The Indiependent’s Most Anticipated Films of 2017

T2: Trainspotting

It’s not long until Danny Boyle’s much-anticipated sequel to the beloved 90’s classic arrives in cinemas. The return of old faces – anti-hero Renton, lovable but hopeless Spud, scuzzy Sick Boy and volatile Begbie – has been a source of excitement for fans young and old for months now, as more and more teasers about the film have gradually trickled into the public eye. It’s very hard to pull off a sequel to such a classic movie, but most fans agree that it actually looks promisingly great.

The trailer shows glimpses of scenes that hark back to the original – racing down the streets of Edinburgh, Renton laughing into a car’s windscreen, intoxicated brawls, and of course, a heavy dose of sex, drugs and rock & roll. Loosely based on Welsh’s novel Porno, Renton returns from Amsterdam and reunites with the Leith gang after running away 20 years previously. It’s kind of a like an old band reunion; the whole thing feels really nostalgic.

The soundtrack looks almost as exciting as the 1996 version, featuring some gems such as Blondie, Queen, Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s ‘Relax’ and Fat White Family’s Whitest Boy On the Beach – a song which is as gritty, sleazy and smacked-up as the characters themselves. Iggy Pop’s classic Lust for Life, makes a return, this time in a new remix by the Prodigy. There are also a couple of appearances from techno-behemoths Underworld, as was to be expected. With the inimitable ‘Born Slippy’ – immortalised by the final scene of the first film – pumping away in the trailer, it’s hard not to get excited for this.

Words by Zia Freer

Dunkirk

Dunkirk, as a movie, looks absolutely fantastic to me, and I predict that it could be the best war movie since Saving Private Ryan. While that’s a tall statement, Dunkirk looks to have all the right things in all of the right places

First of all the director is Christopher Nolan, director of The Dark Knight, Inception, and Interstellar, so he has not only a proven track record making passable films, he’s arguably one of the greatest directors of our time. So we’re in good directorial hands here. The scale of the movie also looks impressive, looking on about the same scale and budget as Saving Private Ryan-I’m guessing Harry Styles isn’t going cheap as an actor. So the thrill and adrenaline that a good war movie gives, looks like it’ll be there in abundance. The cast isn’t too shabby either; Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh, and Cillian Murphy, all superb actors on their day, will be starring in the movie, so any poor acting will almost certainly not be coming from the leads, unless Harry Styles is that bad he casts a cloud over the movie or Tom Hardy does the Bane voice at any point. So, in my opinion, Dunkirk is definitely not one to flee from in 2017.

by Greg Rutherford