Hugo Review

I was really looking forward to Hugo, here we have Martin Scorsese, the brilliant director of films such as Mean Streets, Goodfellas, Raging Bull and the Oscar winning The Departed (although let's all be honest Marty deserved Oscars for much more deserving other films in his filmography than that!) tackling a film with a U certificate! There would be no profanity, shootings, gangsters buried alive or hoodlums having their eyes popped while their heads are clamped in a vice!

It also brought into play his first foray into 3D, and I have to say despite some of the films shortcomings, in my view, the 3D here is the best I've seen since the blue people film, no not the Smurfs, Avatar.

Marty really kows how to move a camera and nothing is more startling than the opening shot when a panoramic view of Paris at night merges into the view inside of a working clock. I haven't seen a more startling opening than that in Fincher's Zodiac (I love those fireworks!)

So here we have a story about a little boy who lives in a clock, in a Paris railway station. In flashback we get to learn a little about his past and his relationship with his father. There are some lovely moments. We see the young boys friendship blossom with an orphan girl who has been taken in by an elderly propeirtor of a shop within the station, this young actress who plays the orphan has come a long way since Kick Ass and Let Me In.

Ben Kingsley (I'm not going to call him Sir because apparently he gets annoyed if you don't, and I think it's always fun to annoy a knight of the realm!) plays the elderly proprietor, and he does so very well. We learn more about this character as the film continues and learn that he was once a celebrated silent film-maker.

I greatly enjoyed the spectacle of the film and I have to say some of the sub characters seemed to hold my attention more than the main ones. Although the young actor playing the lead, did a great job, he was previously excellent in The Boy With The Striped Pyjamas, and in this you could truly believe that he wanted that notebook back!

Sacha Baron Cohen is superb as the station policeman, his romance with Emily Mortimer is beautifully realised. Cohen is a truly gifted physical comedian, and always seems to embody every character he plays. Richard Griffiths and Frances De La Tour make for a lovely couple also, their journey is warm and entertaining.

The film looks great but I was expecting more from it. The trailer would have us believe that this is almost a Narnia type of film, with children, fantasy, new worlds to discover. But it's not quite that.

The last half hour of the film felt a little bit self congratulatory to me, this almost feels like the film Scorsese would seek to make had he not already won his best director Oscar, as it seems to pander to the Academy with its lauding of the silent era, alongside numerous clips and explanation of the period.

I'm all for new generations to embrace the works of Keaton and Harold Lloyd etc. but at times this film seemed to veer into film lecture territory rather than film territory. It looks great and there is not a false note from any of the players but it left me a bit cold, as if I'd watched half of an amazing children's fantasy directed by one of the worlds greatest directors but then a documentary about the silent film era seemed to be shoehorned onto the end.

Perhaps a film I will appreciate more on repeat viewings. I think The Artist looks like a much better way of celebrating the silent era, by being a silent film itself rather than a history lesson about silent film.

Hugo gets 3 stars out of 5

The Thing review (2011)

This new Thing (maybe they should have called it that? The New Thing!) Is billed as a prequel to the 1982 John Carpenter classic (came out same week as E.T. in the US! Was always going to struggle. Americans like cute aliens who can heal and cause bicycles to fly.)

Some are calling it a prequel remake.

It is set in 1982 and for the first 20 mins I was hopeful that this might stand alongside the original. There were hints of Carpenter's score and a good autopsy scene, as well as first reveal of the creature.

But it is all downhill from the "helicopter scene" where the creature has taken over a chap sitting in a helicopter.

The effects are awful. What made the original a classic is a real sense of tension as well as Rob Bottin's classic practical effects. This picture relies far too much on completely unconvincing CGI which makes it look like a PS3 game when the alien cuts loose from its human host. We're not scared, we're disappointed at the ropey graphics.

The FX in the '82 original look better than this! They should have used more practical FX and augmented them slightly with some CGI.

The film is also not scary enough. Hardly any tension or sense of caring for these Norwegian scientists. Admittedly I go into a film like this wanting to be scared and looking for the cool ways the creature might materialise. None of that happened. In the original there is the classic "head spider" scene as well as the "arm eating stomach" moment! Nothing like that to compare here.

Things that did work- I liked the bi-lingual nature of the film, making the Americans more outsiders, and allowed for comments from the Norwegians that they wouldn't understand (but subtitled for us.)

I liked the "filling" scene and the whole story thread that the alien can only replicate organic tissue, so it wouldn't have fillings, metal leg pins, earrings etc.

The end title segue into the original was well done, and made me want to re-watch the far superior original.

Which I will do soon. On blu ray. In the dark. With the heating off, and a synthesizer nearby.

The Thing then is a disappointing 2 stars out of 5

Back in the blogosphere!

I thought it was about time I got back into blogging, what with becoming a Daddy for the first time in a few days!

There's also the fact that I am now starting to perform stand up comedy around the country on a fairly regular basis.

Plus of course the films! Love my films! So will post a review on here of every film I see, at the pictures (cinema!) anything I missed on Sky or which I have recently purchased on Blu Ray.

Also with an IPad I can now write while we watch TV programmes which don't require my full attention!

I will also just write some general thoughts about life and things I observe!

This is well overdue, looking forward to our imminent arrival as well as seeing Hugo and The Thing prequel (which I know will be a disappointment but somehow I need to see!)