Still watching all 250 movies on the IMDB Top #250 over the course of 2014. The catch is that I have to work out while watching each of these movies. Can’t just chill like a slug. As a friendly reminder, I received my criteria from the great Bill Simmons from ESPN.com and Grantland fame. So my references are all in order. Today we are doing that great foreign, independent film directed by Danny Boyle, #152 – Trainspotting:

So many actors got their start in this film. It is a good ride with ups and downs, but it is very human and surprisingly still relevant.
Plot Summary: Our main character, Renton (Ewan McGregor), deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out, despite the allure of the drugs and influence of friends. Very simple plot. Dude has heroine addiction, dude decides to get clean, dude has problems getting clean, and dudes friends are not helpful in getting him clean. How does dude do? Simple, but real life.

Overall Plot and Execution: A

Actors: Ewan McGregor’s first break out role. Before he took on the big shoes of Obi-Wan Kenobi and was in Black Hawk Down, he was a drug addicted heroine addict who slept with a 14 year old girl (Kelly Macdonald in her introduction before she stabs Nuki Thompson in the back in Boardwalk Empire) after a night of clubbing. Kevin McKidd as the straight laced friend who decides to try heroine just one time with disastrous consequences. Before he becomes Dr. Yang’s love doctor in ER and competes with Patrick Dempsey as the amazing groom in Maid of Honor. Jonny Lee Miller – Sick Boy- before he engages with Lucy Lui as the great Sherlock Holmes on my favorite CBS show, Elementary. And like I said earlier we have Kelly MacDonald introduced to the world before “No Country for Old Men”, “Harry Potter” and “Boardwalk Empire”. And let’s not forget “Brave”. In other words this is a great cast at its beginning. They all play off of each other in great ways, and execute the plot to a delicious simmer.

Overall Actors – A-

Chill Scenes- For a drama, their are a number of them. The death of a baby. Getting AIDS. Dudes getting cut up in a bar. Excrement flying around the room. Yes, there are plenty of chill scenes in this film. Not horror scary, but just disgusting or sad. Heroine addiction is displayed as something stronger than our cast of characters. It is better than the old this is your brain, this is your brain on drugs commercial. I am going to show this movie to my kids when they are of age so they can stay away from drugs. My son will stay away just after learning that drugs make you impotent. LOL.

Director- Danny Boyle does a nice job of weaving a story together in this film. It is utterly enjoyable. It makes sense that he is able to do this again in 28 Days Later and Slumdog Millionaire. The dude is a genius and this movie is only the beginning.

Director- B+

Chill Scenes- A-

Unpredictability: It is about drug addiction. You expect a lot of crap to go wrong. You expect him to relapse like four or five or ten times. You expect someone to die. You expect them all to have bad lives. So there is nothing that unpredictable in this movie, but it is all realistic. And if all of these bad things did not happen then it would not be realistic. So even though the story is predictable, it is not hokey like an after school special or a Lifetime/Hallmark movie.

Unpredictability- B-

Rewatchability: High! Ha, get it, HIGH! I choose life, so I choose to watch this movie multiple times. All of the actors are spot on. The plot is realistic and understandable, and not corny. I would watch this a few times on Sundance Channel if it came on. Its also on Netflix.

Rewatchability- B+

Dated-ness: Even though this movie is from 1996 and located in Scotland. It holds up surprisingly well. Yes, the music has changed and the drugs have changed, but the central story of kicking an addiction and how impossible it is if you continue with the same friends and same routine is relevant today. Unlike Rent, which seems like it is from an entirely different era and world than the one we live in now. I can even bare to watch that movie or musical again.

Dated-ness- B+

Quotability: It’s not Coming To American, but there are some great quotes in this movie, but the best is from Renton: “It’s SHITE being Scottish! We’re the lowest of the low. The scum of the fucking Earth! The most wretched, miserable, servile, pathetic trash that was ever shat into civilization. Some hate the English. I don’t. They’re just wankers. We, on the other hand, are colonized by wankers. Can’t even find a decent culture to be colonized by. We’re ruled by effete assholes.”

That quote alone is worth the price of admission.

Quotability- B-

Overall- This is a good film that starts the career of a lot of good actors. Yes, I wish Ewan did some better stuff, and sure Grey’s Anatomy is long in the tooth, and Kelly is barely seen in Boardwalk Empire anymore, but they all put in commendable performances. And I love the story line and how it is portrayed. So I am giving it a solid B for being a very good story that I enjoyed and would watch again.

Workout regiment: 2.3 miles on elliptical machine, 90 jumping jacks, 40 leg lifts, horizontal and vertical presses, and back latdowns