Danny Boyle is one of the best and most exciting British directors around and he is back this week with his new film Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Inc.
Steve Jobs
Boyle has already enjoyed a career that has spanned twenty years and we have seen him tackle a wide range of different genres in that time.
We take a look back at Boyle's career and pick out some of the movie highlights so far... which Boyle film is your favourite?
- Trainspotting (1996)
Next year, Trainspotting will celebrate its twentieth anniversary - it is hard to believe that this movie was released back in 1996. Trainspotting was only the second feature film for Boyle and it was the movie that really helped to put him on the map.
The movie came a year after the release of his debut Shallow Grave and was an adaptation of the Irvine Welsh novel of the same name. The film follows Renton, who is immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, as he tries to clean up this life.
While Trainspotting is a great movie, it is not a film that you would watch on a regular basis. I love the way that Boyle was not afraid to portray the dark and incredibly terrifying side of addiction; Trainspotting is regarded as one of the best anti-drug movies of all time.
This is a movie that is not for the faint hearted as it is a brutal and incredibly tragic film, at the same time, it is engrossing from start to finish. At times, it is also laugh out loud funny and hugely entertaining.
Trainspotting was met with critical acclaim upon release and it is still considered one of the best British films - it also remains one of Boyle darkest and best film projects.
The movie was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. John Hodge went on to win that award at the Baftas and was nominated for Best British Film.
- 28 Days Later... (2002)
Boyle has a couple of quiet years until he returned in 2002 with horror film 28 Days Later, which is one of my favourite horror movies of all time.
Starring Cillian Murphy and Naomie Harris in roles that changed their careers, the movie is set after the outbreak of a mysterious and incurable virus, which has spread through the UK. Those who have not been infected struggle to survive as they try to find a sanctuary.
The zombie movie was considered pretty old news when this movie was released and yet 28 Days Later breathed new life into a rather tired genre. From start to finish Boyle just brought a freshness to it as he balanced, horror, gore and comedy elements to bring his own unique style to this genre.
The film featured some of the most iconic film scenes of the decade; the deserted streets of London being the one that particularly stands out.
28 Days Later... was another critical and commercial success for Boyle as he showed off his versatility as a filmmaker. The movie was a big box office success around the world and is one of the best horror movies of the last twenty years. A sequel did follow but it never did quite live up to its predecessor.
- Sunshine (2007)
Sunshine may not be the biggest or most well-known of Boyle's movies but it is a thoroughly good movie that I enjoyed immensely when I sat down in the cinema to watch it back in 2007.
The movie saw Boyle reunite with Murphy, while Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh, Cliff Curtis, and Hiroyuki Sanada are all also on board.
Sunshine follows a team of international astronauts that are sent on a dangerous mission to reignite the dying Sun with a nuclear fission bomb in 2057. But when things start to go wrong, there is no one there to help them.
First and foremost, Sunshine is a beautiful looking movie and the cinematography is just perfect. Of course, the film is set tin the deep dark depths of space, but the sun that they are flying towards acts like a beacon in the dark; the balance between light and dark is just fantastic.
One the action and the tension kick in, it is an unrelenting ride. But Sunshine is also an intelligent movie that looks at bigger questions of life, mankind and the steps that we may need to keep that life going. For me, Sunshine was an engrossing and interesting watch that was as visually stunning as it was exciting.
- Slumdog Millionaire (2009)
While Boyle may have been making movies of a long time by the time Slumdog Millionaire hit the big screen, this was to be the filmmakers biggest success.
The movie was based on the novel by Vikas Swarup and was adapted for the big screen by Simon Beaufoy. This was the first feature film for Boyle since Sunshine back in 2007.
The movie followed Jamal (Dev Patel) who grew up on the streets of Mumbai before becoming a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, where he is arrested and accused of cheating. Looking back over his life, we discover how he knows the answers to the questions.
Slumdog Millionaire was one of the most talked about and praised movies of 2008/9 and was another gem of a film from Boyle that really does tug at your heartstrings and appeal to the romantic in all of us. Exploring themes of love and the will to survive, Boyle and Beaufoy make this characters universal and immediately appealing.
It is a movie that really does drag you in and Boyle has brought the streets and slums of Mumbai to life - it really is a rich and beautiful looking film and the setting almost becomes a character in its own right.
The movie was the toast of the awards season and went on to win eight Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
- 127 Hours (2011)
Boyle turned his attention to the biopic in 2011 has he explored the moment that mountain climber Aaron Ralston's life hunt as he became trapped while canyoning alone in Utah.
James Franco took on the role of Ralston as he teamed up with Boyle for the first time and gives one of the best performances of his acting career to date. He carries the whole film on his shoulders as he has no co-stars to bounce off and there's very little change of scenery.
And yet one man stuck in a canyon is a truly riveting film premise. 127 Hours becomes a movie that is an insight into the Aron Ralston as he reflects on his selfish ways and how he has perhaps not been the son or the friend that should have been.
Boyle creates a claustrophobic feel to this movie as this really ramps up the tension - a tension that really is quite nerve shredding.
And all of this is just building up to the moment where Aron Ralston decides that he wants to live and there is only one way out of that canyon - this movie really does ask the audience what they would do if they would themselves in a similar position.
127 Hours was one of the best movies of 2011 and went on to be nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Boyle and Simon Beaufoy.
Steve Jobs is released 13th November.