BBC推薦：四月份最值得一看的4部電影

四月份哪些電影最值得一看？除了期待已久的《復仇者聯盟4》，BBC還推薦了斯蒂芬·金小說改編成的驚悚片《寵物墳場》、驚喜滿滿的DC超級英雄大片《雷霆沙贊》，還有閤家歡動畫《遺失的環節》。

Shazam! 《雷霆沙贊》

DC is wisely shifting its superhero films away from the grim and gritty territory they used to occupy toward somewhere more light-hearted. A case in point is Shazam!, a Superman-style blockbuster, but also a kid-in-an-adult’s-body comedy in the tradition of Tom Hanks’ 1988 hit, Big. Its main character is Billy Batson (Asher Angel), a 14-year-old foster child. After meeting an ancient wizard (Djimon Hounsou), all he has to do is say “Shazam” and he turns into a fully-grown hunk (Zachary Levi) with all the abilities of the “immortal elders”: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury (note the initials). The AP review enthuses that the film is “a lightning bolt of unexpected joy that is certainly worth your time and money”. Fun fact: the character was known as Captain Marvel for decades before the cosmic Avenger played by Brie Larson came along, but his name was changed recently to avoid confusion.

DC漫畫公司近來拍的超級英雄電影很明智地遠離了過去常拍的殘酷鐵血風格，轉而選擇更加輕鬆歡快的類型。超人風格的大片《雷霆沙贊》就是一個例證。該片延續了湯姆·漢克斯1988年熱門電影《長大》的傳統，也是一部兒童誤入成人身體的喜劇片。這部電影的主角是比利·巴特森（亞瑟·安其飾演），一個14歲的養子。在邂逅一位老巫師（傑曼·翰蘇飾演）後，比利只需說一聲“沙贊”，就能變成一個成年壯漢，擁有所有“不死之神”的超能力：所羅門、赫拉克勒斯、阿特拉斯、宙斯、阿基里斯和墨丘利（這些英文名的首字母縮寫讀起來就是沙贊）。美聯社的評論盛讚道，這部電影是“猝不及防的驚喜，絕對值回票價”。有趣的是，在布麗·拉爾森飾演的宇宙復仇者出現幾十年前，這一人物原先的名字也叫驚奇隊長，不過最近爲了避免混淆就改了名字。

hunk[hʌŋk]: n. 壯漢

enthuse/ɪnˈθjuːz/: v. 興奮地談論

Pet Sematary 《寵物墳場》

Stephen King’s It was made into a spine-tingling mini-series in 1990, but that didn’t stop 2017’s film of the same novel being a critically lauded hit. Maybe that’s why Pet Sematary has been brought back from the dead, 30 years on from the last time it was adapted. As in the previous film, a couple (Jason Clarke and Amy Seimetz) hears about a poorly spelt cemetery in rural Boston where the occupants keep getting up and strolling home. But the (burial) plot that King fans know and love has been changed – for the better. At the time of writing, the creepy new version had a score of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. applauds “a whole new trajectory for the story that takes things to a much deeper, much darker place”.

斯蒂芬·金的《它》在1990年曾被拍成一部驚悚的迷你劇，但這並沒有阻止2017年的同名改編電影成爲一部評論界盛讚的熱門大片。也許這就是爲什麼《寵物墳場》能在被改編成電影30年後重見天日。上一部改編作品講述的是一對夫妻（傑森·克拉克和艾米·西米茨飾演）聽說在波斯頓鄉間有一處中邪的墓地，不斷地有死者從墳裏爬出來走回家。不過書迷們喜歡的埋葬情節在新片中被改了，而且改完後更好看了。截至目前，恐怖的新版電影在爛番茄上評分高達91%。ComingSoon網站稱讚說這部電影“讓故事走上了一個全新軌道，向更深更黑暗的方向發展”。

Avengers: Endgame 《復仇者聯盟：終局之戰》

Last year’s apocalyptic Avengers: Infinity War ended with purple meanie Thanos (Josh Brolin) obliterating half of the lifeforms in the universe, including Spider-Man and Black Panther. How can the survivors defeat him? And how can they revive his victims? All we know for sure is that our heroes have got three hours to get the job done, making Avengers: Endgame the longest ever film Marvel has produced. But there are rumors that, as some of the stars’ contracts are up, several major characters (Captain America? Iron Man?) will die – and this time they’ll stay dead.

去年末日主題電影《復仇者聯盟：無限戰爭》以紫色反派滅霸（喬什·布洛林飾演）滅掉宇宙中一半生命的結尾收場，這些消失的生命包括蜘蛛俠和黑豹。那麼倖存者要如何打敗滅霸呢？他們如何才能令受害者復活？我們所確知的只有一件事：我們的英雄只有三個小時來逆轉乾坤，這使得《復仇者聯盟：終局之戰》成爲漫威有史以來最長的電影。但有傳言稱，因爲一些明星的合同到期了，幾個主要角色（美國隊長？鋼鐵俠？）會在這部電影中死去，而這一次他們再也不會復活。

meanie['miːnɪ]: n. 反派

Missing Link 《遺失的環節》

Don’t miss Missing Link. While most US animation studios concentrate on computer-generated cartoons, Laika has advanced the art of stop-motion animation via the quirky likes of Corpse Bride, Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings. Their current film is written and directed by Chris Butler, who made Laika’s Oscar-nominated ParaNorman. A family-friendly adventure, Missing Link features an arrow-nosed Victorian explorer (voiced by Hugh Jackman) and a mild-mannered, fur-covered giant (voiced by Zach Galifianakis) who happens to be named Mr Link – Susan Link, to be precise. The odd couple sets off around the world in search of more Yetis, and on the way they bump into characters voiced by Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Matt Lucas and David Walliams.

不要錯過《遺失的環節》。就在大多數美國動畫製片廠都在做CG動畫片時，萊卡工作室卻還在堅持發展定格動畫藝術，比如《殭屍新娘》、《鬼媽媽》、《魔弦傳說》這種風格詭異的動畫電影。這部新動畫的編劇和導演是克里斯·巴特勒，他曾製作過萊卡工作室獲奧斯卡獎提名的《通靈男孩諾曼》。《遺失的環節》是一部閤家歡冒險電影，講述的是一個維多利亞時代的尖鼻子冒險家（休·傑克曼配音）和一個性格溫和、渾身是毛的巨人（扎克·加利費安納基斯配音）的故事，這個巨人名叫“環節”，確切的說，他的名字叫蘇珊·環節。爲了尋找更多雪怪，這對怪人踏上了環球之旅，在路上他們遇見了由艾瑪·湯普森、斯蒂芬·弗雷、馬特·盧卡斯和大衛·威廉姆斯配音的其他角色。