2 Time Film Excess Nominee:
Best Non-adult Actor: Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz (lost to Amara Miller for The Descendants)
Best Cinematography: Robert Richardson (lost to Phedon Papamichael for The Descendants)
+ Best Family Movie of the Year
+ Most Expensive Flop of the Year
+ Best 3D Movie of the Year
+ Worst Poster of the Year
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| Does the poster for Martin Scorsese's Hugo spell magic and adventure, in 3D? (Probably not as much as it should have.) |
QUICK REVIEW:
Hugo Cabret lives in Paris' main train station in 1930, because he operates the clocks there alone after his father's death and his uncle's disappearance. Together with a girl, he wants to unlock his father's message from inside a robot that he has left him with.
Hugo is an adaptation of Brian Selznick's (The Houdini Box (1991)) 2007 illustrated novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by John Logan (Skyfall (2012)), directed by master filmmaker Martin Scorsese (Casino (1995)). It is a film that brings joy to its audiences simply through its images, which Scorsese and Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Richardson (Django Unchained (2012)) have created with enormous, visual talent and resources. Hugo is a 3D movie, and praised for its 3D use, among others by James Cameron (Avatar (2009)), which he has said was the best he had yet seen, but it can also be seen and enjoyed without 3D, - no problemo.
On the Hugo posters, Asa Butterfield (Ender's Game (2013)) and Chloë Grace Moretz (Clouds of Sils Maria (2014)) look sickly pale, unappealing, almost ugly, (which is a really bad choice for the posters that have to mass-sell a film), but the two act fantastically in the film, and they are backed up by a first class ensemble: Jude Law (A. I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)), Ray Winstone (Edge of Darkness (2010)), Christopher Lee (The City of the Dead (1960)), Sacha Baron Cohen (The Dictator (2012)), - who is really funny here, - and Ben Kingsley (Gandhi (1982))!
This is a magical, touching, grandiose film about the amazing world of film and its importance. It might not be absolutely unforgettable, but it is certainly an outstanding movie.
Related posts:
Martin Scorsese: 2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) - One helluva movie!
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
Boardwalk Empire - 1st season (2010) - Luxurious 1920's ensemble gangster treats
The Aviator (2004) - The grand American biopic
Casino (1995) - Scorsese's sumptuous Vegas gangster tale has the wingspan of a Greek tragedy
The Age of Innocence (1993) or, Stayin' IN the Pants
Cape Fear (1991) - Scorsese adds lots of stuff to remake but loses the balance
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| Sascha Baron Cohen is funny in Martin Scorsese's Hugo |
Watch the trailer here
Cost: 150-170 mil. $
Box office: 185.8 mil. $
= Huge flop
[Hugo's production, co-produced by GK Films and Johnny Depp's Infinitum Nihil, shot in London and Paris, went way over budget, (a reported 70 mil. $!) due to runaway production and 3D-related costs. It was extremely well-received critically, making it to many top 10 lists of the year, and it won a mountain of awards, including 5 Oscars (Cinematography, Art Direction, Visual Effects, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing), out of 11 nominations, making it the year's most Oscar-nominated film! But the public did not, regrettably, flock to see it in the required numbers. It was quite a hit in Italy, where it made 7.3 mil. €. In the US, it made 73.8 mil. $ (40 % of the total gross), following its 15.4 mil. $ opening weekend. Besides better posters, it might have helped it Hugo had had one or two significant non-white actors in its ensemble as well.]
What do you think of Hugo?
