Hugo Thread of Scorcese Showing Everybody How to Make Kid's Movies

[Great Rumbler]

Bursting with earned emotion, Hugo is a mechanism that comes to life at the turn of a key in the shape of a heart.

A haunting, piquant melodrama about childhood dreams and yearnings, enhanced with a pleasant survey course in early film history.

"Films have the power to capture dreams," Méliès said, and the way they've captured Scorsese's can't be denied.

A personal statement disguised as a sellout.

Scorsese's mad infatuation with films and filmmaking streams through every frame of this gorgeous adventure.

It's serious, beautiful, wise to the absurdity of life and in the embrace of a piercing longing.

48 reviews, 46 positive. 8.5/10 average score.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hugo/

[Bebpo]

Lot of good films coming out tomorrow and then next week. 

Going to be hard to choose between Muppets, Hugo, A Dangerous Method, and The Artist if I see something this weekend.  Next week I'm seeing Shame and the new Kitano movie for sure.

[Tasty]

Wow I expected good reviews but not this good. 

Really want to see it now.

[fistfulofmetal]

only reason to watch it is Chloe

[Howard Alan Treesong]

I'm really surprised - the trailers looked AWFUL - but happy to hear it. The book was good and the subject matter is quite obviously meant for the cinema.

[Shadow Mod]

I'm really surprised - the trailers looked AWFUL - but happy to hear it. The book was good and the subject matter is quite obviously meant for the cinema.

The music didn't help at all.

[Bebpo]

Trailers these days make good movies look awful and awful movies look good.

[Phoenix Dark]

I'll give it a shot. The trailers definitely looked bad. Reminds me of what happened with Enchanted; the trailers sell it as a Shrek-esque affair, but it's actually classic Disney.

[Bebpo]

Went and saw this after work since I'll probably see Muppets tomorrow with relatives.  I saw it in 2d because I hate 3d movies.

At first I was like hmmmmmmmm, what am I doing watching a kids movie? because the first 10-15 mins are very very wonka wonka kiddy.  But then it got better.  And then it got better than better.  And then it got EVEN better.  And 2 hours later (MOVIE IS LONG BTW, DAMN YOU SCORSESE I HAVE TO PEE) it's a fantastic film as the credits roll.  Would recommend.

The only thing is that some of the acting is very hammy like the main girl but other characters aren't and it's a little hard to get if they were going for a camp kids period feel or not.  Ben Kingsly and the main kid are really good throughout. 

[Bebpo]

Ok, reading up on it, I didn't know it was sort of based on a true story.  Definitely makes it more interesting of a film.

[Solo]

Seeing it tonight

[Solo]

I loved it. Much like Tarantino did with Inglourious Basterds, Hugo is Scorsese writing a love letter to cinema more than anything else. The movie had real heart and the kids were great and I absolutely loved how Scorsese both recreated and simply showed lots of shots from classic movies. Really loved the score and aesthetic of the movie too. Probably my favorite of the year so far.

EDIT: somehow I still manage to stick a 'c' into Scorsese even after spelling it a thousand times.

[Cheebo]

Saw this today. Great great movie. Way better than the trailer. Imo it goes without saying that The Muppets is the better of this weeks new family films (if you haven't seen The Muppets yet GO NOW.) but I really loved this. Two great family movies in one week.

Speaking of which whose bright idea was it to release it against The Muppets? The movie is tracking to be a complete bomb this week (and on a 170 mil budget) http://www.deadline.com/2011/11/first-box-office-breaking-dawn-1-again-the-muppets-2-happy-feet-3-arthur-christmas-4-hugo-5/.

Releasing against the biggest family movie of the fall and the terrible trailers. Every decision behind releasing this has been terrible. And it's too bad since its really good.

[Bebpo]

Yeah, financially it's totally fucked.  Good thing Scorsese doesn't have to worry about funding projects anymore.

Going to see it again in 3D next week because everyone is raving about how it uses the 3D as a literary agent to show playing with a new technology in film as George did at the turn of the century.  Will be interesting to see how the scenes compare.

[Great Rumbler]

Speaking of which whose bright idea was it to release it against The Muppets? The movie is tracking to be a complete bomb this week (and on a 170 mil budget) http://www.deadline.com/2011/11/first-box-office-breaking-dawn-1-again-the-muppets-2-happy-feet-3-arthur-christmas-4-hugo-5/.

Releasing against the biggest family movie of the fall and the terrible trailers. Every decision behind releasing this has been terrible. And it's too bad since its really good.

And they only released it in 1,200 theaters.

[chronovore]

Yeah, financially it's totally fucked.  Good thing Scorsese doesn't have to worry about funding projects anymore.

Going to see it again in 3D next week because everyone is raving about how it uses the 3D as a literary agent to show playing with a new technology in film as George did at the turn of the century.  Will be interesting to see how the scenes compare.

It'll probably do well on home video once word of mouth gets out. Didn't Nightmare Before Christmas tank horribly, only to become a huge hit later on home vid?

[Great Rumbler]

Yeah, financially it's totally fucked.  Good thing Scorsese doesn't have to worry about funding projects anymore.

Going to see it again in 3D next week because everyone is raving about how it uses the 3D as a literary agent to show playing with a new technology in film as George did at the turn of the century.  Will be interesting to see how the scenes compare.

It'll probably do well on home video once word of mouth gets out. Didn't Nightmare Before Christmas tank horribly, only to become a huge hit later on home vid?

$50 million on an $18 million budget.

[Solo]

Hugo > Muppets

[Cheebo]

De Palma has sucked for like 25 years but in his prime he did some amazing films (no the vastly over-rated Scarface & Carrie are not one of them). I'd hold up stuff like Phantom of the Paradise & Blow Out with Scorsese & Coppola of the same time period/


You saw both films too then Solo? Both are really good films but I give Muppets the edge. Both films are of course must see though.

[Cheebo]

edit: oops

[Solo]

No, only saw Hugo. But Muppets stars and was written by Jason Segel, so Hugo > it.

[Great Rumbler]

I really liked Mission to Mars. 

[Cheebo]

De Palma has sucked for like 25 years but in his prime he did some amazing films (no the vastly over-rated Scarface & Carrie are not one of them). I'd hold up stuff like Phantom of the Paradise & Blow Out with Scorsese & Coppola of the same time period/

Haven't seen Blow Out or Phantom of the Paradise yet, but yeah Scarface is just an excess of the male fantasy(money, women, etc.) with all that stuff us men get a hard on for(violence, crime, etc.). It was alright for what it was but man gangsta rappers should stop talking about it all the time.

De Palma's studio films are awful.  But his smaller movies in his prime were often fantasic. De Palma's smaller 70's/80's movies are up there with Coppola & Scorsese. It's too bad that De Palma isn't the one most see.

[Cheebo]

I remember watching Raising Cain and thinking "this is a poor man's Cape Fear"

Yeah that's one of his shitty movies.

When De Palma was doing stuff like that he was incredible:

[Phoenix Dark]

Carlito's Way
Mission Impossible

sorry guys, it's genetically impossible for me to shit on Scarface. It's not "good" but it's entertaining

[Great Rumbler]

I really liked Mission to Mars. 

Go sit in the corner and don't speak.

Hey, I didn't say I was proud of that.

[Cheebo]

Carlito's Way
Mission Impossible

sorry guys, it's genetically impossible for me to shit on Scarface. It's not "good" but it's entertaining

90's De Palma can't ever compare to this:

[CajoleJuice]

Mission to Mars is so so so fucking bad

[Human Snorenado]

Having a hard time reconciling the idea that Hugo is good, given the trailer and the fact that it's pity-Oscar era Marty but I will see it eventually.

Also, discussion time- David Fincher is the best director of the past 15 years.  Yes/no reasons why.

[Human Snorenado]

I think Fight Club, Zodiac and The Social Network really just sort of stomp everybody else's body of work in the same time period.

[Great Rumbler]

I think Fight Club, Zodiac and The Social Network really just sort of stomp everybody else's body of work in the same time period.

Fargo, The Big Lebowski, The Man Who Wasn't There, No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, and True Grit.

[Phoenix Dark]

Coens take it. BUT Zodiac>No Country For Old Men

[Great Rumbler]

Also, from a purely personal standpoint, I'd also list Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Cure, Charisma, Pulse, Bright Future, Doppelganger, and Tokyo Sonata...I just love those movie to irrationally high levels.

Coens take it. BUT Zodiac>No Country For Old Men

Hmm...I'd have to think about that one.

[Human Snorenado]

I think Fight Club, Zodiac and The Social Network really just sort of stomp everybody else's body of work in the same time period.

Fargo, The Big Lebowski, The Man Who Wasn't There, No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, and True Grit.

The problem w/ the Coens is that they also made some meh movies in that time period:  Intolerable Cruelty, Ladykillers, Burn After Reading.  Their best stuff is arguably better than Fincher's but their overall body of work imo falls short.  Fincher just doesn't make bad movies really, other than maybe Panic Room.

[Great Rumbler]

I think Fight Club, Zodiac and The Social Network really just sort of stomp everybody else's body of work in the same time period.

Fargo, The Big Lebowski, The Man Who Wasn't There, No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, and True Grit.

The problem w/ the Coens is that they also made some meh movies in that time period:  Intolerable Cruelty, Ladykillers, Burn After Reading.  Their best stuff is arguably better than Fincher's but their overall body of work imo falls short.  Fincher just doesn't make bad movies really, other than maybe Panic Room.

Intolerable Cruelty is a surprisingly good movie, much better than the Ladykillers. Burn After Reading is a total guilty pleasure movie; it's not that good as a whole, but it's got some really funny moments and some great characters.

Ladykillers was just bad, though. Very disappointing, especially after how great the original was.

[Shadow Mod]

I think Fight Club, Zodiac and The Social Network really just sort of stomp everybody else's body of work in the same time period.

I still agree but I like Iñárritu's track record thus far: Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Biutiful, I think people have mixed feelings about Babel.

[Human Snorenado]

Ok, but you can't seriously be saying that Int Cruelty, Burn etc are on the same tier as No Country, Fargo, Serious Man and Lebowski.  That's just fundamentally not true.

Cowbell- those are all pretty good but for me I prefer Cuaron's work, just wish he would make some new shit.  Children of Men, for me, is easily the single best movie made last decade.

[Great Rumbler]

Ok, but you can't seriously be saying that Int Cruelty, Burn etc are on the same tier as No Country, Fargo, Serious Man and Lebowski.  That's just fundamentally not true.

Of course not, those four are God-tier.

[Shadow Mod]

Ok, but you can't seriously be saying that Int Cruelty, Burn etc are on the same tier as No Country, Fargo, Serious Man and Lebowski.  That's just fundamentally not true.

Cowbell- those are all pretty good but for me I prefer Cuaron's work, just wish he would make some new shit.  Children of Men, for me, is easily the single best movie made last decade.

Cuaron is awesome as well. Almodovar is weird but I really enjoy his stuff too.

[Phoenix Dark]

I enjoyed Benjamin Button but it is pretty weak and it does take his filmographies quality down a bit.

Benjamin Button >>>> The Social Network, IMO.

I need to watch The Social Network just so I can laugh at you. Benjy Button was meh, and that's coming from the biggest Forrest Gump fan you know

[Human Snorenado]

You guys should hang out, so I can take care of that problem all at once.

The Social Network is actually a really, really good movie.  I say this as someone who scoffed at the notion and predicted it was gonna suck serious dick.  Should have known better- Fincher is the man.

[Human Snorenado]

Benjamin Button is a better movie than Forrest Gump.  But then again so is Pootie Tang for fucks sakes.

[Shadow Mod]

Jesse Eisenberg has been in much better movies than Michael Cera could ever hope to be in. And yeah Creep The Social Network was pretty surprisingly good, one of my favorites of last year.

I thought I wasn't going to be into it but the non-linear style and pacing was excellent. Not to mention the quips in there, great writing.

[Phoenix Dark]

Benjamin Button is a better movie than Forrest Gump.  But then again so is Pootie Tang for fucks sakes.

[Human Snorenado]

Benjamin Button is a better movie than Forrest Gump.  But then again so is Pootie Tang for fucks sakes.

Uh huh.  You have the worst taste of like, anyone

Wrath- Adventureland is good but check out Squid and the Whale if you haven't seen it yet

[Great Rumbler]

And The Social Network had a soundtrack by Trent Reznor, how can anyone not like that?

[Phoenix Dark]

Zodiac didn't win much of anything, and it bombed. That bummed me out so much. I can see how the procedural aspect would turn people off, but there are enough "oommph" moments punctuated throughout the film to keep folks interested.

[Phoenix Dark]

I'm just going to pretend I didn't read your TWBB blasphemy


trailer makes it look like a dark comedy or something. It's a rather long film with lots of talking, but "director of Seven"+cute lead should have equaled bigger results.

[Human Snorenado]

Almodovar over Fincher in a heartbeat in the last 15 years.  Also the Coen brothers.  Take Fincher's one masterpiece away and what does he have?

This is also where I bitch that The Departed won while The Aviator and Zodiac did not

Fuck, forgot about Almodovar, must have been drunk or something.  I'll give you that one, but Fincher makes very good films- he made The Game, Fight Club, Social Network and Benjamin Button in the past 15 years, not JUST Zodiac although that was clearly his best work.  He also made Panic Room but eeeeehhhhhhhh whatevs.  My point is that even when I don't particularly care for one of his movies (Benjamin Button) I can still appreciate that he puts a lot into his craft and the movie is solid as a film, whereas when the Coen Bros make a movie I don't care for I kind of would rather be punching my own dick than watching it.

[Eric P]

I really liked Mission to Mars. 

Go sit in the corner and don't speak.

I've never seen a De Palma I liked.

DRESSED TO KILL

[Howard Alan Treesong]

I really liked Mission to Mars. 

Go sit in the corner and don't speak.

I've never seen a De Palma I liked.

DRESSED TO KILL

BLOW OUT is very good, even if it's reheated BLOW UP

[chronovore]

De Palma just apes Hitchcock and doesn't bring anything new to the table. Real talk.

[Bebpo]

Almodovar over Fincher in a heartbeat in the last 15 years.  Also the Coen brothers.  Take Fincher's one masterpiece away and what does he have?

This is also where I bitch that The Departed won while The Aviator and Zodiac did not

I don't even know which movie this is?

Zodiac? 
Seven?
Social Network?
Fight Club?

Even Panic Room/Alien 3/BB/The Game are good, though flawed (and A3 is not really his fault).

[Phoenix Dark]

Eh, The Game is awesome

[Bebpo]

You might be right.  Haven't seen it in a while.

[Van Cruncheon]

payne > fincher

[Van Cruncheon]

although zodiac WAS fucknuts awesome

[TakingBackSunday]

I'm not sure I can answer that, but if I were to say yes my reason would be "ZODIAC"

i like/love the rest of his stuff, but Zodiac i really don't get. It's an okay movie, but that's pretty much all it is.

I think Zodiac is a very well-shot neo-noire that breaks a lot of Fincher clichés.  Look at a lot of his films: Seven, Fight Club, Panic Room, even the Game.  They all have a very similar cinematography, one thats claustrophobic and dark.  Sometimes this is good, but it had gotten a bit stale by Zodiac.  Zodiac benefits from having the best writer he's worked with to date as well as the best cast he's ever had.  And I think the source material gave Fincher a challenge to try something new with how he makes a film.  Benjamin Button was the extreme case of this, with ultimately resulting in a failure in both writing and filming.  Source material didn't fit his style at all.

I'd say Fincher's true GREAT movies are:

-Zodiac
-Fight Club
-The Social Network

The rest are good, give or take a film depending on your taste.  But the above three I think are his biggest accomplishments.

[Eel O'Brian]

I liked Body Double, mostly because it was so fucking sleazy

[Bebpo]

Saw Muppets, which was cute, but Hugo >>>>>>>>>> Muppets.