Trainspotting

I hadn't seen this for many years and decided to watch without subtitles. It was a good decision because stylistically it's such a piece of art that it can just wash over you, even if you don't understand the accent through much of it. Subtitles detract from the visuals and this movie is a visual feast. An incredibly sad, funny and disturbing movie.

Disc arrived with no damage to it or its case. Thank you!

To be blunt, this is not an easy film to watch. I took the chance because of the brilliance of the director, Danny Boyle, who has helmed such cinema classic as "Slumdog Millionaire", "Sunshine", "127 Hours" and "28 Days Later". Slumdog is the first Bollywood movie to be a hit in Hollywood. Sunshine is one of my favorite SciFi films on the 2000's, 28 Days Later is mentioned with the best Zombie movies on nearly every list of best Zombie movies and even 127 Hours manages to make that well known troll, James Franco, look decent and like an A-lister. Let's face it, Danny Boyle has the golden touch.Based on that AND the fact that Trainspotting is getting it's own sequel called "Porno", I decided to give Trainspotting a shot. I do not normally watch movies about drug addiction. It hits too close to home and I don't find it funny. Nobody comes into this world saying proudly "When I grow up, I want to be addicted to heroin." The thought of having to rob people just so you can buy drugs so that when you wake up in the morning, you have your morning fix. All that just so you don't start off the day sick. Or that you steal from family and friends until you have no family and no friends, to me, that is depressing and I tend to watch movies that lift my spirit, educate me or scare the hell out of me. I justified that this one met criteria #2 and #3.Like I said, this film is not easy to watch. You are bombarded with images that transcend visceral discomfort. You may well get sick just from watching. As he has shown again and again, Danny Boyle is brilliant, but I would prefer not to watch his vision of Ewan climbing into the grossest commode in the long history of cinema (well done, Scotland!). The thing is it does not condescend or patronize. It exists and I will never watch that scene again.I found this movie disgusting and brilliant. How you will take it, I suppose, depends on where you are in the world and what your experience has been personally or perhaps with a family member and their relationship to addiction, intervention, confrontation, tough love and no love. Addiction is a terrible thing. Trying to capture it on film is auspicious. I applaud and curse your efforts. Now go to A&E and watch the last season of "Intervention"

Danny Boyle’s 1996 film, “Trainspotting,” adapts Irvine Welsh’s 1993 novel of the same name. It stars Ewan McGregor as Renton, Ewen Bremner as Spud, Jonny Lee Miller as Sick Boy, Kevin McKidd as Tommy, Robert Carlyle as Begbie, and Kelly Macdonald as Diane. The story focuses on the main characters amid Edinburgh, Scotland’s youth drug culture of the early 1990s as they party, abuse heroin, try to get clean, and seek some sort of meaning. Despite their attempts to kick the habit, Renton, Sick Boy, and Spud all relapse and just barely avoid serious consequences. Unfortunately, Tommy is not so lucky. Boyle’s style uses surrealism to enhance the black-comedy subject matter, with humor in the darkest moments. Frequent fourth-wall breaks include narration and humorous captions, further heightening Boyle’s style. A great, meditative, stylistic film with a phenomenal cast.

Trainspotting was one of Danny Boyle’s best films. It’s based upon a group of friends in Edinburgh, Scotland. On the one hand it shows the fun they had and the crazy situations they got into. The other part is rather nihilistic as they are heroin addicts and criminals.The light moments are what really stand out. They shoot a dog at a park with a pellet gun to see it attack its master. They watch their psychotic friend Begbie (Robert Carlyle) start a fight at a club. They walk into a retirement home and steal the TV. If not for the comedic moments you really wouldn’t want to watch the rest of this film. That’s because the low points are really low and all involve drugs. It’s quite an extraordinary mix and is what makes this movie stand out.C

Arrived sooner than expected, and packed with care. Perfect condition!

A black comedy-drama that has become a modern classic; I wasn't an immediate fan of this when it came out, but there was a vibe among my colleagues about it – some of the production was done in the building next to our studios and one of my good friends was an extra in one scene. I've come to appreciate it as the great film it is.It's a gritty, surreal and at times outrageously funny film – the memorable outdoor scene with Renton`s rant containing the line “Can't even find a decent culture to be colonized BY” always gets a wry laugh from us.This 2-disc set has a commentary, deleted scenes and cast & crew featurette on disc one (for some reason the English subtitles fail to load on my disc – I don't know if this is a fault with this edition or just my copy).The second disc has a selection of “then and now” interviews looking at aspects of the production. No subtitles are available.A film that should be in any serious film buff's collection.

One of the greatest soundtracks to a brilliant movie and yet no UK version has the sound in HD lossless. It makes no sense whatsoever. l myself will buy Blu-rays not for the better picture but for the HD sound. As what's the point having a good home surround sound system and end up with compressed audio? Its like having expensive headphones then listen to mp3s. Channel 4 should be ashamed who have just released the movie again on Blu-ray which again basic 5.1 sound made worse that the soundtrack is a big part of the movie.

This steelbook contains the Blu-Ray and DVD of the film, there is no booklet or anything else inside. The film does judder a bit in a few scenes as mentioned by other customers and in my case (having played both the Blu-Ray and DVD on a Playstation 3 to compare) they are both the same and judder slightly in the same places eg. when Renton leans back while stood up and when Tommy moves back from the pool table after trying to miss the ball. Its Trainspotting as it was before and not cleaned up that well for digital, which is a shame. Other than that its ok.

Years after release I finally get around to this movie because of tracing Jonny Lee Miller's roots. I was so surprised that not only is it a great and entertaining film, but it is not depressing or downbeat despite the lifestyle depicted. Yes it's about addiction and selfishness but mainly about taking control and what happens when you don't. It's no wonder that the lead actors and Danny Boyle went on to such outstanding careers. This is a masterpiece of acting and film making which stands the test of time.

Classic British film, a bit more fun than your old kitchen sink dramas