T2 Trainspotting (2017)

Director: Danny Boyle
Writers: John Hodge, Irvine Welsh
DOP: Anthony Dod Mantle
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremmer, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller

After 20 years abroad, Mark Renton returns to Scotland and reunites with his old friends Sick Boy, Spud and Begbie.

First things first, almost every frame in this film is fucking gorgeous. More often than not a film which comes as a sequel this years apart will be looking at how the characters have changed over the years. In T2 we find out that nothing much has changed and the film has almost the same plot as the first outing. Many had problems with this but I enjoyed it thoroughly. All the major characters who survived T1 makes an appearance. We approved of Renton betraying his friends and running away with the money at the end of T1 and by the end of T2 we realise that money is not a big difference for them at this point of their lives.

Danny Boyle and Ewan McGregor had a falling out after the former cast Leonardo for 'The Beach'. The feud took a lot of time to get resolved and finally we got the Trainspotting sequel that we were waiting for. Am not sure whether Irvine Welsh's 'Porno' has same characters as Trainspotting because I read somewhere that this film placed the characters from Trainspotting in Porno rather than it being a straight adaptation.  Many memory flashes from the first film is used and the soundtrack is kick-ass as expected. There are some very convenient plot developments but you forgive that because it still is a riot.

"'Choose life'. 'Choose life' was a well meaning slogan from a 1980's anti-drug campaign and we used to add things to it, so I might say for example, choose... designer lingerie, in the vain hope of kicking some life back into a dead relationship. Choose handbags, choose high-heeled shoes, cashmere and silk, to make yourself feel what passes for happy. Choose an iPhone made in China by a woman who jumped out of a window and stick it in the pocket of your jacket fresh from a South-Asian Firetrap. Choose Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and a thousand others ways to spew your bile across people you've never met. Choose updating your profile, tell the world what you had for breakfast and hope that someone, somewhere cares. Choose looking up old flames, desperate to believe that you don't look as bad as they do. Choose live-blogging, from your first wank 'til your last breath; human interaction reduced to nothing more than data. Choose ten things you never knew about celebrities who've had surgery. Choose screaming about abortion. Choose rape jokes, slut-shaming, revenge porn and an endless tide of depressing misogyny. Choose 9/11 never happened, and if it did, it was the Jews. Choose a zero-hour contract and a two-hour journey to work. And choose the same for your kids, only worse, and maybe tell yourself that it's better that they never happened. And then sit back and smother the pain with an unknown dose of an unknown drug made in somebody's fucking kitchen. Choose unfulfilled promise and wishing you'd done it all differently. Choose never learning from your own mistakes. Choose watching history repeat itself. Choose the slow reconciliation towards what you can get, rather than what you always hoped for. Settle for less and keep a brave face on it. Choose disappointment and choose losing the ones you love, then as they fall from view, a piece of you dies with them until you can see that one day in the future, piece by piece, they will all be gone and there'll be nothing left of you to call alive or dead. Choose your future, Veronika. Choose life."

Rating: 4.5/5

Steve Jobs (2015)

Director: Danny Boyle
Writers:  Aaron Sorkin, Walter Issacson
Cast:       Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels

Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution, to paint a portrait of the man at its epicenter. The story unfolds backstage at three iconic product launches, ending in 1998 with the unveiling of the mac. 

It is a film that became a box office failure because of the plethora of Jobs films that came ahead of it. That was a shame because it is the best film out of the lot even though I am making that call without watching the other ones (Who the fuck wants to watch one with Ashton Kutcher anyway?). I am familiar with the story from the film 'Pirates of Silicon Valley' and some documentary that aired on CNBC after his death. There are chiefly two camps when it comes to Steve Jobs- One venerates him like a God while the other think he is an exploitative asshole. The film will satisfy all the other neutrals like me because it treads the middle path and kind of tries to explain the man. That, said the general reaction have been that it is too unkind to him. Some people associated with Jobs have also denounced it. I just think it is safe to assume that there is a quite heavy dose of fiction to it and the makers are quite honest about it. You can safely assume that things won't be this dramatic ahead of all these product launches. What is brilliant about the making that all his characteristics are explained without being too obvious about it. His complicated relationship with his daughter being explained with his own daddy/mummy issues (he was adopted) will sound certainly lame but it isn't so when you watch it. 

Michael Fassbender is my favorite actor from his generation and he continues to amaze. As for recent Danny Boyle films, I tend to enjoy his less successful ones than the hits like Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours. It might just be a breakthrough role for Seth Rogen, who plays Steve Wozniak, and Kate Winslet is excellent as usual. But it is a shame that Kirsten Stewart won't be winning awards in the supporting actress category for her role in 'Clouds of Sils Maria'. 

PS: I think Bill Gates will be bitter about why no one cares about his story. I guess someone should do it as a charity. 

Rating: 4/5

Trance (2013)

Director: Danny Boyle
Writers:  Joe Ahearne, John Hodge
Cast:       James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson, Vincent Cassel

James McAvoy is an art auctioneer who becomes mixed up with a criminal plot to steal a Goya painting worth millions of dollars. In the process he gets a head injury due to which he becomes amnesiac. He is taken to a hypnotist to make him remember where he hid the stolen painting.

The film is Danny Boyle having fun after his work on the Olympics opening ceremony. He is playing with genres and the cinematography and the soundtrack are both stunning as one would expect from a Boyle film. The twists and turns get tedious as the film rambles on towards its end. The viewer need to really pay attention to keep up with the plot convolution. The basic premise is very flimsy and there are plenty of plot holes. Its a good watch and nothing more.

Rating: 3/5

28 Days Later... (2002)

Director: Danny Boyle
Writers:  Alex Garland
Cast:      Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston
Four weeks after a mysterious incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.

It is a very nicely made film which doesn't take itself too seriously. Very stylishly shot and another solid film from Danny Boyle.

Rating: 3.5/5