Sunshine

After watching Slumdog Millionaire and realizing that it was directed by the same guy that made 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle), I wanted to watch other movies he had made.

So I started with Trainspotting. My first mistake was trying to eat dinner while watching the movie. I'm trying to think of the least crude way to describe the point at which I decided to turn it off, but I can't. It involves poop, and it's about ten minutes into the movie. It may be the best film ever made, but I just don't have the stomach for it.

Next Danny Boyle movie on my Netflix queue: The Beach. I was a little wary of this one. I remember seeing it advertised when it was in theaters, and specifically remembering that it looked stupid. I figured that at the very least it had Leonardo DiCaprio, so watching it couldn't be a total loss. I got through the whole movie this time, but it really bothered me. DiCaprio's character (Richard), is this spoiled rich kid in search of "meaningful life experience," but he ends up completely destroying just about everything he comes in contact with. He never seems to come away with any kind epiphany. He is responsible for the death of several people, wrecks at least two relationships, and destroys an entire society that had existed for 5 years. And at the end of it all, he's sitting in some internet cafe looking at pictures from the whole experience as if he's reminiscing about summer camp. Maybe his character's toxic superficiality was the whole point, but it didn't feel like the movie was in on it--like Richard was still the unironic hero of the movie.

So then Sunshine came in the mail, and I let it sit on the shelf for a while. I wasn't sure I was up for another Danny Boyle movie. Jill and I finally watched it a couple of nights ago. It gets a little weird at the end, but we both loved it. I love sci-fi thrillers. There were a couple of plot points I wanted explained a little more; Jill and I worked some things out in our post-movie discussion, but I think I would have liked to know if we were right. I don't need a movie to spell out every little thing, but in this case I would have liked a few more pieces of the puzzle. I'm being vague on purpose, because if you haven't seen this movie, I think you should. At least watch the trailer.



Also: When I become ruler of universe, I will decree that every movie cast Cillian Murphy, preferably as the lead. And every movie trailer must incorporate that song, somehow.