Almost Buddhist - 戲‧論

★☆☆☆☆ By checking out 'Ben Is Back', I expected to get maybe not exactly the same but a close taste of the heart-wrenching ' Manchester By The Sea ', because the synopsis does seem to promise an emotional melancholic drama. Well, it could be just me expecting the wrong thing but objectively speaking, the film has got nothing to stand out to be remembered. I think any episode of TV series 'The O.C.' can be better than this. The story's supposed to be somewhat emotionally striking or tear-jerking. The acting's supposed to be impressive but neither the mother nor the son manages to make me feel the hardship of motherhood or the helplessness and struggle of being a drug addict! Seeing 'Ben Is Back' is like having a cup of distilled water when you're actually not thirsty. It's meant to be tasteless so forgettable, and even unpleasant!

★★☆☆☆ If you're not familiar with the whole picture like me, I mean, the original story by the Japanese, you won't feel much engaged at all with this live action cinematic adaptation here that appears to be rather rushing and partial. So I don't get to feel or want to care about the tension or connection between the Sky City and Iron City or whatever. But this is okay if the action scenes really are magnificent like everybody's talking. Matter of fact, they merely look like cut-scenes from some action video games! I don't see anything so fresh or avant-garde here. They're just watchable thanks to the decent CG effects. That's all. Again, when you get to the end of it, you'll see that there should be some more sequels to come to explain it all. I doubt if it's necessary after all as chapter one already feels like unsatisfying! I can't help but wonder, is it just me or really the film? Maybe 'Alita' is a great action film like mos

★★★☆☆ In case you're not a fan of 'Rocky', me neither but I've watched all of it anyways, 'Creed 2' is the sequel to ' Creed ', a spin-off of 'Rocky' series, which is about Adonis Creed, son of Rocky's opponent and friend Apollo Creed, who is unfortunately beat to death by that legendary Russian boxer who is later defeated by Rocky instead in I don't know which episode of the series. Now that Russian boxer has trained up his son to want to take revenge on Rocky by trying to defeat his disciple, Adonis Creed. So if you think this is a film of revenge out of pure anger, it obviously doesn't want you to feel that way. And it's done it quite successfully! Rather than demonstrating how they fight brutally and win with bruised eyes and broken ribs, 'Creed 2' focuses more on what they're supposed to be fighting for. So it feels more like a motivational drama than some sort of exciting action piece. It's really g

★☆☆☆☆ 史上有很多〈羅賓漢〉電影，我只看過也只記得 91 年 Kevin Costner 演的那部，不是因為它特別好看或 K.C. 特別型，而是結尾那首當時覺得好聽到痺不停無限 loop 的、由聲線磁性到痺的 Bryan Adams 唱的主題曲〈 Everything I Do, I Do It For You 〉。 那部〈羅賓漢〉，那首歌詞，放在今時今日，真是老土到嘔，但當時就是覺得正到沒朋友。以至於激勵我後來發奮要學好英文，去發掘欣賞更多好聽的音樂，從一開始的 love songs ，到 rock 、 nu-metal 、 alt rock 、 indie rock ，再到 hip-hop 和 rap 。〈羅賓漢〉算是我的音樂啟蒙。但現在再回味那首歌，我已經聽到起雞皮，不是因為感動，而是不明白自己當初為何會那麼著迷那種旋律那些歌詞，現在卻覺得難以入耳 ...... 再次證明心是無常的，兒時著迷的玩意，現在看會覺得十分幼稚，現在執著的，日後回望同樣會覺得幼稚可笑。所以如果你現在有什麼放不下，不妨拉闊時間的距離，問下自己，多年後，你還會執著現在的執著嗎？無常才是常，其實人無須活得太累！ 因為〈羅賓漢〉情意結，所以看了最新版的 Robin Hood 。中文譯名不知叫箭神甚麼甚麼，總之很爛！而電影同樣是爛之又爛！如果不是片名，我還以為自己在看〈雷霆救兵〉，射箭好似射槍射砲一樣，好刺激好好看嗎？完全不覺得，但就徹底摧毀了原來〈羅賓漢〉那種古典的感覺！故事劇情也是求其再求其，對白現代好似背書，節奏好似趕著收工，熬到最後發覺這部爛羅賓只不過是 chapter one ，續集或者陸續有來，唉，真是只得苦笑！ 〈羅賓漢〉是一個劫富濟貧的故事，沒錢的想有錢，有錢的想更有錢。其實一定數量的錢是活著的必需，但過了一定的量，就純粹是人的慾望了，是一種對未來的擔憂，對無常的迴避和恐懼。很多人活得好似永遠都不死，但要死的時候回顧，才發覺自己沒有一天是真正活著的，窮其一生都只不過是一個奴隸，不斷想去填滿那個永遠也不可能填滿的慾望之坑！

★★☆☆☆ The husband is getting the Nobel Prize in Literature. The wife is getting him ready for the Ceremony and celebrations ahead. They're both old, wise and seemingly intelligent at expressing themselves suppose they're or once were writers very good at turning their thoughts into beautifully understandable words. The interactions between them nonetheless, suggest that their relationship may not be so wonderful and perfect as people outside see it. That there could be some doubts or something uneasy and heart-wrenching going on between them. Later what we're told in flashbacks does check out our speculations! The husband is the shell. The wife is the ghost. Together they've been playing 'the ghost in the shell'. How creepy and helpless huh? 'The Wife' is by no means compelling. You could just smell a rat right from the beginning. And you might've probably got the whole picture just half way through. Glenn Close's performance here is no