人人都爱灰太狼

国产动画电影经过了自《大闹天宫》之后几十年的沉寂，以及自《宝莲灯》后近十年的不温不火，终于在2009年制造出了一个真正让不同年龄段的观众都认可的动画形象——灰太狼。小朋友们在每天播放动画片的时段不再是因为没有其他动画片可看而例行公事地为了佐餐而看这个刀疤脸小灰狼在电视里上蹿下跳，而是哭着闹着要看灰太狼，没有灰太狼就不吃饭；以往为了哄孩子吃饭不得不陪着孩子看动画片，陪着孩子为那些自己不太明白的笑话发笑的父亲母亲们，似乎也第一次自觉自愿地欣赏起了这个“给小孩子看的”动画。虽然喜羊羊和灰太狼们在音像制品商店里还只能呆在儿童影音产品的货架上，但它们在今年为纸巾代言的广告可以说明狼和羊的影响力已经进入了成年人的生活。

如果让70后或者80后的观众回忆小时候看过的国产动画片，再与《喜羊羊与灰太狼之虎虎生威》比较，他们不难得出这样的结论：灰太狼是个非同一般的主角，即使他的出身不好，来自于从“狼来了”到现代一直演反派的大灰狼家族；即使他相比喜羊羊总是呆傻莽撞不知天高地厚；即使他从来不知道谦虚使人进步骄傲使狼落后；即使他从来没有想过要洗心革面做个驯服的狗狗，他的号召力却俨然已经大大超过了机智勇敢的黑猫警长和善良孝顺的葫芦娃。更不用说一个“狼要吃羊”这样一个典型的反派剧情，竟然让灰太狼在小朋友和他们的父母之中的人气指数直线上升，真是让同样一心想吃掉主角蓝精灵的格格巫和阿兹猫情何以堪，泪流满面。总之，人人都爱灰太狼。

虽然喜羊羊与灰太狼的角色设置模式早已有先例（《猫和老鼠》），但灰太狼们在国产动画中仍可算是剑走偏锋，独树一帜。这一群活宝的出现，对于看腻了动画版三大名著和动画版五讲四美三热爱的小观众们，和认定国产动画都是针对小孩子的说教的青年观众来说，都是个惊喜。终于有人意识到，我们拍动画片不是为了把我们永远也无法实现的成为道德完人的希望寄托在孩子身上，而是为了让他们有一个快乐的童年，有一个浑身都是缺点但也浑身都看得到优点的角色陪伴他们的健康成长。而且，作为一部部分观众是儿童的动画片，喜羊羊和灰太狼的教化作用并不因为角色的不完美而被削弱，对于孩子们来说，要向坦率有责任心的灰太狼学习把蛋带回家给爸爸妈妈一起吃，比向浑身上下几乎毫无缺点，只有一个肚脐眼的哪吒学习闹海打龙要容易得多。而作为孩子们第一个榜样的父母，要向喜羊羊或者灰太狼看齐，想必也要比向孟母或者岳母看齐要轻松得多，不容易让孩子失落于动画与现实间的落差。

其实，不仅《虎虎生威》的观众在向灰太狼看齐，灰太狼也在向我们看齐。那个时而自信满满时而垂头丧气的灰太狼，那个要为生计奔忙还要被红太狼用平底锅拍的灰太狼，都像极了生活中的我，你，他。而那两个照章办事，慢条斯理的神像，也真像极了我们这儿内里热心外表爱搭不理的居委会阿姨。戏里的灰太狼这次还是没有抓到一只羊，不过和红太狼喜羊羊一起克服了生活中最大的危机，继续在自己的小家中过着幸福的生活；戏外的我们也盼望着能在打拼了一年之后，全家一起看看《虎虎生威》，热热闹闹地迎接虎年。虽然歌词有云，做人要做喜羊羊，但其实，人人都是灰太狼，不那么乖巧，不那么机智，充满了缺点，有更多的优点，偶尔还会优点爆发一下力挽狂澜，挺好。至于孩子们，但愿他们永远都是无忧无虑的小灰灰。

Way to go Cpt. Kirk!

William Shatner (via last.fm)

上次看 Star Trek 电影还是上世纪九十年代看的某国内电视台盗播的 [Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102975/)，从那时到今年我没有看过这个题材的任何真人实拍影视作品，所以我相信我写的这些还是比较能代表大部分普通人的口味的。从一个比较正常（相对 Trekkies 来说）的科幻片影迷的角度讲，J. J. Abrams 的这部新 Star Trek 完全满足了它的预告片和 Rotten Tomatoes 上 95% 的好评率带给我的期望。

从影片的剧情安排，不难看出导演的意图是一方面调动 Star Trek 系列本已存在的数量庞大的 trekkies/ers 群体，一方面重新启动这个在过去近二十年中几乎已被遗忘的系列，让新影迷认识 Star Trek 的魅力。我相信 J. J. 至少很好地实现了前一个目标。虽然影片剑走偏锋地没有加入 Klingon 的戏份，但无论是剧情还是场面，都忠实地还原了 Star Trek 系列激烈、紧凑的风格，而且在视觉效果方面更上层楼。任何接触过 Star Trek 的人，看到新世纪电影技术打造的 NCC-1701 企业号（奋进号？），都必然产生见到老朋友的感动之情。

至于吸引新观众方面，因为我已经受过 Star Trek 的“毒害”，不好妄下断言。但可以肯定的是，Star Trek 在这一点上将比 Star Wars 系列要成功，因为这个剧本基本没有预设观众看过以前的影片/电视剧，而且将其从系列中独立出来看，即不考虑 Star Trek 名气的影响，它也是一部很有亮点和发展潜力的新作。在短短两个小时的时间里，Star Trek 交代了系列的世界观，讲述了一个完整的故事，同时塑造了一群鲜明的形象。有了这些要素，我想不论新老 Trek 影迷都已经可以期待一个成功的续集了。把一个长期被边缘化的系列重新塑造成好莱坞的一线题材，将是这一部 Star Trek 可以在系列历史上夸耀的功绩。

当然，要同时满足老一代 Trekkie/er 的怀旧要求和新一代观众的口味并不容易，Star Trek 也需要做一些妥协。剧情方面为了照顾新影迷，不能过多地涉及作为系列背景的政治、历史要素，（再次抱怨一下）连 Klingon 也没有正式出场；而为让老一代 Star Trek 演员出场而安排的一段戏也略显突兀。不过剧情还是保持了 Star Trek 一直以来吸引观众的要素，在近年来的科幻题材影片中，体现了很高的编剧水平。特别是剧本能把改变历史/平行宇宙这样的题材说圆了，是非常难得的。

影片启用了大量的年轻演员，可见制片方看到了这个题材的潜力，很可能将其作为一个长期发展的系列。虽然在影片拍摄期间有人怀疑如此年轻的演员能否演出当年 William Shatner 和 Leonard Lemoy 的那种魄力，但看到这些演员的表现后他们的疑虑应该可以打消了。他们也许演不出老演员的那种沉稳，但他们也演出了年轻的企业号船员的果断、勇敢，以及作为系列标志之一的冒险精神，这是年龄稍大的演员很难演出来的效果。要注意的是根据剧情，他们还都是未出茅庐的军校生。有些表演看起来有些像校园剧，但只要这些演员比他们的角色成熟得快，在下一部 Star Trek 里这应该就不成为问题了。

影片在紧张中不失幽默，虽然暂时还没有体现出任何深邃的内涵，但足以让观众被这个系列所吸引，并在希望回顾系列以往作品的同时期待新作的到来。建议携三五好友一起到影院观看，以获得最佳观影体验，银幕越大越好。当然如果你的朋友或者男（女）朋友对科幻题材完全没有兴趣，还是三思而后行……今天我旁边一位男观众的女友很明显是被迫来陪看的，在开场前放 Transformers 2 片花时已经显得无聊透顶，开演后玩了两小时手机，没错我很愤怒。“Wrong us, shall we not revenge?”

另外还有句题外话。最近看上世纪70年代拍摄的 Battlestar Galactica 旧系列，注意到里面的飞船还在用球面的 CRT 单显做显示设备，战机使用的是机械式的水平仪，不由哑然失笑。2009年的企业号已经用上了多点触摸设备，或许再过30年，也会被那时的观众笑话？更重要的是，许多年以后现在的科幻片新题材有没有哪一个能够像 Star Trek，Battlestar Galactica，Terminator 和 Transformers 一样继续拥有广泛的影响和焕发新的生命力呢？也许是 Lost 和 Cloverfield？Way to go Captain Kirk, way to go J. J.!

Defiance: Landscape of War

The history of Belorussia in World War II is largely ignored at best. Given that, it has become so much harder to depict the story of the Bielski Partisans on the big screen. Only the fact is clear: that the Bielski brothers managed to save over 1,200 Jewish people by hiding in the Nalibocka forest from the mean war machine of the Nazis. What the Partisans did was hardly imaginable today, and may involve some extreme moral challenges that cannot be pictured without causing a emotional discomfort of the audiences.

Good for the director Edward Zwick, he did not mean to compare the Bielskis with Steven Spielberg's German [Righteous among the Nations](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Righteous_Among_the_Nations) Oskar Schindler, nor did he want to produce a sentimental and moving epic as *Schindler's List*. He was very clear about the idea of the picture when he set out to make it: to tell a story about how Jewish people defy their fate of being slaughtered, not that about their being killed and rescued by Germans.

The story-telling may not be a *tour de force* like that of *Schindler's List*, nor does the film has a nemesis character like Amon Goeth, yet the viewing pleasure is not reduced. As always, Edward Zwick did not insert a stereotype evil character into his film, but throw us directly into the historical and ethnic environment of the movie's settings, and reveal layers and layers of conflicts. Again in this movie he managed to depict complex interaction between multitudes of humanity and a dramatic age full of overwhelming events, while keeping the audiences' fist clenched and them sitting at the edge of the chair.



A central conflict in this movie is brought to the face of our protagonists by their very purpose: to survive and defy the fate that has descended on their nation. In the huge, all-devouring grinder of the war, to escape being victims, the only way is to become the ones who impose destruction on the enemies. This brings the fundamental conflict into play: to what extent can one gain power while sustaining empathy and humanity. All the other conflicts, such as those between Jewish combatant and non-combatant, and between Jewish and German people, are all developed around the fundamental conflict. These conflicts work as prisms, which refract multiple facets of human nature, which makes the landscape of war more alive and more realistic. The behaviours of the groups of Jew is no longer innocent or morally perfect as some other war movies depicted, but are convincing and arousing compassion.

The director has done a good job telling a story of people in desperate conditions, and was greatly helped by a group of great actors, although many of them are not famous. Although not without caveats, in most part the acting is natural and compelling. You would feel that those are really Jewish people in that time, beaten-up, self-preserving, yet willing to fight beside their charismatic leader. Being often seeing real-life Jewish people, I thought Daniel Craig was too British to act as a Jewish leader, but he really brings out the leader's spirit. Yet in some action scenes he still reminds me of Bond.

Although the story can well be adapted into a high profile action movie, or at least an epic movie with the excitement of *Last Samurai*, Zwick has chosen to reflect the day-to-day struggle and sacrifice in the forest, this may make the movie less a block buster, but surely is not a bad thing if we consider its values in preserving a piece of forgotten history. Although there are some inconsistency in the plot, and the first half was a bit slow, *Defiance* is nevertheless one of the best movies depicting the brave struggles in WWII.

The (Flame) War on Democracy

租了几个片子来看，《暴力史》估计很好看，碟片已经划花放不出来，所以改看了记录片 The War on Democracy。片子讨论的是美国在过去近60年中对其“后院”拉丁美洲的持续不断的干涉，以及中情局等部门为扶植符合美国利益的代言人采用的种种手段，并展示了美国扶植下的政府给当地人，特别是本地民族造成的深重灾难。影片中反复被提到的词是 empire 和 imperialism，比较符合美国一贯的国际形象。Britannica Online 对 Imperialism 的定义是

state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas. Because it always involves the use of power, whether military force or some subtler form, imperialism has often been considered morally reprehensible and the term is frequently employed in international propaganda to denounce and discredit an opponent's foreign policy.

从定义上看，如果片子里的记叙属实，这个词的使用在这里还是比较准确的。影片似乎暗示美国的拉美政策是在二战后美苏争霸的格局中定型的，其根本要求是拉美国家的政策必须符合美国的利益，至于是否民主并不重要。于是美国暗地里支持政变、暗杀、搞臭不顺眼的民选领导人也就顺理成章了。这一点逻辑关系是可以理解的，不过将拉美国家的贫富分化和土著民族的地位低下归因于民选政府被颠覆或者富人偏向美国，这条因果链似乎并不特别明显和有说服力。虽然委内瑞拉将石油企业收归国有可能比私有更有利于石油利益的公平分配，但这个模式并非能复制到拉美其他国家，拉美国家的经济问题也并非全然起因于私有化和非民主的制度。当然美国在拉美的“非和平”演变策略仍然是可以引以为戒的。

片子的导演是名记者出身，所以影片在背景资料研究和访谈方面明显强于 Loose Change 这样的阴谋论纪录片，不过他也犯了与那一类片子同样的错误，即用力过猛同时又完全对自己的立场不加掩饰。从讲解时明显的揶揄腔调，到对“反派”被采访者的特写和变形处理，再到引导式的提问，都让人感觉编导非常的有选择性。这样一来，虽然影片的资料本身很有说服力，也让观众不得不怀疑导演究竟是为了揭露真相还是就为了炮轰美国政府。还有一个缺点，豆瓣上的评论也提到了，就是影片似乎把 Chavez 塑造成了一个高大全的主角。虽然查总统很有个人魅力不假，为贫民窟里的穷人做了一些好事不假，但是对于他暂时扩大总统权力的做法抱着完全信任的态度而没有一点批评，实在是太像粉丝的行为了。

虽然这个纪录片很容易看得人心潮澎湃，也很有教育意义，但过度的表达显然损害了影片表达观点的完整。事实和真正的洞见上，揭去了帝国主义的遮掩，却又蒙上了非理性的迷雾。

Geeks are better adventurers?

Well, if going to a movie alone is pathetic, what is going to two movies in one day alone like?

The second movie I saw today is Nim's Island. I am glad to see some appealing aspects of science and scientists in this movie. Finally scientists are not busy making killing technology and being killed. And this movie manages to convey the information that "if we take care of the island, the island will take care of us" to the younger audience, although it is a bit too explicit for older Asian guys like me.

I have to say although this movie can be seen as Home Alone on an Island, and has some Indy Jones flavour and even Robinson Crusoe, these are not the tags I want to see. The ingredients are enough to make two separate movies: Nim the Island Defender and The Self-Improvement of Adventure Novel Writer. I am not sure which one the director would like to do better. From the perspective of a fan of Jodie Foster's performance (comical in this movie but still great), I am not satisfied to see that she went all the way to Nim just to be a companion instead of a protector.

The real hero in the movie of course is Nim's father. Well, now you guys can see that scientists are not necessarily weak nerds waiting to be killed by Afghanistan warlords or firearm tycoons (yes I saw Iron Man just now), at least ecologists can be confident, competent and always get things done. Kids need such movies to encourage them to become a scientist (turned adventurer?).