The MoFo Top 100 of the 2000s Countdown

Critics

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Critics thoughts on our #45, 28 Days Later...



It currently has a 87% Certified Fresh Tomatometer score among critics, and a 7.6/10 score on IMDb (with 398,000 votes).

Roger Ebert gave it ★★★ and said:

"28 Days Later is a tough, smart, ingenious movie that leads its characters into situations where everything depends on their (and our) understanding of human nature."

While Nathan Rabin, of AV Club, said:

"While [28 Days Later] maintains the same sort of restraint for much of its duration, it casts that restraint aside during a bloody, over-the-top final act that diminishes the film's scary poignancy. Like his makeshift societies, Garland's tantalizing set-ups tend to unravel in unsatisfying ways."

As for our MoFo reviewers, @PeterVincent said:

"Overall 28 Days Later is a brilliant film that does amazing things with it's teeny little budget. Every member of the cast is strong and the directing is fantastic even though it looks like it was filmed on a camcorder. I recommend 28 Days Later to anyone that's remotely interested, even if you don't like horror."

On the other hand, @Lance McCool said:

"I hate this movie because it's such a waste of Danny Boyle's time. Filmmakers of his caliber shouldn't be allowed to make generic horror flicks. And the actors don't do anything special to set this apart from the recent slew of zombie movies released in the past five years, either. Stupid characters, a cobbled together script, long stretches of tedium, bad acting and a handful of "boo moments" add up to make an average movie I really didn't need to see."

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Trailers

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Hint?

”28 Days Later” is a brilliant little piece of terror. Granted horror is one my least favorite genres, but yet this one made my list. Haven’t seen the other, but not a fan of Kaufman.

Awards

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Now to the awards received by Synecdoche, New York...

• Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay (Charlie Kaufman)
• Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature and Robert Altman Award
• Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Performance
• Indiewire Critics Poll Award for Best Screenplay (Kaufman)

Among many others.

As for 28 Days Later, it won...

• Saturn Award for Best Horror Film
• Black Reel Award for Best Breakthrough Performance (Naomie Harris)
• Empire Award for Best British Film
• Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Wide-Release Film and Best Screenplay (Alex Garland)

28 Days Later was great in the theater. I haven't seen it since then, so I left it off my list. Same goes for Synecdoche, New York, although I'm in the "Charlie Kaufman is great" camp, and it might have gotten my vote had I gotten around to seeing it again. Sadly, it was not to be.

46. Synecdoche, New York : A rewatch might have done enough for this to make my list - I remember quite liking it, but not to the level of some of Charlie Kaufman's penned and not directed films. Lord, I have to catch up on his latest input. Synecdoche, New York kind of stopped the Charlie Kaufman train dead on it's tracks for me - and that makes it sound like I hated it. Not at all. I've seen it a few times and it's great - I loved the strange circular pattern of ever-repeating autobiographical play-writing and preparation. One line in particular, about everyone secretly believing that they won't die, was very memorable for me. Just thinking about the film makes me want to put it on right now and watch it again. But after Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation and Being John Malkovich this was a slight step down in my eyes (perhaps due to being the first Kaufman film that the man himself helmed? I know not.) So, it didn't come into consideration. I love Philip Seymour Hoffman - and probably count him among my top 5 favourite actors. I loved seeing that replica of New York that Hoffman's character was building for his play. I'm more than happy to see this make the top 50 of the countdown. This film was just a victim of the awe-inspiring quality of Kaufman's writing before this film came along.

45. 28 Days Later : I watched this film in preparation for this countdown, so it's still fresh in my mind. I won't start reading reddit threads about it's ending and alternate endings or I'll never finish this post. But the one I saw originally did seem disjointed and out of whack. Overall it's a fine apocalyptic zombie film, but I've never held it in the esteem a lot of other people do. Some of that comes from me not completely gelling with zombie films overall (except maybe Shaun of the Dead and George Romero's initial trilogy - but especially his first one, Night of the Living Dead.) The section of this film I liked the most were the deserted London scenes, with Cillian Murphy wandering around, dazed and confused. It goes up a notch when he comes to an abandoned church and we get our first good look at the zombies in this. Genuinely scary and frightful. Then, the more people that start to gather around him, and the further they get from London, the more my interest dropped off - until they get to the military base and realize what a horrible mistake they've made. But it really was the ending that totally confused me and made me think that someone had interfered. When it comes to Danny Boyle, I prefer Shallow Grave, Trainspotting and Sunshine.

Seen 45/56

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Trivia

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Synecdoche, New York



Did you know that...

• the film was supposed to be directed by Spike Jonze? He chose to direct Where the Wild Things Are instead.
• Charlie Kaufman cast Michelle Williams because of her performance in Dick?
• Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Tom Noonan all appeared in Red Dragon back in 2002?

Trivia

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28 Days Later



Did you know that...

• Ewan McGregor was the original choice for the role of Jim? However, he and Danny Boyle had a falling-out over the casting of The Beach. Ryan Gosling was then considered, but he had a scheduling conflict.
• screenwriter Alex Garland was inspired in classic zombie films and modern games like Resident Evil?
• athletes were cast as the "infected" because of how important physicality was?

28 Days Later is great. A nice homage to Romero's first three Dead films, great early use of digital cinematography, and just a relentless horror movie to boot. It was on my list.

Hint, hint...

Eternal Sunshine and City of God?

I've seen a few Charlie Kaufman films that I've enjoyed but I haven't seen Synecdoche, New York, so, not on my list.

Loved 28 Days Later and its sequel but didn't put it on my list. I'm saving room for hopefully some other flesh-eating action to appear.


#5. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl 63
#8. Unbreakable 62
#10. Million Dollar Baby 57
#22. Fantastic Mr. Fox 70
#20. Iron Man 83
#23. The Descent 80
#25. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 76

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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

Eternal Sunshine is all I got.

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IMDb
Letterboxd

I watched Synecdoche, New York for this countdown, but I didn't like it. I thought it was a very depressing movie that felt much longer than its runtime.

I haven't seen 28 Days Later....

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If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

46. Synecdoche, New York (133 points)
45. 28 Days Later (139 points)

Both good films. SNY is quite challenging, and I'm a bit surprised to see it so far up this list. 28 Days Later is loads of fun. Neither were close to my list though.

Finding Nemo

Forgot to mention yesterday that with 28 Days Later, Danny Boyle joins the group of directors with multiple entries in the countdown. Cillian Murphy and Philip Seymour Hoffman also add a third notch to their belts with their third film in the countdown.