Almost Buddhist - 戲‧論

★★★★★ 欣賞新海誠的作品，故事彷彿已經顯得不再重要，更多的是在用心去感受一種情感壓抑的浪漫，及伴隨之的那份感動。 美得令人窒息的畫面向來是新海誠動畫電影的標誌，〈言葉之庭〉當然也不例外，每一格畫面都美得讓人無話可說，更令人驚喜的是，裡面的人物相比以往變得立體，不再只是唯美細膩畫面中的平面點綴。雖然影片只有短短的四十多分鐘，故事依然顯得薄弱，但〈言〉也算是新海誠作品當中最有故事性的了。從〈 星之聲 〉到〈言葉之庭〉，其作品主題來來去去都離不開孤獨、思念、愛，但〈言〉有別於他以往作品的地方在於男女主角的情感變得直接了些，而不是傾向於羞怯地埋藏在自己心底。當以為電影會以一種安靜的淒美作結時，萬萬想不到男女主角最後的情感爆發會是那麼震撼和感人，再配上出色的音樂，那種場面，凡是有情種想必眼淚都會不自覺地飆出來！可眼淚並不一定代表悲傷收場，影片最後展示的是一種「相見無期卻有期」的積極與樂觀，新海誠的進步確實令人雀躍！ 人注定是孤獨的！我們帶著各自不同的「業」來這個世界受生，所以對同一事物，我們的看法注定不同。你永遠無法讓人確切明白你的感受，即使你如何用精準的語言去表達，好讓對方明白，但對方的所謂明白永遠都只是他個人的理解，而不是你的所感所受，反之亦然。孤獨好像是一種我們永遠無法擺脫的東西，獨處時感到孤獨，跟一大班人相處時照樣可以感到孤獨。不過，或許你也明白，孤獨不是一種常態，而只是一種心態。當你能夠覺悟誰在孤獨並尋根究底的時候，孤獨的感覺就會頓然消失。當然，還是那句話，說的比做的輕巧！ 所謂「情不深不墮輪迴，愛不重不生娑婆」，來這個世界混的，可以肯定都是有情種，在愛情的路上即使我們一次次地跌倒受傷，我們依然樂此不疲，因為「愛」它沒有屬性，難以形容和理解，非常神秘，只有當你遇到它了，你才能知道它到底是怎麼一回事，而這種「知」也只屬於你一人：它是你前進的巨大動力，也可以是阻力；它可以帶你去天堂，也可以讓你經歷地獄！

★★★☆☆ ‘Southpaw’ tells two things, I guess, that is defense is as important as attacks, not sometimes but all the time, if you wanna be the final winner. Second, men must have control. To do that, you gotta have some faith. No matter what faith you prefer, you gotta have some, or you may lose control of your life to others and their fickle point of views. The film’s Jake Gyllenhaal’s one-man show. Here again he’s transformed himself into something we’ve never seen before. And this guy from ‘Brokeback Mountain’ as I first knew him, really deserves an award or something for his true commitment in acting. He’s full of surprises indeed. The story’s kinda predictable though. The boxing matches looking pretty realistic show the roughness and violence of the game, and a little bit of beauty too. The film basically bears a lot of pain and struggles of a man, through the ending that is of a triumph like expected. It’s just that it lacks some real highlights or emotional moments that ar...

★★★★★ Well, it’s really been quite a while since my last update. I’m not being lazy. I’m just being moody and kinda busy doing something else. Obviously there’s a lot of things in life far more important than movies, don’t you think? But sometimes we all need films like ‘Inside Out’ to remind us what really matters in the end when everything else that you’ve been chasing seems to be falling apart inevitably! It’s a simple film that makes me feel rather complicated! ‘Inside Out’, the latest computer-animated film by Pixar Studios, is truly a creative, exhilarating, melancholy piece of inspiration that makes me laugh and cry and laugh and cry throughout. To my memories, it’s the first animation film that’s able to make me weep! I know it may seem corny to some but still I just can’t help sharing the sadness of that little girl over things that used to be so good and sweet but now have all changed, yet you can do nothing about it but to carry on hoping for the best. The film has ...

Who: Foals Where: England What: Indie/Alternative/Math Rock When: 2008 Before I’m going off for a real while, here’s terrific ‘ Antidotes ’ prescribed by Foals for you to enjoy on the upcoming holidays. It’s their debut, and their second best to me! Foals’ albums may not get to impress you in full sometimes but they’re always able to strike you with at least one song or more. In this one, it’s ‘Big Big Love (Fig. 2)’ in particular that gives me goose bumps every time I take a listen. Not saying other songs aren’t as good, they are in fact, if you appreciate their elusive lyrics, groovy funky guitars, outstanding bass and drums! If you can’t get enough still, here their sophomore, ‘ Total LifeForever (2010) ’, and their latest, ‘ What Went Down (2015) ’ that are equally enchanted enough to shoot you to cloud nine I believe! (Click the links to download the albums. Enjoy them! Enjoy holidays! Enjoy life! Peace!)

Who: Foals Where: England What: Indie/Alternative/Math Rock When: 2013 It’s not new but I’ve been enjoying it coz it’s so damn great in terms of groovy, intricate and delicate rhythm guitars, terrific drums and bass, and decent vocals. I said decent coz it’s probably the only weak spot of Foals, but the lead singer Yannis sounds so much more confident than before in their latest ‘What Went Down’. Foals have become one of my favorite rock bands in rent years. ‘Holy Fire’ is their third yet the best of the best! There’re songs that will hold you either in trance or in ecstasy. None of them is a waste or a shame! Once you play it, you just can’t stop! Try it

★★★☆☆ ‘Slow West’ is a short love tragedy disguising as one of those adventurous western films, yet the most enchanted one I’ve seen in years. The cinematography of the film is so damn superb that at certain points you seem not to care about the story anymore that is non-linearly told but not truly engrossing after all! Michael Fassbender is certainly the star of the show. I don’t know if it’s just me but I’ve never seen him this charismatic before, and the whole film is like an infinite show-off of beautiful shots of sexy evil-minded figures in breathtaking landscapes. Never knew before that the west could be so dangerously tempting! What happens between Jay and Rose in the film reminds me of what the Buddha says about love that’s in fact like tasting honey on a blade. It’s sweet but it hurts and makes you bleed at the same time. It’s like two sides of a coin. We should be ready to take it both when it happens, but the thing is, we all tend to accept only the sweet half of it...

★★★★☆ ‘Gran Torino’ wouldn’t have been so impressive if the ending was of bloodshed instead of a restrained, brave, melancholy way of self-redemption. In case you get it wrong, this is no action drama. Clint Eastwood’s Walt doesn’t even get to fire a bullet though we all kind of expect him to. The story’s well paced and told. The mood’s pressed on, intense and breathtaking sometimes. Walt’s change is convincing. What he does in the end is as a result of wisdom and calmness that he’s finally learned from his confession of guilt and past experiences of hell! The best Clint Eastwood’s film I’ve seen ever since his 2004’s ‘Million Dollar Baby’, hands down. One of the memorable scenes in the film is where, after the expected tragedy, Walt unexpectedly tells Thao to stay calm so as not to let mistakes get made again. We may have different views to what we call bravery, but whatever, it should come with wisdom. Bravery without wisdom is nothing but a violent act of rashness and stupi...

★★☆☆☆ 電影一開始古天樂那段獨白，好似想突出「人為錢死，鳥為食亡」的主旨，但故事發展下去，又好像是另一回事，你追我逐根本都不是為「錢」，而整件事發生的源頭更加跟錢無關，而是為「色」！其實〈迷城〉的故事發展非常牽強，主題含糊不清，看罷感覺就是戲名的其中一個字──迷。觀眾迷，或許導演也迷。闊別多年回歸影壇的林嶺東，所能交出的就只有頗具實感的鬧市追逐與爆破，動作場面或許跟得上時代，但故事還停留在八十年代警匪片的格局──求其！ 〈迷城〉是一套警匪片，但卻突然彈出一句「不要讓昨日的悲傷，浪費今天的眼淚」文皺皺的話，很是刺耳！這樣的話，正如余文樂所說，只是用來「溝女」的。有昨日，就有今日和明日，是不是為今日和明日流的眼淚就不算浪費？昨日、今日、明日可以完全割裂嗎？甚麼叫浪費？甚麼叫不浪費？想多無謂！這次編導都是林嶺東，或者下次他應該考慮把編劇的工作交給他人，自己還是做自己擅長的吧！

★☆☆☆☆ 公司派飛，所以入場。鬼戲一向不是我杯茶，因為我對鬼戲已經免疫。再者，我不曾見鬼，也不信會見鬼，就算見鬼，又有何懼？人難道不比鬼可怕很多很多倍嗎？天天跟人打交道，還怕甚麼鬼！ 〈有客到〉片長九十分鐘不到，卻想講三個看似獨立卻有少許關聯的故事，所以一切難免要蜻蜓點水，人物故事十分薄弱，看完就真的完了。看這類戲切忌認真，一認真，你就輸了。當中一些情節對話，當作喜劇，倒是幾搞笑。例如〈無頭〉那位妹妹拆散她姊姊跟情人的理由；還有那位男士，最後他又不是殉情，但不知點解他要選天臺那麼危險的地方做事；〈種貓〉那隻黑貓，怎麼看都是貴價英國短毛名種，點會隨便在街上流浪！〈屍香〉謝婷婷跟鬼 Whatsapp 的對話，想起都笑爆嘴，不信的可以入場體驗一下。還有一些靈異的動作，只有人可以做到，我無寫錯，你無看錯，是未死的人，不是鬼，真詭異啊！這些只是冰山一角，電影其實笑位處處！ 電影其實想用鬼故帶出人性的陰暗：執著、貪婪、縱慾！無奈到喉不到肺，好似一盤散沙，最後還要硬來一個毫無相干的前後呼應，真是一套難得的披著鬼片皮的笑片！可能大家都知，又或者都不知，人死後不一定為鬼，通常你見到的鬼，都是人死後未找到合適投胎因緣的中陰身，戲中那位閃下閃下的劉心悠便是！中陰身只是一個短暫過程，它始終是要去再輪迴的，所以電影開頭那個愛情故事注定都是悲劇。一切執著最終都會引發無盡的痛苦，但我們就是喜歡如此這般繼續痛苦下去，所以想想，人真的幾變態、可怕的！

★★☆☆☆ 認識崔東勳，在〈 盜賊門 〉，那部戲有驚喜處處的劇情、目瞪口呆的動作，令我看到嘩嘩聲！但他的新作〈復國者聯盟〉，我看完，卻「呃」一聲！故事雖有轉折，但驚喜欠逢，片長兩個多小時，節奏緩慢，到了中段我已聽到有鼻鼾聲。我不介意「口水多過茶」，不過可能由於題材背景比較嚴肅，對白亦比較枯燥。這次導演再次找來全智賢，一人飾演兩個角色，演出雖然落力，但也沒甚麼印象深刻的地方，反倒那位李政宰有點戲看，其他角色只是行行走走罷了！至於我最最最期望的動作場面，前面已經說過了，一個字：「呃」！或許這就是所謂的期望越大，落差越大，本以為崔導演有潛力成為韓國的占士甘馬倫，現在看來，至少在我心中，他還稱不上！ 電影令我想起二戰的慘痛歷史；日本的軍國主義；賣國賊的無奈；眾多無辜百姓被少數狂熱瘋子拖下水；國與國之間的隔膜仇恨到底是誰的錯，如何解開。單獨一個人比較容易理性，但一班人集在一起，談理性就比較困難了，這也是為甚麼搞革命一定要煽動群眾。在這個世界「混」，很難不「埋堆」，但「埋堆」這個動作本身就是非理性的。你想出污泥而不染，可能嗎？在這個染污的世界，不論你怎麼行善積德，所修福德都是有漏的，因為你根本做不到「三輪體空」，最終你還是不得不「埋堆」輪迴去！那如何不「埋堆」呢？相信與否，彌陀淨土是你我佛子唯一的希望了！

★★★★★ Director Bennett Miller’s true story-based ‘ Moneyball ’ is one of my favorites in rent years where a baseball team GM loses his last important game but wins in relationships. It’s moving and quite of an inspiration. Here in ‘Foxcatcher’, Bennett introduces another turnoff sport to some, wrestling! But just like what happens in ‘Moneyball’, it’s not really about the sport itself. Rather, it’s about a seemingly calm but mentally troubled wealthy man played by Steve Carell having lived under the shadow of his family traditions, trying to live up to his own character and prove that he’s anyhow capable of what he’s been dreaming of. As you might’ve learned, it ends up a tragedy. Again, sad enough, it’s a true story. ‘Foxcatcher’ truly has its own stylish cool pace of telling a dark chilling story where characters are given tremendous space to show off acting. It doesn’t rush at all. It takes its own time, but instead of feeling bored, you'll feel involved and terrified f...

★☆☆☆☆ 層層的謎團、精采的劇情、立體的人物、激昂的配樂、熱血的動作、更深一層探討生存的意義，生命的價值，〈進擊的巨人〉動畫絕對是近年的動畫經典，沒有之一！但，動畫成功並不代表真人版電影就能順理成章，相反，是一塌糊塗，亂七八糟！ 其實電影的劇情大可跟從動畫，稍作濃縮即可，但不知點解，硬要大改，還加入額外角色，搞到關係亂了套，教人看得不是味兒。或者你會說，最好不要與動畫比較，但電影的開章格局又好像假設你已經是動畫粉絲，事情的發生說來就來，不作任何鋪排解釋，真的不知他想點；就算堅持改動劇情，那也要改得好才得，但這個〈前篇〉人物個個好像佈景版，沒兵長這個重要角色已經令人激氣，新加入那位甚麼隊長，全程 chok 著，臉掛淫笑，毫無魅力性格，你想點啊；劇情薄弱，節奏失控，去到中段更令人產生錯覺，以為在看甚麼日本情色片，你又想點啊；而最重要的特技斬殺場面，真的真的好假。人在空中飛，跟〈蜘蛛俠〉比，真的好假。那些巨人，跟十幾年前〈侏儸紀公園〉裡的恐龍比，又真的超假。話說〈進〉都算是大製作，點解不做好點，認真點，唉！真的不知他想點 …… 或者日本仔真的動畫一流，一把動畫拍成真人電影就變九流了！而這套〈進〉更可堪稱是九流之中的九流！未看的粉絲可免，以免看到中途噴血暴斃。看了而又未被激死的，〈下篇〉可免，除非你是自虐狂！否則還是期待明年開播的動畫版第二季吧！

★☆☆☆☆ The thing is, there really shouldn’t have been any more Terminator films after T1 and T2 , which are like James Cameron’s babies that can’t possibly be reborn, reboot, or remade successful again! T3 and T4 are redundant and preposterous! So is ‘Terminator Genisys’, aka T5. It tries to refresh the characters by changing what already happens in T1 and T2, but in vain. They’re all cast wrong and paper-thin. It mixes up more than one timelines to allow things to go any way it wants without contradictions, but what makes sense or not is none of my concern anymore, coz the whole film’s truly an embarrassing joke rather than a serious plus a bit melancholy piece of sci-fi action cinema, like the classic T2. T5 jumps back and forth in time to want to change what already happens, just like our undisciplined mind constantly does indeed. Is the past totally irrelevant? No, it is not, but the so called past is nothing but made-up memories of our emotions. To a disciplined, focused m...

★★☆☆☆ 人之所以有痛苦，是因為無可避免要活在虛妄的相對當中。我們說話、思考等等都需要一個參照物，也就是相對的概念，例如當你說某人痴線，其實你是在暗示某人正常，而當你說某人正常，其實你是在暗示某人痴線，那到底這位某人是痴線或正常，是沒有人知道的，包括他自己。由於真相無法判斷，所以我們通常跟大隊，多數人認為正常或正確的事情，就是正常或正確的，反之亦然。由於我們的價值觀只是一種相對的虛妄，所以它是常變的。昨天認為對的，今天就可能是錯的；今天認為錯的，明天就可能是對的。如果當全世界的人都覺得因果輪迴是假的，唯我堅持是真的，那到底我是痴線還是正常呢？會不會有離言絕慮的真理呢？如果你還在問類似的問題，你就還是活在虛妄的相對當中，簡單說，你依然是痴線的！ 〈暴瘋語〉故事本身平鋪直敘，就算最後的所謂「扭橋」，其實中段過後，明眼的大概也能猜得一二，因此也沒甚麼驚喜。劉青雲無可發揮，黃曉明不會演戲，最印象深刻的還是出場不多的鮑姐！〈暴瘋語〉說精神分裂，探討正常和痴線的問題，正如我所說，探討這類問題最終都是沒結果的。一個人是否正常 ( 或所謂的有精神病 ) ，完全視乎你站在甚麼立場角度去看。當一個人做或說一些跟大眾預期不符的行為或言語，我們就說他是不正常的，但不要忘記，這種正常與否都是相對的，在他的眼中，我們同樣是不正常的。別人的不正常可能就是我們的正常，我們的正常可能就是別人的不正常，無論如何，在佛的眼中，我們都是瘋癲的，當然我們也會以同樣的眼光去看佛──佛正常嗎？我們又在重複虛妄的問題了！

★★★☆☆ ‘Ant-man’ is very good as a comedy but not as a superhero film or an action movie if you will. The script’s a lot of fun. The actions are not so thrilling but are able to bring out some great laughs since they take place in setups quite interesting and unexpected. The story’s kind of mundane though. A troubled guy is forced to learn to be a hero. He fights the bad for what he believes in and becomes the good. And it ends with a hint that there’s more of it to come for certain, but I don’t think I’ll ever be interested anyway! ‘Ant-man’ is fresh to me as a comedy since I never expected it to be one, and the character has never hit the big screen till now. But feeling fresh has become more and more like a luxury thing to get as we’ve dulled our senses by constantly exposing ourselves to daily gross, sick, hardcore stuff. So we keep buying, spending, hanging around doing stupid things with stupid folks, looking for more stimulation just to stay alive and kicking. We’re so p...

★☆☆☆☆ In case you don’t know, ‘Chapter 2’ corrects what we think happens in ‘ Chapter 1 ’, but it’s nothing fresh! ‘Chapter 3’ is not a sequel to ‘Chapter 2’, but a prequel, preposterous and completely unnecessary. Most of the acts are senseless. The dialogues are tasteless except for one line about love, saying it’s delayed pain, coz we’re gonna lose it sooner or later. We all know it, don’t we? But still it jars our ears! In short, I’m done with ‘Insidious’ series that should be put to rest in peace honestly!

★☆☆☆☆ Said that ‘John Wick’ is a stylish piece of action entertainment. But no, it’s not at all if compared with ‘ The Equalizer ’. The action scenes are kind of funny as they look rather clumsy and childish indeed. The story’s bullshit unless you believe in a The-Man-And-His-Dog fairy tale. Keanu Reeves is still handsome and cool, but his first return to action cinema in years as John Wick is totally a letdown! Well, ‘John Wick’ is not really about a man and his dog. Rather, as you might have figured, it’s about the power of love, or say, the power of grief and desperation after love’s lost. Love, without doubt, is a very powerful force that drives us forward, to whether heaven or hell!

★★☆☆☆ To be fair, ‘Jurassic World’ is not so bad, especially for those too young to have been amazed by ‘Jurassic Park’ and stuff. So let me make myself clear here. It’s just me, not the film. The film itself has certain qualities that are able to bring thrills and constant entertainment to kids who have never seen anything like it before. But to me, there’s just so much of cliché, like how the dinosaurs turn up and end up, how they cross paths with the main characters, and how the main characters are always going to be just fine no matter what! Maybe I’m too mature for simple stuff like that, or maybe I’m too screwed up to be able to appreciate it. Anyways, like I said, it’s just me! We always tend to make things as complicated as they can seem, because we just don’t like it simple. In order to make ourselves feel good, we turn a ‘park’ into a ‘world’. We make not just ordinary dinosaurs, but a smarter, stronger, crueler genetic hybrid. We’re messed up as a result. But we nev...

★★★★★ Well it’s been a while since I was last amazed by a film that is ‘ Predestination ’ as I remember. Nowadays that sort of film is rare since people would like to reboot, remake, rewrite some old stuff instead of recreating something even out of something. I’ve always been fascinated by films that have plot twists, a mind-blowing ending, or say, an unusual way of telling a story, even supposedly a boring one. ‘Triangle’ is a film like that. It keeps playing with your mind throughout. When you feel like you’ve figured what’s going on, it tricks again. When you think it’s going to end like you think it would, it turns again. Trust me, if you haven’t yet checked out the film, the way the story’s told will amaze and shock you, and the ending will sure make you wow since it perfectly explains what seems to have nonsensically happen to your mind’s eye. It demonstrates a tedious, vicious, inescapable and horrible circle of killing and being killed to wish to live, as a result of ...

★★★★☆ 時間快得有點殘酷！十年前，在戲院看〈殺破狼〉，一部為打而打的電影，個人對這類電影真的沒甚麼好感，即使其動作場面算是新鮮。十年後，又入戲院看〈殺破狼 2 〉，因為聽人說，這次動作電影終於肯認真說故事了，加上也好奇想知道如何把說不同語言的人物串聯而不顯荒謬，所以......結果是沒令人失望的。 〈殺破狼 2 〉終於克服了一般動作電影的咎病，就是有理無理，由頭打到尾。這次終於做到動作配合故事，而不是反過來。片中動作場面其實不多，只有幾場，但拍得乾脆俐落，甚是精采。可能事前我對其動作設計沒有期望，因此也沒有失望，而其中一場節棍對短刀的對打，更令我印象深刻。〈殺破狼 2 〉是很有風格的電影，無論是配樂，平行剪接及長鏡頭的運用，都充分顯示導演的自信，還好出來的效果不至於令人覺得賣弄，我想最大的原因是它真的有話想說，而當中的人物又真的有血有肉！ 故事說複雜不複雜，說不複雜也挺複雜，因為涉及到命運交織、因果報應的問題，至於如何交織，大家自己去看吧。說因果複雜，因為你是不是覺得「善未必有善報，惡也未必有惡報」？因果未必遵循人的道德意願去呈現？這是因為我們都是善忘的。有造業必有果報，但我們對於前世的造作早已不記得，不要說前世，一個小時之前的起心動念，試問你還記得嗎？而種種念頭都是造業的一部分，都有業力，都會對你及他人造成影響。每一念既是因，亦是果，他人的念頭會影響你，你的念頭也會影響他人，念頭交織，從而呈現出我們所見到的世界，因果其實複雜得令人難以想像，所以你只須記住它簡單的一面：因果是絕對公道的！如是因如是果，蘋果樹只會長出蘋果，不會長出香蕉，這跟你相信與否是沒有關係的！ 十年了，假如當初我有買「港交所」......哈哈......阿彌陀佛！