Hugo

[Steve Williams]

On Black Friday I sent my wife, daughter-in-law and my youngest daughter shopping while I took 2 of my sons and 3 grandchildren to see Hugo in 3D, Martin Scorsese's newest film which BTW is rated PG.

Have a look at the trailer

Set in 1930s Paris, an orphan who lives in the walls of a train station is wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.

The story is historical drama based on the life of probably the film industry's first director Georges Méliès

First off the story is very slow moving, somewhat predictable but an almost fairy like story involving young Hugo as he attempts to reassemble an automaton which his father had discovered in a museum and attempted to fix before his untimely death.

Without giving away the plot I can say that the story is uplifting and worth watching with younger children. My grandkids were fascinated

Several small cameo roles here by Jude Law who played Hugo's father and Johnny Depp playing a guitarist who we see on two occasions but if you blink you might miss him


Ben Kingsley plays Georges Méliès and Sasha Baron Cohen the station inspector.

Hugo is well played by Asa Butterfield and his young girlfriend Isabelle played by Chloë Grace Moretz

If there is a downside to the movie, it was the run time of 126 minutes which was probably 30 minutes too long. Nonetheless the story is well done and as previously stated the 3D IMO was the best that I have ever seen

Highly recommended

 

[amirm]

Thanks Steve. I just saw the trailer for it last night and thought it would be cool to see. I will pick up the 3-D Blu-ray when it comes out.

 

[Steve Williams]

The only distraction that I found from the 3D was that the movie was primarily filmed in a seppia color to give it the look of the early 1930's. As a result some of the scenes for brief moments resembled animation especially some of the facial closeups of Hugo and his big eyes.

Other than that Scorsese got the 3D effect right. I understand that James Cameron commented on the 3D version as being the best he has ever personally seen

 

[Steve Williams]

Most of us remember Georges Melies from his 1902 A Trip To The Moon

A Trip to the Moon (French: Le Voyage dans la lune) is a 1902 French black and white silent science fiction film. It is loosely based on two popular novels of the time: From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne and The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells
The film was written and directed by Georges Méliès, assisted by his brother Gaston. The film runs 14 minutes if projected at 16 frames per second, which was the standard frame rate at the time the film was produced. It was extremely popular at the time of its release and is the best-known of the hundreds of fantasy films made by Méliès. A Trip to the Moon is the first science fiction film, and utilizes innovative animation and special effects, including the iconic shot of the rocketship landing in the moon's eye

 

[DaveyF]

Looks great, I think the kids will enjoy. Thanks, Steve.

 

[ack]

Saw it too. Highly recommended

 

[rblnr]

Kids and I loved it. And I agree about the 3D, best I've seen. Cameron always put the main actor's convergence point at the screen, meaning that the focus point and actors where on the plane of the screen with objects and efx stuff in front of the screen. He thought it looked best this way and that audiences would accept this better. Until Hugo, I agreed with this approach based on other things I'd seen.

I attended a seminar by Sony several months ago about the principles of 3D shooting in general as well as their new cameras. Some of the techs there disagreed with the notion that the actor's convergence point should be the screen -- they felt Avatar was disappointing in this regard. Hugo often put the convergence point/actors just a bit in front of the screen, I thought it worked really well. By not being too far in front of the screen there was none of the unnatural disconnection between fg and bg you see in much 3D, as if there's black space between the two. It occasionally had the effect of feeling like you were inhabiting a space with the characters -- immersion w/o distraction.

 

[amirm]

Guys, don't tempt me to go and see the movie in the theater. I hate going to the theater .

 

[DaveyF]

Took the kids to see Hugo today....all I can say is WOW it's magnificent!! The 3D is far and away the best I have ever seen and IMO far superior to Avatar. I think this movie should win Best Picture Oscar and if nothing else, an effects oscar for its 3D effects.

Guys, don't miss this one!

 

[NorthStar]

3D take so far...

If 3D can really take off sometime, that would be real swell.

* Next: 'The Hobbit 3D'. :b ...And 4K.

** Amir, I'm like you, not a big Cinema Theater fan anymore (at least not in my area).
And I'll wait for 'Hugo 3D' on Blu-ray.

*** Talking about 'Avatar 3D', on Blu-ray; it is extremely sad this all situation!
You know..., no availability yet to the general public.

I won't express here my disappointment regarding this entire 3D business as I'm sure many of you members here share the same feelings as I.

 

[Steve Williams]

This was the best 3D I have ever seen

 

[NorthStar]

What 3D technology at your Theater Steve?

 

[Steve Williams]

No. I am not a 3D fan however this was better than any I have ever seen

 

[rsbeck]

I really enjoyed Hugo. I watched it on blu-ray in 2D in my home theater and it looks and sounds spectacular.

Kids can certainly enjoy this film, but I think it's an adult film that kids can enjoy rather than a kid's film that adults can enjoy, if you know what I mean.

I agree that it ran slightly too long, maybe a 20 minute shave could have improved it, but when Marty is so obviously luxuriating in his creation and his enthusiasm is so contagious, I don't mind letting him take his time.

Another plug for the blu-ray; the extras are incredible and will really add to your enjoyment of this film.

 

[Steve Williams]

I'm not a fan of 3D but this was the best I've seen except for the LG OLED at CES this year