Eyes Wide Shut by Stanley Kubrick, writer and director of 2001 – A Space Odyssey – my note on this is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/06/2001-space-odyssey-screenplay-by.html where I have another few thousand reviews - 10 out of 10

 

Eyes Wide Shut by Stanley Kubrick, writer and director of 2001 – A Space Odyssey – my note on this is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/06/2001-space-odyssey-screenplay-by.html where I have another few thousand reviews

 

10 out of 10

 

Stanley Kubrick was one of the greatest film makers of all time, his magnificent talent is behind masterpieces like Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/09/dr-strangelove-aka-red-alert-by-peter.html and the aforementioned films

 

What is also extraordinary is that the glorious director and writer covered almost every genre, from Science Fiction, with the landmark 2001 – A Space Odyssey, to Comedy, Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb is both a science fiction tale and a comedy, showing us what Armageddon might look like

A rogue general decides to launch an attack on the Soviet Union – today, it is more likely to be the other way round, mad dog Putin or some other deepshit form Russia could decide to just annihilate the world – and then it looks like they cannot stop the apocalypse from coming, what with the Doomsday machine and all that

 

Full Metal Jacket https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/02/full-metal-jacket-based-on-book-by.html is about war, in particular the one in Vietnam, though we have quite a bit on madness, extreme cruelty, as represented by the sergeant -nutjobs in the army, position of power in general – who pushes a recruit until it is too much

Lolita is yet another example of a master class in film making, the script is based on the chef d’oeuvre by Vladimir Nabokov https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/03/lolita-screenplay-written-by-vladimir.html the author wrote the script with a few others, and Lolita the book is among the top ten best books, as suggested by The Modern Library

 

Indeed, I think it is between the fourth and the sixth place, and what a story tat is, about Humbert Humbert, who has a crash on a teenager, Lolita, in what is a complex, outstanding magnum opus – incidentally, Nabokov was invited on the Bouillon de Culture show, and he agreed to participate, only if he brings his answers along

Another innuendo, is from The Kid Stays In The Picture https://realini.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-kid-stays-in-picture-by-robert.html written by the producer of The Godfather, Chinatown, Rosemary’s Baby and more, Robert Evans, who was interested in movie rights, and wanted to meet with the American-Russian writer

Eyes Wide Shut has two stars in leading roles, Nicole Kidman as Alice Harford and her then husband in real life, Tom Cruise, who is her spouse on screen, Dr. William Harford, but not for long, I mean Kidman and Cruise would divorce after the film would be finished, and she would also leave Scientology as a consequence

 

I mean, Tom Cruise is impressive, as an actor, but Oh My God, to be the public image for such a crappie, hideous religion, how could he live with himself – not that they do not have crazies elsewhere, evangelicals help put Orange Jesus in the White House once, and worse, they could do it again, the fool is favorite

It took a long time to film Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick was a perfectionist, took a long time (actually, not just a long, but immense amount of time) to prepare, would send teams to identify the best spots for various scenes, and that may have taken a toll on the marital relationship of the two stars, not that it made much sense

 

Nicole Kidman was superb in Dead Calm https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/05/dead-calm-based-on-novel-by-charles.html the Australian film that launched her career, she made a few films with Tom Cruise, and then they married, one of the celebrated couples, if not for that many years, again, Scientology, really?!

On the question of being a perfectionist, this is not recommended generally, in the case of Stanley Kubrick and a few others, it makes sense, for we benefit form their magnum opera, but for ordinary people https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2020/07/100-out-of-100-for-ordinary-people-one.html there is a different paradigm

 

There are two types of people, the satisfizers and the maximizers, we learn that from The Paradox of Choice, a classic of Psychology by Barry Schwartz about how overwhelming too many options could be, and then that the satisfizer group would accept the very good, and be happy, move on, while the others are frustrated

https://realini.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-paradox-of-choice-by-barry-schartz.html they buy a car, then find that there is another option, which is cheaper, and then what this model they see on the street, just as they leave the dealer, with a different color, that looks so much better, in short, they are always unhappy

 

And now for the Paradigm shift, which is sublimely defined in Vernon God Little, the Booker Prize Winner by DBC Pierre, in which the hero, Vernon, is told about this big change ‘imagine you enter a room, and find this stranger who has a finger up your grannie’s ass, what do you think?’ and the answer is a furious I will kill him

‘then you learn that in fact, this fellow knows about an immediate and present death danger, so he took all the measures he could to save your relative’s life, what about now?’ and of course, Vernon Little is so grateful, under the different circumstance, ergo the paradigm shift https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/06/vernon-god-little-by-dbc-pierre-divine.html

 

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with 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

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

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

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”