Hugo – Best Picture Nominee

Posted by Charmaine Blake on Feb 1st, 2012 in Family Movies, Fantasy, Mystery, Oscar Buzz | 0 comments

Hugo – Best Picture Nominee

Hugo is one of the best picture nominees for the 2012 Oscars and we are going to give everybody a closer look at this Oscar nominated film. The director of Hugo, Martin Scorsese is also nominated for Best Director. Hugo was able to gain 11 nominations including Best Picture and Best Director. Here at New Movie Launches, we will provide you some of the great movies that made their way to the Oscar nominations. This will be the first article in a series of other articles where we will be examining the entire Oscar nominated movies for this year. Let’s take a look at what people had to say about the Best Picture Nominee – Hugo :

“Having been revered as a master for decades and functioning at the top of his game as he approaches 70, Martin Scorsese would seem to have nothing else to prove. So it’s thrilling to see him make a bold, creative leap with “Hugo,” which is not only an unusual family film from him but also his first movie in 3-D.

Scorsese doesn’t just tinker with this new-fangled technology, he embraces it fully. This is the most dazzling use of 3-D yet — more so than the vaunted “Avatar.” Scorsese has completely realized the production with a third dimension in mind and maximized it for its immersive qualities, a joy to behold at a time when so many films are shot in 2-D and shoddily converted to 3-D after the fact. All the flawless production values you’d expect from a Scorsese film are in place, with the director reuniting with so many members of the creative team with which he’s worked over the years, including editor Thelma Schoonmaker and production designer Dante Ferretti.

It’s also awe-inspiring to consider that he has conveyed the importance of film preservation — a cause that’s close to his heart — but done so in forward-thinking fashion, in the highest of high-tech ways. It takes a little while for the narrative to find its way in, though; the first half of John Logan’s script feels like it meanders a bit as it establishes all its figures and lays out all its puzzle pieces.

Based on the Brian Selznick children’s book “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” “Hugo” takes place at a train station in 1930s Paris, where the title character, a wide-eyed orphan played by Asa Butterfield, secretly lives in the walls and keeps all the clocks running on time. In a lengthy, beautifully fluid opening sequence reminiscent of his famous restaurant-entry tracking shot in “Goodfellas,” Scorsese swoops through the hustle and bustle of the crowded station before soaring up and into a clock perched high above the action to reveal the boy’s presence. He also pays detailed attention to the various grinding gears and hidden hallways that keep this cavernous place in constant motion.

Hugo is fascinated by machinery, a hobby he shared with his late father, played in flashbacks by Jude Law. The one item that still connects him with his beloved dad is a shiny metallic automaton the two were fixing together. As it turns out, this machine may also connect him with the mean old man who works at the train station toy shop, played with gruffness and grace — and a secret — by Ben Kingsley.”

You can read the full movie review at Navy Times.

Make sure you stay tuned for more in depth look at Oscar nominated films and actors right in this blog.

Charmaine Blake loves movies, musical theater listening to music and taking pictures of anything that she finds interesting. She is a voracious reader and writer, and enjoys her time writing for New Movie Launches. Charmaine loves spending time with her pets and currently has a Siberian Husky, a toy poodle and a cat.