電影 /電視劇 欣賞

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Invincible - not an ordinary superhero movie, good story


Score : 7 / 10

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Blue Eye Samurai - top quality graphic, good story

Score: 7.5 /10

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The Morning Show - another very engaging series on US TV news broadcasting.  S1 is the best but once you started you want to finish all 3 seasons.  



Score : 7.5 / 10

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House of Cards - is another very engaging political drama, I think it is better than the Diplomat. House of Cards is about US politics and the Diplomat is about US ambassador in UK.  House of Cards also have better scripts and I've learnt a lot of vocabularies

Score: 8 / 10

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The diplomat - is a very engaging political drama, yet I think Keri Russel in the American was even better.



Score : 7.5 / 10

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Me before You - a story between a girl and a paralysed man who finally decided to end his life.  Not really my type of movie but I sensed a hint of humor at the early part between the girl and her sister and decided to go on -

Girl: "Every time I speak, he looks at me like I'm stupid."
Sister: "To be fair, you are pretty stupid."
Girl: "Yeah, but he doesn't know that yet!"

The girl is Emilia Clarke, didn't recognize her because her hair was different from GOT.

Score : 7 / 10

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Black Mirror S4 ep4 - in a utopia, people were paired up through a dating app again and again until their optimal matches were found.  It turned out it's an AI simulation to check how "matching" 2 persons were.  

The system had a set of criteria to determine the perfect match, but what really matter was what the 2 persons thought.  If the 2 persons loved each other, they would rebel against the system.  In the episodes, two persons who really liked each other decided to rebel against the system's matching them with other persons and ran away so they would stay together.  One thousand simulations were run for these 2, the higher the rebellion rate, the more matching they were.

This is one of the best Black Mirror episodes.


Score: 8.5 / 10

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What the Health - a Netflix documentary on health effects of different foods.  One of the shocking fact stated that both cheese and egg are bad (you should watch it and judge whether to believe it or not), as I have been eating eggs and cheese regularly.  The film also stated that all meat, including fish and chicken, are bad. It recommended a plant-base diet which I believe is good.

The documentary is available from youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obx7cJtk3fE

Score: 7.5 / 10

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Tracks - an Australian woman, with her dog and 4 camels, walked 2,700km desert across Western Australia in 1977.  It's based on a book written by the woman who did it.  

Desert condition is harsh and walking in one is extremely difficult.  I admire her adventurousness and perseverance in completing the trip, and I think her spirit has inspired not only women .

Score : 7 / 10



Picture below is not from the movie but a true one -

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Love at First Sight - story is predictable but heartwarming.  They met at the airport, sat together during a flight, got to know each other, then fell in love.

In it, there's a quote from Charles Dickens' book Our Mutual Friend - “Is it better to have had a good thing and lost it, or never have had it?”.  Certainly we want to experience it even it may be painful later.  I had similar comments after watching Good Will Hunting and Matrix earlier.

Also, the guy told the girl: "you are sort of dangerous, I am way too honest with you".  I feel the same when facing my girl, I also said "totally vulnerable" and "losing my sense" in my review of Good Will Hunting.

Btw, I will be available for my girl soon, hopefully we can meet (can't wait).  But she doesn't know it yet .


Score : 6.5 / 10

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The Fall of the House of Usher - it's a horror drama.  A brother and sister made a deal with the devil to be rich and powerful throughout their life, the catch was that their bloodlines would end before they died.  So there was at least 1 death in each episode, and they were bloody and violent. This is not my cup of tea and I almost gave it up.  But there were a lot of interesting monologues throughout each episode, with hidden or explicit messages, they kept me watching it.  Here are 2 examples-

ep 3 - (a bit long, but very good)
Roderick: "First, you roll out a multi-media campaign to convince people lemons are incredibly scarce, which only works if you stockpile lemons, control the supply, then a… A media blitz. Lemon is the only way to say "I love you," the must-have accessory for engagements or anniversaries. Roses are out, lemons are in. Billboards that say she won't have sex with you unless you got lemons. You cut De Beers in on it. Limited edition lemon bracelets, yellow diamonds called lemon drops. You get Apple to call their new operating system OS-Lemón. A little accent over the "o". You charge 40% more for organic lemons and 50% more for conflict-free lemons. You pack the Capitol with lemon lobbyists; you get a Kardashian to suck a lemon wedge in a leaked sex tape. Timothée Chalamet wears lemon shoes at Cannes. Get a hashtag campaign. Something isn't "cool," "tight," or "awesome". No, it's "lemon". "Did you see that movie?" "Did you go to that concert? It was effing lemon." Billie Eilish, "OMG, hashtag… lemon." You get Dr. Oz to recommend four lemons a day and a lemon suppository supplement to get rid of toxins 'cause there's nothing scarier than toxins. Then, you patent the seeds. You write a line of genetic code that makes lemons look just a little more like tits… and you get a gene patent for the tit-lemon DNA sequence, and you get a gene patent for the tit-lemon DNA sequence, you get those seeds circulating in the wild, and then you sue the farmers for copyright infringement when that genetic code shows up on their land. Sit back, rake in the millions, and then, when you're done, and you've sold your lem-pire for a few billion dollars, then, and only then, you make some fucking lemonade."

ep8 -
Madeline: "We will get around to funding AIDS research, and diabetes, and heart disease, just as soon as we figure out how to keep our geriatric dicks harder for a few more minutes. What's the market share on wimpy dicks, Roderick?"
Roderick: "60-70% of the healthcare industry."
Madeline: "The Pentagon spent $83 million on Viagra last year. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court, the fucking Supreme Court does its part, tears the autonomy, rips the liberty away from women, shreds not just their choice but their future, their potential. We turn men into cum fountains and women into factories, cranking out, what, an impoverished workforce, there for the labor and to spend what little they make consuming. And what do we teach them to want? Houses they can't afford. Cars that poison the air. Single-serve plastics, clothes made by starving children in third world countries, and they want it so bad that they're begging for it, they're screaming for it, they're insisting upon it. And we're the problem? These fucking monsters, these fucking consumers, these fucking mouths. They point at you and me like we're the problem. They fucking invented us. They begged for us, they're begging for us still."

Score: 7 / 10

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Love and other Drugs - the girlfriend has Parkinson's disease.  The advice from another man with a wife having the disease advised him to leave her and find a healthy woman - "I love my wife.  I do.  But I wouldn't do it over again.  The thing nobody tells you, this disease will steal everything you love in her.  Her body, her smile, her mind.  Sooner or later, she'll lose motor control. Eventually, she won't even be able to dress herself. Then, the fun really begins. Cleaning up her shit. Frozen face. Dementia."

He certainly didn't leave her (otherwise, no one would watch this movie ).  Near the end, he said: "You meet thousands of people, and none of them really touch you.  And then you meet one person, and your life is changed forever."  The writer must have that experience, else he couldn't write it - not everyone gets to meet a person that can touch his heart in the real world.  Without her in his life, it would be meaningless, and his heart would be like split and bleeding forever.  He told her: "I need you"  and that he would love her as she was now, even if there is a parallel universe with him and her in perfect health condition, he would like her as-is.

I think the script is beautiful.



Score : 7 / 10

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Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One - the plot is ridiculous, 2 physical keys are critical to disable an AI which has already got into all systems!  The fighting and car chasings are boring, needed to fast forward from time to time.

I only like the following script at the beginning of the movie - "Our lives are the sum of our choices. And we cannot escape the past."  What has been already done can't be undone easily nor timely.



Score : 6 / 10

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Sleepers - 4 boys were beaten up, tortured and sexually abused in a boy's home / detention centre by 4 guards.  When they grew up, 2 of them met one of the guards and killed him.  They got arrested.  The other 2 helped them walked free during the prosecution process and carried out revenge on the other 3 guards.  

The story was based on a book which author claimed it's a true story.  The 1st part of the movie when the boys are tortured in the detention centre is very heavy, if not dark - made me feel bad.  

There are a lot of great actors, e.g. Kevin Bacon (saw him not long ago in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special acting himself), Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt and Minnie Driver (Skylar in Good Will Hunting, just watched yesterday), etc.

I used to watch tv and movies for killing time only.  Recently I've suddenly found out that my life is a joke because it's not complete without a very important part.  I am hoping that I can get some insight on how to deal with it from somewhere, including reading and watching good tv series and movies.  I used to prefer watching sci fi and action mostly, but now I am watching all kinds.

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Good Will Hunting - the acting was great, every time I watched it when William Robins told Matt Damon (Jason Bourne) - "it is not your fault" again and again, my tears dropped with theirs. The scripts and writing / story are great too.  I was surprised when I noted that the story was co-written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (Batman) who are also the leading actors here.

Another one of the good acting and script was when William Robins told Matt Damon about love / his wife - "I'd ask you about love, you'd probably quote me a sonnet (a style of poem). But you've never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable. Known someone that could level you with her eyes, feeling like God put an angel on earth just for you. Who could rescue you from the depths of hell. And you wouldn't know what it's like to be her angel, to have that love for her, be there forever, through anything .........".  Previously when I watched it, it just felt great.  Now that after I got the experience meeting my girl, having felt "totally vulnerable", and completely losing my senses when she's "level(ing) me with her eyes", I am sharing that feeling as well.

I also like the part when William Robins expressed that there's no regret meeting his wife.   Though her death had caused him a lot of pain, they had been together -  "Why? Because of the pain I feel now? I have regrets Will, but I don't regret a single day I spent with her."

There are a lot of other examples of good acting and scripts - I love this movie!


Score : 9 / 10

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Dollhouse - a sci fi series from 2009 about the technology of copying brain image and pasting / printing it on another body for skills or memory transfer or taking over / living in a new body.  The idea of the technology is not new, Matrix movies are based on that too, and they were originated from Ghost in the Shell, a Japanese classic anime.

I think the plot of Dollhouse is great, but the execution is just fair.  I really like the final part showing the technology bringing apocalypse to the world.  If this tv series can be re-made, it would be great!


Score: 7 / 10

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Crazy, Stupid, Love - the plot is too crazy and a bit stupid, not really good.  But I do like the part when one of the lead characters teaching the other one on starting a conversation with a stranger by listening to him / her or to talk about himself / herself.   This is stipulated in the 1st chapter of one of the most popular books from the last century - How to win friends and influence other people.


Score : 6 / 10

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The fault in our stars - it is a beautiful story about 2 young lovers, both have cancers, going through their last days.   They met, had each other and were together - I think this is important.  Though these days were numbered, but these days are also, in their word, "forever" between them.  I was really touched.


Score: 8 / 10

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The Martian - Matt Daemon was left behind on his own on Mars.  To survive, he didn't give up , try everything including growing potatoes there.  Even after his potatoes were destroyed after an accident, he still hold on and finally was rescued.

So, prepare for the worst, hope for the best and never give up!



Score: 7.5 / 10

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The Matrix (1999) - I like the "choosing the blue or red pill" part, i.e. between living the original 渾渾噩噩 life or living the real life with the one who knows, understands and loves you.  

Some people like Cypher (the traitor) might think "ignorance is bliss" and choose the original life so they can enjoy 80 or even 100 / 100 of that life and feel fulfilled.  

Some others like me would definitely choose the real life where we could meet, know, feel and love our soulmate.  And even though that's just for a short period, I would feel my life 120 / 100 fulfilled and there would be no regret for the rest of my life.  But if we can be together, my life (and probably hers) would be 200 / 100 fulfilled.

I like this movie very much!

Score: 9/ 10