Notes on Films: iulie 2023

luni, 31 iulie 2023

Whiplash by Damien Chazelle http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/09/note-on-whiplash-writer-director-damien.html - 10 out of 10

Whiplash by Damien Chazelle http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/09/note-on-whiplash-writer-director-damien.html

10 out of 10

For some strange reason, when I first saw this excellent motion picture, I was not taken aback, exhilarated, but last night, when it was aired again on Film Now, it has been such a delight that I am putting this note down

Critics and audiences have been jubilant, indeed, it has won many prizes, including three Oscars, it was also nominated for Best Motion Picture, Best Writing Adapted Screenplay in 2015, and it is placed at Forty-One in one chart

If you check this and other data on the IMDB site https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2582802/awards/?ref_=tt_awd you find that the public thinks this is one of the best 100

The narrative, cast, director, production team are all fabulous, and albeit I think I have heard that Miles Teller aka Andrew, the main character in the movie, is somewhat difficult (may obnoxious) the film is mesmerizing.

Andrew wants to be ‘one of the great’, one of the memorable scenes take place at the table, and other young men boast and are praised for their achievements, which Andrew – who is at times quite difficult and unlikeable, as when he breaks up with a girl – dismisses, one of the other men at the table plays in the third league, whereas the hero is a student at the best music teaching institution, Shaffer Conservatory of Music, in the land and he wants to have a legacy, to be remembered long into the future

It is often an overwhelming fight, Andrew explores his limitations – Harvard Professor Tal Ben Shahar http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/04/choose-life-you-want-by-tal-ben-shahar.html has a few mantras which he uses in his lectures (the most popular in the history of Harvard) and one of them is ‘learn to fail, or fail to learn’, giving the example of a very successful individual, who rises to the top, to work in an important position at the White House, only to commit suicide, when he is faced with the first crises of his life

Terence Fletcher is the professor at Shaffer who has a jazz band that represents the prestigious conservatory at competitions, he is portrayed by spectacular JK Simmons, who has won the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, and indeed, this is a tour de force, an extremely challenging role, which combines under the same skin the monster, abuser, sadist homophobe (though now that I put this down, I wonder if the mentor is not really using all kinds of insults, just to provoke a reaction, defiance, to hurt feelings and then make the students rise to prove him dead wrong) and the winning competitor

Andrew is accepted into the band, but only to turn pages for the ‘lead drummer’, his role is limited, and he might get a chance, in an emergency, which arrives, as the pack of papers with the score is missing – I may have missed this, but I suspect that Fletcher would have taken the papers, to give Andrew a chance, without undermining his image as the obnoxious, monstrous sadist – but the he is pushed down again

The protagonist believes in himself, seems to apply the rules from The Six Pillars of Self Esteem http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/06/six-pillars-of-self-esteem-by-nathaniel.html a classic of psychology by the glorious Nathaniel Branden…the musician believes in himself, he is ready to sacrifice for his goals, at stages, he is so devoted to his aspirations that he exercises his drums to the point where he is wounded, his fingers have blood, and he has to put his hands in an ice bucket to be able to continue

If we refer to another classic, Outliers http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/05/outliers-by-malcolm-gladwell.html by Malcolm Gladwell, one of the most influential psychologists of our age, then we can see the principle advanced there in action – the author says that if people exercise, study for ten thousand hours, over a period of ten years, which means an average of three hours per day, then one is almost destined to reach the top, unless of course, one that is not in shape, hopes to break the marathon records…

We find quite a few Character Strengths in the hero, who is brave, resilient, has vitality, he shows curiosity, creativity (especially in the grand finale), wisdom, self-control, love of learning, appreciation of excellence and beauty and there is more, in so many ways this is a role model, with some caveats that have to do with his behavior – it is in fact worse than misbehavior – towards the young woman he dates…

He is the one that invites her out, and then suddenly, he gives an incredible speech, insisting on the lack of perspective, the fact that he will dedicate his time, efforts to his practice, the music, and she will be frustrated, upset that he does not give her enough, or any attention, and hence they will be unhappy and fight, which could be taken as honesty, and a correct assessment of possibilities, but shows quite a bit of insensitivity, to say the least…in fact, part of the huge appeal of this wondrous work is that we have complex characters and situations, Fletcher is a bully and abuser, but at the same time, he is one that dedicates his life to finding the future great musician, and in his way (flawed) he tries to offer ‘support’

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

84 out of 100 for The Fence

82 out of 100 for The Fall of Osama

sâmbătă, 29 iulie 2023

A Night to Remember based on the book by Walter Lord https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2021/04/77-out-of-100-for-night-to-remember.html - 9 out of 10

A Night to Remember based on the book by Walter Lord https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2021/04/77-out-of-100-for-night-to-remember.html

9 out of 10

The Titanic has been again on the news, albeit indirectly, because for the past week or so, people have seen at the news coverage of the disappearance of a small submarine that was supposed to take some wealthy people to the wreck of the ship, but a short time after its departure, it lost contact with land

Hence, speculation on what could have happened, the updates on the remaining oxygen that was dwindling, information on the CEO who was on the ship, as the leader of the company that was doing these things, Ocean something, more about the passengers, and if one really wanted, one could know a lot more

The message seems to be that exploration is still a risky venture; also, we have to realize that we know much more about outer space – well, let me rephrase that, and say that we have information about the moon, a number of planets, but the universe is apparently infinite, if you do not embrace some fundamentalist credence

Karen Armstrong http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-bible-biography-by-karen-armstrong.html is the ultimate expert on religion, and she says that the most damage is done by the fundamentalists, creationists that insist the world was created in seven days, literally and hold on to other such nonsense.

For them, there is no infinite universe, only god’s power, wisdom, magnanimity is without limits, and the earth is the center, probably flat in their view, and to add insult to injury, Donald Trump is a sort of Messiah, if flawed as an individual, he still has the evangelical love for what he delivers, or did some years ago.

This is where I veer off the calamity of the Titanic (which by the way is the topic of the film, based on the book, which is supposed to be ‘analyzed’ by yours truly, only you better look for another, much better suited reader to give you some idea about A Night to Remember, since I am more concerned with present catastrophes)

One of the unexplained enormities of this day is how people who believe in god, Christ, and the supreme laws brought on by Moses and the rest of the texts, the scriptures and all, so how could they embrace such a satanic figure as Trump, even when they know that he brings home ‘the bacon they want’

God works in mysterious ways, they will retort and say that he is the one that brought them the extremist supreme justices that have now eliminated Wade versus Roe and allow guns in New York, in one case they say let us free the states, and in the other they do the opposite, just as their fundamentalist views dictate

Justice for all? Hell, no!

Let me come back to The Titanic for a second http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/06/note-on-titanic-written-and-directed-by.html to at least save face a little and pretend that I did not ignore the alleged subject completely, and act as a fraud, like the hated Trump, and there is the take I put here, on this version

I see A Night to Remember as superior to the James Cameron extravaganza, notwithstanding the fact that I admire Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio and I see that the more recent production does have elements of lavishness, wondrous special effects, it is a tour de force for technical achievements, after all, it cost an unbelievable sum of money, record breaking hundreds of millions, and then shot to the top of the box office

A Night to Remember was made at a time when they did not have the super computers and Artificial Intelligence prowess of our day, but the acting is fabulous, even if you can see that the ships used are not sailing on the ocean, and they are small scale boats, perhaps big enough for a bathroom, and the limits are clear.

Nonetheless, it is a compelling narrative, with expected massive suffering – no spoiler alert needed for anyone, The Titanic has become infamous as the quintessential disaster – to come back to my obsession, Trump is a human Titanic, a lot of boast, it is unsinkable, and yet look at the damage, the calamity…

There are some moments of hilarity, though we cannot really get mirthful, for we know the apocalyptic end, when some of the rich behave ludicrously, they insist on getting service, when the ship is in decline, they are upset by minor mishaps, one employee tries to block the access between classes.

One of the most impressive facts about this tragedy is that the rich have been so privileged, although at the end, death takes all, the wealthy could somehow sneak out and try to buy a way out, with some outrageous attitudes…mind you, I hate egalitarian doctrines, I have lived under a communist regime, and furthermore, I include below a link to The Newsweek piece that mentions my Revolution days

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

86 out of 100 for Wham

82 out of 100 for History The Interesting Bits - Love

joi, 27 iulie 2023

The Lost King based on The King's Grave

The Lost King based on The King's Grave: The Search for Richard III by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones

8 out of 10

The Daughter of Time http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-daughter-of-time-by-josephine-fey.html by Kosephine Fey was voted the Best Mystery Novel by the British Association of writers of the genre, and it is also high placed in the one complied by The American Association, and they have good reason for that

Indeed, the main reason why i have taken to watching The Lost King is that i had veen enchanted by The Daughter of Time and its subject, the extraordianry solution to a centuries old mystery, a saga that is in a different way told in this movie...i am not a fan of Steve Coogan, i avoid films with him, but this is different

Richard III http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/07/richard-iii-by-william-shakespeare.html is probably best known from the Shakespeare tragedy – ‚now is the winter of our discontent, turned into glorious summer by this son of York, and all the clouds that loured upon our house, into the deep bosom of the ocean buried’ maybe the most woderful verses i know – but soiler alert, it is what we call today ‚fake news’

There are quite a few myths that humanity holds to, some of them associated with happiness and they are exposed in The Myths of Happiness http://realini.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-myths-of-happiness-by-sonja.html by divine Sonja Lyubomrisky and the classic Stumbling On Happiness by Harvard Professor Daniel Gilbert – we think we would be happy, if ponly we were to move to California, or an isanld in the Pacific, Caribbean, but if and when that happens, that utopia is anihilated by Hedonic Adaptation phenomenon, which means that we adapt to almost everything and stop being exhilarated after a short time

The Lost King was assumed to have been the archetypal mosnter, with a hunchback (it turns out that he suffered from scoliosis, but he he did not carry a huge weight on his back) and such a vile character, that he had killed his nephews, becasue he was so avid for power (narcissistic personality disordered Trump comes to mind) that he had to kill anyone that had a claim to the throne, so children were murdered

Until recenly, he was called the usurper, the royal family had him officially listed as that on the official site, but this was slander used by his successors to make him seem a beast, and make their image so uch more presantable – as it is explained, why had he not killed the other memebrs of the family, since there had been quite a few with the connection to the family, and they survived the ‚royal killer’

Furthermore, when he is out of the picture and his succesor gives a speech in parliament – one that is recorded in official documents – there is no mention of the gruseome murders that had been assigend to Richard III...his status is completly changed by The Daughetr of Time and then there is the contribution of the film and the book that inspired it, we leanr that Richard was a sueprior monatrch and good man

In an age when priniting was still seen as ‚the work of the devil, diabolical’ by many, Richard III is in fact in favor of that invention, he brings stability to the throne and he is not so weird, peculiar to ‚make dogs bark’, as William Shakespeare has it in hsi famous play, which has presented the protagonist as freak

If we mention just one example, then let us put down The Goodbye Girl http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-goodbye-girl-by-neil-simon-author.html bsed on the play by Neil Simon, a film for which Richard (such a popular name) Dreyfuss has won the Oscar for Best Permonce by an Actor in a Leading Role, and he is an actor in the anrrative, who has to take on the role of...Richard III

The director in the movie tries something different, but the variation does not propose a kinder, nobler royalty, the monarch is just as awful, it is his sexuality – and that of Shakespeare, who has that sonnet with ‚a woman’s face with nature’s own hand painted has though, the Master/Mistress of my passion...’ – that is explored, and Dreyfuss is invited to try and make Richard III homosexual, and different...

Which is to be celebrated, evidently, but then why had they not tried to have us look at the poor king in a different light, in what has to do with his Character Strengths – to see whaich they are, and where you stand, you should look on the ineternt for Martin Seligman http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/11/flourish-by-martin-seligman-i-ii.html co-founder of Posyive Psychology

he is the one that advanced the Hppiness formula PERMA aka Positive Emotions, Enagement, Relationships, Meaning and Acheievemnt, and for Enagement you could do no better than read Flow http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/11/flourish-by-martin-seligman-i-ii.html by the other co-founder of Positive Psychology, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/10/flow-by-mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-this-is.html , the conditions for Flow are – you are in control, nothing else matters, time becomes fluid, challanges meet skills, feedback is constant and immediate, this is autotelic and you are in The Zone

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

88 out of 100 for Linoleum

83 out of 100 for Nayola

luni, 24 iulie 2023

Amadeus

Amadeus by Peter Shaffer, directed by Milos Forman http://realini.blogspot.com/2015/03/amadeus-by-peter-schaffer.html

10 out of 10

Amadeus is one of the best films ever made, and it was a pleasure to see some of it again, as it was scheduled on television the other day http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/08/100-out-of-100-for-amadeus-on-realinis.html

Milos Forman is a magician, Magister Ludi, and in a strange coincidence, as Amadeus was rolling on one channel, another one had One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest on http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/11/one-flew-over-cuckoos-nest-by-ken-kesey.html another masterpiece...

Amadeus was a fabulous composer, I have seen a documentary that presented a research that found his music to have the poetic effect, and even plants grow better when given Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to listen.

Milan Kundera http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-unbearable-lightness-of-being-9-put.html argued that we have to use the word genius sparingly, and apply it to Leonardo Da Vinci, Shakespeare, and Einstein.

In addition, he is right in saying that inflation could affect not just money, but the value of words as well, as Thomas Mann http://realini.blogspot.com/2015/01/death-in-venice-by-thomas-mann.html explained

However, Amadeus Mozart would deserve the admiration, and to be called a genius, even when we put down a short list and try to keep talented people off it, so that the real praise goes to the authentic luminaries…

He was a vulgar man, and another documentary explains how Milos Forman had it almost perfectly right – Milos Forman could be called a genius http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-people-vs-larry-flynt-directed-by.html

There are some details that do not reflect reality, and we obviously have to take into account artistic license, but the person of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart appears to be as close to reality as it could be envisaged…

He did not die because Salieri had had this plot to spy on him, at least there is no evidence as far as I know, and the circumstances of the composing of his last chef d’oeuvre would have been changed for the film…

Nevertheless, it is a quite accurate depiction, even if he was not buried as a pauper, the way it is presented in the motion picture -there is no need for a spoiler alert here, everybody knows he died, right?

I am in fact fond of the outré laughter that Tom Hulce has used to spice up his main character, and the result is compelling – justifying the surprise when the Oscar was given to Abraham Murray, for his depiction of Salieri

Indeed, it is a mystery to me, the fall from the state of grace experienced by Abraham Murray, after winning the big, most wanted trophy, he did not disappear, but we have not seen him at the top, or I did not

He was acclaimed for the presence in the successful The White Lotus series http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/11/84-out-of-100-for-white-lotus.html, but if I enjoyed the first season, the second disappointed

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will ‘live forever’, that is if humanity will prevail, climate change will not end up meaning system failure, or AI terminates Sapiens http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/02/sapiens-brief-history-of-humankind-by.html and then all the culture will vanish

However, we can still wonder how many humans listen to Amadeus these days, and the conclusion would be that only the crème de la crème, the hoi polloi have not even heard of the man, never mind listen to his magnum opera, and what will happen in the future is the question, if AI produced music – which is happening right now – will not enter the realm of mixing classical music with pop, rap and all else, to offer the next generations a mixture that suits them best, and thus eliminating the ‘obsolete’?

The bigger question is if humans have a viable existence here, with the two, actually three threats they are facing, one will be Climate change and the possibility that it all boils over, then there is Artificial Intelligence, which could destroy humanity, but also find a solution to the Heating of Earth, and then thirdly, a devastating war…the news this morning were about the nuclear weapons moved to Belarus, and the fact that the Russian mass killer has said (for what, the thirtieth time) that he could use atomic weapons…

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

90 out of 100 for Concerned Citizen

89 out of 100 for Les Cyclades aka Two Tickets to Greece

sâmbătă, 22 iulie 2023

Cat on A Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/05/cat-on-hot-tin-roof-by-tennessee.html winner of The Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955 and the author’s personal favorite - 10 out of 10

Cat on A Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/05/cat-on-hot-tin-roof-by-tennessee.html winner of The Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955 and the author’s personal favorite

10 out of 10

Tennessee Williams was one of the greatest writers http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/04/a-streetcar-named-desire-by-tennessee.html but I cannot help but say that Thomas Lanier Williams III could have chosen a better name than Tennessee – this is to show how silly or stupid I am, rejecting the name of a whole state, just because they embrace Trump and other such follies over there, and it is the place where my sister and brother-in-law have had some unpleasant and even outright miserable experiences…

Cat on A Hot Tin roof could be best seen with Paul Newman – the lead actor in another stupendous film http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/05/sweet-bird-of-youth-by-tennessee.html based on a play by the same Tennessee Williams and an artist that was not just a phenomenal presence on stage or screen, but also a wonderful human being…William Goldman named only Newman and Clint Eastwood when asked about actors that are not self-obsessed and in search of acclaim – and Elizabeth Taylor in the principal roles

The fact that the play is set in the Mississippi delta would work against it in my case, as stated above, I am prejudiced against red states, I see the embrace of the cult leader Trump as not just objectionable, we reject murder and people like Stalin because ‘it is required by sanity as well as decency’ to quote one of the best minds that I know of, Magician Kingsley Amis http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/12/memoirs-by-kingsley-amis-author-of-take.html in his The King’s English

Looking on the internet I see that there is a version available there, with Natalie Wood in the main role of Maggie The Cat, the strong, determined, brave, clever, resilient, loving, perseverant, creative, outstanding woman that tries to persuade her husband, Brick, to stop drinking, or at least prevent him from becoming an irredeemable alcoholic, maybe somehow make him have sex with her, so that they have a child or maybe a few children, just as his brother, Gooper, and his souse, Mae, have – they have a sixth on the way.

In the retrograde view of that South (in particular, but seeing the changes they bring to various laws, from abortion to ‘anti- Woke’, we could argue that they live in the past even today) a wife that does not have progenitors is pretty much useless – Big Daddy, the patriarch of the family, who is more or less a benign figure, but with very dark sides, asks his son, Brick, why doesn’t he get rid of Maggie, if they do not get along, as if a woman can be dispend of, if there are no children, and the man is ‘superior’ somehow…

The situation is much more complicated, for Brick seems to be gay –Tennessee Williams was homosexual and "Everything in his life is in his plays, and everything in his plays is in his life’ was said of him – and thus, all the efforts on display would not make Maggie succeed, unless of course, we would conclude that the man is actually bisexual – which he could be, seeing as he married the woman – or remind ourselves that ‘gender is the biggest lie of civilization’ and use a different perspective…

In the Co-Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize Girl, Woman, Other http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/06/girl-woman-other-by-bernardine-evaristo.html the author, Bernardine Evaristo explains that gender fluidity is a more accurate view of sexuality, we have Two Spirits, non-gender and this is changing from one minute to the next, and therefore, Brick could have been infatuated with Skipper – or vice versa – but that was a changing landscape, and then there is a chance or more for The Cat.

She is On a Hot Tin Roof and needs to jump, because she is infuriated with the continuous push from Mae and Gooper, who want to inherit the huge property, once Big Daddy is dead, and alas, the old man has cancer, something he does not know, at least for a long time, and seeing as Brick is depressed, addicted to alcohol, the chances seem to be on the side of the family with five, soon to be six children

There are many lies, and a paternal, patriarchal society, Big Daddy has a fit of fury and comes down on his wife and others, saying he is fine and will take over again, they have been leading the show for too long, thinking he is very ill (which he is), but now that the doctor says he just has irritable intestine or something similar, he is back at his place, and wants to push Brick to tell what is wrong, stop drinking and for that he kicks his son around, to have an honest conversation about him and Maggie…

Gooper and Mae have the room next door and they keep spying, telling Big Mama (and then she informs her husband) that she sleeps on the bed and he on the couch and hence, there will be no heirs there, and that is a situation that old fashioned, retrograde Big Daddy cannot tolerate, if Maggie is the cause, why is his son still with her, what is this click he needs to hear in his head, the alcohol has tormented his mind…

Traditions, exaggerations, big fortunes and the greed that is associated with it, addiction, lust, lies, homosexuality, and much more are here in the play, or just hinted at – sexuality was not to be taken head on at that time, when I think gay people, LGBTQ plus and I think these days something else has been added to these acronyms, but I am not sure what and I am too lazy to look it up, for who is taking the effort to read this far has the vitality to find it on the net, if curious – Tennessee Williams was really one of the best http://realini.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-night-of-iguana-by-tennessee.html

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

90 out of 100 for Anadolu Leopari

82 out of 100 for Great Escapes, Alcatraz

vineri, 21 iulie 2023

Pather Panjali

Pather Panchali by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay and Satyajit Ray http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/03/note-on-acclaimed-pather-panchali.html

9 out of 10

Pather Panchali is a legendary motion picture, inlcuded on the lists of the best movies ever made, ilcuding the New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made https://www.listchallenges.com/new-york-times-best-1000-movies-ever-made/list/5

India has been on the rise lately, altough what we see in Pather Panjali and the other parts of the trilogy does not encourage optimism, in that the narrative appears to present not just poverty, but extremes of it

We have a trilogy associated with the original material and Aparajito is another acclaimed motion picture, made by the same team http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/03/aparajito-one-of-best-films-ever-based.html

India has recently become the country with the largest population, surpassing its arch enemy, with which it has fought wars and has a serious problem over the border disputes and the clashes there, in the mountans.

It is to be cherished that we have this huge nation vote for elections, with a democartic system, but having said that, Narendra Modis is undermining this principle, and he seems a nefarious presence to me...

Russia has invaded Ukraine, about forteen months ago, Putin has occupied about twenty percent of the land of another country, whcih he denies that it has a right to exist, and yet India has not condemned this atoricty

On the contrary, Narendra Modi is buying a lot more oil from Russia, at a discount, and while it makes sense to proect poor people, and offer them the chance to buy things they can hardly afford, this is still imoral.

They are obviously not the only ones, the rich folks of the Middle East are particlarly abject to my mind, the ruler of Abu Dhabi (i guess he is the one) went to visit Putin a while ago, and the oligarchs park their assests with these ghouls.

Yes, there is the ‚real politik’ concept that has been launched by Otto Bismark, chancelor of Germany (or was it Prussia, at that time, ayt the end of the nineteenth century) and states have to be realisitic and pursue their inetersts

However, there is a huge distance between trying modestly to take care of one’s own citizens and the boasting, the accusations lauched by such ‚perversted laeders’, let us mention the vile Inacio Lula da Silva

The new-old president of Brazil has said twice, at the very least, that both monstrous Putin and president Zelenski – the latter has proved to be a role model and real super hero, better than Marvel characters – are to blame.

This is not just preposterous, it is disgusting, to blame the victim, just as much as you condemn the butcher of the Kremlin, and it is one thing to try and play some games, and other to get so low and abject

And Lula continues this scandal, he has just invited Maduro, the small (actually, really tall, formerr bus driver, huge wehn set against Putin) tyrant of Venezuela, and the Brazilian idiot started...praising the despot.

Coming back to Narendra Modi, he is at least somehwta more connected to the aledged subject of this note, the old guy is also moving to becoem an ‚’iliberal ruler’, the leader of the opposition has just been ejected from parliament

Three artciles in The Economist from this week –today it is June 20, 2023 – look at India, the good chances it has fro the future, but also the degradation of rthe democacy in this most populous conutry in the world.

When Modi had been leader in his own state, a horrendous attack on muslims had taken place, and Modi has been considered responsiblein part for the catastophe – he still allows hatred to manifest itslef today

As The Economist point out, it does not benfit politically, therfore it seems that Narandra Modi is allowing these gruesome attacks by insict, not becasue of calculation, he is hostile to the many millions of Muslims that live in his country

Pather Panjali It is also popular with audiences https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048473/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_1_nm_7_q_pather%2520 as seen on IMDB

However, one of the authors i admire most, Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/03/lucky-jim-by-kingsley-amis-author-of.html was not so thrilled, and thought this boring

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

84 out of 100 for The Woman King

76 out of 100 for Taylor Mac's 24 Decades

miercuri, 19 iulie 2023

Roman Holiday

Roman Holiday by Ian Mclellan Hunter http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/09/one-of-realini-best-100-movies-100-out.html

10 out of 10

This is a fabulous story on many counts, but let me say that it proves once again that to have wealth and an important position does not mean one is happy, for the main character in the motion picture is a princess and has all the money in the world (if not that, then quite enough) and she abandons all that…

There was no need for a spoiler alert, she just runs away from the very beginning, and let me just state my opinion, and underline that I liked this tale, even when seen again, I do not know how many times was it on television before, and it was even rated among my favorite 100, before I start on other subjects

Having established that this is a classic, with scenes that are iconic (such a cliché, I know) and part of the History of Cinema http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-movie-book-big-ideas-simply.html let us mention some scenes that are so familiar to cinephiles (let us check if you are one, if you know it, you have the pass)

La Bocca della Verita is the moment when we have a ‘lie detector test’ – what comes to mind is another famous, similar moment, in Meet the Parents, when Focker aka Ben Stiller is tested by ex-CIA agent aka Robert De Niro – but according to legend, consequences can be severe, the Bocca will take your hand if you lie

Harvard Professor Daniel Gilbert http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/06/stumbling-on-happiness-by-david-gilbert.html has written a classic of psychology, Stumbling on Happiness, which explains how we believe in myths, we say for instance that we would be happy, if only we could move to California, a Caribbean island

In reality, when they have tested these theories on those who made the move, they found that once the novelty of the change wears off – however, let me insist here and say that change is essential, and you find this explained in the splendid http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-science-of-happiness-how-our-brains.html the Science of Happiness by Stefan Klein – people stop enjoying the wonders of the new home

Hedonic Adaptation is the name of the phenomenon that has some disadvantages – we can buy wondrous cars, watches, clothes and then forget about them soon – and is wonderful when something bad happens, but we get used with it and then we can adapt, which is Happiness Activity No 6: Developing Strategies for Coping-practicing ways to endure or surmount hardship or trauma in another quientessential work, The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky, one Strategy we can gather is just wait to adapt…

Research has focused on lottery winners, who came into more than a million dollars, and it was found that they did experience a boost in their happiness levels, which lasted for some months after winning the big price, but then, they would return to their base level of wellbeing, thus confirming again the validity of the Hedonic Adaptation principle

The princess in the Roman Holiday confirms the same theory, in that she is suffocating in her golden nest, and wants to escape, running away to experience freedom – indeed, the possibility to choose has a great impact on our happiness, and this was tested in Switzerland, where the canton which had greater say in referendums (they are taking place all the time there) was happier on the whole than the one which could only determine expenses of more than some hundred thousands, the details are not key for now…

In other words, we have the confirmation of another incredible finding, that the happiest people In the world do not have great fortunes in common, what they share is a close, strong connection with family and friends

We have another example, a testimony to the fact that power, and money do not bring happiness – although he does not have the fortune he boasts about – and that is Donald Trump, a fellow that has become the most powerful man in the world, while pretending to be a billionaire -even if he is not, still, he has many millions, and therefore qualifies as rich, just as he is a fraud and a cheap bastard who does not pay for services, a Confidence Man http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/12/the-trump-tapes-by-bob-woodward-author.html that has accumulated wealth by cheating, using charity for his own good…

He was –still is – unhappy, whining and complaining, always in a delirium of claims that he is the ‘very stable genius’ that is the victim, pretending he is the best, has magic powers, will fix everything, end the war in Ukraine (by the way, when asked about the preferred winner in the conflict, this villain does not have one, at least he did not choose a side, but if we look at his statements and actions, he is all for the Kremlin monster, the trumps of this world like each other, they want absolute power, suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder and other ailments) but overall the perfect proof that you can have all the material goods and power, and still be a lost cause

The Economist of the week July 13 -20 has the idiot on the cover and warns us that the MAGA crowd is much better organized this time, and if we have avoided Armageddon the first time, because of the chaos, the revolving door of some sane, and mostly crazy aides, if the fool wins next year, we might not be so lucky – they have a contingent of goonies that will take over – for example, they vet candidates by asking about January 6, what do they think of the folks that took Congress – if they say they are heroes, they get in…

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

84 out of 100 for They Came Together

83 out of 100 for Le Gendarme a New York

luni, 17 iulie 2023

Capote – The Shooting Script by Dan Futterman http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/02/capote-based-on-book-by-gerald-clarke.html - 10 out of 10

Capote – The Shooting Script by Dan Futterman http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/02/capote-based-on-book-by-gerald-clarke.html

10 out of 10

I have written a note when I first saw this magnificent film – the link is above – but since HBO has decided to include it again in its program, why not write again about the ‘same thing’, first because if the motion picture has not changed, I did, five years have passed, and we have all been through a pandemic.

There is also the issue of expectations, I have learned that we need to lower them and we will not be disappointed, and then with time, because I know what is going on, one work or another is elating on first encounter, but less enchanting when scrutinized again, for whatever reason, it so happens that I have failed to enjoy what I liked the first time

White Man Falling http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/01/white-man-falling-by-mike-stocks.html is a recent example, if I was exhilarated and joyful five years ago, in 2023 (this year in fact) when I had hoped that I would laugh so much I will shake the chair, the same guru made me say that perhaps this is not so extraordinary.

However, Capote is wonderful, due in large part to the performance of Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won the Oscar for his mesmerizing performance – on a side note, Toby Jones is Truman Capote in another film, and he is just as good, that is damn spectacular – and when I think of him, I remember the Zen Master story

This is what a Zen master keeps saying, in the story told by Philip Seymour Hoffman, at the end of Charlie Wilson’s War:

- There is this Zen master and people keep coming to him with good or sometimes bad news like: Master, your horse has run away, it is so bad…We shall see…Master, your horse has come back with many wild ponies, it is so good - We shall see…Your son has escaped the army recruiters, wonderful news…We shall see…And so on and so on

Truman Capote reads in The New York Times about the atrocious murder of the Clutter family, on their farm in Kansas and he is so moved by the article that he decides to talk with his editor and to travel to the small town to cover the story, and when his plan is accepted, he takes Harper Lee with him.

As luck will have it, he meets in the town people who are familiar with his work, and some even admire it – Capote had written Breakfast at Tiffany’s http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/03/breakfast-at-tiffanys-by-truman-capote.html but notwithstanding the success of that wonderful book, his In Cold Blood will prove much more successful, with the public, creating in fact a new genre and makes him the most famous writer in America

The film presents the compelling story of the murders that are at the center of In Cold Blood http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/note-on-in-cold-blood-based-on-book-by.html and how Truman Capote and Harper Lee maneuver to try and find details, they befriend the wife of the investigator, and she invites them for dinner, during which the gay author tells stories with infinite charm, about Humphrey Bogart drinking with John Ford (I think that was one of the tales) and eventually, we find more information

The killers are caught, and then they are jailed, with Capote gaining access, and then sharing with his readers the horror – Perry Smith and Dick Hickock come to the Clutter farm because they had heard in jail (yes, they had been there before) that the man has a lot of money, and they want to rob him and then drive away.

Alas, the information was false and all they get in the end is a lousy forty or fifty dollars, for which they take lives, the way Perry would ‘confess’, they tried to pressure Mister Clutter, and they had the wife, daughter and sun hostages in the house, while Hickcock checked the walls in search for an elusive, eventually non extant safe, and somehow the unstable, I would say mad murderer would start a blood bath

Initially, what puzzled investigators and Capote was that the killers seemed to have taken care of the victims, they placed a pillow under the head of the son, as if to put him to sleep and then…shot him in the face – Perry says he was talking to Mister Clutter, assuring him that they will be fine, somebody will find them in the morning, and then suddenly, he just slashes his throat with a knife, and takes the shotgun

This was an access of madness -which is not to explain and use that infamous defense of ‘temporary insanity’ saying Perry and others like him just lose their minds for the moment, or minutes it takes them to murder, which could happen, but then all murders might have that, except for the real ‘premeditated ones’, and even there, could we not envisage a man (it is mostly a man) that becomes crazy and then kills

Truman Capote becomes close to Perry, perhaps his homosexuality plays a role there, I do not know, there is the fact that childhood explains the evolution, or involution of such characters, but that ads complexity to the plot – we could also think of Intellectuals http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/06/intellectuals-by-paul-johnson.html by Paul Johnson, a formidable book that explores the very dark, objectionable side of Tolstoy, Ibsen, Hemingway, Rousseau…

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

77 out of 100 for Ancient Aliens - Alaska

72 out of 100 for Flamin' Hot

vineri, 7 iulie 2023

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey – the inspiration for the Milos Forman masterpiece http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/10/one-flew-over-cuckoos-nest-by-ken-kesey.html - 10 out of 10

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey – the inspiration for the Milos Forman masterpiece http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/10/one-flew-over-cuckoos-nest-by-ken-kesey.html

10 out of 10

The Milos Forman chef d’oeuvre has been aired again, the other day, just as, in a strange coincidence, Amadeus http://realini.blogspot.com/2015/03/amadeus-by-peter-schaffer.html was on another channel, at the same time

I am awed by this masterpiece, one of the best fifty or twenty motion pictures ever made, showing among other things, how wrong we are to look down at ‘Mad Men’, when in fact the sane are running wild.

Here is another link http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/11/one-flew-over-cuckoos-nest-by-ken-kesey.html which might be closer to the subject of One Flew, for I fear that this note will just go off on a tangent or more…

Martini aka Danny De Vito, Billy and the others have issues, but what about the people who vote for Trump (and other scoundrels in the same mold) are they healthy, is it possible to support such a disgusting goodfella?

As it is evident, I am already off the Cuckoo’s Nest and into another territory, that of my current, or permanent obsession, how is it possible for humanity to have come so far, and yet, decline so fiercely at the same time…

Yuval Harari http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/02/sapiens-brief-history-of-humankind-by.html is one of the most prominent luminaries of our times and he has written three great works, one of them is Sapiens – A Brief History of Humanity

In this, and his other two marvels, he argues that humanity has reached a golden age (incidentally, he makes some fantastic points, such as maize and other crops have ‘used humans’ for their benefit) but that was before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, highlighting that we have enjoyed so much peace recently…

Nonetheless, if there is progress on so many fronts, including AI, medicine, technology, what about this Decline of America, once the greatest democracy in the world has a Cuckoo running to be president again

And that would be alright, why not, let the fools be free, and they can enjoy the human rights and all, but not with the chance to become the most powerful earthling, one that could just blow the planet up in a fit of anger

These days, the DOJ has indicted Trump on 37 counts, showing how the stupid ghoul (who claimed that he has a ‘very large brain, he is a very stable genius’) kept the valuable secrets in…his bathroom, ballroom…

Leaders of the Republican party, with some notable exceptions, like senator Mitt Romney (who knows about integrity, morality, unlike most of his colleagues), have jumped to…defend the indefensible, the fraud

We could conclude that where the Republicans have the majority, in the ‘red states’, America is in decline, banning abortion, even for cases of rape, incest, for the extreme fundamentalists, which is incredible

Aside from Trump, they have other demagogues, populists, and outright nut cases that are in congress, screaming and shouting the most stupid lies and conspiracy theories, Marjorie Taylor Green is a case in point

She said or posted some time ago (and then deleted, when some minimal sense was kicked into her) that Jewish Space Lasers (think of that) are the reason for…forest fires, and these sickos deny Climate Change.

They also have a majority in the Supreme Court, due to their stupidity in voting for Trump, who nominated extremists, think of that other cretin, screaming when he was questioned for the confirmation…

These radicals have wiped out Wade vs Roe, thus making sure that women lose the right to abortion in red states (even when their lives are at risk, in some cases) and used a completely different ruse to interfere with the gun laws in New York

On the one hand, we insist on the rights for states to act somewhat according to their own legislature’s wishes, and norms, and on the other, when they want their own beliefs enforced, they say New York, this is not for you

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

86 out of 100 for Balaur aka A Higher Law

53 out of 100 for Overboard

miercuri, 5 iulie 2023

The Aviator by John Logan, directed by Martin Scorsese http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-aviator-by-john-logan-9-out-of-10.html 10 out of 10

The Aviator by John Logan, directed by Martin Scorsese http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-aviator-by-john-logan-9-out-of-10.html

10 out of 10

This is the second time that I watch The Aviator and find it even better than when seeing it as it launched, the formidable figure of Howard Hughes aka Leonardo Di Caprio is more than impressive, formidable

Howard Hughes, The Aviator, had many irritating, even loathsome aspects -take what today would be called the grooming of an underage girl, who was not just young, but incredibly so and the way he misbehaved, abused others.

In fact, now that I went down this path, perhaps I should let the extraordinary talents of The Inventor and Film Maker for later, and say that he was overpowering, had people fired on a whim, and because of his condition

The Aviator suffered from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder aka OCD and we could see him breaking down over time, feeling that someone is giving him the eye, hence dismissing him, washing his hands with fury…

In one scene, he is in the bathroom, and a man with crutches asks for a towel and Hughes says ‘sorry, I cannot give it to you’, just as he is a few millimeters from the stash, but his anxiety prevents him from contact.

When he pilots his airplanes, he has cellophane on the wheel, something observed by Katharine Hepburn aka Oscar winner Cate Blanchet, when she invited to…pilot the aircraft, as The Aviator is looking for milk

When Errol Flynn takes a piece of his stake, in a restaurant, Howard Hughes would not continue to eat from his plate, rises up and leaves with Katharine Hepburn, his lover for some time, and also an outré character…

Some of the tension, the awkwardness of the woman transpires from some of her movies http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-african-queen-written-by-james-agee.html and we see that she was different.

She says so to Howard Hughes, as they have a tumultuous relationship, somehow a wonder that they got along for the time they did, given their strong personalities, large egos…they would clash, spoiler alert…

When The Aviator is invited to the Hepburn estate, he is on a very different page from her family, the mother says ‘they do not care about money’, to which Hughes replies rightly, ‘that is because you have it’

When invited to elaborate, explain, he says that they have always had the means, they did not have to work for it, as he did, he has had a quite intense business activity, and this if surely the time to say something nice about the man’

It is rare, and specific to the Renaissance, a man that is successful in various domains, indeed the name of Leonardo Da Vinci comes to mind, who was both an artist of immense standing and an engineer, adept at inventions

Leonardo was one of the three or four geniuses http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-artist-philosopher-and-artist.html and probably Howard Hughes does not rise to the same level of magnitude

Indeed, Milan Kundera http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-unbearable-lightness-of-being-9-put.html if I am not mistaken insists that we can only say Da Vinci, Shakespeare, Einstein and this is it, if we do not want to devalue the term genius

Howard Hughes was the brilliant filmmaker that gave audiences spectacular motion pictures, Hell’s Angels and others, but he was also a phenomenal businessman, and an outstanding inventor, builder of airplanes.

He would face a Senate commission, led by a corrupt senator -the name of Lindsey Graham comes to mind, who is so abhorrent as to defend monstrous Trump, yet again, just as the idiot had boxes of secrets in his bathroom and ballroom, and then showed them to hoi polloi in a disgusting manner, just as those documents have demanded sacrifice from thousands of people, and may lead to the death of more…

The senator played by Alan Alda is on the payroll of the competition, the CEO of Pan Am is portrayed by wondrous Alec Baldwin, and wants to maintain a monopoly on international flights for Pan Am, preventing Hughes from flying outside the US

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

luni, 31 iulie 2023

duminică, 30 iulie 2023

sâmbătă, 29 iulie 2023

vineri, 28 iulie 2023

joi, 27 iulie 2023

miercuri, 26 iulie 2023

marți, 25 iulie 2023

luni, 24 iulie 2023

duminică, 23 iulie 2023

sâmbătă, 22 iulie 2023

vineri, 21 iulie 2023

joi, 20 iulie 2023

miercuri, 19 iulie 2023

marți, 18 iulie 2023

luni, 17 iulie 2023

duminică, 16 iulie 2023

sâmbătă, 15 iulie 2023

vineri, 14 iulie 2023

joi, 13 iulie 2023

miercuri, 12 iulie 2023

marți, 11 iulie 2023

luni, 10 iulie 2023

duminică, 9 iulie 2023

sâmbătă, 8 iulie 2023

vineri, 7 iulie 2023

joi, 6 iulie 2023

miercuri, 5 iulie 2023