, it shouldn't matter how it's made.

3½ M.I.A. Tarantinos out of 5

SHALLOW GRAVE [1994]

Danny Boyle's feature film debut, the darkly comedic thriller Shallow Grave was a strong indication of the great things to come from the stylish English film-maker.
Like a Hitchcockian character piece, Shallow Grave introduces us to three folks who think they're wonderful people until a large sum of money comes between them and exposes them as the monsters they are.  The plot is pretty simple but the character dissection and study isn't.  There's not a whole lot of background for the characters, mostly due to the quick pace and short running time, but they are so well cast you feel like you're already quite familiar with them.  A very promising start to Boyle's flourishing career.

3½ troll baby's out of 5

VACUUMING COMPLETELY NUDE IN PARADISE [2001]

Vacuuming Completely Nude In Paradise is a bizarre little black comedy from director Danny Boyle.
It deals with the hell of a struggling salesman in the near poverty stricken working class in Lancashire, England.  There's plenty of uncomfortable laughs to be had with some of the surreal situations but also several thoughtful moments of disgust and sadness.  Unfortunately Boyle's frantic and overly stylish camerawork takes away from many of the intimate moments but never enough to deplete the sickening enjoyment of the film.

3 cats ears & undies out of 5

A LIFE LESS ORDINARY [1997]

The adorably malicious A Life Less Ordinary is director Danny Boyle's version of a romantic fantasy comedy.
There's guns, headshots, car wrecks, musical numbers, animation, robots, angels and bank robberies, in short, everything that makes a good rom-com.  Unfortunately after you're done taking this fun ride of a road trip you can't help but feel there never really was any point to it all.  No matter it's really just good fun without a lingering aftertaste or really nary an afterthought as well.

3 gravediggers out of 5

MILLIONS [2004]

Millions is director Danny Boyle's only film to date that's suitable for the whole family.
Like a children's version of Shallow Grave, the film questions how would the innocence of children deal with stumbling upon a surplus of money.  It's interesting how the small age difference between the two kids makes for two hugely different choices and reactions.  Boyle cleverly blurs the lines between childlike like fantasy & spirituality with very real adult problems and issues.   It's refreshing to see the normally violent director is still able to cherish the goodness of humanity with a wholesome film that reminds us even little changes matter.

3½ cardboard homes out of 5

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE [2009]

Danny Boyle manages to pass off a rags-to-riches melodramatic love story into something hypnotizing, refreshing and all around pleasing with Slumdog Millionaire.  
Like a technicolor Hindi adaptation of a Charles Dickens story, Slumdog amazes with is beautiful photography, charismatic performances and amazing score from A.R. Rahman with some great song selections from M.I.A.  As flashy as it appears and sounds, in the end it's a simple story about love, fate, chance and circumstance and that's what can easily grab anybody.

4 answers in the mirror out of 5

127 HOURS [2010]

Danny Boyle directs James Franco in the biographical thriller 127 Hours, based on canyoneer Aron Ralston's struggle to free his hand being stuck by a boulder.
Reminiscent of the way Darren Aronofsky portrayed an incredibly flawed Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler, the film gets even more intimate and personal in some truly thoughtful and disturbing ways.  Franco does a fantastic job as a reckless near sociopath that is twisted into a reflective thankful soul.  With the story taking place 90% in a hole in the ground, it's a challenge to hold your attention for the entirety of the film but Boyle & Franco do a damn fine job attempting it.

3½ ghosts of Scooby-Doo out of 5

TRAINSPOTTING [1996]

Director Danny Boyle takes on the difficult task of adapting author Irvine Welsh's non-linear first novel Trainspotting and turns it into one of the best and more accurate films about hard drug addiction.  

It's a raw, grungy tale about betrayal, youth subculture and being imprisoned with too much freedom.  Boyle allows the film to seep into your nerves with a flashy soundtrack, captivating wide angles & colors, a cast of charismatic, yet seedy, characters and a narrative that gleefully threatens to derail itself with each corner it takes.   One of the defining time capsules of the mid '90's, Trainspotting is fun, nasty and not afraid to spit in your face.

4½ shitty beds out of 5

TRANCE [2013]

Based on a 2001 TV film of the same name, Danny Boyle's latest psychological thriller Trance is like a stylistic throwback to his days of Shallow Grave & Trainspotting with just a hint of Chris Nolan's Inception.

It's loud, abrasive, violent and filled with hypnotizing music all of which, when mixed, comes off quite smoothly with distorted beauty and allure.  At times the complicated plot is distracted by Boyle's sometimes overly stylish camera shots.  Never the less, it's a well-acted, trippy experience that will at least please fans of his work.  

3½ palettes drenched in red out of 5

SUNSHINE [2007]

Director Danny Boyle directs the slow-burning sci-fi thriller Sunshine from a script by Alex Garland.

Taking obvious inspirations 2001: A Space Odyssey & Solaris, Boyle crafts an effective mood more interested in creating fear with cabin fever rather than asteroids & aliens.  Perhaps the most interesting character is the sun itself, which seems to live and breathe every time it's on screen. As great as the build up is, things nearly fall apart when it decides to revert to slasher flick silliness near the end.  None the less, it's a interesting thoughtful film that takes an outrageous idea of man against God and makes it personal.

4 victims of Pompeii out of 5

For an alternate expanded review see The Cuckoo Clock

28 Days Later (2002)

It's John Wyndham's Day of the Triffids without the Triffids. It's shot in Britain so the lighting is shitty; plus it's on early DV, so it's grainy as hell. The extras show what it could have looked like if it was on celluloid. I’d have preferred that. Somehow director Danny Boyle makes it good. The music makes it great.

4 here's blood in your eye out of 5

The Beach (2000)

Living in a perpetual paradise is a myth, because once we find it we taint it and it ceases to be paradise. The realisation is thousands of years old; what's more interesting is the journey from idealism to realism. With that in mind, I sat down to watch The Beach. It was great for an hour, filled with the graceful, fragile beauty that Danny Boyle is accomplished at, but then I had to wonder did someone creep into my home and change the film to a cheap Apocalypse Now (1979) knock off? Less pop and more Badalamenti, less crap and more drama and it might've succeeded. Boyle is usually better than this.

1 inappropriate homage too far out of 5