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Otto and the Cadet Hanging

 Monday: Sophie's Choice (1982)

         Stingo is a young writer who moves to NYC from the south. He rents a room at a house fondly called the Pink Palace. There he meets an interesting couple. Sophie is a Polish woman who survived a concentration camp. Nathan is an American jew obsessed with the Holocaust. Nathan is energetic and intriguing, but he can also be cruel. Sophie is sweet but can be needy and depressed. Stingo becomes close to them and soon they are best friends. He learns more about both of them. Especially Sophie and her time in the concentration camp. Soon he discovers just how damaged they both are. I thought this movie was alright. It has been on my list of movies to watch for a long time. I finally got around to watching it. 

Wednesday: Michael (1996)

      Frank and Huey write for a tabloid in Chicago. Frank receives a letter from a woman in rural Iowa claiming she has an angel living with her. He believes this could be a good story. He convinces his editor to send him and Huey to cover the story. The boss agrees as long as they bring a new writer, Dorothy, who is an "angel expert". They agree. Once in Iowa they meet the angel named Michael. He is not what they expected. He smokes, drinks, and has a way with women. Michael agrees to be their cover story if they drive back to Chicago and stop at attractions on the way. Along the way they all change and grow as people. This movie was alright.

Friday: A Man Called Otto (2022)

       Otto is a grumpy man who believes everyone should follow the rules. He makes sure everything on the block he lives on runs smoothly. His wife passed away recently and he struggles to find a reason to go on. Then a new family moves across the street. The wife, a Latina woman named Marisol, takes a liking to him. She comes to him for help. As much as he hates everyone he can't stand seeing them do something wrong. So he helps. Slowly he finds reasons to keep living. I thought this movie was good. It was interesting to see Tom Hanks, Otto, as a grumpy and mean person. This is the American adaptation of a Swedish movie (that was based on a book). It has a Swedish feel to it. The way the street is set up, the name of a company, and even the clothes a little bit. Which is an interesting way to do it. 

Sunday: Double Feature- Solaris (1972) and The Pale Blue Eye (2022)

       Solaris is a Russian film. It is set in the future. Kris is a psychologist sent to a station on a far away planet. The crew has gone insane. There are only 3 left. Kris has to determine what is driving them insane. After only being there for a couple hours he starts to see things. Namely his dead wife. Kris tries to find a reason for what he is seeing. But it's something he's never encountered before. There's not much he can do. This movie was ok. It's supposed to be a sci fi classic. I thought it was boring. They just talk in circles. I will admit I did skip through the last half of the movie. I couldn't take it anymore. It was so slow and conceptual.

       The Pale Blue Eye is about a semi retired detective, Augustus, living in a cabin in the woods. He is hired to solve the mystery surrounding the death of a cadet at West Point. The cadet seemed to have hung himself, but then someone carved out his heart while he was in the morgue. Not long after starting his investigation he is approached by a young cadet named Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar believes he has some information that will help the investigation. The two work together to solve the mystery. This is a good movie. There are some good twists. I hadn't heard of this movie till I saw it on Netflix. That's one of the best things. Finding a good movie that you didn't even know existed.    

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