Almost Buddhist - 戲‧論

★★★★☆ ‘Get out’ is not a horror film about racism. I don’t see there’s anything deep or sarcastic but a good piece of entertainment! Maybe I’m not an African American. I can’t get to see how they see. Whatever, if you believe that a man can easily be hypnotized by some steady repetitive sounds or words of implication, which I don’t nonetheless, you’ll find this film rather scary and exhilarating at the same time. I pretty enjoy the whole ride to be honest, thanks to the ingenious setup and storytelling, and a satisfying ending that gives a relief rather than a slap back to the dark again like most horror films nowadays seem to do! To better enjoy the film, you should drop all your guard and guesses, and try not to be so clever at the plot, like the most unsuspicious is actually the most suspicious! I however, already figure what’s going on halfway through, and the ending is of no surprise but the atmosphere the film sets up is damn spooky and mysterious. And you can definitely...

★★★☆☆ ‘Alien Covenant’ is a direct sequel to 2012’s ‘ Prometheus ’, which audaciously hints that we and aliens are actually made by the same maker the Engineers, and also a second prequel to 1979’s ‘ Alien ’, a classic that stands out in its genre for decades to come. Director Ridley Scott says there could be two more prequels after ‘Covenant’ before we finally go on to ‘Alien’, so I don’t expect it’d reveal much about the Engineers but there’s too little to feel satisfied at all. ‘Prometheus’ leaves us many questions unanswered. ‘Covenant’ leaves us a few more, which is why I feel kind of frustrated watching it. There’s a very short flashback where android David (Michael Fassbender) is wiping out the Engineers by releasing those black goo to the air when he arrives on their home planet. Why? Do the Engineers create and own the black goo, or they collect it from somewhere else? And what for? What happens to Dr. Shaw and David exactly? Since the film hints that it’s David who m...

★★☆☆☆ Is ‘Paterson’ worth a checkout? Well, it depends. If you’re able to sense the extraordinary among the ordinary in everyday life, you may like it. But if you feel like life’s nothing but work to do, places to go, things to buy, people to meet, and waiting to die, you’ll probably stop watching the film halfway! I’m sort of stuck in the middle, neither wise enough to feel poetic about life, nor numb enough to not feel anything at all but keep staring at the phone like that’s all that matters, so… This is a film about poems, words to feel with heart, and experiences of our own. There’s no particular story here, and nothing dramatic or emotional either. You simply go through a bus driver named Paterson’s everyday life for a week. It’s basically a mundane routine like the one most of us have every single day. Somehow it makes me wonder why we need films. Do we need them to help make us feel, or to remind us instead that we haven’t been able to really feel at all? For better or...

★★★☆☆ I checked out this film because it’s the latest work of Marc Webb whose ‘ 500 Days of Summer ’ really is an inspiration to me, and also it stars Chris Evans whose charisma seems to shine in ‘ Before We Go ’, a very special treat of love romance for me back there. Turns out ‘Gifted’ is a pretty heart-warming drama, though it’s not so interesting and ingenious as ‘500 Days Of Summer’. Still there’re scenes to move and inspire you, and even make you sigh over the fact that life’s indeed full of hard choices and struggles. The gifted girl is stuck between her uncle (Chris Evans) who only wishes her to have an ordinary and hopefully happy life like every other normal kid, and her ambitious grandma who expects her to be brought up like a prodigy should. To me, there isn’t much emotional stuff going on there since Chris’s still too young and green to be called a great actor, and the plot’s nothing of a surprise after all. There’s this hospital scene of waiting to see a new life...

★★★☆☆ ‘Ghost In The Shell’ is supposed to be deep and thought-provoking like everybody expects but as the 1995’s animation film doesn’t strike me much after all, I don’t expect this live-action version to be any better. Turns out it’s not! The setup is pretty plain and understandable. There’s nothing that would make you have to scratch your head. It’s, no doubt, visually satisfying, but the action sequences are nothing fresh or stunning to me. Most people are unhappy with it lacking metaphysical approaches. Well, I guess it’s not that they don't want to do it. It’s just that the director or scriptwriters are somehow not so capable of putting up a philosophical treat. If you like some stunning effects in the futuristic Hong Kong, the film won’t let you down. But if you expect anything more than that, it may not be a good idea! It’s repeatedly said that ‘we cling to memories as if they define us but they don’t. What we do is what defines us’. The film nonetheless, seems to s...

★★☆☆☆ Well, it’s me again, not the film itself. It’s got certain qualities like decent acting and editing, and sarcastic dialogues to make you crack a smile from time to time, but still I have no love for such neo films set in the West. ‘Hell Or High Water’ has the same feel that ‘No Country For Old Men’ delivers. The difference is, Coen Brothers’ films always seem to carry a high-above theme or deep thoughts, while the film just tells a mundane  story of brotherly love, though its title may suggest something more than that. You see how a ‘bad’ desperado is supposed to be like fighting for what he thinks is worth fighting for in the film. It’s not easy to be one though. We’d rather live in our comfort zone long enough to be like a walking dead than try to step out of it to start living for real. Come hell or high water, be a ‘good’ desperado, and let it lead you to self-perfection rather than self-destruction! Again, good or bad is not definite. It’s always relative!