Just decided to watch something this afternoon that I have loved for a while. Partly because I am a creature of habit and watch lots of movies multiple times. Partly because I have watched some mediocre science fiction movies lately and wanted to watch a really good one again.

The director is the great Danny Boyle and the movie is his sci-fi offering to the world: Sunshine.

With the sun dying out, a crew of scientists are on their way to our source of light and heat in this part of the universe in order to jump-start it with a massive nuclear explosion.

Sounds like a typical sci-fi plot, but with Danny Boyle at the helm, it is anything but typical. He is known for experimenting with various genres and coming out with fantastic results. Sunshine fits his m.o. perfectly. A seemingly normal plot that he takes to a whole new level of filmmaking, as he did with 28 Days Later, Trainspotting, Shallow Grave and pretty much everything else he's had his hands on.

With a solid cast including Cillian Murphy and Rose Byrne, the drama is gripping the whole way through the film. The story is truly an original take on the sci-fi genre as well. Penned by Alex Garland, with whom Boyle has worked several times, it is a story that is simultaneously an homage to psychological sci-fi and a departure from it.

This modern classic gets an A (as if there was any doubt from my glowing praise).
--John Berry, online editor--