Ataraxia

  Rocco and His Brothers, written – with six others – and directed by Luchino Visconti 9.4 out of 10 Rocco and His Brothers aka Rocco E I Suoi Fratelli is one of the best motion pictures ever made, included on The New York Times ‘Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list, one of the most honorable: https://www.listchallenges.com/new-york-times-best-1000-movies-ever-made/list/19 the cast is superb, nec plus ultra, with Alain Delon in a memorable role, that of Rocco Parondi, Renato Salvatori as one of his brothers, the antihero of the narrative, Simone Parondi, Annie Girardot as Nadia and a spectacular ensemble, directed by one of the best directors ever, Luchino Visconti. Rocco and His Brothers, supervised, cared for, instructed, managed to some extent by their mother, Rosaria aka the excellent Katina Paxinou, move from the south to Milano – even in the politics of Italy, the predominant League originates from what used to be the Northern League, an outfit advocating the separation of the mu...

  The Man Who Invented Christmas, based on the book by Les Standiford This is a charming film about a chapter in the life of the great, fascinating, radiant Charles Dickens The audience is also invited to explore parts of the childhood of the genius writer, who has suffered so much. His father John Dickens, the wondrous Jonathan Pryce in the picture, was sentenced to go to prison. In the film, this is a dual character, with a number of shortcomings, including an inclination to profit from the fame of his son. At one point, Charles stumbles upon his father, as the latter was rummaging through the trash for documents. John Dickens was selling various papers, books that contained an autograph or dedications from his son. The memory of childhood haunts the author, for after his father was jailed, Charles Dickens had to work for twelve hours a day. As he arrives at a horrible working site where children as young as five were working, he is invited to talk about his father. When he says ...

  Absolute Zero Gravity: Science Jokes, Quotes and Anecdotes by Betsy Devine – ‘A collection of jokes, anecdotes revealing the funny side of mathematics, biology and other branches of science’   - you have more than five thousand reviews of amusing work, magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All Time and other sites, together with as many or more notes on films from The New York Times Best 1,000 Movies of All Time and other lists waiting for you on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html advertised here with no visible effect     8 out of 10   Humor is one of the ingredients of being positive: the psychology classic Positivity https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/positivity-by-barbara-fredrickson-life.html by Barbara Fredrickson has the other nine elements: awe, interest, hope, inspiration, pride, serenity, joy, gratitude and love   You find humor as one of the character ...

  The Tax Man by Bruce Jay Friedman This short story is extremely funny, it deals with moeurs, sexual inclinations and exploration, the absurd and…the tax man. Dealing with taxes and the individuals involved in this game can be frustrating, excruciating and ridiculous. Especially in countries where one hates to see his taxes- way too big always- being wasted on various white elephants or corrupt public servants or politicians- on my blogs I have videos with the police sleeping on their job, in cars that they use as dormitories, with engines running, using the fuel to allow them to sleep in cool or warm temperatures, according to the season. Then of course we have the outrageous case of the leader of the free world, an orange clown alas, who refuses to let the public see his taxes, maybe because he is worth less than he brags, or, more heinously, on account of possible entanglements with the Russians or other devious financial schemes. Ullman is the hero of this story and he has a l...

  Spinning Man, based on the book by George Harrar Guy Pearce has had much more challenging and rewarding roles than that of Evan Birch, including those of King Edward VIII in the King’s Speech, the sympathetic Detective Senior Nathan Leckie in the fabulous Animal Kingdom, The hurt Locker, Leonard in Memento, the complex Ed Exley in L.A. Confidential and last but not least, the radiant gay man in the flamboyant The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. In Spinning Man, Guy Pearce is Evan Birch, a sophisticated, intelligent, rather dark, complex, erudite, forgetful, elusive philosophy professor, who may or may not be implicated in a crime that has been committed in the neighborhood, although even on the nature of the disappearance of the girl there are questions- is she missing, only to return, has there been a kidnapping, or even worse of all, maybe she had been killed. Joyce has been in the class of this well liked teacher and since she has been absent for quite some time,...

  Tom Jones by John Osborne Nine out of 10 Tom Jones has been nominated for no less than ten Academy Awards, out of which it has won four of the most important ones, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Writing It has also won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Comedy and Most Promising Newcomer, for Albert Finney and Best British Film, Best film from Any Source and Best Screenplay at the BAFTA Awards, all in 1964. The film is also included on The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list: https://www.listchallenges.com/new-york-times-best-1000-movies-ever-made/checklist/23 Albert Finney is astounding, charming, scintillating in the leading role of Tom Jones, based on the novel by Henry Fielding. The actor is just mesmerizing in his outstanding work – nominated for an impressive five Oscars! For: Tom Jones, Murder on the Orient Express – so superior to the recent, flawed adaptation – The Dresser – a fantastic film, where Tom Courtney is also fabulous – Unde...