Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Sunshine (2007) - Boyle's great-looking, suspenseful sci-fi

9/18/2019

Sunshine (2007) - Boyle's great-looking, suspenseful sci-fi

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Huge Flop Movie of the Year + Best Science Fiction Movie of the Year

Critical hype that's barely readable features on this visually promising poster for Danny Boyle's Sunshine

The sun is dying, and consequently, so is mankind. A second manned space mission is launched in 2050 to reignite the sun with a nuclear bomb. But the Icarus II mission encounters many problems along the way...

Sunshine is written by Alex Garland (28 Days Later... (2002)) and directed by great English filmmaker Danny Boyle (Shallow Grave (1994)). It is arguably one of Boyle's best films and could even be called the most exciting space movie since Alien (1979).
Sunshine has beautiful images (terrific, ambitious cinematography by Alwin H. Küchler (Morvern Callar (2002))), impressive visual effects, a handsome, talented ensemble cast, and good suspense.
What isn't wholly great is the film's ending, which is strange, as a mysterious, deformed person from the first Icarus mission is roaming onboard. SPOILER It all ends in a psychedelic conclusion, where Boyle sticks closely to the film's unexceptional score (by John Murphy (The Man (2005))).

Related posts:

Danny Boyle: 127 Hours (2010) - Boyle and Franco get stuck with an inconsequential true story
2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
28 Days Later (2002) or, Fast Zombies in England
The Beach (2000) or, Paradise Never Lasts

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 40 mil. $
Box office: 32 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.8 times its cost)
[Sunshine premiered 23 March (Bochum Fantasy Filmfest Nights, Germany) and runs 107 minutes. Shooting took place in London, England, Sydney, Australia and in Stockholm, Sweden for 3 months, starting in August 2005. The film opened #25 to a 242k $ first weekend in 10 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #13 and in 461 theaters, grossing 3.6 mil. $ (11.3 % of the total gross). The film's biggest market was main production country the UK with 6.4 mil. $ (20 %). North America was the 2nd biggest, and 3rd biggest was France with 3.1 mil. $ (9.7 %). The film won 1/2 British Independent Film awards. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. It was criticized by scientists for scientific inaccuracies; for instance reportedly billions of the nuclear bomb targeted at the sun in the film would actually be needed to cause a reignition. Boyle said that he would not return to the sci-fi genre after the lengthy production process with Sunshine. The film made in excess of 15.83 mil. $ on North American home video sales; if added into the calculation, it would change the film's status to that of big flop instead. Boyle returned with Alien Love Triangle (2008, short) and theatrically with Slumdog Millionaire (2008). Cillian Murphy (Cold Mountain (2003)) returned in Watching the Detectives (2007). Sunshine is certified fresh at 76 % with a 6.84/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (14-24)

9/18/2019

Sunshine (2007) - Boyle's great-looking, suspenseful sci-fi

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