127 Hours

Danny Boyle followed up his Oscar success of Slumdog Millionaire with this real-life story of extreme sports enthusiast Aron Ralston (James Franco). The premise is simplicity in itself: Ralston goes out for a weekend of craggy hi-jinks, falls awkwardly, brings a boulder down onto his arm. The bulk of the film is spent in the crevasse as Ralston runs through every possibility open to him, while his mind drifts homeward to things left unsaid and undone. Boyle’s breathlessly energetic style is perfect for what is essentially a film about bring stuck in one place, while Franco brings his considerable charm to bear to ensure that despite Ralston’s flaws, we never root for the boulder.