Adventures with Danny Boyle

Characters in Danny Boyle's movies are often going on adventures in the most varied of places. 1994's Shallow Grave and it's hit follow-up Trainspotting feature down-and-out London types thrust into a fast paced story with a dose of low fantasy. We get to watch Ewan McGregor (in both films and '97's A Life Less Ordinary) climb into a toilet, meet his guardian angels, fall in love at first site and other things of the sort.

Sunshine, his underrated sci-fi, adventure and slasher film opens with a crew of Super Scientists en-route to a burnt out sun riding a spaceship-cum-nuclear bomb the size of Manhattan. In the spirit of Alien, we are adrift and uneasy before meeting the crew who are racked with the responsibility of their mission. It's a type of existential feeling the movie gives you through shots which interchange, we're inside the ship eating a snack, then outside of it where the entire scope of the film is dwarfed by the sun.

Similarly in 127 Hours we have an adventuring loving wanderlust whose adventure comes to an abrupt end suddenly but, despite being static physically, ramps up into one of the most heart racing escape scenes and conclusions I've think has ever been edited.

So thanks Danny, by coming along on your oddball, daring and prolific adventures we can run through a laundry list of settings: heaven, zombie-infested post apocalyptic cities, the set of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Utah, the core of the sun and some of the filthiest parts of 80s Edinburgh. His next adventure? Olympics 2012 opening ceremony.

Do you have a favorite versatile filmmaker that, it seems, can apply their formula to just about any genre, setting, character or otherwise? Tell me about it.

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Shout out to CommonWander— Melissa goes to Brookline and visits one of the best nearby theaters.