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The Bridges of Madison County, based on the novel by Robert James Waller

  The Bridges of Madison County, based on the novel by Robert James Waller This is one of the quintessential romance motion pictures that has become such a classic that characters in quite a few other features refer to it, cry over the fate of the protagonists and are so enchanted by them and their love story. If we add to that achievement the names of the Giants playing the leading characters, Meryl Streep as Francesca Johnson and Clint Eastwood – who also directs this film- as Robert Kincaid, we have the recipe for a Nec Plus Ultra, the film of all films. Yet, this viewer was not overwhelmed. One of the secrets of happiness is to Lower Your Expectations. Therefore, a viewer may be advised to forget about Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Gran Torino, American Sniper, Letters from Iwo Jima, Mystic River and other masterpieces created by this deity. Francesca Johnson was born in Italy, in the town of Bari and has met Richard while he was in the country, where he had fought the Nazis...
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Mister Johnson by Joyce Cary Nine out of 10

  Mister Johnson by Joyce Cary Nine out of 10     Mister Johnson is an engaging, amusing, but also tragic, provocative, excellent read for yours truly and those who have compiled the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, which has been criticized for the depiction of the main character, which is ‘superficial’ and has determined Chinua Achebe, author of the classic Things Fall Apart.   Sure, on some levels the criticism of the naiveté is justified, the hero choses to live in an universe of his own, that has little to do with reality, only the notion that this is the white man looking down on the African native – as in the author diminishing his own creation – seems more than inadequate for yours truly – who might be correctly accused himself of some sort of prejudice, surely unconscious if it there is one – and we can look at exhibit A, the recordings of what has happened only a few days ago, when a Trump mob has occupied the…American Congress, as a result of conspira...
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The Miser by Moliere

  The Miser by Moliere Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at: -               https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E This is at least the third time that I meet with Harpagon. Memorable is the film with Louis de Funes. The last version is adapted for the BBC. I sympathize with Harpagon and I propose a different approach this time. -            Yes, the old man is despicable from some points of view -            He fights with his children over arranged marriages, even competing with his son over the betrothal of Mariane Having established a couple of outlines, I am thinking that apart from the arranged, outrageous marriages there are problems with the marital relationships born out of love. After a two years period, even the latter experience a h...
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Good Bad Books by George Orwell is the twenty fourth of The Essays that are placed on the 917th spot on The Greatest Books of All Time site, where an algorithm changes the places of the compilation, I don’t know what data is used, but if it takes into account the ‘reading public’, then the chefs d’oeuvre will descend from the top spots, and the likes of The Da Vinci Code will dominate the front rows, and they will become the “GOAT” – nevertheless, you have more than five thousand reviews on books from the aforementioned site and others, with notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists waiting for you on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html

Imagine
  Good Bad Books by George Orwell is the twenty fourth of The Essays that are placed on the 917th   spot on The Greatest Books of All Time site, where an algorithm changes the places of the compilation, I don’t know what data is used, but if it takes into account the ‘reading public’, then the chefs d’oeuvre will descend from the top spots, and the likes of The Da Vinci Code will dominate the front rows, and they will become the “GOAT” – nevertheless, you have more than five thousand reviews on books from the aforementioned site and others, with notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists waiting for you on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html     10 out of 10   The Essays of Geroge Orwell https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/10/in-defense-of-pg-wodehouse-by-george.html have been mesmerizing, and what is more, I find that I agree with the autho...
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Marvin’s Room by Scott McPherson 8 out of 10

  Marvin’s Room by Scott McPherson 8 out of 10 This a sensitive, endearing drama, with a phenomenal cast that includes Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio, Diane Keaton and Robert de Niro. Meryl Streep is Lee, a middle aged woman with a degree, as she likes to brag – a graduate from the school of…cosmetics – who has problems with her son, Hank aka a very young and brilliant Leonardo DiCaprio, who has set their house on fire is then institutionalized. Lee appears to have an emotional instability, an inability to cope with or express emotions, given her abrupt departure, seventeen years before, when her father has had a stroke and one of the daughters decided she cannot cope with this adversity and just left for another state. When she visits her son in the mental institution, the conversation with the doctor is more than interesting and revealing, it is amusing at times, given the penchant that psychiatrists and analysts have to try to provoke patients into finding the reasons for their...
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Swimming Home by Deborah Levy, shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_and_nominated_authors_of_the_Booker_Prize in 2012 9 out of 10

  Swimming Home by Deborah Levy, shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_and_nominated_authors_of_the_Booker_Prize in 2012 9 out of 10     Swimming home has been competing for the Man Booker Prize with the astounding (though I do not remember much, alas, I look at the note written less than two years ago and see that I was exalted) The Lighthouse by Alison Moore  http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/05/trying-to-find-what-is-essence-of.html  and the acclaimed winner, Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, the latter adapted for television.   I preferred The Lighthouse to Bring Up the Bodies  http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/01/bring-up-bodies-by-hilary-mantel.html  -though the former made much less of a splash, and eventually lost the big prize (on the vote of that jury, for it has mine, perhaps with Hilary Mantel coming second, and then Swimming Home, I have not had the chance to read any of the other t...
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Swimming With Men by Aschlin Ditta 6 out of 10

  Swimming With Men by Aschlin Ditta 6 out of 10 Swimming With Men is a light comedy that may work only if one is looking for a comedy that doesn't require thinking. Those practicing yoga are familiar with the demands of meditation: Empty your mind! Eliminate all thoughts... As an alternative to the yoga meditation technique, one could watch Swimming. Eric Scott is an accountant that uses the pool to decompress and avoid a possible depression, maybe even a breakdown. His relationships with his wife and his son are in an impasse. This is when he is overwhelmed to see at the bottom of the pool a group of men. He probably thinks he is losing it. This is one scene which is humorous. The surprise of seeing this strange small community sunken in the swimming pool will make anyone smile. They are a Synchronized Swimming Team. With his gift for numbers, harmony and balance, the accountant makes some suggestions. You have to lose one member! As they consider this critique, the swimmers arri...
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