Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...

Okay, first-up, we got this e-mail:

Hey Harry,

Apparently, Variety is reporting that novelist/screenwriter Alex (The Beach, 28 Days Later) Garland is getting back into the movie business. This time, he has sold his spec. sci-fi piece to Fox Searchlight to undergo Danny Boyle's direction.

If you haven't read either the Beach or the Tesseract by Garland, I can't recommend doing so enough. The Beach is definitely written in the same genre and style as Fight Club was (I'm talking books here -- not movie adaptations) but the Tesseract displays a minimalist approach to writing so diverse he was called the next Graham Greene. That's something we've not seen Chuck Palahniuk do yet. We can only pray that after his adventures in the screen trade, Garland will turn out another novel soon (please, God). But for the time being, that career seems to have been put on hold. At first, I was really disappointed when I heard he had teamed up with Danny Boyle - who cannabilized his novel the Beach - in 28 Days Later. But after seeing the film, I was thrilled - I had just watched a real, honest-to-God Alex Garland story unfold before my eyes, this one easily on par with his novels. (It might have been similar to the way those who read Fight Club felt after the movie came out - I don't know, I read the book after I saw it.) I've heard you talk on the site before about future, mouth-watering collaborations between David Fincher and Chuck Palahniuk, which we can only pray occur. To me, this is just as good (sure, Boyle is no Fincher, but he can be bloody magnificent when he wants to be. Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, 28 Days Later...I love those movies). In a way, this collaboration could be Great Britains response to Palahniuk/Fincher - hopefully, both pairs will do many films. But now, hearing that there is a science fiction thriller in the works... the possibilites are very exciting. The new movie is titled Sunshine and it deals with a group of men on a fraught mission in space. That's all I know, but I was really hoping that you guys had heard more about it. Please be kind and put something more about this movie on your cool site.

Call me Krylyr

Well, your wish is our command, Krylyr:

I also had the chance to read the new screenplay Sunshine by Alex Garland, who wrote 28 Days Later, and the Beach, one of the best novels I have ever read. Danny Boyle has just signed on to direct this film. Sunshine concerns a group of astronauts heading towards the sun in an attempt to deliver an explosive payload and prevent it from becoming a dead star. The ship is covered with solar panels, which help to deflect the deadly rays emitted from their destination. A distress signal leads them to discover a ship that was sent on the same mission seven years prior to theirs, but disappeared and was never heard from again. Needless to say, circumstances force them to board and investigate the first ship, and scary things happen from there. The first two acts of Sunshine, leading up to the search of the missing ship, are very very interesting. The dialogue is generally strong, with not too much exposition. Garland has managed to construct an interesting setting, and an interesting set of characters, who are all painted in quick broad strokes, but stand out individually. It is the third act of Sunshine that brings the entire script down. Sunshine goes from being a mysterious, creepy, intriguing science fiction film to a slasher film. It turns out that a malevolent being has snuck onboard and begins slaughtering crewmembers. This is a lame turn in the story, which had been so fascinating up to that point. it feels as though Garland simply wanted to wrap up the story as quickly as possible, and just decided to throw in a killer aboard the ship. The killer's motivations are far too vague, and the whole thing descends into silliness. The script is only 93 pages long. Garland needs to re-write the third act and at the very least, flesh out the motivations of the killer and make the change in tone more gradual rather then suddenly jumping to horror. If the third act is cleaned up, Sunshine has the potential to be a well-done film.

Call me Spidermonkey, and keep up the great work, I love the site!

Thanks, guys. Certainly sounds like it’s worth paying close attention to.

"Moriarty" out.