Almost Buddhist - 戲‧論

  ★★★☆☆ I like the apocalyptic setup in the film just as that in famous video game ‘The Last of Us’, quiet but full of danger, brutal but filled with humanity, bleak but somewhat encouraging. Whether you like the plot is another story. Sometimes I wish where we stay would turn into a quiet place just like that, so we’d be obliged to learn how to appreciate life again, and not to take anything for granted, not even a tiny ant travelling on the ground or a little flower dancing in the wind. As 2018’s ‘ A Quiet Place ’ drops us in the aftermath of some kind of alien invasion without any heads up at all, ‘A Quiet Place Part II’ takes us right back to Day 1 to see how it all begins as it opens. But still we’re not told what those alien creatures really are; where they come from; what they are here for; how come they have to wipe out anything that makes sounds. It seems like they’re doing it not because they’re hungry but then what for?; what do they eat?; how do they reproduce?; do th...

  ★★☆☆☆ To be honest, I’m not really into horror films that feature ghosts, spirits, witches, demons or any other religious stuff. I’m more like a melodrama guy so this kind of scary material could sometimes play out like a comedy to me, but of course if you’re one of those who just can’t get enough of being scared the shit out, ‘The Conjuring’ franchise will not let you down I guess. At least it doesn’t seem like a joke. Since ‘The Conjuring’ cases are all based on so called true supernatural happenings, the tone of it is basically dark, ominous and serious. That being said, 2013’s ‘ The Conjuring ’ doesn’t impress me much with a decent setup but a rather disappointing finish! So I let ‘The Conjuring 2’ pass! And now the horror continues with ‘The Devil Made Me Do It’. Alright, you may ask, why would I not let this one pass as well? Well, first, people were praising it, saying it’s juicy and scary. And I wanted to know if it’s them or just me. Second, I was super bored. Yea, I k...

  ★☆☆☆☆ Oh my, I just can’t believe it. This is the ninth installment of the ‘ Saw ’ series already. How many years has it been since the first appeared to sweep us off our feet? Well, I don’t remember when I started to feel fed up and decided to call it quits, maybe right after ‘Saw V’. All I remember is ‘Saw’ and ‘Saw II’ that really were something out of the ordinary back there. They’re still like the best of that can’t be surpassed. That, serving like a curse unfortunately, makes all those sequels they promised to make every once a year afterwards more or less a joke, including this latest one! Critically speaking, ‘Spiral: From the Book of Saw’ feels like an outsider, though there’re still bloody sickening traps that make you want to turn away, and the same old familiar ‘I wanna play a game’ ritual, plus of course plot twists. The whole tone of it nonetheless, feels so not ‘Saw’ which is supposed to be serious, nerve-wracking and even a bit depressing. Maybe it’s something ...

  ★★★★★ Director Guy Ritchie is known to me only for his magic of turning the old and faded ' Sherlock Holmes ' into something new and modern, not perfect obviously but good enough to be remembered. I haven't got to check out any other film of his ever since, but I always appreciate his unique and innovative approach to some classic, ancient stories. 'Wrath of Man', Ritchie's latest, featuring action star Jason Statham, I don't know how many times they've worked together before but Statham seems to be a regular in Ritchie's films. Whatever, this is the best crime thriller I've ever seen in years, hands down. It's nerve-wracking, heart-pounding, and no bullshitting right from start to finish! There's no so called break-time in between. Not a single shot or sequence is purposeless. Every conversation makes you frown and agitate. Every kill and move brings about more puzzles. Every twist and turn makes you want to dig in more. It keeps you...

  ★★☆☆☆ When I first listened to The Cranberries' 'Zombie', it was simply a very catchy piece of rock ballad to enjoy. But years later, when I was wise and understanding enough to care about the lyrics, turned out the term zombie has nothing to do with what you see in zombie films. It's blatantly a very emotional, wrathful, accusing anti-war song to remind us of the hopelessness and ludicrousness of wars! What am I bringing this up for? Well, 'Zombie' is the theme song of Zack Snyder's latest 'Army of the Dead' which is about, as you might've figured, zombies. A good match, right? Nope! The song's grieving and heavy but the film's not, at all! It's only a bit better than last year's Korean ' Peninsula ', which appears to be nothing but a joke! Like what happens in 'Peninsula', they're doing it for money, again! I don't know what makes them think they're actually so poor and desperate to have to risk t...

  ★★★☆☆ 〈鬼滅〉是先有漫畫，後有動畫。但它爆紅，是因為動畫，不是漫畫！動畫因為有震撼的音效和華麗的特效加持，往往能遮蓋漫畫在故事劇情上的短板，客觀來說，〈鬼滅〉就是這麼一回事！如果你沒看漫畫，直接看動畫，或者你會覺得它都算精彩。但如果你先看了漫畫，或者你不會再有興趣去看動畫，因為〈鬼滅〉漫畫，無論是畫功、畫風、人物設定、還是說故事的技巧，都談不上有甚麼獨特深刻之處。不是說它差，但出色就絕對稱不上。我是先看了〈鬼滅〉第一季電視動畫，繼而忍不住心急去看漫畫，想知接著的劇情，豈不知越看越不起勁，真是虎頭蛇尾，不過最後都「捱」完！「十二鬼月」和「九大柱」之中，最有印象的、故事交代得算好的，就只有「上弦叁猗窩座」和「炎柱杏壽郎」，也就是這次劇場版無限列車篇的主角。 雖說他們是這次劇場版的主角，但如果想看到他們正面交鋒，還要等到最後三十分鐘！兩雄對戰的過程震撼嗎？不算！熱血嗎？一般！結局催淚嗎？有點失望！可能那些「震撼」、「熱血」和「感動」，在第一季電視動畫都已見識過，所以造成這種落差！前面提過，整部漫畫筆墨最多的，要數「上弦叁」和「炎柱」，但就算如此，在這個劇場版中，「炎柱」的背景故事也只是透過在他夢境和回憶裡，他和家人的幾句說話匆匆了事，導致最後催淚不成，反而讓我覺得有點造作！但印象中，漫畫好像不是這樣交代的，難道是我的錯覺？不過事實是，影片花了四分三的時間在下弦壹那隻「茄哩啡」和各人的夢境上，特別是炭治郎的夢境。可能是為了照顧沒有看過電視動畫的觀眾，為他們幫補劇情，但試問粉絲有誰沒看過電視動畫？想多了解「炎柱」過往的朋友，我想要等第二季電視動畫了。總的來說，影片只有一樣東西是真的令人讚嘆的，就是激昂的配樂。如何激昂，自己去感受吧！ 雖然〈鬼滅〉的故事講真是沒什麼深度，但在這個被「武肺」折磨、被極權壓迫的時候，或者大家－包括我－都特別需要〈鬼滅〉這類簡單直接、勵志鼓舞的日式熱血和正能量，給我們繼續堅持下去的慰籍與希望！剛開始的〈進擊的巨人〉也屬於這類，但之後就變得越來越不倫不類！看完〈巨人〉第二季動畫我已意興闌珊、徹底放棄。但現階段我還是十分期待〈鬼滅〉第二季動畫，雖然我知它最後很大可能也會步〈巨人〉後尘，越後越爛、無疾而終！〈無限列車篇〉在日本的累積票房超越了原本第一位的〈 千與千尋 〉，但兩者根本不能相提並論。一部是各方面都堪稱完美的宮崎駿巔峰動...

  ★★★☆☆ 'Stowaway', like the title suggests, centers on an incident where a space mission to Mars is interrupted by a launch engineer hiding onboard, endangering the lives of the original crew of three! If you've seen ' Arctic ', Director Joe Penna's previous film about the spirit of sticking around in an extremely harsh environment, you'd probably have a sense already of what 'Stowaway' is going to give. Penna's way of escalating the tension bit by bit to a seemingly dire scenario is as ingenious here, despite flaws like how that engineer is supposed to be stuck up there unconsciously without being noticed at all before the take-off; and his back story told awkwardly afterwards seems too cheap and corny to do any justice anyways! 'Stowaway' is by no means a typical sci-fi flick. By typical I mean there're spectacular scenes involving jaw-dropping action, visually stunning special effects or camerawork like those in ' Gravity ...

  ★★☆☆☆ The film opens with a middle-aged man, bruised and battered but seemingly not defeated, sitting in an interrogation room, getting ready to tell how he ends up like that. Then we're flashed back to his daily grind that's more or less like yours and mine! No sooner had we been briefed about this aloof, depressed family man's everyday routine than the burglars broke in that starts to give 'Nobody' the momentum to go where it's supposed to go. As a whole it's nothing serious or hard to take though. It's solely for fun and time killing. It might be able to help release your stress and anger but that's a bonus y'know not necessarily working for everyone. 'Nobody' looks inevitably John Wick-ish since it's got the same crew behind ' John Wick ' to make it happen. Hutch in 'Nobody' and John in 'John Wick' are both trying to forget they are somebody and to live like a nobody but their 'somebody nature' ...

  ★★★★☆ The Buddha said, there're four kinds of inevitable pain in life: the pain of birth; of aging; of sickening and of dying! We sentient beings are too deluded and ignorant to realize that birth is the root of all problems. If you don't want death, you gotta avoid birth. Birth and death are like two sides of a coin. You can't just get one without the other! So are aging and sickening! 'The Father' is a film about the pain and poignancy of getting old and sick, and more pathetically, being left alone and trapped in one's own confusing memories! It reminds me of films such as ' Amour ' and ' A Simple Life ' made to let us face the cruel aspect of the circle of life, especially the final stage where you literally become like a helpless baby! Watching 'The Father' is quite an intriguing experience indeed due to its ingenious storytelling where the beginning is already the end, and the end is actually the beginning. Of course there's...

  ★★☆☆☆ 2014's ' Godzilla ' is surprisingly fresh. 2019's ' Godzilla: King of the Monsters ' is ridiculously dumb. This year's 'Godzilla vs. Kong' is a little bit better than its predecessor but still a mind-numbing turn-off, more or less. I didn't intend to check it out honestly but since Hong Kong's involved and my mind wants to be numb at times so... Well, the film's not a complete letdown though, if all you want is eye-catching, above-the-average choreographed non-stop action. Again, I guess it's just me tending to find stuff like that boring and exhausting far too easily. Anyways it works in terms of switching off my mind for a while. Now I'm gonna spoil it, so if catching 'Godzilla vs. Kong' is still your only choice of fun for the time being, stop reading on then. Last time in 'Godzilla: King of the Monsters', Godzilla is the hero. This time it's the villain reluctantly, not because of Kong, but becaus...

  ★★★★☆ 先解下題。 Mauritania 、即是毛里塔尼亞，是西北非一個信奉伊斯蘭教的國家。 The Mauritanian 、毛里塔尼亞人，即是戲中主角 Mohamedou Ould Salahi 。他在 911 恐襲事件之後，被美國人抓去位於古巴的關塔那摩灣軍事監獄，懷疑他是恐怖份子，背後有份策劃襲擊。如果你上網搜尋下關塔那摩灣軍事監獄，你就會知那裡是一塊法外之地，被美軍抓去那裡的囚犯，是得不到如同在美國本土的應有法律保護。 Mohamedou 在那裡坐了十幾年的冤獄，由始至終，美國政府都找不到實質的證據起訴他，只能付諸非人道手段逼他認罪就範。後來 Mohamedou 把自己這段痛苦經歷寫成書，本片就是根據他寫的書拍成的真人真事！ 影片節奏緩慢，真正的戲肉要等到最後二十分鐘，前面的個半小時都是在陳敘和鋪排，文戲為主，如果你抱著一個獵奇心態，想看美軍如何虐待囚犯，我想你多少會失望。事實上，美軍的虐待手法很多不是肉體上，而是意志上的摧殘，影片也運用了一些意識流的手法去表達 Mohamedou 受虐後的精神狀態，看的時候要多加點想像，才能感受到主角所承受的那種精神上的折磨，而不是單純直接的感官衝擊。如果你「捱」得過前面的所謂「沉悶」，最後的二十分鐘會讓你頗為揪心和感動兼無奈！文戲需要好演員，本片有久違的影后 Jodie Foster ，以及昔日的男神今日的演技派 Benedict Cumberbatch ，分別扮演辯護與起訴律師，精彩對戲場面雖然是無，各自也沒有太多空間發揮演技，但也令人看得信服。最令我印象深刻的始終是 Tahar Rahim 飾演的 Mohamedou ，特別是他最後那段視像作證，甚是感人。 Mohamedou 相信美國是一個法治國家，而不是人治。他也提到阿拉伯語的 free 和 forgiveness 其實是同一個字，他選擇寬恕囚禁虐待過他的人，因為那是他信奉的真主－阿拉－要他做的正確的事，而他也不希望自己真的失去「自由」。我不肯定真實的 Mohamedou 是否真的如此寬宏大量，但片尾的真實 footage 讓我傾向相信他確是一個感恩慈悲的人，真的做到了寬恕與放下，他臉上燦爛的笑容是最好的證明。懂得寬恕的人猶如聖人是可敬可畏的，因為寬恕從來都不是一件容易的事！試問如果你現在是緬甸的抗爭者，你會不會、可不可能寬恕殘殺人民的軍...

  ★★☆☆☆ I'm not really into superhero stuff to be honest. As ' The Amazing Spiderman 2 ' is my goodbye to superhero films, I haven't checked out one single typical, commercial superhero film ever since. I know there're two gangs of heroes, Marvel and DC, but I don't know who's dealing with who, who or what they're up against, and which belongs to which! Still Zack Snyder's '300' is one of my favorites, and 'Superman' is part of my unforgettable childhood memories, a reminiscence of my dear mother taking me to the big cinema when I was small. So when Zack Snyder decided to cut his version of 'Justice League' featuring also the Superman, though his ' Man of Steel ' kind of sucks, I felt like I wanted to give it one last try! I didn't check out 2017's 'Justice League'. I don't know the difference between this and that but like expected, Snyder's cut is dark, stylish and of decent touches of slo-m...

  ★★★☆☆ 'Boss Level' is surprisingly more exhilarating than I expected. It's got stars like Mel Gibson, Naomi Watts, and long-time-no-see Michelle Yeoh but stars are never the point. The setup is, where a guy gets to die hundreds of times before he finally gets to find out why and how he's supposed to get out of the loop! That's obviously a bit cliched and senseless of course, but... wait, come to think of it, this sort of setup is not the point either. The point really is, the way it plays out those 'hundreds of deaths', which manages to get you gripped and make you laugh from time to time. Take it a comedy like ' Groundhog Day '. Take it easy. Then you're going to receive a 100-minute runtime joyful experience from an action film that you probably never thought would be capable of delivering so. 'Boss Level' truly feels like a video game as the title suggests, in which our hero keeps fighting and dying over and again till he learns en...

  ★★★☆☆ Trust, as you know, is hard to earn and keep. It takes quite a lot of time and effort to build it bit by bit, but it can be all gone in a flash! And there's no way to regain it intact because once it's broken, there's always going to be some doubt involved. Yet the world as you know it that seems to be running without a problem is, as a matter of fact, built on trust. Without it, things like relationships, love, families, commitments, religions, agreements, deals and stuff, are all going to fall apart. So yeah, trust issue really is a big deal in human world. 'Raya And The Last Dragon', the latest animated feature from Disney, is a film about that if you're still wondering! As you might've figured, things by Disney tend to be too good or ideal to be real, which is different from those by Pixar that tend to be cruel and telling the truth. Set in a fantasy world of Kumandra, 'RATLD' is made to 'educate', that it's not that the wor...

  ★★☆☆☆ 換作昨日的我看〈孤味〉，也許會同悲同喜，甚至淚流滿面，但今日…… 孤味－－獨孤一味，原指餐廳只提供一種食物、一種味道，寓意專心一致，把一件事情做到最好。但，一心一意、專心致志、忠心耿耿、不摻雜的做人做事態度，又有幾人能夠貫徹始終、一生秉持？人心就好似一隻坐不定的猴子，整天跳來蹦去、心猿意馬！之所以有〈孤味〉裡面發生的一切，都是因為秀英（陳淑芳飾）老公的勾三搭死、不能「孤味」！秀英那麼賢慧，為何她老公還要選擇離開，堅持逃避？純粹因為錢和尊嚴？後來的那些藉口和解釋會不會牽強了點？ 〈孤味〉是一部節奏緩慢的劇情片，故事性不強，追求寫實，所以要「戲精」充場。戲中飾演秀英的陳淑芳憑此片金馬獎封后，其演技當然無容置疑，但個人覺得，比較有感染力的還是飾演大女兒阿青的謝盈萱。阿青像她不能「孤味」的阿爸，追求自由沒束縛的人生。她背後的故事和秘密比較多，伴隨的無奈和煩惱也不少，因此她的發揮也比較有空間。不知是否礙於篇幅或故意為之，各人的故事其實都是講點不講點，有些人物明顯只是過場或點綴，例如三女兒阿眉和小女兒佳佳！ 〈孤味〉是一部不折不扣的女性電影，女人站中間，男人全靠邊。別誤會，我不是大男人，我對女性電影無既定立場。我只是不太明白，面對喜歡在外面搞三搞四的老公，秀英為何能夠忍完又忍、不離不棄。最後老公「走佬」，她依然選擇不離婚，好像一個寡婦，獨自養大三個女兒。在老公的喪禮上遇到老公的情人，她也好像沒有絲毫怨恨。最後還跟情婦和解，讓小三「坐正」！而女兒們對此的反應更令人匪夷所思。我不是說人不應該學會「放下」，但這種反應和轉變，不是有點超現實，就是我真的不理解那個年代、那個地方的女性的想法了！ 〈孤味〉的味道其實並不「孤」，反而有點「雜」、而失焦，加上很多交代得不清不楚的因果關係，讓我很難有代入感！但我們都應該學秀英那樣，無悔自己的堅持之餘，最後還能豁然放下，雖然現實比較難做到！衡量一個人的成敗，不是看他一生有擁有幾多物質上的東西，而是有幾多的「無愧」與「放下」。放下，除了是放過別人，更是放過自己。因為恨－－如佛陀所說－－好比自己喝下毒藥，卻希望他人死！ 今日的我，經歷過種種傷痛，會時刻提醒自己－－不要對任何事物滿懷憧憬，也不應對任何人過份期待，因為那樣會給他人造成壓力和傷害，也會給自己帶來失望和痛苦。或許因為如此，〈孤味〉對我來說，並不催淚，...

  ★★★☆☆ 'Palmer' is easily a must-see if you like emotional stories of troubled souls seeking to straighten things out. There're dramatic elements to either warm or break your heart, depending on what you've been through, and how you associate it with experiences of your own. It's basically not a bleak dark story though Justin Timberlake's short-tempered Palmer does seem to bear a lot of hardship growing up as he considers himself an abandoned kid, like the boy next door named Sam he later has to cope with. Like any other films made to encourage and inspire, the formula for 'Palmer' is apt to be more or less the same, where troubled souls usually with a problematic background, going through phases of understanding, are then saved by some other necessarily or not troubled companions, and finally come to realize some truths that manage to get them peace and help them pull through. Such stories are hard to fail unless the director and the cast are a total...

  ★★★★☆ What makes 'Promising Young Woman' special and engrossing are its restraint from delivering what you think it's supposed to at certain points, which keeps you wondering instead what's happened before and what will happen next, and also its magic of making you feel intense and jumpy while you're supposed to feel easy or the other way round. It's got a very intriguing opening, and a rather shocking ending that might be considered anti-climax, but to me, it's absolutely an out of the blue, off the wall scenario, which is kind of cruel but pretty romantic. And it manages to hold your attention all the way. That's rare and difficult as y'know we're all running out of patience nowadays! The film is Emerald Fennell's directorial debut. You may feel familiar with the style she adopts here if you've watched the award-winning TV series she's involved in, 'Killing Eve', which appears to be bloody slick when it comes to violence...

  ★★★☆☆ Pixar has given me a lot of good memories, warmth and encouragement ever since ' Toy Story ' series, though its mother company Disney has been such a hypocrite apparently praising morality and humanity over interests and benefits in films they make on one hand, while on the other, just doing the opposite! Pixar's ' Inside Out ' and 'Finding Nemo' are the most incredible to me. 'Soul', their latest effort, is not really about music or Jazz so you don't have to worry that it may turn you off if you're not into stuff like that. It's in fact about the things you crave for, your dreams, goals, targets, ambitions, resolutions and so on and so forth, and how you should look at them. Yet I don't think it's going to turn you on so much either, because the journey itself doesn't seem that exhilarating and imaginative after all, compared with what they've already done before. Still it's a decent treat to kick off 2021 b...

Year 2020! I don't know. It just makes me wanna shout out loud at all the absurdity and damage done by crazy, power hungry, heartless lunatics, and those selfish like me who have been turning a blind eye to them, intentionally or not! We reap what we sow! I blame no one but myself for what I've had to face and deal with, this madness and insanity introduced by a regime so ruthless and evil; this highly contagious virus from a country where freedom and the rule of law are unheard of among its people; and all these crackdowns and lockdowns as a result. We've been feeding a monster just to satisfy the monster inside of us! And look, what a monstrous world it has been! Only days to go before 2020 a very ominous and frustrating year comes to an end. But who knows how long before a real safe vaccine for the China virus finally arrives? How long before we get to take off goddamn masks? To see and hug our long-time-no-see friends and lovers? To dine out, to go to gigs or cinemas ...

  ★★★☆☆ Like I said, I'm kinda immune to horror films featuring any sorta ghosts, spirits, demons or stuff. It's not because I don't believe there's such a thing or disrespect them. It's because I feel like human are, judging by what we've done so far to ourselves and each other, somehow more vicious and demonic than any other creatures or beings in this realm or dimension. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not there. I do believe there's some other beings existing around. We don't usually get to interact with them because us and them are not connected. And it takes certain causes and conditions to make that happen. But I don't recommend you trying because I don't think they'd like to be bothered by you just as you don't like to be scared by them. If you happen to have to communicate with them by any chance, respect and humbleness are all you should have I guess. In 'Host', terrible things start to take...