Let me begin by stating a couple of personal opinions in that I considered 127 Hours to be the best film of the year when it was released in 2010 (I still do); and after re-watching it now for about the third time I am willing to go as far as to say it is the most inspirational film I have ever seen. When one thinks of a inspirational film, most of the time its sports movies. For some damn reason people get all flabbergasted to see some great athlete overcome some sort of adversity whether it be recovering from a gruesome injury, being an underdog or winning a championship. Other inspirational films could be political films for some select…

I like Danny Boyle. I feel his films always bring something to the table most directors just don't seem to bring. Here, he is in amazing form as he has taken it upon him to tell a story mainly set in one location of which we already know the outcome. And still, it is tense, exciting and moving.

The screenplay is a thing of beauty, filled to the brim with creativity and respect for its source. This film is perfectly paced, which allows you as a viewer to share that small crevice James Franco is stuck in, you're right there beside him and that makes for a very engaging experience. It would have been easy to have this film be…

Danny Boyle is an hyperactive boy. He may give in to the mainstream audience's sensibilities, but he had the respectable talent of transforming a harrowing survival story - and therefore an authentic horror account - into an inspiring survival drama utilizing the always amazing work of A.R. Rahman, contrasting styles and throwing a thought-provoking reflection in the process regarding how much we value every single element in our lives, from family to anecdotes and our basic human needs for surviving. With Aronofsky editing, Terry Gilliam angles for shits and kicks, and an Abel-Gance-like splitting of the screen into three parts, we have a proper true story and an interesting character analysis for the purpose of dramatization thanks to its visual…

Written and brilliantly directed by Danny Boyle, 127 Hours artfully illustrates a man's desire to live, driven by regrets and the drive to change. James Franco's performance is commanding, delicately layered without feeling desperate. He straddles an awkward line between manic desperation and an abiding enthusiasm, forming and molding Ralston as a character without giving enormous amounts of descriptive exposition. It's key to note how isolated this film is, and how everyday a guy Ralston is. It takes an artist with a distinctive visual style to maintain our interest, and Boyle excels. Ralston's life is told through flashbacks. There's no timeline, no biopic-esque storytelling. Just visuals, conveying ideas of solitude, compulsive independence, arrogance and a passive selfishness. He's not a…

Maybe it's the fact that I watched Buried earlier this year, maybe its the fact I expected more out of a Best Picture nominee, or maybe its the fact that I had the ending spoiled for me, but this just didn't quite do it for me. It was fine, and a one man movie in the same vein as Buried, but while Buried was very suspenseful, this one just wasn't. No denying there's some clever things done here, the character being an engineer helped bring another element into the picture, Franco's performance as man on his last stretch was quite good, and the theme of survival of the human spirit is always a good one. I especially liked the hallucinations/flashbacks…