Almost Buddhist - 戲‧論

★★★★☆ I guess the Americans wanting to land on the Moon so bad was merely an irrational act of nationalism and patriotism as a result of the Cold War with the Soviet Union back then! The space race was no different from a war that the Americans thought they had to win even if it’d cost them lots of sacrifices and deaths! So ‘we choose to go to the Moon not because it’s easy but because it’s hard’ or ‘one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’ is actually like total bullshit propaganda! What leap? To where? I mean, what have we achieved and learned ever since? Have we made our Earth a better place to dwell in? Have we learned to cherish what we have even more? Have we been healthier, happier and less troubled? Men going to the Moon was by no means necessary. It had to happen just because some were being way too aggressive and proud and selfish to even care what should’ve been done for mankind here on Earth in lieu of burning a whole lot of money just to send few men up to ...

★★★★★ Den Skyldige 是丹麥語，英文是 The Guilty ，「罪人」的意思。基督教有所謂的原罪，說人天生有罪，所以有犯罪的傾向，記住不要調亂邏輯，不是人犯罪所以成為罪人，而是人天生有罪、所以會犯罪。人又為何天生有罪？追本溯源，是因為人類祖先亞當和夏娃不聽神的話，吃了禁果犯了罪，被神趕出伊甸園，導致他們的後代即是我們，都要繼承這種罪性，而人的一生就是一個贖罪的過程。但，為何完美的神會造出不完美的亞當和夏娃？如果神造的不完美，神還可以叫作神嗎？邏輯上是想不通的，唯一的解釋就是，神無聊，想搞事！但，完美的神又怎麼會無聊？好啦，話扯遠了，或許我們這些不完美的人，是永遠無法明白完美的神到底想怎樣的，是吧？ 這部丹麥電影沒有在香港上映，也不是甚麼大製作，而且是外語片，很容易被忽視，但這部入選今年奧斯卡最佳外語片的小本製作，絕對是經典神作。神在於它從頭到尾都只有一個場景──報案中心、一位主角──被降職去接聽報警電話的警察、一種道具──電話，沒配樂、沒動作、沒特技、沒倒敘插敘、沒花巧剪接，除了對話，過場寂靜，就還是對話撐足八十幾分鐘的片長，透過人物的通話內容，電話裡頭對方的環境和行動的聲音來帶動劇情，讓觀眾自行想像當時發生的事情和畫面，這種大膽的做法，反映出編劇兼導演 Gustav Moller 的藝高，而〈 Den Skyldige 〉只是他的處女作，這位仁兄未來的作品確實令人期待。峰迴路轉的劇情，緊張攝人的氣氛，聰明破格的拍攝手法，一絲不茍的劇本，絕對是小本創造經典好戲的完美示範，未來這部戲應該會被翻拍再翻拍。 電影構思一個令人佩服的地方，就是開頭那些看似跟主要案情不相關的幾通電話，卻是主導未來劇情發展的重要理據。電影的焦點不單只是揭示電話那頭發生的案件，同時也是電話這頭男主角的一次心靈求贖、良心發現的過程。而兩者是互相影響的，男主角的個人遭遇，直接影響他對案情的判斷和反應，兩者絲絲相扣，非常有說服力。人總是喜歡先入為主，在不自覺的情況下，根據自己的個人經驗和閱歷，去主觀定斷眼前發生的人和事，這也是業力主導行為一個很鮮明的例子，無奈的是，我們基本上無法做到真正的客觀。先入為主的結果往往就是錯判形勢，導演就是利用這個人性的基本弱點，透過一通通的電話對談，讓觀眾自己根據所聽到的，去推斷可能看到的，逐步揭開案件背後的真相和男主角被降職的原...

☆☆☆☆☆ Don’t mistake ‘The Predator’ for ‘Predator’! ‘Predator’ is a genre classic from 1987 featuring Arnie in his greatest shape fighting off a horrifying never before seen alien monster. ‘The Predator’ is supposed to be a salute to the classic itself as the director, Shane Black, is one of the original crew into the forest to meet the ugly back in the 1987 film, but it’s a total mess, the terrible of the terrible. It’s retarded in every aspect. The dialogues are retarded. The fights are carefree, and retarded. The story is rushing, and retarded with no setup or buildup or whatsoever. The acting is retarded. And this time for the very first time, they introduced, ladies and gentlemen, the predator dogs! But don’t get carried away yet, because they’re retarded as well. (Shane Black in the front, right behind are Arnie and Carl Weathers in the original 'Predator' film) Maybe I was retarded too to want to check it out and even finish watching it. I wonder, why they’d w...

★★☆☆☆ The two-star rating is for first, those enjoyable songs and music, especially the Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’ cover that is lyrically good and a bit touching, and second, the sort of shocking news about Rachel’s family revealed in the end that actually works like an in time wake-up call as I was considering the film a complete turnoff. I started dozing off just 30 minutes into the film to be honest. To me it’s like a boring Cinderella story without fancy stuff like glass shoes, or more specifically, a travelogue to Singapore! I know it’s supposed to make me laugh but I don’t find any of their jokes or acting funny anyway! It gets attention just because it’s the first Hollywood film featuring all Chinese. Well, they’re really not Chinese though. They’re just bananas—yellow on the outside but white on the inside! Being yellow speaking Chinese doesn’t make you Chinese! Being yellow speaking English doesn’t make you not either. It’s more than just skin colors and languages but of co...

★☆☆☆☆ 通常韓片能殺到香港，應該有一定知名度及可觀性。「〈再見‧我的初戀〉在韓國吸引了 2,606,571人次進場，票房更超越〈藉著雨點再愛你〉成為韓國2018最賣座愛情片」以上是韓國愛情片〈再見‧我的初戀〉在香港戲院上映時的宣傳語句。但首先，〈藉著雨點再愛你〉未看到一半，我已經放棄，雖然主角孫藝珍曾經是我的女神──皆因那齣〈假如愛有天意〉，實在太經典，導致日後我都無法在其他愛情片裡，重拾那份感動。再者，大家要看清楚，宣傳是說「韓國2018最賣座愛情片」，不是「韓國2018最賣座電影」。目前為止，韓國2018最賣座的電影是〈與神同行2〉──又一齣我未看到一半就放棄的電影！ 好似講了一大堆，都還沒入主題講這部戲，事實是，這部戲令我很無語！以為在看韓版〈 500 Days of Summer 〉或〈 那些年 〉，一路期待劇情有扭轉或驚喜，唉、一句講完：賣下(令人滴汗無聊透極漫畫式的)萌加幾滴(非常勉強所以煽不起情的)眼淚！ 「愛情，總是要看時機的」，這是電影反覆強調的主題，真是畫公仔畫出腸！因緣果是宇宙法則。有因，無緣，無果；無因，有緣，亦無果。所謂的時機其實是緣的一種，你每天出門遇到那麼多面孔，都是有因，但你跟他們不會認識，因為無緣。就算有因有緣，都未必有 (你想要的)果，視乎你以及他人創造甚麼緣。一件事要成，涉及很多複雜的緣，我們能做的就是 隨緣盡份 ，盡到甚麼程度？底線是，不傷害他人及自己。無論戲中的兩位如何總是錯過時機，但最後男主角的選擇倒是非常正確──畢竟，愛不是佔有，是成全！

★★★☆☆ 2014’s ‘ The Equalizer ’ is a damn cool, rare piece of action cinema that I’d like to revisit when I’m alone and bored, longing to be entertained and thrilled and compelled to think about stuff like the use of violence in pursuit of so called justice! I’ve, therefore, been expecting the sequel to come. Here it is, ‘The Equalizer 2’, which is by no means a complete letdown or a failure like most people out there tend to see it. Right, the pace is a bit dragged out! The story is sort of routine and predictable. The action sequences are surprisingly few and not as exhilarating after all, especially the final combat that is more or less of an anti-climax to be honest. I however, appreciate those conversations and pep talks between fights, its consistent mood and the heart-pounding score, though Denzel’s performance here is far from impressive! I don’t know. Maybe I’m already so sick of mindless action films that provide nothing more than massive blood and violence and exagge...