Hugo

If you've ever wondered where your dreams come from, you look around... this is where they're made.

Hugo is truly original cinema. A film harking back to the glory days of cinema, truly capturing the magic of film making now usurped by CGI and illegal downloads. I watched a pirated version, naturally, but it was a good rip.

Scene

Put simply the film is magical. A simple story of an orphan living in amongst the walls and clocks of a train station, fascinated by mechanics and film, whose only memory of his father is an ‘automaton’ which they started to build together and he is trying to complete. Hugo is played brilliantly by Asa Butterfield who stars alongside Sacha Baron Cohen, Sir Ben Kingsley and the rising fame of actress Chloë Grace Moretz. Just don't look at the poor boys flaring nostrils, it'll drive you mad.

Take

I’m still not sure whether it’s a good kid’s film. I enjoyed it, film buffs would enjoy it and the Academy certainly enjoyed it (it won 5 Oscars), but can children really enjoy a film without monsters, aliens or a cat with a Spanish accent? My girlfriend, who loves kid’s films, got bored and I couldn’t help but wonder if kids would be genuinely excited by the storyline.

A screenshot from the first ever sci-fi 'A Trip to the Moon', which is featured in the film.

Maybe Scorcese’s kids made him do it so at least they could learn more about cinema without listening to their Dad bore them over the Sunday Roast. This is one thing the film does achieve; it gives you a very interesting insight into the history of cinema. Kingsley’s character, Georges Méliès, is a genuine director, and the film features actual footage from the early 20^th century. A novel idea but I’m not sure if kids would be interested when it’s cloudy with a chance of meatballs. Well, unless they’re Scorcese’s kids.

Director

What can I say? It’s Scorcese. The man is a movie marvel. He is to Spielberg what Pegg is to Cruise; a bigger geek and a more refined talent. But then to compare Scorcese to Spielberg would mean comparing Hugo to E.T and that’s a a battle Hugo can't win. The only kids film that beats E.T is The Goonies, and I won’t hear any argument against it.

But back to Hugo; it is directed superbly, rich in colour with sleek , inventive editing, it’s what anyone would expect from the man who knows movies. The plot unravels nicely as the film progresses, balancing neatly between adult and child expectations. The film maintains an innocence that is often lacking these days but has more than enough charm and intelligence to keep the grown-ups interested.

And... Cut.

I thought truly original children’s films like this died with the birth of CGI and the rise of Pixar but Scorcese has reinvigorated live-action for kids. And even the brats can’t sit still you can definitely enjoy this one on your own.

A point I think I must make is that Hugo was shot in 3D and I feel that I lost part of the magic of the film by watching it in 2D standard definition. I can certainly see that the depth that Scorcese applied to many of the scenes would have been improved by seeing it at the cinema. As Empire aptly described it (before giving it an inevitable 4 stars)- it’s the most beautiful fan-fiction yet written.

The film was designed for cinema, by a true connoisseur. But, obviously, seeing it at the cinema is somewhat difficult now so I would recommend purchasing the Blu-ray. Or watch it on your 3D TV if you got lucky in the London riots.

If you're that way inclined some geeky stuff about the film can be found here.

The Grey

Once more into the Frey...

In many ways The Grey is the perfect film to start this blog with; it’s a film that I’m glad I didn’t get to see at the cinema and a film I definitely would have been disappointed if I had bought it on DVD. But nevertheless I still enjoyed watching it. Mostly.

Scene

The film follows seven oil workers and a skilled huntsman (Liam Neeson) who become stranded in Alaska after their plane crashes. They have to salvage what they can and try and find help. Oh and there’s wolves. Cunning wolves who try to take them out one by one just for funsies.

Take

I was excited to see this film for one reason and one reason only; Liam Neeson fighting a wolf. With glass on his knuckles. Badass. But it’s not what you think. I won’t throw any spoilers in but you will probably feel a little let down. This, aptly, sums up the film; there is promise of a decent survivor flick but it never quite grabs you.

The main positive and the reason I didn’t cry myself to sleep after The Grey was the solid cast. You know you’re not going to get any decent tears out of Neeson but it was another solid performance from him. The others were low in the Hollywood elite but pulled out some fine performances, most notably Frank Grillo (the good looking chap from Prison Break) who was very good as the antagonist of the group.

Rumour has it the idea for The Grey came from the popular internet meme 'Insanity Wolf'. True story.

Director

Overall the direction was a little disjointed and you never really got any sense of purpose or progress. This may have been intentional, as when stranded in a snow environment survivors are often said to feel disoriented, but you shouldn’t feel that way as an audience.

The Grey did have some nice back story though and you can tell the angle that Carnahan (director) was going for but it didn’t quite make the grade. The storyline is basic, which is fine, as long as it’s underpinned by character development, is part of an overarching theme or at least has some pretty explosions. The only real “subtlety”, and I use the term very loosely, in the storyline is the rather blatant parallel between the group of men and the pack of wolves. This is the only real subject matter holding the film together, and it’s fairly weak. You never really empathise with any of the characters, which means you don’t really give a shit when they die.

Another point worth mentioning is the rather poor CGI. In one scene the group look out into the night and see an ominous set of eyes staring back…Scary. This is followed by a series of other sets of eyes which suddenly appear like stars in the night! It was like something out of a fucking cartoon. In general the CGI was disappointing. You don’t really get to see the wolves and when you do they look obviously animated or, when one of them is biting Neeson’s leg- a puppet. The director obviously spent too much money on fake snow.

And cut.

So the positives are few and far between but I still don’t regret watching it. The Grey did improve as the film went on and there were some genuinely tense parts which were enjoyable. But nonetheless I can’t help but feel I would have been left with that twang of disappointment if I had been to the cinema to watch it. I imagine it to be like going to the January sales; you go with high hopes of finding something special but end up slightly disappointed with a slight feeling of guilt. Don’t risk buying it, borrow it from the interwebs.