Almost Buddhist - 戲‧論

★★★☆☆ In ‘Groundhog Day’, Bill Murray’s Phil Connors has to live the Groundhog Day over and again for reasons unknown, till… no idea how and why exactly he’s able to get out of it in the end either. Things just happen so naturally or say, unreasonably, that the whole film seems like nothing more than a comedy of romance. It could’ve been deeper and more ingenious indeed but instead it leaves us some laughs and wonders just like that. How many more mistakes do we have to repeat before we manage to learn and correct it? How much more suffering do we have to take before we finally see what’s wrong with this life and want to stop it no matter what? We keep coming back for more and more till we’re bent and crashed and tortured and killed. Yet again we come back for some more not remembering the pain at all. Well, if you haven’t had enough, I have. Just like Phil Connors himself, though I can’t see exactly how and why I’m stuck in here right now, I’m so determined to want to make it

★☆☆☆☆ 〈 突擊死亡塔 〉為打而打，反而有點過癮，雖然我從來都看不到暴力中有何美學可言。來到這個續篇則不再為打而打了，硬把一個無聊、荒謬、薄弱的故事拖長來說，其實當我看到片長是兩個半小時，我已經心覺不妥，一部虐殺打片有必要這麼長嗎？原來這次導演真的眼紅了，野心大了，戲中大部分時間，他都在賣弄攝影美術、剪接技巧，情節合理與否就不是他關心的了──把一個十元硬幣般大的竊聽器直接放在人家的錢包裡，如此偷聽技倆，只有豬才想得出來！ 想看打的觀眾一定失望，因為裡面打的少，相比首集，打鬥場面也好不到哪裡去，看到最後我已經有點作嘔。問題來了，明知這是一部虐殺戲，暴力充斥，故事薄弱，為何我（們）還是犧牲寶貴的時間去看呢？為何我（們）始終喜歡觀看暴力，施展暴力呢？為何我（們）總是學不乖呢？唯一想到的答案，就是因為我（們）無量劫來累積的習氣。 《華嚴經》：「忘失菩提心，修諸善法，是名魔業。」如果大家参透這句話，就會明白業力、 習氣的可怕。可能你對自己所修的善業有信心，對來生還有一定寄望。但我是不求來生的，我只求今生往生彌陀淨土，一生成佛。要不然，我肯定跟電影裡的那些傢伙一樣，今生不知怎麼個死法，來生更不知會死到哪裡去！

★☆☆☆☆ ‘300’ is fresh though I see no beauty about violence at all. ‘300: Rise Of An Empire’ is however, like a boring 90-minute gameplay trailer, with a very clichéd story, unattractive characters, exaggerated slo-mo actions actually more than enough and necessary, preposterous pep talks to fill up spaces between fights, and last but not least, it doesn’t seem to know how to end properly. I know this is a comic-book-feel-like movie so that all we have to do is sit and enjoy how they fight each other’s balls out, but truth is, seeking vengeance in the name of whatever will get you nothing but yourself perished in infernal flame! Anyone who finds any part of it beautiful or enjoyable is either a headcase or an imbecile (like me)!

★★★★☆ 我不是憤青，不好政治，不屬「左」，也不屬「右」，更不會佔「中」。我沒有興趣成為民主的棋子，也沒有興趣成為民主的鬥士，因為我知道民主只不過是人的虛妄中的虛妄。有問題的人自然製造有問題的制度，但他們卻期望有問題的制度能帶來無問題的和諧社會，有問題的人認為不停修補完善有問題的制度，最終就能解決所有問題，他們不知道：外在的問題，歸根究底都是人自身出了問題。所謂行有不得，反求諸己。人的問題未解決，誰當家作主，最終結果都是悲慘的！民主本身不是問題，有問題的是提出民主的人！ 〈逆權大狀〉不單只是講「民主」，還講「國家」。國家也是一個詭異的東西。經常聽到有人講：我愛國家，但不愛黨。試問，國家在哪裡？拿來給我看看。為何會有國家這個東西？有什麼作用？沒有黨，會不會有所謂的國家？黨建立國家，統治國家，國家跟黨如何區分？要知道，國家和黨也是人妄想分別的產物，所以我不愛黨，也不愛國家，只愛中國傳統文化。國家不是地球的自然產物，地球本無國家，如果不是人有「病」，「國」也根本不會存在！ 不要誤會，我不是在詆毀這部戲，相反，〈逆權大狀〉十分精采，假如你能熬過前面一個多小時的「人物塑造」時間，接著的兩場法庭答辯絕對會看得你熱血沸騰。其中一場更有一個四到五分鐘的長鏡頭，技巧相當高，而主角宋康昊不愧為韓國影帝，演技精湛自然，收放自如。一個建築工人，為何決心攻讀法律做律師，繼而變成民權鬥士，最終成為韓國總統（主角原型是韓國已故總統盧武鉉），他跟餐廳老闆娘之間的情義絕對是原因之一。在戲中，可以看到人性的腐敗，也可以看到人性的光輝。 所謂物極必反，民主至極就變獨裁，獨裁至極民主就再登場，歷史重複又重複，因為人總是活在虛妄當中而樂此不疲！

★★★☆☆ I don’t know since when Liam Neeson felt like he’d be better off becoming an action hero, but he’s ‘Taken’ twice. One ’s fresh. One ’s boring. This time his plane’s taken, and he’s an alcoholic air marshal, part of the U.S. Department of Home Security set up after the 911 attacks. But hey terrorist attacks don’t necessarily come from outside the country. It could and mostly would be triggered by its own people. You know there’re always some bad apples. They’re considered bad because they refuse to buy the Government’s bullshit and live with a lie. And we’re good because we side with it and believe that justice’s after all so worth fighting for. ‘Non-Stop’ is more like an interesting mind game than a pack of mindless actions. You’re given pieces of a puzzle one by one on the way, and you won’t be able to guess the whole picture till it reveals itself at last. It’s actually kind of a cliché, but the flight is indeed quite engrossing. It raises an issue to me: how to really

★★★★☆ It opens with a real footage recorded by a passenger on a subway platform, showing white cops asking several black guys to behave and cooperate for what I don’t know yet. After some bickering, one of the black is forced face down on the ground by two police officers. And it ends with a gunshot. ‘Fruitvale Station’ tells a true story that shocks, provokes and moves. The footage works like an intrigue. The rest of it reveals moments of the victim, Oscar Grant’s (Michael B. Jordan) day life before he finally walks up to such a tragedy. We get to catch glimpses of how he struggles to make ends meet, and gets caught once; how he copes with his mother, girlfriend and daughter, but inevitably goes off sometimes under pressure of trying to be a better man like every ordinary one of us. The images are poignant in a sense, as you know the ending’s not gonna be happy. The underscore is exceedingly haunting. It attacks me from time to time. Everything happens for a reason. I don

★★★☆☆ ‘Everything’s awesome’ is repeated many times in the film, but in reality, it’s seldom heard because we, from the bottom of our heart, don’t buy it, do we? We tend to believe that, well, something’s awesome, but certainly not everything is. We always complain about there being no real good persons in the world, but it’s not things going wrong out there, it’s us! From a Buddhist point of view, the world’s merely the reflection of our mind. If our mind’s screwed up, so is the world we’re in. ‘Everything’s awesome’ only happens in the eyes of the Buddha, the awakening one. We, the sentient beings, can only get to see a messed up world and hardly realize that it’s in fact all up to us! ‘The Lego Movie’ reminds me of ‘ Wreck It, Ralph ’, a memorable piece of animation that seems a bit absurd at first but it definitely teaches and moves. Said I’d never ever check out another superhero film but this film’s not about Batman or any alike, though it makes a great deal of fun out o