Hugo

[huntergrayson]

Piggybacking off of Martini Girl's post to say go see it now, folks -- because a lot of places have a limited number of 3D screens and it's being replaced, if this is still playing near you in 3D, do NOT walk, but run to the theater ASAP.

I literally gasped out loud at several points. It was that transporting and, well, magical.

[Deleted]

It is a great movie, probably one of Scorcese's best. It's visually stunning and well worth the extra money for the 3D.

[mariposalabrown]

Wow, I'm glad I read this thread, I thought at Christmas it was a kid's movie I would rent later on. So glad I saw it in 3D, just beautiful. Even the two action lover guys with me thought it was the best movie they had seen in awhile. Thanks!

[Deleted]

It was fabulous. Magical. No one wanted to leave the theater because you wanted to stay in that world just a little bit longer.

You know, I'm not a Scorcese fan...mostly because he's made movies about subjects I've had no interest in watching, so I haven't seen many of his films. But damn...I can sure see the superior artistry now...

[huntergrayson]

This may actually be profitable now since every single copy of the 3D Blu/Blu/DVD combo pack was sold out at Best Buy due to the Oscars. Which, I don't even have a 3D TV but am certainly going to buy the version that includes 3D now rather than having to rebuy it all again later when 3D TVs are better and standard.

[Ladybug]

We watched this last night and I regret not seeing it in the theater with 3D. It was wonderful! I didn't know very much about the plot going in but I just loved it. I learned a little bit about Melies many years ago for a film preservation project I worked on in grad school, mostly related to his contributions to early cinema and storytelling, but I didn't know much about his personal life. Looking at his wiki page it seems that Selznick stuck pretty closely to the facts of his life, right down to the automaton and owning the toy store in the train station.

Oh, and how great is it that this story came from David O. Selznick's cousin?

The next time I hear about Hollywood making another dumb remake of a sitcom or a movie based on an advice book, I am going to think of this movie and remind myself that there are still people out there creating meaningful, original stories.

[Deleted]

I just watched this and loved it. I really wish I had seen it on a big screen in 3D. But it was still magical. I knew almost nothing about the story and I'm kind of glad I didn't. Loved all the characters and thought that the acting was great. Asa Butterfield would make an awesome early Harry Potter, by the way (Radcliffe always looked too healthy and happy as a kid for my taste .

[mmmkrimpets]

Saw it in 3-D. Liked it a lot. I did notice that the colors were a bit more brilliant when I popped off the glasses. The speed in the opening scenes did cause me to get a bit dizzy. I wish that some of the shots when he was in the clock that made the 3-D spectacular had lingered for a few seconds longer. It's definitely a film for film's sake lover's movie!

[Malle Babbe]

Saw clips of this during the Oscars, and got curious. Saw it this week and utterly adored it. It is an amazing film even in 2D.

I think what I loved the most about it besides the visuals was the fact that it was about people who had passions in life that they embraced wholeheartedly; no ironic distancing at all. In the movie, you are constantly running into characters who love books, films (watching and making them), or getting lost in intricate clockwork devices to the point that being cut off from their passion is truly painful, and something that they genuinely grieve.

That is something that you don't see a lot of in media right now, and at quite a few points I found myself getting teary just by the sight of characters being so enthusiastic and passionate about what they love. The kid that played little Rene Tabard was utterly precious; and the double take by Hugo and Isabelle between Tabard and his picture in the Melies book cracked me up.

ETA: The library where Hugo and Isabelle meet Rene Tabard is an actual place as well, the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève.

[Deleted]

Oh man, I want to live in that library. Or in the book shop. All those books...::sigh::