Trainspotting

First off, making a movie which openly celebrates the experience (if not the habit itself) of shooting heroin takes more than a little chutzpah; that the film is also one of the best comedies of the year is nothing short of a small miracle. The horse addicts in Danny Boyle's outrageous adaptation of Irvine Welsh's hit novel about disenchanted Scottish youth are pretty much junk slaves, whose lives revolve around the next hit--meaning: stealing, lying, whatever it takes. Told through the self-critical eye of Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor), Trainspotting is an exuberantly cinematic film that (although the accents are often hard to follow) masterfully captures the just-say-no (to the consumer, achiever, good citizen life) attitude of a subsection of modern youth. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (R. Pitman)[DVD Review--June 1, 2004--Miramax, 2 discs, 94 min., R, $29.99--Making its second appearance on DVD, 1996's Trainspotting: Collector's Series two-disc edition features the uncut international version and a wealth of extras, including an audio commentary (by star Ewan McGregor, director Danny Boyle, producer Andrew Macdonald, and screenwriter John Hodge), a 10-minute “making of” featurette, nine deleted scenes with optional commentary, a “Retrospective” with then (1995) and now (2003) production featurettes for the “Look of the Film” (4 min., 3 min.) and the “Sound of the Film” (8 min., 5 min.), interviews (with Hodge, Boyle, Macdonald, and author Irvine Welsh,  running 5-14 minutes each), the six-minute multi-angle function segment “Behind the Needle,” the brief clip “Calton Athletic Boys” with McGregor discussing role research, brief Cannes '96 interviews (with Martin Landau, Noel Gallagher of Oasis, Damon Albarn of Blur, and McGregor), a two-minute “Cannes Snapshot” of the Trainspotting party, a five-minute slideshow-style Polaroid photo gallery, cast/crew bios, and trailers. Bottom line: an excellent extras package (the first release was bare-bones) make this “collector's series” edition of a great film truly worth the upgrade.][Blu-ray Review—Sept. 13, 2011—Lionsgate, 94 min., R, $14.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1996's Trainspotting sports a good transfer and DTS-HD 5.1 audio. Blu-ray extras are carried over from the DVD release, including audio commentary (by star Ewan McGregor, director Danny Boyle, producer Andrew Macdonald, and screenwriter John Hodge), deleted scenes with optional commentary (11 min.), a “making-of” featurette (10 min.), a “Retrospective” section with production featurettes for the “Look of the Film” (7 min.) and the “Sound of the Film” (13 min.), interviews (with Hodge, Boyle, Macdonald, and author Irvine Welsh, running 5-14 minutes each), the multi-angle function segment “Behind the Needle” (6 min.), the brief clip “Calton Athletic Boys” with McGregor discussing role research, brief interviews from Cannes 1996 (with McGregor, Martin Landau, Noel Gallagher of Oasis, and Damon Albarn of Blur), a “Cannes Snapshot” of the cast party (2 min.), a photo gallery, a bonus digital copy of the film, and trailers. Bottom line: a contemporary classic makes a welcome debut on Blu-ray.]