• Home
  • Meet The Team that are Barking Mad About Films
  • Contact BMAF
    • Website Privacy Notice
    • Cookie Policy

Barking Mad About Films

One man and his dog; both barking mad about films

Choose Life! Choose to Watch Trainspotting!

January 31, 2017 by Bill Leave a Comment

n/a
shares
Be First to Share ->
Share on Twitter
Share on Google+
Share on LinkedIn
+
What's This?

We at BMAF hope to fit in a visit to see ‘T2:Trainspotting‘ this week, the sequel to a film we first saw 21 years ages. With these plans, we dug out our DVD copy to give the original Trainspotting a watch to revisit the story so far.

Trainspotting, based on the book by Irvine Welsh was brought to screen by the team that also made the excellent Shallow Grave, from writer John Hodge and director Danny Boyle.

Also from Shallow Grave was Ewan McGregor, who was cast as the film’s lead Mark Renton and his struggle to give up drugs and better his life.

We follow him and his friends, which are established in the opening scenes for them being in a 5 a side football team.

They are Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller) a fellow addict; Spud (Ewen Bremner) also an addict; Tommy (Kevin McKidd) a keen athlete and in a steady relationship and not a drug user; The Group is rounded off by Begbie (Robert Carlyle) a violent psychopath, who will start a fight with anyone.

The film is a triumph and was declared by Empire magazine as the best British film of the decade for which it is worthy of.

The film goes from hilarious to harrowing, showing the highs and lows of drug use as it were, but as the low involves death, pain to loved ones and a journey into the worst toilet in Scotland at no point does it glamorise their use.

The characters are all played brilliantly, Ewen as Spud, the slightly slow-witted but nice guy brings a lot of the laughs, at a job interview whilst under the influence is one of his more memorable moments.

Jonny plays Sick Boy, to the point that you do believe him as a con man. Yet he is also heavily involved in one of the film’s more harrowing scenes involving the death of a baby.

Robert as Begbie at the time was a shock, best known as loveable Hamish Macbeth from TV, he never fails to shock in any of his scenes, that you do hope he gets his comeuppance. Hard to believe, he was then cast as loveable Gaz in The Full Monty for his next film outing.

The cast really are all excellent, from Keith Allen and Peter Mullan as drug dealers at different ends of the scale to Kelly MacDonald in her first role as Diane, a love interest for Mark.

The film is aided by a brilliant soundtrack which captures the love of BritPop at the time.

This really is one of the best British films of all time. Mark certainly shows the benefits of not being an addict and he seems to be possibly the more intelligent out of his friends, with the desire to want to improve his situation.

Yet he is no hero, he is the main reason for the change in Tommy’s life for example.

The film has a grand finale which sees an improved lifestyle for Mark having left Edinburgh for London, only to take a step back when Begbie on the run from the law turns up at his door, but a deal that will earn the 2, as well as Spud and Sick boy a great deal of money could be about to change all their fortunes for good.

This really is an outstanding film, which is why there is so much anticipation and concern that its sequel may not deliver, but with a returning cast, scriptwriter and director we have high hopes.

5 Star Review of Trainspotting
This film still feels as good as it did 21 years ago! Harrowing and at times hilarious, its a must see look into the world of drug addiction – 5 Popcorns

You can find the original film at Amazon here:

You can watch the trailer here:

Never miss a BMAF blog. Receive email notifications when new posts are published by entering your email address in the subscription box on the top right-hand side of this page.

You can also like us on Facebook for more film related news and content www.facebook.com/barkingmadaboutfilms/

Share on Twitter
Share on Google+
Share on LinkedIn
+

Comments

comments

Filed Under: 5 stars, Actor, Adaptation, Award winner, Blockbuster, Blockbuster movies, Book, Book Adaptation, Book to film, Box Office, Brit flick, BritFlick, British Film, Casting, Character Drama, Characters, Chat, classics, Comedy drama, Critics, Cult Classic, Debate, Decisions, Different, Director, Discussion, Drama, DVD, Favourite, Film, Film Chat, Film review, Film reviews, film song, Films, Five Star review, Five Stars, Home Viewing, Location, low budget, Low Budget films, Memories, Movie Discussion, Movie Review, Movie stars, Nineties film, nostalgia, review, rewatch, Sequel, Sequels, soundtrack Tagged With: 5 Star Review, 5 Stars, 90's film, Blog, Brit Flick, British Film, British Movie, Britpop, Danny Boyle, Empire Magazine, Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Film Blog, Film Review, Five star review, five stars, Hamish Macbeth, Irvine Welsh, John Hodge, Jonny Lee Miller, Keith Allen, Kelly MacDonald, Kevin McKidd, Movie Blog, Movie review, Nineties Film, Peter Mullan, Robert Carlyle, Shallow Grave, Soundtrack, T2: Trainspotting, The Full Monty, Trainspotting, Trainspotting 2

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to receive email updates of new posts:

Subscribe to the blog:

Follow Barking Mad About Films

Facebook
Facebook
Twitter
Follow
INSTAGRAM
RSS
Follow by Email

What Have We Been Barking Mad About Recently?

  • Do we get our Knives Out for this All-Star BlockBuster?
  • We Return To Zombieland But Should We Have?
  • Ready or Not, we watch this new Comedy Horror.
  • This Joker Film Is No Joke!
  • Should you be scared of IT a second time?

Jump to a Category

Jump To a Tag

3 star review 3 Stars 3D 4 Star review 4 stars 5 Star Review 5 Stars Batman Blockbuster Book Book Adaptation Book to Film CGI Comedy Deadpool Disney drama Film Film Blog Film Review Five star review five stars Four Star review Four Stars Franchise Ghostbusters Harry Potter Horror Jaws Jennifer Lawrence Marvel Marvel Comics Movie Blog Movie review Reboot Remake review sequel Star Wars Star Wars: The Force Awakens Three Star Review Three Stars Thriller Tim Burton X men

Copyright © 2019 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in