Almost Buddhist - 戲‧論

★★★☆☆ Technically speaking, this film really is a spectacular since it’s of more than two hours but in just one single long take. Unbelievably amazing hands down, if comparing it with ‘ Birdman ’ that’s seemingly shot in one take but actually seamlessly edited! And of course it takes accurate and appropriate acting to be able to finish the job. The German produced ‘Victoria’ could be one of your favorites in light of technical showoff and characterizations. The plot nevertheless, may seem absurd and boring to some. Boredom at certain point is inevitable, I guess, since the camera follows nothing but the characters right from the start till the end, and that makes me kind of dizzy and wanna turn away sometimes. But how absurd it seems depends on how much we’re convinced to believe Victoria’s changing during the incident. To me it’s a story about a lost depressed soul being accidentally picked up and relieved but at last left alone and abandoned still! The girl’s behavior may se

★★★☆☆ In case you wonder, ‘Ultra’ is a secret special training program set up by the CIA to make problematic kids a killing machine. Jesse Eisenberg’s Mike is part of it, and a success while many others fail. ‘American Ultra’ is part serious part funny, part cruel part romantic! In fact, I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about it, but basically it’s a love story, a fairly moving one that contains certain gags and exhilarating actions, especially the last supermarket fight scene that truly is the highlight of the show! For most of the time, the film doesn’t draw much of my attention, but there’s a metaphor concerning a tree and a car that kinda hits and holds me thinking about relationships all of a sudden. It takes a lot indeed for the tree and the car to collide. Sometimes the tree doesn’t dare or wish enough to stop the car. Sometimes the car just doesn’t care enough to stop for the tree! The tree may feel like it should get moving too but it’s grounded, and helpless. An

★☆☆☆☆ ‘ The Maze Runner ’ is an exhilarating piece of action cinema, but ‘The Scorch Trials’, in spite of the bigger scale and longer running time, feels so routine and mundane that you can’t help but wonder how you could possibly survive the final chapter of the trilogy. Right, there’s one more to come before getting to the whole picture that I’m no longer interested anyways after checking out this second installment in which all you get basically are the kids running from they don’t know exactly what to they don’t know exactly where, and blabbering seemingly sensible stuff but actually bullshit while taking a break. I don’t know. Maybe things seem a bit more intense and exciting inside the Maze. When they’re out of it, the thrills are gone, at least to me. The danger out here all seems like a walk in the park coz for them help and rescue is always miraculously instant! One of the key kids, Thomas, is asked in the end why he decides to stop running all of a sudden. His respon

★★★★☆ ‘The Gift’ is a suspenseful drama packed with intriguing, nervous conversations. It manages to withhold ‘what’s really inside’ until the last few minutes that’s to effectively shock and make you feel uneasy in a way that what you think happens may or may not happen for real. It’s more like an open ending where the mystery’s still left unknown though it seems to have finally been revealed. That’s the triumphant point of the film I guess. That’s what makes us feel like the wait’s worth it, and our patience’s paid off! ‘The Gift’ can be considered a revenge story like ‘Old Boy’ or stuff, but it’s not about killing and taking. It’s about giving and creating something for someone instead that would cast a life long horrible shadow on one’s life. The setup however, can seem a bit dragged out and boring if you prefer a plot of much more physical pain and blood. But if you’re able to breathe with the characters and flow with it, you’ll eventually be thrilled and damned in a good

★☆☆☆☆ Honestly I have no idea what the point of the film is. Is it to tell the value of a family in a troubled time? The strength of a man’s will to survive? The twist of fate accompanied by a lot of good luck? The barbaric nature of some Southeast Asian country? The goodness of the American? I don’t know. I just don’t feel anything watching this film. Maybe the score is the only thing good about it. ‘No Escape’ introduces paper-thin characters running into a political riot in a country mysterious and unknown coz we’re never told exactly where that is. The plot seems so preposterous and predictable, and sometimes it kinda drives us mad to see critical help come so surprisingly easy and right on time! It tries to stick close to reality but the whole setup seems nothing like it. With pointless slo-mo sequences and violence, this is one of the stupid films of the year that you really should avoid, period!

★★☆☆☆ My mind’s been clogged up and troubled lately. I don’t know at all why I checked out this film. Keanu Reeves’s latest try’s not even decent but it’s not that bad like everybody thinks it is either. If you’re curious about how he’ll be doing in a seemingly erotic film like this, you’ll be rather let down for sure, coz first, it’s by no means obscene like it seems, and second, he doesn’t do anything gross or daring in there. He’s as charismatic and cool as ever, but the girls are not so hot after all. The dialogues are too dry to be able to provoke any thoughts on sex, love and relationship! There’s this one scene however, I find pretty impressive where Keanu’s Evan’s being tied to a chair and tortured by those two crazy bitches, trying to justify his helplessness in the first place that ultimately leads him to such a situation. For that one second, he makes the character seem so genuine and sympathetic that I can’t help but wonder what I’d do if I were him! I’m not sure a