25／50

無驚無險又到了七月，一年的中央點... 不知從那時開始，每年年頭都會定一個目標 - 看X齣電影。卻不知在每年的某月某日，就會開始lose track，開始fall behind，到最後mission impossible。壞情況今年有點改善，在2014的一半多一點，我剛好達到goal amount的一半多一點點。以下是2014頭25齣的看後感/random talk：

1. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
2014的第一齣。經已長篇大論討論過。過了半年，還是喜歡Ben Stiller踩滑板落山的那一幕。雖然結尾草率，但經過本年時間的洗禮，失望都忘記了，留下只是那些很美的高抄鏡頭。

2. Gravity (2013)
2014的第二齣亦已被長篇大論討論過。毫無意外地，它得到很多很多的獎項。但現在我回想起來，卻沒有怎麼喜愛Gravity。說到尾它只是一套有兩粒荷李活巨星、有點煽情情節的太空館影片。

3. American Hustle (2013)
看罷的first reaction: "it feels more like a 賀歲片 than an Oscar movie."
片中每個角色都是有點可悲的... 不過overall電影又有個feel-good feeling喎。最最最喜歡開頭說Amy Adams和Christian Bale墜入愛河的幾幕（youtube link）！soundtrack也是不錯的, 要籍此多謝Long Black Road陪我跑10k呢。

4. New York, I Love You (2008)
電影應該是想歌頌紐約的嗎？為甚麼要拍到NY像個沒特式的城市？黑暗得有點格格不入，不推介。

5. Don Jon (2013)
太多hype了。我覺得是因為Joseph Gordon-Levitt是Hollywood's golden boy的關係，電影才會有口碑和好評，不推介。

6. The Proposal (2009)
雖然中尾段有些情節「唔知佢想點」，不過有笑位，有羅曼蒂克位，有靚靚Sandra Bullock （sorry Ryan Reynolds不是我杯茶）... 是快發霉毒女生命中必需的調劑品。

7. Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
實不相瞞我是有點可憐這套明是Oscar bait的電影... 做一套Oscar bait quality當然不會差，不過精彩又談不上。有些flashback sequences和現代的timeline有點無關係，編劇不太好。bait得非常非常明顯，但到最後只得Best Original Score提名都不令人意外。

8. Her (2013)
正所謂「希望越大，失望越大」。不過為甚麼Joaquin BB要令我失望喎？ 由於我已經過了那個覺得說自己喜歡seemingly cool的東西會變cool的年紀，我會說Her除了cinematography、set和已被我聽厭了的The Moon Song外，它是過譽的。詳細review請移玉步到Fish and Tadpole。

9. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
有人說Wolfie很好看是the best movie of 2014云云，又有人說它無聊賣弄色情... 而本人認為它實在是有點過長，但無可否認這是我在2014 so far看過的電影當中印象最深刻之一。你可以說我中毒已深，不過Matthew McConaughey的幾分鐘戲份真的精彩！

10. The Lego Movie (2013)
還記得我是趕下班看The Lego Movie的。電影開場後我要用十分鐘才能由work mode shift去看Lego公仔偽stop motion mode。但適應後 - what a blast! 如果你和我一樣都是玩lego長大，定必會對電影中的很多地方產生共嗚。

11. Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
入場主要是為了看男神Matthew McConaughey和ex-男神Jared Leto的精湛演出，看罷卻有很多的驚喜。先談談男神們脫胎換骨的演出：很多actors就算如何投入，你還是在看他們perform，但McConaughey和Leto真變了令一個人。驚喜是很欣賞電影很raw的感覺，事源電影budget超級低，沒有燈光組只有自然光，化妝budget僅得美金數百元，大部份服裝都是從thrift store購買的... 不得不稱讚導演Jean-Marc Vallée。之前看過他的作品The Young Victoria，雖然不太喜歡那套電影本身，但是十分喜歡Vallée的拍攝手法，真期待明年會在香港上映的Wild呢！

12. He's Just Not That Into You (2009)
鳴嗚，為甚麼我會翻看He's Just Not That Into You？因為我真需要知道he's just not that into me... anyway，這套電影確實很無聊，romantic位又不romantic... 推出時的宣傳片proudly promote自己沒有romcom的十大cliches，就是忘了說明自己其他的cliche卻多的是。由於電影tried too hard的關係，變了romcom又不是，serious drama又不是，感覺不倫不類。

13. Drinking Buddies (2013)
扮文青看indie micro-budget小品。dialogue全是爆肚，所以有些情節無甚重點有點兒悶，overall還有incoherent的問題... 不過Olivia Wilde真的很靚女呀！♥

14. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
you can't go wrong with Wes Anderson，這電影真的不錯看，但時空的穿梭過多，浪費了些好演員和development的potential。其實看Anderson都有點看膩了... 有自己的鮮明的style固然是件好事，但當每一次入場都是那些symmetry，漂亮如畫的佈景和差不多的cast的時候... 真希望大導下一部作品能帶給觀眾驚喜，同時亦為自己的filmography作出突破。

15. The Spectacular Now (2013)
又一次狠狠地被let down... 據說這是近年最好的coming-of-age teen movie，沒有「低能化」青年人的純愛，只有寫實的人物情節。對不起，I beg to differ，我還是喜歡「胡鬧」的青春喜劇如剛過了十週年但仍然relevant的Mean Girls。

16. Blue Jasmine (2013)
我喜歡看Woody Allen的電影，他最近期在歐洲取景的三套電影我都非常喜歡，Blue Jasmine卻是有點遜色。之前很多人擔心Cate Blanchett會因為Woody Allen的孌童案而失落奧斯卡影后。雖然她的演技是不容置疑，但可能是因為她是從舞台劇起家的關係，個人覺得她的演出比較浮誇。

17. The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
為了我的McConaissance project（sorry，並沒有新進展），我看了The Lincoln Lawyer。沉悶劇情，角色令人討厭，不推介。

18. Magic Mike (2012)
Strip club的情節令我都面紅... 同時亦為演員們感到embarrassed。 跳性感舞不再是女演員的專利，feminists應該很高興。Channing Tatum的樣子真的很蠢，Alex Pettyfer演技真的很差，男神McConaughey真的很火辣辣。

19. About Time (2013)
看見poster有很大個在雨中的Rachel McAdams，腦袋只有一堆堆Nicolas Sparks、lame爆romcom影像... 原來我不識貨，經Theo介紹下才知它是Love Actually的編劇/導演/監製的作品。雖然此片不及Love Actually好看，但Bill Nighy的電影都是delightful的。

20. Transcendence (2014)
已經寫過了，不想再浪費口水批評它的無聊senseless情節/如鬧劇般的third act。如果你還是想看用兩個小時去換取一肚氣的話，be my guest。

21. Shame (2011)
如果我說我看Shame的原因不是fassdong的話，你又會不會相信？ 除了fassdong之外，電影當然還有很多直得留意的地方啦 - Brandon和同事first date個幕awkward得精彩，Brandon發脾氣落街跑步一幕的長鏡頭運用... Shame直得一看，前題是不要跟我一樣在friday night看這樣heavy的東西。

22. Mud (2012)
又是男神的電影 *_* indie味濃，跟pre-McConaissance McConaughey的studio電影很有分別。雖然Mud中段有點repetitive，而人物角色都不太討好，但是尾段既夢幻又寫實的感覺很不錯。

23. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
首先要多謝Emily Blunt召喚我入場。事前已經知道這套電影會有驚喜（知道了還算不算驚喜？），但收穫比預期更豐富！電影動作場面精彩，有很多的笑位，而且還給我機會去discover原來Tom Cruise真是很帥。真心不明白為何爛動作片在噓聲中都能box office no. 1幾星期，而intelligent動作片如Edge of Tomorrow就無聲無色上畫落畫。

24. Looper (2012)
Time travel movies are tricky to do. 先是有timeline logic/consistency的問題，一不留神就會出現了plot holes在IMDb被film geeks喪插。然後就有science上的問題，片中的science跟現實中physicists想/証出來的theory有出入嗎？In my viewing, 可能是11pm眼瞓腦閉塞的關係，我沒有detect到自相矛盾/plot hole。到了後幾天跟老闆聊天時，他一言驚醒夢中人:"when you travel back in time you aren't going to meet yourself because there's only YOU in this universe, you aren't travelling through different universes" ... 係喎，我overlook了這一點。

25. Labor Day (2013)
Jason Reitman是我最喜歡的導演之一。我超級喜歡Up in the Air和Young Adult。雖然我不太喜歡Juno和Thank You For Smoking，但亦能感受得到Reitman新穎獨特的style。一個established的導演願意作出新嘗試固然是件refreshing的事， 不過這套Labor Day有太多太多的cringe-worthy moments。我明白這個是original story的問題，但這無減我的失望...

由七月頭到七月尾，這篇blog文用了十世的時間分開幾天才寫完。這篇fruit of my labour除了是我的personal record之餘，我亦希望你能從中找到幾套有興趣的去看！ While an apple a day keeps the doctor away, a movie a week keeps the sadness at bay!

Transcendence - Avoid and Thank Me Later

source: transcendencemovie.com

Let me begin by telling you, I did not go into the cinema expecting a glorious sci-fi that would appear in one of those Best Sci-Fis of The Decade lists. I knew previously, from the bits and bobs of movie news I've been reading, Transcendence wasn't good. But I had two hours to spare so why not? Little did I know, two hours later, I wished I'd never bought into the seemingly promising concept and potentially great acting.

While the whole concept of having a relationship with an artificial intelligence / computer taking over the world is nothing new / has been done to death, uploading subconsciousness to a computer hasn't appeared in a movie before. And it's a serious topic! So it's natural to think it's meant to be taken seriously? But after 20 minutes the film starts challenging my initial assumption.

There is nothing more to Transcendence than a boring senseless intelligent-sci-fi wannabe. The plot makes no sense and no character does what a human would do. Things happen in a certain way because the script says so. Halfway through the movie, I give up. Then I start to notice Rebecca Hall's cool outfits (which are like what I wear to work but look a million better on her) and find that I can laugh at anything if I want to:

In the scene where Bree (Kate Mara) told Max (Paul Bettany) why she started her cult:

1. Kate Mara's hair looks awful (PROOF)
2. Her roots are showing
3. Why is it so fizzy and dry?
4. She looks like Viserys Targaryen in Game of Thrones
5. She looks like a mouse
6. No, it should be monkey! Funny how she brings it up by talking about the monkey experiment
7. Wait, Paul Bettany actually looks like a monkey with the beard. Sorry I still love you, Paul

Mature, I know. Weirdo who can't stop moving and sighing throughout the movie is now also staring at me for out-weirding him. Dude, there are 80 empty seats in the house why do you have to sit right next to me?

Just as you think it can't get any worse, it gives you the third act. Simply unwatchable. It should not belong in a movie like this. It feels like a third act in a Scary Movie. (It actually reminds me of Warm Bodies but that film isn't meant to be taken seriously... or is it?)

The ending is absolutely the worst. Imagine you're writing a creative piece which is due in 5 minutes and you've just started with the resolution - you're going to write down whatever that comes to your head whether it makes sense or not. The ending of Transcendence is even worse than that because no one knows what the fuck is going on. Why do they keep firing the cannon when everything regenerates itself? Why is there a cannon in the first place? Is the computer Johnny Depp a good guy or a bad guy? WHAAAAT?


source: gifrific

Do you know why this movie is called Transcendence? Because it literally transcends pure boredom into a stew of LOLs and WTFs. But just as I like to pick out and eat all the potatoes in a pot of curry, this time I'm having the LOLs. At least I can laugh instead of mourning over the wasted $70 and valuable morning personal time.


A V O I D !!!!!!

1. If you like the concept of a brain behind a computer or an electronic brain or whatever that is (artificial intelligence of sorts?), watch Her. It's prettier, more clever, insightful and downright superior even though I don't like it. (Read: Fish and Tadpole's review)
2. If you like intelligent sci-fi movies, there are plenty of good ones out there... e.g. Inception and Source Code.
3. If you like pseudo-intelligent films just so you can sound intelligent to your pals, skip Transcendence because everyone knows how horrendous it is.
4. If you like shit movies like Transcendence, skip it still and use the money to rent Scary Movies 1 - 98439843983 on DVD instead. Or check the landfill.

dernièrement, j'ai pensé à...

Good post titles are hard to come by. So I stick with this great piece of advice: when in doubt, speak French. At least you'd sound sophisticated.

1. Matthew McConaughey / Rust Cohle / Man of My Dreams


source: fuckyeahrustcohle

Never had I ever had a male celebrity crush*. I contribute this to the feministic all-girls school mentality that I have. The mentality where I should have female role models over mindless crushes on male hotties... Though it shouldn't be called "all-girls school mentality" when my single-sex educated counterparts had crushes on Peter Wentz in primary school and Edward Cullen (?) in secondary school. Guess I'm just wise.

* I did write about Joaquin Phoenix a few posts back but it wasn't a full-on crush. And my feelings faded when Theodora pointed out that he was 5'8"... I like my crushes taller. Sorry not sorry.

But things changed earlier this year with Matthew McConaughey. I was initially unhappy about him. How could he be sweeping all the awards when he's an ex-rom com heartthrob who just happened to do really well in the past couple of years??? Then I watched Dallas Buyers Club and The Wolf of Wall Street...


Wolfie side-effect: chest pain from all the thumping that you do for the next month.

I'd been rooting for Matthew (why yes we're on first name basis) through the Oscars season... until he did this to me:


source: Christopher Polk/GettyImages

That Texas drawl is too much anyway... and that acceptance speech was at best a C, so I moved on:


source: fuckyeahrustcohle

RUST COHLE. The 1995 Rust Cohle is pretty much the man of my dreams. Good looks (crossing that out to show I'm not vain), mysteriously cynical and brainsss... Intelligence is a big turn-on. Rust is the man who is destined to save me from the green-eared spagetthi monster. As broken and grim he is, our relationship would probably end with both of us killing ourselves. So logically it's a better idea to go with the 2002 Cohle, but I'm not a fan of receding hairlines.

I don't watch TV. I used to say that because I thought TV was dumb but now I simply don't have time. But True Detective's put me into the habit. The series has a few twists here and there. There were people online trying to decode all the hints / non-hints in the episodes and break the case before Rust Cohle did. My father was a homicide detective and having been fed with twisted murder tales since the young age of 3, you think I'd do better than sitting back and enjoying the show. But it turned out the people of Reddit were overthinking. Needless to say the end was a let-down but it made me glad that I had disobeyed my "nurturing".


source: hiddlesbatch-cinephile


source: van-aldens


source: nottibianche

With a compelling storyline, impeccable cinematography work and performances, True Detective is a great show that will only take up 8 hours of your life. But you should be ready to give up the rest of your life thinking about Rust Cohle.



2. Olloclip Knock-Off

Every girl goes through a photography phase. You know, horses... taking dumb pictures of your feet. - Lost in Translation

I like photography. Unlike most girls I know, I'm not in the auto mode camp. I love experimenting with aperture, shutter speed, ISO and etc. But a DSLR is too heavy for everyday lug-around and there are spontaneous moments that can only be captured with your smartphone camera. Though the iPhone camera is getting better and better (owner of a 5S and was amazed at the camera when I first took pics with it), there are limitations. For instance, you can't control the shutter speed. And you can't change the lens. Olloclip got that fixed.

I'm too poor for an Olloclip so my aunt ordered a knock-off for me from taobao. Less than one-tenth of the price but it's got the job done:

Wide angle, my fave:





Macro:




Fisheye:




3. Why Some Dreams Should Not Be Pursued


article | image source

Remember last month I was talking feverishly about my quarter-life crisis? I was unhappy and lost, feeling unappreciated and under-accomplished. In this article, Mark Manson has spoken the words and reasons in my head that I can't put my finger on... No I don't have a rape fantasy, but the rest of the article hits home. Dreams. The desire to achieve something great. Ah, story of my life. I want to be lots of things. I want to have a career, open a restaurant, write books, be successful. I want a family and stability. I want to be happy. I thought everything I want in life is the key to eternal happiness. But of course I know new variants of problems would arise with new life situations, but in my head I've chosen to overlook them.

And do I actually want a restaurant? I do. I want to serve and drink and act pally with happy guests. But do I WANT to go through all the annoying parts of starting a business? Not necessarily. Am I too unmotivated? Or do I not want this bad enough and should divert my energy to something that I want so badly I could devote 100 hours a week to?

Chasing dreams may just be an idea invented by self-help gurus and filmmakers. But maybe I'm just a lazy ass looking for an excuse to be lazy. But it's good to know I'm not alone in this.

Either way, I should now focus on finding something I truly enjoy. Fall in love with the process, not the result. And pray that something great will come out of a mediocre person like myself.

There Is No Remedy for Blogger's Block

Wrote 60% of a post about turning 20 / losing in a battle with pre-mature quarter-life crisis. But that's some deep emotional personal writing that belongs in a teenage girl's diary... now that I'm no longer a teenager and my blog is not exactly a pink diary with a heart-shaped lock, that post should never see the light of day.

I have been writing in Visual Basic at work and have managed to forget how to write in human language. HuffPost suggests that I conquer my blogger's block (alliteration alert!) by breaking my writing project into bite-sized tasks. How? And where should I begin? Should I write about my get-a-Kindle-or-no-Kindle dilemma? Should I write about wanting to watch Noah just to have a word in the controversy debate? But I've tweeted about them already!


I made this with MS PowerPoint. Impressed?

Perhaps getting only four hours of sleep and blogging don't mix. Perhaps I should just publish this nonsense to show that I'm well and alive, and just slightly out of my mind.

Back to writing in programming language. Laters.

淺談電影中文譯名

諺語有云：「唔怕生壞命，最怕改壞名」。中國人真有智慧，這句話不但可以應用在人們的身上，也適用於外國電影的中譯名字。

數年前的電影中文譯名都好像沒有那麼差勁。現在的... 都不外乎三大類 — 不是毫無創意的「直譯」，便是無聊「食字」，還不是嗎？那必定是奇奇怪怪不一定符合電影情節純粹為了吸引觀眾而改的一個跟以前叫好叫座電影相似的名字，簡稱「番炒」。較近期例子有：


「直譯」代表

上映了兩星期但好像沒有人有興趣看的The Book Thief 《偷書賊》。若果譯名能加點新意，可能電影會更受歡迎。


「食字」代表

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World《末日倒數緣結時》


我欣賞高明的「食字」，如把The Others譯作《不速之嚇》，既是成語又帶得出意思。不過「娘」味濃如《末日倒數緣結時》的就可免則免。請注意那個「緣」字，那個字型，我的天！


「番炒」代表

Her 《觸不到的她》


上星期情人節看了Her的優先場。港譯《觸不到的她》，是韓國電影《觸不到的戀人》的「番炒」。個人偏愛電影的台譯《雲端情人》，認為這比較能表達出Her科技和愛情的元素。


American Hustle 《騙海豪情》


超級不喜歡「豪情」這經常出現的兩個字，感覺有點三級... 是我腦子的問題麼？《騙海豪情》很明顯在「番炒」Ocean's Eleven《盗海豪情》。


不過事實上最不喜歡的都是那些自以為「少少鹹多多趣」的譯名，例如：

The King's Speech 《皇上無話兒》


是0個趣呀！這個譯名簡直是破壞了這部奧斯卡最佳電影！

-------------------------

我平日較多在銅鑼灣和中環遊蕩流連。由於那些地方都是老外/海歸的集中地，在戲院用電影英文名字購票多數是沒問題的。不過在其他地區的電影院的情況便不是那麼樂觀：

在我家附近有兩家戲院。而離我家近一點的是我常往的戲院之一。雖然音響和座位都不及鬧市旺一點的好和新，但當你只是想穿着街坊裝簡簡單單看齣戲，地點更勝一切。

可惜的是，本人居住在一個非常住宅區的住宅區，戲院的客源都是上了年紀的本地人。他們都喜歡用電影的中文譯名買票（很多人其實連自己想看的電影的名字也說不出來）。以前的我會在這戲院用電影的英文原名，誓死不讀出那些可怕的譯名。經歷過幾次售票員不知我在說甚麼的尷尬事後，為了逃避要重複又重複的命運，現在的我只好瞞住良心死死氣，希望發了頭一粒音，售票員便會道出：「小姐，請選擇座位」。

你可能覺得我應該預先在網上購票，但在節省$8至$10的手續費和保住自我良好感覺之間，我還是會選擇前者。


* 我要澄清我並不是一個崇洋的港女。有時候「直譯」、「食字」、「番炒」都不是那麼可惡。亦有些時候，中文譯名比英文原名還好，如上面講到的Seeking a Friend for the End of the World《末日倒數緣結時》。那個長到母親也忘記了的英文原名，叫人怎樣不失霸氣的讀出？