Almost Buddhist - 戲‧論

★★★☆☆ When I look at the title, I somehow expect it to be like ' Manchester By The Sea ', but no, it's not as heavy and sad overall. Rather, it's a bit hilarious at times though it inevitably delivers tears and bickering as a result of complaints and grumbles over marriage, family issues, individual needs and wants. In fact, this is a divorce story rather than a marriage story. The couple are getting divorced, having lawyers to represent them, fighting over things like the custody of their only son, the share of their fortune and properties, whose sacrifices are more or less, and stuff . But like I said, the mood's not as heavy because they seldom have chance to come face to face alone after the wife (Scarlett Johansson) decides to file for a divorce, for most of the time, it's their lawyers who do the talking! And when they finally do however, the one and only in the entire film, that scene really is something! The film reminds me of one of the famous...

★★★☆☆ Clint Eastwood's films have never been a disappointment, yet you never feel so excited about them. Most of them are not bad, like ' The Mule ', ' American Sniper ', ' Sully ', ' Hereafter '. Some are actually more than good, like ' Gran Torino ', 'Million Dollar Baby'. It seems that he's always intended to tell the story the way he wanted, not the way you want or expect. Some could be let down in such a sense, but it's never happened to me since I had no expectations for his films. Turns out it's the best way to appreciate them, or anything else indeed. 'Richard Jewell', too, belongs to the 'not bad' category among Clint Eastwood's films. And again, it's based on a true event where a security guy is seen from a hero who discovers the bomb and saves a lot more from being killed, to a bomber hero who actually plants the bomb himself to make up a good story to want to deceive and gain f...