Movie Review: Hugo

 Hugo 
(2011)

Directed by: Martin Scorsese 
Soundtrack by: Howard Shore

★★★★★

Going into this movie, I didn't really know what to expect. I had a general synopsis at my disposal of what the basic plot of the movie was, but other than that I wasn't really sure what I was suppose to be looking for. All I knew was that it was a Martin Scorsese film and that I'd probably like it even if it was just for the way the scenes were shot or the soundtrack. Cleaning theaters while the credits play gave me a hint of what I was to expect from at least the music department. So with the basics, I went into this movie, prepared to just experience another movie.

I came out of this movie completely stunned. It was an amazing film, and I don't really even know how to begin. I'm not a huge fan of child actors, but Asa Butterfield and Chloe Grace Moretz were absolutely phenomenal. They played their roles very convincingly and there was no doubt that they understood what kind of role they had. Butterfield played Hugo, an orphan who tends to the clocks in the train station after his father passes away, trying to rebuild an automaton which is the only thing he has left to remember his father. This movie takes a lot of twists and turns that I wasn't expecting, and you could just tell each person knew how to portray the character they were suppose to. The directing was amazing, and each scene was done as well as you'd imagine it to be. In the beginning, there's a long scene where it shows Hugo running through the hidden passages in the wall, and the way that the camera follows him and loops around just really shows you the intricacies of the scene. 


The way the coloring was in the film was different too. Most of the colors were really sharp, but then when it would fade back into a characters memory, the colors would soften as if to show that it was a glimpse into the distant past. I thought it was a really creative touch, and it really should the attention to detail that they had when making this movie. Between the enticing background music that played throughout the movie, the passion that these actors exuded and everything else in between, this movie really was spectacular. There were some cameos by Emily Mortimer, Christopher Lee (I seriously laughed a little because the first thing he says just makes you go, SARUMAN!) and several others, that just helped make the in-between background scenes add to the film that slowly remind you that there are more things going on at once than are lead to believe. I was surprised by the role of Sacha Baron Cohen, because considering past roles, I didn't think he was capable of playing a role that wasn't border-lining the ridiculous. Despite all that, though, he did an excellent job playing the awkward, goofy yet authoritative Station Inspector. I was thoroughly pleased to see him playing something different than his usual roles. 


And Ben Kingsly, where do I even begin? Without really knowing it in the beginning, he just plays a seemingly angry man who owns a toy shop, but as the story continues to grow you soon begin to see that he's a man haunted by his own prestigious past, who tries to ignore the downfall of his career, which he was so passionate and lively about. The hurt is carried heavily upon his shoulders, and you soon begin to see him as a broken man, simply trying to forget the one thing that brought him absolute happiness. It isn't until the end where you begin to see the life flow back into the character, and the gratitude that he has towards Hugo for helping him re-achieve his happiness. 


I wish I was more articulate so I could continue writing about this, but really it's one of those movies you just need to go see for yourself, to experience each scene and each person. I will say, though, that I didn't expect to tear up or cry as much as I did through this movie, and especially at the end where Asa Butterfield is yelling and crying at Sacha Cohen, trying to convince him to let him go because he has something he has to do, and because he doesn't understand why his father died and why he was alone but there was something he really needed to do and that it was his only chance to do so. The acting was simply amazing, and the way that Butterfield said his lines were very convincing, and the way Cohen's face contorted into conflict on whether or not to let Hugo go or not...absolutely amazing. 


I might add more to this someday, when I end up getting it and can remember more than I do now, but really this movie was just so good and it was just as amazing and I wanted it to be. I am glad I didn't see it in 3-D though, that was a definitely plus.

Movie Review: The Adjustment Bureau

 The Adjustment Bureau
(2011)
Director: George Nolfi 
Soundtrack by: Thomas Newman


★★☆☆☆


I'm not really sure how to start with The Adjustment Bureau, or where. It was an okay movie, at best, and had potential to be so much better than it was. Not having read the book by Phillip K. Dick, I can't say for sure if it was how the book intended, and if it was suppose to turn into a romance story of fighting your fate and creating your own destiny, but the sudden romantic impact, in my personal opinion, is what killed it. I was fortunate enough to have watched the blu-ray for it, so the quality of it was still really nice. So at least there was that.

The main problem I had was the sudden interjection of romance into the story. Like, okay, sure. It's cool that she was there in the beginning to help impact his decision to make a better speech when he was down for the count, a speech which yes, did save him. But to suddenly have him so infatuated with a women he met for about five minutes and have him suddenly trying to search for her for three years while claiming he was in love with her, it was a bit much with a dash of incredibly creepy. I'm not sure about you, but if I personally met somebody once or twice and the next time I saw them was after a duration of three years and the other person is going, "Oh my god I took the same bus everyday hoping I'd see you" or "I walked down the park the same way" ect ect., I'd be a little creeped out. It's not remotely normal for somebody to do that, and breaks through the parameters of reality.

Unless you're a stalker or something.

Anyways, I just wasn't sold on the whole idea because of the way it was played out. The movie could have been so much better than it was, and I wish I had something more positive to say. They brought in a lot of interesting concepts that I really wish the script would have touched more on, but they simply brought the ideas to surface and then kind of let them die a moment or so after. They talk about free-will and destinies but there aren't any notions to really show what they mean by it. Some of the characters were contradicting to their description, and as a great example, Terrence Stamp. The moment his character is brought up, everyone talks about how cold he is and how he's a "hammer", but there is nothing in the film to show for any of this. In fact, he does almost basically the opposite of his description. 

I was legitimately let down. The ending was incredibly cheesy, and even before it got to that point, it just became humorous to watch it even get to that point. The music was nice, though. It was hard to pay attention to most of it since I was trying to figure out what exactly was going on in Matt Damon's character as to why he was being like this. Then there was also a mention of a backstory to how they were suppose to be together, but the 'plan' was changed several times and therefore pushed them together.



I don't know. I just overall was incredibly let down by a movie that could have been so much greater than it was.

Movie Review: Amelie

Amélie

(2001)
Directed by: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Soundtrack by: Yann Tiersen

 ★★★★☆





I've always been an advocate of foreign films. There's something about the language barrier that has always drawn me in and kept me intrigued. Of these films, I've seen bad ones, and I've seen good ones. Amelie is definitely one of those films that I would rate on a higher scale than others. It's a mystically charming movie, full of whimsical adventures and goofy scenes. The movie, as a whole, is well put together. The cinematography, while it was slightly difficult for me to enjoy fully because I was enjoying it from a Netflix stream, was really quite lovely. All the colors molded together well, and all the characters were very quirky.

The main character is this girl in her early twenties named Amelie Poulian, who is played by Audrey Tautou, and she's this very innocent, naive and awkward character. The easiest way for me to put it, is that she's more like a social outcast with her own "sense of justice". She goes around fixing the problems of others, really, in cute and bizarre ways after stumbling upon a metallic box that was hidden away in her apartment. Her co-workers, the man from the little grocery outlet in front of her building, and of course the photobooth guy.

I think one of the reasons I've really come to love this movie, even after only seeing it once, was because of how well I related to Amelie. You always grow fond of the things you have some connection with, I suppose, and this is definitely the case with Amelie. Dreamers have to find their own way in life, because they're not like normal people who can carry about reality. They're whimsical people, who float through the world seeing things not as everyone else, but simply in a different way. They dream of things that happen, how things will become. They dream of things most people don't. I found myself in Amelie tonight, with her charming smile and her goofy wardrobe, as she gallivanted through people's lives trying to change and fix things from a distance.

There was one particular part in the movie I loved the most, after she was helping her father. She was asked, who would help you? Or something similar. She replied with,

"It's better to help people than a garden gnome."

That thought process of helping other people while disregarding your own problems is something I just simply related to well.

I could recommend this movie to everyone and anyone. It's charming. It's really, and I know I've used this word a lot, but it's full of whimsy, it's full of character. It's a quirky romantic comedy about a girl who seeks her own justice and finds love in the process. Jean-Pierre Jeunet did an unbelievably fantastic job directing thsi film, and don't even get me started on the soundtrack, that was done by Yann Tiersen. The music couldn't possibly have matched up with a movie more perfectly than this. Like I said previously, the whole movie is completely well put together, actors, filming and music wise, and I can't say that I'd ever grow tired of this movie. It's just too cute, honestly.