Almost Buddhist - 戲‧論

  ★★☆☆☆ I looked. It’s the 25 th James Bond film. Wow, 25 th ? How many years are we talking about here? I remember there was already Mr. Bond on VCR jumping around, making use of high-tech gadgets, kicking and shooting when I was just a kid! But that was it. I’m sure I quit it long time ago, because a spy film like that is sort of carefree and senseless most of the time. Still, why did I check out ‘No Time To Die’ while I had no time to write? I like Daniel Craig, and this is his last as James Bond so… I said I quit it long time ago and it’s true, even if I like Daniel Craig as an actor, I’ve watched none of his James Bond films before ‘NTTD’, so I don’t know who’s been dealing with who and what, and how I’m supposed to feel the tension here. Well, speaking of which, I don’t think the film would get you on tenterhooks anyways as you know the story is more or less of a cliché where super Bond gets caught up in a super plan to control the world with some super genetic weapon by a...

  ★★☆☆☆ ‘The Guilty’ is the Hollywood remake of 2018’s Danish ‘ Den Skyldige ’, which is truly a phenomenon in terms of engrossing storytelling, ingenious direction and screenwriting definitely. It’s one of my all-time favorites, and a must see if you want to know how a great film can be made for real with just one single actor using one single prop on one single set. It’s pure magic hands down.   I know right after experiencing such Danish cinematic magic, that it’s only a matter of time before the Hollywood version comes to life. So here we have ‘The Guilty’ featuring Jake Gyllenhaal going solo like expected, but what’s not expected is that it turns out so ineffective and irrelevant whether or not you have to compare it with the original. I don’t, as a matter of fact. I already clear my mind before coming to this one. Still Gyllenhaal’s performance is such a letdown. He’s a great actor without a doubt in my mind’s eye, but not in here, not this time. Here he seems to be ov...

★☆☆☆☆ 見識過泰國的 < 鬼影 > ，講因果輪回，鋪排精心，氣氛陰森，真相嚇尿。聽聞過韓國的 < 哭聲 > ，頗有風格，但故事講什麽就完全沒印象了！這次泰韓兩大恐怖大師破天荒合作的 < 凶靈祭 > ，什麽勇奪富川國際奇幻影展最佳作品，什麽壓倒 < 黑寡婦 > ，勇奪韓國開畫票房冠軍，什麽本年度最恐怖作品，看過之後，真是大失所望，雖不至於是垃圾，但也差不多！ 片長超過兩小時，前半段節奏氣氛的把度還好，來到後半段，當主角之一阿敏被邪靈上身之後，有人覺得影片就此開始高能，我就覺得開始低能兼失控。去到尾段更純粹賣弄惡心暴力，完全崩盤，簡直笑話！可能編導到最後已經不知如何打圓場了，所以索性廢話少說，奉上血腥大餐算數！ 故事好像很複雜，訪問一大輪，什麽「巴揚神」，什麽「薩滿」傳承，簡單講就是靈媒驅魔！其實本片最大的敗筆就是其拍攝手法——僞紀錄片！説起僞紀錄片，始祖應該是十幾年前那部 < 死亡習作 > ，但其實 < 死亡習作 > 也是不值一提的。真正發揮出僞紀錄片那種沉浸恐怖感的，印象中就只有西班牙的那部 <80 分鐘死亡直播 > ！而 < 凶靈祭 > 卻是偽紀錄片的失敗示範，越看到最後，就越明白爲什麽！試想一下你是拿攝影機的那個人，你會在極度恐懼，腸穿肚爛就快死的情況下，繼續鎮定地對著恐怖暴力的來源繼續拍攝嗎？當然， <80 分鐘死亡直播 > 和 < 死亡習作 > 也有類似不合理之處，但起碼他們做得沒那麽出位和明顯。 泰國鬼片多數都會談及一些佛教因果輪回的概念， < 凶靈祭 > 也不例外，但只是略略帶過，沒有過多强調。祖先作惡，後輩受報，因果真的如此運作？所謂各自因果各自受，因果從來都是公道的，不偏不倚的，有偏差的只是人的信念和信心。片中所發生的悲劇都源自於人對護佑他的神靈的信心不足！ We are what we believe 。無信心，則無願力，無願力則隨業流轉，而你我都知，我們的業多數是一些可悲可怖，亂七八糟的東西！

  ★☆☆☆☆ I had high expectations for ‘Old’ on account of its theme which is about time and aging, and also the fact that it’s from the director of ‘The Sixth Sense’, ‘The Village’, ‘The Visit’, considered the exceptional demonstrations of how a clever immersive horror is supposed to be like, and thus I’m completely let down as it turns out be so ineffective, weird and chaotic! A bunch of people arrive at a luxury resort, from where they’re led to a secret beach nearby. At first they think they’re privileged to enjoy the paradise but soon they realize it’s hell to stay because they can’t seem to find a way out of there where they age rapidly. Right, what could be worse than having to face the ticking clock of your own mortality? But the film is basically 100 minutes too long, too boring! The script, the acting, the tone, the way the camera moves, all are awkward and inconsistent. There’s no apparent main character here in fact. All seem dispensable and paper-thin so you don’t reall...

  ★★★☆☆ I have absolutely no idea what ‘Candyman’ is about beforehand. Whether it’s a sequel or a reboot or a remake or whatever! All I know is, it’s a horror, and turns out it’s an artistic one in terms of score and cinematography. If you expect a bloodthirsty slaughter, you’ll be rather disappointed. Here we have is a well-paced, nerve-wracking, heart-breaking urban legend told in a stylish way, involving art, gentrification, race and memory, which is sort of a surprising treat indeed. The story itself is, to be honest, more or less of a supernatural cliché, where a black man falls in love with a white girl. Later, when the girl gets pregnant, her father chases down the black man, cuts off his right hand and inserts a hook instead, covers him with honey and lets bees sting him to death before setting him on fire. The innocent black man becomes the Candyman afterwards, who would come and get you if you say his name ‘Candyman’ five times in a mirror regardless of who you are and ...

  ★☆☆☆☆ I thought I was watching something else at first instead of a sequel to 2016’s ‘ Don’t Breathe ’, an exceptional horror that delivers high level of claustrophobia and sickening stuff that you could find hard to believe. Near the end of the film however, I am assured by the blind man’s own confession, that my memory about him is right. That he’s killed. He’s raped. He is a sicko! I couldn’t help but wonder how come a sick old man back there has become such a simpatico die-hard hero right here all of a sudden. To survive the film, you got to accept this sort of ridiculous change of setup or characterization but I just can’t! ‘Don’t Breathe 2’ is a total disaster from whatever angle you look at it. The setting that’s supposed to take your breath away is gone! So is the claustrophobic feel! What you get instead is simply a carefree game of hide-and-seek-and-chase-and-kill. Some of the action scenes look preposterous while most are exaggerated. Like expected, there’s also some...

  ★★★★☆ It’s easy to summarize the film based on a true story in just one sentence: a single father (James Norton) dying of some cancer is looking for a new family to adopt his son (Daniel Lamont) who is still too little to know what adopt is and death means. But it’s not easy at all to take the mood and weight of the situation. Just imagine you were the father, how were you supposed to put up with losing your own life as well as your beloved son? ‘Nowhere Special’ nevertheless, keeps away from being a melodramatic, tear-jerking film like you might’ve expected despite its great potential to be one. In fact, the story’s being told in a rather humble realistic tone. Emotional, heart-wrenching scenes are rare if you count those ‘story time before bed’ and the ‘meaning of death’ explained by the father to his son over a dead beetle found under the tree and a picture book about the extinction of the dinosaurs, as something emotional and heartbreaking! Most of the runtime is spent on i...

  ★★★★☆ Now there aren’t many films that would arouse my interest to want to check out. And even if some would, I couldn’t get to finish watching them after all, due to the bad taste in my mouth, or my growing impatience during coronavirus lockdown that seems to be never ending, or the stupidity they were somehow able to make me feel. ‘John and the Hole’ is gladly, not one of them! I’m not saying this coming-of-age story is something I’ve never seen before. In fact, the story’s nothing so off the wall here. A seemingly worry-free adolescent boy facing monotony and confusion is about to do something to break his everyday routine; to kill his boredom and feel excited; to make himself significant and get the attention he thinks he deserves; to try to find answers to the questions that have been troubling him maybe. Whatever the reasons, that something he’s going to do still sounds a bit weird and difficult to comprehend from an adult’s point of view, though I’ve seen similar stories...

  ★★☆☆☆ If you’re misled by the trailer and think ‘Pig’ is a revenge story of ‘You kill my pig. I kill you all’, similar to what’s going on in ‘John Wick’, you’ll be quite upset, and probably check yourself out just a few minutes into the film. While Keanu Reeves is still busy being a super action hero making ‘Matrix 4’ and ‘ John Wick 4, 5, 6…’, Nicolas Cage has instead dived into some indie cult films, though he was once, too, considered an action hero after ‘Leaving Las Vegas’ that, in case you forget, granted him the Academy for Best Actor! I don’t have any expectation for ‘Pig’ because I know Cage has deliberately kept away from the mainstream in recent years. That it can’t be just some kind of action entertainment. So it doesn’t let me down but I can’t say I like it either. It manages to keep me seated till the end but it’s not the film for me to feel much! The film opens by introducing Cage’s Rob living out in the woods with a pig that can help him find truffles to sell f...

  ★★☆☆☆ Emma （ < 變形金剛 > 女郎 Megan Fox ）和 Mark 是夫妻一對，準備結婚周年慶祝，但其實他們貌合形離！ Emma 私底下跟同公司的 Tom 搞婚外情， Mark 則是 Emma 和 Tom 的上司，平時各人都戴著面具做人！影片用了開頭十幾分鐘簡單介紹完他們的關係，就把我們帶到一間湖邊小屋，在那裏 Emma 和 Mark 度過一個頗爲浪漫的夜晚。第二日早上， Emma 醒來，發現 Mark 坐在床邊，他用手銬銬住自己的手和 Emma 的手，另一隻手拿著把槍，扮嗮語帶雙関咁對著 Emma 講：是時候醒啦。跟著毫不猶豫對著自己的腦袋自轟瓜柴！看到這裏，想必各位跟我一樣都 O 嗮嘴，滿腦疑問，覺得這樣的開頭又幾有趣哦。不過跟著的劇情就另一回事了！ 你以爲 Emma 的老公咁做，是因爲什麽驚天大隂謀嗎？錯！只不過是因爲他事業上犯法，感情上受挫，知道老婆出軌，想跟老婆攬炒而已！但爲了攬炒要搞到自轟咁盡，一定有什麽驚天扭橋大佈局吧？又錯！他切斷所有對外聯絡，封殺所有離開小屋的可能性，扮 Emma 給 Tom 發信息叫他一起來小屋，收起所有利器，把自己銬住 Emma ，無非只是想將她拖住留在小屋，好讓 Emma 昔日的仇人 Bobby 上門報仇大開殺戒咁簡單！當然 Bobby也是Mark事前call來的。 （其實 Mark 可以不用自轟，將 Emma 銬在夾萬就得啦，不過可能編劇嫌這樣不夠戲劇性，看 Emma 拖著 Mark 的尸體周圍走過癮點吧？）點解 Bobby 和 Emma 有仇？這點電影沒有詳細講，只知道 Bobby 曾經想搞 Emma ，可能為財，亦可能為色，結果被 Emma 插盲隻眼，坐了幾年監，搞到一無所有！簡單講，主題就是復仇中的復仇。 Mark 的復仇好無謂，故弄玄虛。 Bobby 的復仇好低 B ，看似緊張刺激，其實得啖笑！ 在知道點解 Mark 要自轟之後，劇情已經開始走下坡，無嗮神秘感，所以看到 Mark 自轟時那下 O 嘴已經算是高潮！其實之後的劇情可以不用那麽無謂低 B 的，不過編劇硬要加個 Bobby 的細佬 Jimmy 來扮好人，搞到有些劇情明顯是為做而做，甚至不理到底是否合理，總之為緊張而緊張，結果就是變成一個衰人，一個好人，加一條女（條女其實又唔靚又唔識做戲）在小屋彈出又彈入的貓捉...

  ★★★☆☆ ‘ Alien ’ was born in 1979! 3 years later there came ‘The Thing’ (Left)! And almost 30 years later there came ‘The Thing’ (Right) again. But don’t get it wrong. 2011’s ‘The Thing’ is not a sequel to 1982’s, but a prequel instead. Sounds strange but that’s how it is, and there’s been no sequel ever since. Both ‘The Thing’ and ‘Alien’ are like the same stuff tailor-made to deliver alien terror that’s supposed to not only make you feel sick and scared, but masterfully keep you on tenterhooks from start to finish. 1979’s ‘Alien’ is one of a kind because it’s able to do both. 1982’s ‘The Thing’ is competent at terrifying and sickening you but it’s not the kind to stay in your mind for long. Its prequel, despite solider special effects, is more or less of a letdown because it apparently lacks patience and originality. When I first saw ‘The Thing (1982)’, it did make me want to throw up watching those human bodies get invaded, torn up, deformed, and transformed to something so g...

  ★★★☆☆ 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...