HUGO

If you like movies because they are a pleasant distraction then I'm not sure you'll like this movie.  If you loves movies because you love movies then you will love this movie.  The name 'Martin Scorsese' might trigger images of Italians shooting/beating people but he's made mostly films that don't feature those things and this is one of them.  Possibly his most personal film yet, Hugo is about believing that movies really are magic.  Magic to make, magic to watch, magic to remember, and they create magical conections between people.

The 3D effects are mostly subtle.  The opening shot is the most ambitious and movement-filled moment of the movie, but it works amazingly (courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd according to the credits).  Perhaps living through and experiencing the previous two 3D booms of the 1950's and 80's gives Scorsese more perspective on it's best use.  Speaking of subtlety, who the hell and how the hell did they get two natural, energetic, and fun performances from the two lead child actors, Asa Butterfield as the titular orphan boy and Chloe Moretz as his friend Isabelle?  Normally the best kids films are those that don't feature any children but I guess this is the exception.

The pre-title sequence is a fantastic example of visual storytelling, laying out a multitude of plots points clearly and concisely with nary a word of dialogue necessary.  The sets are enormous and filled with all manner of brick-a-brac and goings-on.  And the people!  So many extras.  No filling in the crowds with CGI here.  Genuine crowds with hundreds of costumes.  Sure, the clock tower gears are CGI, but you probably aren't allowed to film child actors crawling around inside real machinery.  At least when he visits Christopher Lee's bookstore all the books are real.  One of my pet peeves in movies is fake-looking books; just rows or identical blue and red books perfectly arranged, reality be damned.

Sacha Baron-Cohen supplies most of the comedy (completely without the use of his testicles or anus) and it's nothing to slouch at.  He runs full speed with a gangly leg brace, he climbs like a monkey up the wall of the train station, and falls into the long line of villains who are closer to a dog than any human beings.  Nobody uses a French accent in this movie, at least that I noticed, so this could be pretty close to Baron-Cohen's actual voice for all I know.  At least he still has an outrageous mustache, big poofy hair and (pardon me whilst I google the phrase 'DeGaulle hat') a kepi.

Clockwork is the name of the game.  Hugo lives inside the clocks of the train station, his uncle maintained them for years, his father was a watchmaker, his father was a budding automaton repairman, the pieces of a mystery are put back together and many if not most of the characters express a desire to replace a metaphorical missing gear in their lives.  The proper use of tools for the proper utility of machine parts doesn't exactly sound like the endearing theme to a nostalgic and optimistic film, but it sure as hell is.

Thanks.

~ Many players return from the Scorsese-verse.  Michael Stuhlbarg from Boardwalk Empire, Emily Watson and Ben Kingsley from Shutter Island, Jude Law from The Aviator, Ray Winstone from The Departed and maybe more that I didn't figure out.

~ Scorsese cameos as a photographer.

~ As an homage to the ending of the groundbreaking 1903 silent film The Great Train Robbery, Scorsese ended Goodfellas with a shot of Joe Pesci firing his revolver straight into the camera; in this film, he is able to include the original clip during a montage of early films.

~ Hugo spies on people in the train station going about their business, and there is some fine mostly wordless comedy from Richard Griffiths, who is perhaps best known today (and to countless future generations) as Harry's big fat mean uncle from the Harry Potter film franchise.

~ There are two beautiful dream sequences but they take the unfortunate form of the double-dream wherein a character wakes up from one nightmare into another before finally waking up for good.  Does that really happen?  Or is it a movie thing like turning on the TV and immediately hearing on the news that your whatever is whatevering?

~ Ben Kingsley might get an Academy Award nomination for his role as the kindly/mean old owner of the train station toy shop.  That's not much of a prediction.  There's more to his role but I can't ruin the surprise.

~ I think more of these cast members have appeared in the Harry Potter films but now that it's all said and done I think we can safely assume that every British actor appeared in there somewhere.

~ Johnny Depp co-produced this film which is neat because if he can't be in good movies at least he can help get them made.

~ This film was based on a 2007 book with the title The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.

~ The original fail train makes an appearance in this film.