Reasons Behind The Success of 365 Days Movie

How could a small budget movie from Poland, like 365 Days, with relatively unknown actors top the charts and become a massive worldwide success on Netflix is a phenomenon that baffled many critics?!

Some attributed it to the sexy leading actors as well as the erotic nature of the movie. It is true, that they are quite attractive however their beauty could easily be suppressed by any other Hollywood star. Furthermore the movie’s storyline of a member of the Sicilian Mafia family by the name of Massimo and a sales director, Laura, crossing path during a trip to Sicily, seems very redundant and mundane. Even the twist of Massimo kidnaping Laura for 365 days in an attempt to make her fall in love with him sounds a bit far fetched.

So why did this seemingly average movie gain such a wide following and have most women swooning over Massimo?! The reason is quite simple if you think about it. The movie has all the elements of an adult fairy tale fantasy. I surely don’t mean the Walt Disney kind. However, they do share certain similarities.

On one hand, you have the so-called damsel in distress, Laura, a woman trapped in a reality she disdains. Disappointed by life and love she yearns to be rescued from reality and transported into a world where all her dreams can come true. So here comes, prince charming, Massimo, the rich attractive powerful man who can please her physically and emotionally.

Massimo, an ambitiously ruthless, powerful, sexy man, who can have any woman he wants, who chooses to patiently strive to win one woman’s heart, Laura, adds to his allure.

Furthermore, you start to see his effect on Laura. She blossoms into a confident, satisfied, better version of herself. It is as if he brought her back to life after having been stuck in a slumber. After all, Laura has finally found a man who knows how to please her on all levels, and his insatiability of her opened the door to a new daring version of herself.

Some might argue that the movie idolizes macho mobsters and psycho-kidnappers. It is true, however if Massimo was an average or poor ugly man, the movie would have ben labeled as a psycho-thriller rather than an erotic romantic drama because he wouldn’t have had the financial and physical means to make things happen. However, you have to admit, that it has all the elements of a woman’s fantasy come true.

You have on one hand the manly rescuer, who is extremely generous, very daring, attractive and determined, he shatters any obstacle that hinders him from getting to his lover. On the other, you have a woman who desperately needs to be loved properly and rescued from her life.

The movie is not everyone’s cup of tea and feminists would be horrified by it, but it doesn’t change the fact that the success of this movie is linked to how it embodies the erotic fantasy of many women.

Reality vs Fantasy

The wave of romance crashes and breaks as it hits the shore of reality. We have been taught, early on, that there is no such thing as fairy tales and some go a step further by blaming Hollywood and Disney for glamorizing true love. A concept so unattainable and rare that it borders the supernatural.

So beyond the glitters and butterflies, beyond the glitz and glamour, you’’ll find the sober reality. With experts advising people to lower their expectations when it comes to love and setting the bar so low that some might consider it offensive to men as it stipulates that they are only capable of so little. However, it is with sigh of relief that one comes to realize that even the darkest sky has the most radiant stars.

You are considered lucky to stumble upon a great romance or better than that: blessed, if you are the protagonist in an exemplary and exceptional love story.

Like gazing at heaven for escape, you listen to the stories of exceptionally lucky individuals who were the object of great infatuation and undying love. The man whose passion ran so deep blazing every obstacle along its way thus turning friendship into love.

The ones who says, and actually means it, “If I can’t have you, I don’t want anyone else”.

It is hard for some to understand such breed of men; it is even harder for others to believe that someone can or would be willing to gamble everything on an unrequited love.  They fail to understand that love is won by extraordinary actions. We are not talking about homewreckers or capricious people who pursue others for the sake of the hunt or people who force their love on another. We are talking about those who without any guarantees bet their years, pour their heart and soul to win the love of their life.

Maybe, Charles Dickens, captured it best in Great Expectations, when he wrote: “Don’t you understand that everything I do, I do it for you? Anything that might be special in me is you”.

A lot of people say “I love you” but how many live-up to the claim? How many write poetry without actually believing the words they scribble on a piece of paper?

True love doesn’t happen at first sight, doesn’t strive in mediocrity, it is so exceptional that it borders the extraordinary.

We often hear of tales of guardian angels. They are the individuals willing to go to the depth of hell to rescue their loved one; who would move mountains, look the devil straight in the eyes without flinching, defy the heavens, for “the one” and only “the one”. They might not be real angels, their wings might not be as white as snow, darkness might run deep in their veins, but without a doubt, their love is immortal, pure, and unsettling.  It is a volcano caught in a tornado.

Legends rise when reality falls, it is on the debris of mediocrity that exceptional lovers stand. No amount of books, seminars, poetry could teach someone how to be a true lover. They might be a breed in extinction but you can find solace in the fact that they still roam earth, somewhere out there.

Tunisia’s Star Wars Hotel

Star Wars fans can now rejoice as they can experience a true Luke Skywalker fantasy by lodging in Sidi Driss, a hotel where was filmed scene of the hero’s childhood home on the planet of Tatooine.

Located in the village of Matmâta, small Berber speaking town in southern Tunisia renowned for its typical structures created by digging large pit in the ground;  Around the perimeter of this pit artificial caves are then dug to be used as rooms, with some homes comprising multiple pits, connected by trench-like passageways.

Opened all year round the hotel offers affordable accommodation and can lodge over 145 guests in 20 rooms, grouped in four separate caverns. The fifth is dedicated for the hotel’s restaurant/bar. The traditional Berber hotel offers a historic and calm atmosphere. In Sidi Idriss you can delect yourself with traditional dishes, cave rooms and an exceptional bar. Prices are fairly cheap, ranging from 30 dinars per person to 47 dinars, with 12% discount for children aged below 10.

American filmmaker and entrepreneur George Lucas, picked Hotel Sidi Driss as an ideal location to film for his movie Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.

After filming, most of the decorations used were removed by the owners but thanks to a French Star Wars enthusiast by the name of Philip Vanni, the hotel rooms were restored and in 2000, George Lucas filmed one of his prequels, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.

The Hotel Sidi Driss is not a Universal Studios re-creation; it is authentic and real. The rooms are compact caverns dug into the base of a tall circular courtyard whilst beds are blankets placed on the floor. So if you are looking to have a full Star Wars experience, it can’t get more authentic than that.

Hollywood Genius

We often regard the most beautiful and intelligent people as born under a lucky star. However it is solemnly the case, as the Venuses of this world are rarely lucky and their lives are usually clouded with misfortune. Despite having the beauty, grace and intelligence that most would die for, they often suffer tragic lives.

This is the case of Hollywood star Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, known as Hedy Lamarr. Hereby are the things you never knew about this gorgeous legend:

• She was married to a wealthy Austrian ammunition manufacturer.
• After her 1993 movie,   Ecstasy she fled from her husband, and hid in Paris.
• Louis B. Mayer, gave her, her first Hollywood break.
• In 1960, she got her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 
• Lamarr played the lead in the highest-grossing film of 1950 Samson and Delilah which won two Academy Awards, for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design.
• Lamarr opened her own production company with Jack Chertok but her movies  The Strange Woman & Dishonored Lady went over budget and made minor profits.
• Lamarr was a self-taught, inventor who has been behind many inventions such improved traffic stoplight , a tablet that would dissolve in water to create a carbonated beverage, a radio guidance system ,  Bluetooth technology similar to methods used in legacy versions of Wi-Fi
• She dated  aviation tycoon Howard Hughes, who supported her inventive to the extent of putting his team of scientists and engineers at her disposal, in order to execute anything she asked for.
• She relentlessly wanted to join and offer her services to the  National Inventors Council. She succeeded in her quest, and in 1997, she was awarded the Electronic Frontier Foundation Pioneer Award and the Bulbie Gnass Spirit of Achievement Bronze Award. She was featured on the Science Channel, the Discovery Channel and was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
• Lamarr married and divorced six times and had three children of which one she claimed was adopted during her marriage to Gene Markey. It later turned out that she had lied, her son James Lamarr Markey/Loder was the out-of-wedlock son with actor John Loder whom she later married. Her lies tarnished her relationship with son, James Lamarr Loder, to the point that he moved in with another family. They remained in conflict for over 50 years and she ended up leaving him out of her will.
• Lamarr was arrested twice for shoplifting, in 1991, it was attributed to depression as she failed to return to the screen.
• In the last decades of her life, the telephone became Lamarr’s only means of communication with the outside world, even with her children and close friends. She often talked up to six or seven hours a day on the phone, but she spent hardly any time with anyone in person in her final years. A documentary, Calling Hedy Lamarr, was released in 2004 and featured her children, Anthony Loder and Denise Loder-DeLuca.
• In her final years Lamarr turned to seclusion and stepped away from her children and friends. She opted for telecommunication rather than face to face encounters. According to a documentary, Calling Hedy Lamarr, which featured her children, Anthony Loder and Denise Loder-DeLuca, she reportedly used to talk six to seven hours a day on the phone.

Some stars are born to shine and when their light goes dim, they just can’t survive. Lamarr couldn’t cope with being seen as anything other than a ravishing beauty with a genius flair. Her wild spirit and arrogance were too big for Hollywood who failed to give her the recognition she deserved.

Walk Among The Stars

Having a stroll among the stars might sound like a dream come true as it doesn’t only symbolize one’s ability to rub elbows with celebrities but take a walk along memory-lane.

Not much is known about the origin of the Hollywood Walk of Fame which is a sidewalk baring stars monuments for the icons of the entertainment industry such as the names of  musicians, actors, directors, producers, musical and theatrical groups, fictional characters, and others. 

Rumors has it that Hollywood Walk of Fame was inspired by the iconic Hollywood Hotel‘s dining room ceiling which marked the favorite tables of its most famous celebrity guests. Others reports state, that Sugarman’s restaurant, inspired the concept because it featured on its drinks menu celebrity photos framed in gold stars.

The first star prototype was unveiled February 1956, featuring a caricature of John Wayne, inside a blue star on a brown background but due to the expensiveness of such concept, they decided to neither use caricatures nor the color blue.

In 1978, for the first time in its history, a star was appointed to an animated character Mickey Mouse.

If you happen to visit Hollywood Walk of Fame, you will remark that while more than 2500 brass stars are humbly embedded in the sidewalk, only one star hangs vertically. In 2002, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce broke tradition following Muhammad Ali’s request as he did not want people to walk on his name, citing prophet Muhammad.

Legendary entertainer Gene Autry is the only celebrity to have a star in all five Walk of Fame categories.

To celebrate Hollywood Walk of Fame’s 50th anniversary in 2010, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce buried a time capsule where it was first conceived. The ceremony was hosted by presenter Bob Barker, it included various items  to be opened in 2060.

Top Memorable Love Quotes

You don’t have to flip through a book or read poetry to find the most staggering love stories and memorable quotes. Check-out our selection of the most memorable love quotes.

City of Angels

Storyline:
Seth is an angel  that falls madly in love with a human, Dr. Maggie Rice, a dedicated  heart surgeon who devotes her life to her practice.  In order to be with her, Seth forsakes heaven in order to be with her, which does not turn out as he had expected.
This is one of the saddest love-story ever written because of the heart wrenching fact that the lover gave up eternity to be with the one he loves only to have her taken from him shortly after.

Memorable Love Quote:
 Seth: I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss of her mouth, one touch of her hand, than eternity without it. One.

Great Expectations

Storyline:

Charles Dickens’ story of a young man, Finn, who falls madly in-love, with a  rich aristocrat Estella. He makes it his life mission to become rich and worthy of her.

This film, is particularly mesmerizing, as it is the story of a man who against proper judgment and despite being warned about his impending doom  pursues the love of his life, never thinking for a second of replacing her or giving up on her.  

Memorable Love Quote:
Finn: I did it! I did it! I am a wild success! I sold ’em all, all my paintings. You don’t have to be embarrassed by me anymore. I’m rich! Isn’t that what you wanted? Aren’t we happy now? Don’t you understand that everything I do, I do it for you? Anything that might be special in me, is you.

A Beautiful Mind

Storyline:
It is the true story of John Forbes Nash, Jr. a mathematical genius, who falls ill but doesn’t let his illness stop him from pursuing his dream and receiving the Nobel Prize.

John’s wife was the driving force behind him. Later in life, he confessed that he would have never made it without her love and support. He would have never been able to persevere without her.

Memorable Love Quote:
Nash: [Making an acceptance speech in front of the Nobel prize audience during the ceremony] I’ve always believed in numbers, in equations, in logic and reason.But after a lifetime of such pursuits: I ask What truly is logic? Who decides reason? My quest has taken me to the physical, the metaphysical, the delusional, and back. I have made the most important discovery of my career – the most important discovery of my life. It is only in the mysterious equations of love that any logic or reasons can be found. I am only here tonight because of you

Click

Storyline:
Michael Newman (Sandler) is a hard working family man, struggling to juggle between his job and his family. His life changes when Morty (Walken), a crazy sales clerk, offers him the ultimate remote, which enables him to mute, skip and dub his life. The remote soon starts to malfunction causing nothing but mayhem.

This movie has one of the most heart wrenching scenes, where at the end, in a moment of enlightenment, Michael regrets everything he has ever done and acknowledges his undying love for his wife.

Memorable Love Quote:
Donna Newman: Will you still love me in the morning?

Michael Newman: Forever and ever, babe

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Storyline:
A mysterious killing spree terrorizes Seattle and threatens the life of Bella who finds herself in the middle of a malicious revenge quest. Amid the tumult, Bella must choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob.

Some might consider Bella and Edward to be the ultimate couple but I, on the otherhand, prefer the relationship that ties her to Jacob, the man who fearlessly loves her and doesn’t let any obstacle stop him. Whilst Edward once walked away from her Jacob simply never could. He is her ultimate best friend, always there, demanding nothing from her but her presence by his side and her happiness. I prefer him to Edward, the softy, who despite his good intentions often fails to protect her, whilst the manly Jacob always rises to the occasion.  Love comes in many shapes and forms but this kind  is the ultimate one.

Memorable Love Quote:
Jacob Black:
You feel something for me. You just won’t admit it. So I’m not giving up. I’m gonna fight for you, Bella, until your heart stops beating.

The Robin Hood of the Art World

Like Robin Hood, the legendary heroic outlaw, Banksy is an anonymous film director and street artist, whose street art is politically fueled with usually anti-war, anti-capitalist or anti-establishment slogans. He often portray rats, apes, policemen, soldiers, children, and elderly.

Ironically, highly revered by the rich-crowed he so bluntly disdain to the rich, Banksy satirical and controversial art, combines dark humor and graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique.  To this day, the real identity of the art vigilante Banksy remains unknown, with some speculating that it could be either Robert Del Naja or Robin Gunningham.

In 2018, footage recorded of artist Robin Gunningham roaming the area in which later on several Banksy art appeared fueled the rumours that it might be him. Furthermore, several Gunningham’s associates and former schoolmates have corroborated this rumour.

However, during the same year, some believe that DJ Goldie  accidentally revealed in an interview with Scroobius Pip’s Distraction Pieces podcast that Banksy is none other than Robert Del Naja, the 52-year-old member of trip hop trio Massive Attac. In the interview he was cited as saying “No disrespect to Robert; I think he is a brilliant artist. I think he has flipped the world of art over.” Some detectives claimed to have matched up Massive Attack’s touring schedule with appearances by art by Banksy.

The press has long speculated as to how much Banksy is worth, with some saying he is net worth is approximately $20 million.

Banksy’s street art might be for free but it gets him the coveted attention he needs in order to sell unique pieces which sometimes are spray painted onto canvas or cardboard.  It might interest you to know, that having his graffiti on any estate triples its value, with the Daily Mail suggesting the £300,000 end terrace could have tripled in value thanks to the artwork.

Banksy’s Robin-Hood like nature was best portrayed when he sacrificed a staggering amount of money for the sake of laughing at the rich who are willing to pay gruesome amounts of money for the simplest pieces. During one of his painting auctions, bidders and Sotherby’s staff watched in complete horror as that the Banksy’s painting sold for £1,042,000 shreds infront of the full crowd. The day after the sale he updated his website with an image of an auction house and the people bidding on a picture with the written words ‘I Can’t Believe You Morons Actually Buy This S**t’.

Celebrities’ Spirits

You solemnly find actors or entertainers in the alcohol business, but in recent years, there has been a surge in famous people launching their own line of spirits rather than their own perfumes.

Hereby is the list of those A-listers who pride themselves on launching the finest booze on the market, one that captures there spirit and emulate their taste.

Casamigos Tequila

By actor George Clooney

Casamigos is a tequila company co-founded in 2013 by George Clooney, Rande Gerber, and Mike Meldman. It was purchased in June 2017 by Diageo for US$700 million plus up to a further $300m based on the brand’s performance.

Aviation Gin
By actor Ryan Reynolds

Aviation Gin, is an “American dry gin,” brand produced in Portland, Oregon, by founders Christian Krogstad and Ryan Magarian in 2006. In 2012, it was awarded by Wine Enthusiast magazine awarded Aviation American Gin a 97-point rating, the highest rating the magazine has given to any gin.
Actor Ryan Reynolds acquired a stake in the brand from Davos in February 2018

Longbranch Bourbon
By actor Matthew McConaughey

Matthew McConaughey and Master Distiller Eddie Russell teamed up to create Wild Turkey Longbranch Bourbon Whiskey. As reported by The Spirits Business, Bob Kunze-Concewitz, CEO at Campari Group, said: “Matthew McConaughey has been ingrained in the Wild Turkey brand as creative director for several years now.“As a lover of Bourbon, and an integral part of the team, it was a natural next step for Matthew to partner with Eddie to create a new product for Wild Turkey.

Heaven’s Door Whiskey
By singer Bob Dylan

Heaven’s Door Whiskey is a collection of American whiskey co-created by Bob Dylan. Drawing on the rich tapestry of Bob Dylan’s art and music, Heaven’s Door.

Danny DeVito’s Premium Limoncello
By actor Danny DeVito

Danny DeVito launched his own brand of Limoncello with its own theme song.

The story behind how it all started is actually pretty hilarious, Danny DeVito got drunk on Casamigos Tequila and then went on The View to rent and vent in a scandalous way to the public. The resultant infamy turned out to be beneficial as it allowed him to launch his brand.

Skinnygirl
By actress Bethenny Frankel

Created in 2009 by TV star Bethenny Frankel for ready-made cocktails, the range now includes three wines, each of which promise to contain just 100 calories per 5-ounce serving.