Almost Buddhist - 戲‧論

Who: Kodaline Where: Ireland What: Alternative/Pop Rock When: 2015 Guess they’ve become my second most favorite band aside from Switchfoot, Blue October, Death Cab For Cutie, Fight The Bear, and stuff. This sophomore of theirs sounds familiarly exciting, catchy, encouraging, and a bit of delight and poignancy at the same time just like their debut that I’m still so fond of in fact. Though the tunes may bore a bit as taking too many listens, this album still works like a shot of pep when you feel bad about life and too weak to carry on at times so… Try it

Who: Kodaline Where: Ireland What: Alternative/Pop Rock When: 2013 They’re from where U2’s from. This their debut feels like a mix of earlier Snow Patrol and Coldplay, but with slightly catchier tunes and simpler lyrics of much romance and hopes. I’m more than fine with every song in this album to be honest. It’s from two years back but it still sounds exhilarating and fresh, and a little bit sad of course. I guess sometimes a bit of melancholy is all we need to be able to feel alive, ain’t it? Try it

★★☆☆☆ 徐克的〈智取威虎山〉動作場面不「威」，手段亦不「智」，角色平淡，故事手法是故弄玄虛的古今交接──多此一舉，除了戲中那些土匪暗語有些趣味之外，其他的不值一提，這次又被徐大俠矇了！ 不過，我卻聯想到「雜」跟「專」的分別，因為現在流行植入式廣告，電影的開頭竟然看到小米電視跟小米手機（哇，小米何時打入美國市場了？），小米對這部戲的贊助肯定不少啊。提到小米，自然想到魅族。小米靠做手機起家，但志不在手機，而是整個「物聯網」生態，而魅族一直只專注於手機，雖然現在業務擴大了，不過主業還是做手機，所以把兩家的手機擺在一起對比，就能看出誰做的產品更用心。好比佛法修行的所謂「解門」跟「行門」，「解門」可以廣，但「行門」一定要專，如果盲修瞎練，肯定一事無成。「專」才能「定」，「定」才能生「慧」，有「慧」才能真正放下自在。 小米走的是「帝國獨大」之路，魅族追求的是「合作共贏」，所以小米到處樹敵，魅族到處交友，事實是，這個世界沒有永遠的朋友，也沒有永遠的敵人，商場更是如此。當然，一切對我來說，不過是戲夢一場，但有時我們可以在世間的明爭暗鬥中，領略到一些出世間的道理。

★★★☆☆ To be honest I don’t like this kind of film that appears to be quite dark and sick, and in praise of selfishness and dishonesty, but just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean ‘Nightcrawler’ is bad. On the contrary, it’s worth a checkout for certain unless you’re a person in favor of politically correct comforting. The story’s fresh and original. The score’s terrific and precise. Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance’s creepy and convincing, like nothing he’s ever done before. Feels like he deserves a win at the Oscars, but surprisingly he was left without a nomination. I can only think of Death Cab For Cutie’s grumble in their new single, ‘how could something so fair be so cruel?’ ‘Nightcrawler’ is not a pleasant film after all. It obliges us to see the dark side of humanity, and how it gets to justify in a world where people care more about their wallet than their spirit; more about how they can survive than how they should live either for themselves or others. The question is,...

★★★☆☆ It’s weird that ‘Wild’ doesn’t seem to move or engross a bit until the last few minutes where all the emotion and sentiment start to break out when a little boy sings Cheryl (Reese Witherspoon) a beautiful song that reminds her in a sense of the purpose of her solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trail. All those frequent flashbacks in the film revealing Cheryl’s bittersweet past and the reasons why she’s doing it seem pretty mundane to me after all, but the last few moments of it almost make me want to cry. I don’t know. Maybe it sets me up so well. Maybe I finally get to feel her pain and grief as I know I’ll have to face some of her problems as well later in my life! You may not get to know what’s really going on there at first, but you’ll sure pick up piece by piece on condition that you’re patient and tolerant enough of the non-happening in most parts. This is a film about the unbearable pain of having to let part of yourself go; of seeking forgiveness and redemption t...

★★★★☆ ‘Whiplash’ is not a conventional shot of ‘chicken soup for the soul’ because, instead of pep talks or warmhearted moments or stuff, there’s only discouragement, torment and taunt, and loads of humiliations J. K. Simmons’s music school teacher exerts on one of his students named Andrew Neimann played by Miles Teller. So if you expect it to be exhilarating, bright and cheerful, you’ll be rather let down. It nevertheless, is a very good example of how someone is compelled to face his weaknesses and bear the unbearable before becoming one of the greats. I don’t know how to appreciate jazz but this is a terrific piece of cinema in terms of convincing and powerful performances by Miles Teller who’s in fact a musician, a drummer for his own band, and also J. K. Simmons who looks, acts and talks very much like an intimidating devil in the film. If you think he’s mean enough, think again. Of course he’s doing it to try to discover the potentially great, an animal particularly com...