Hugo

The original book has turned into an unoriginal film in which every added thing is just excessive. A lot of scenes seem to have been made just for the vaunted 3D (especially the completely unnecessary train accident), the story is strangely sloppy, too set-up, and Sacha Baron Cohen makes too big a fool of himself... Yes, the direction is skillful, the love for Hugo films is also very nice, but I certainly didn't see anything groundbreaking. Which is quite a shame. I don't tend to do that, but this time I really want to scream: Read the book, it's so much better! (02/04/2014)

Martin and his big movie. Not his best, but undeniably his most personal. Here Scorsese (Hugo is him) professes his lifelong love of stories in the form of a melancholic kids’ movie which isn’t so much for kids, after all. And in addition to this he was the first to prove that 3D has its rightful place in cinema, where it can be something more than a mere good-looking bolt-on. Mainly and primarily this is a darn good movie; and that is all that is important in the end. (03/02/2012)

A movie about movies for people who like movies. Nothing earth-shattering in terms of story, but Marty reminds me of Méliès himself in terms of technical implementation and eye for detail. The same applies to the old captivating images hidden throughout the picture. Movies used to be a way of creating dreams, while today the audience wants to see reality. And isn’t there enough room for both? (25/02/2012)

I was really looking forward to "Hugo", although I have to say that I was really surprised by how many Oscar nominations this film received. It was quite clear that Martin Scorsese wouldn't receive any awards for himself, the Academy doesn't favor him. However, the film is really worth it. It's a beautiful fairytale excursion into history. The story is based - at least partially - on real historical figures and mainly on the history of cinema. It's a celebration of film, its first steps, but mainly a glorification of one great man who was a pioneer of film in his time. Martin Scorsese gave this beautiful story a solid direction, humor, characters that one can relate to, and the magic that maybe was missing in such a "Tintin". The film has excellent characters, both Sacha Baron Cohen, who has to redeem himself in the end, and the child characters who rule the film. It's a pleasant family show that moves you, doesn't offend, but you won't be cheering either. Plus points for Chloë Grace Moretz and Christopher Lee. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/04/diar-milovnika-filmu-c-0004-hugo-buh.html (15/02/2013)

Paradox: the simplest film illusion created in the most technically complex way. A return to the initial astonishment. For me, it’s not closest to The Artist and other parallels presented here, but rather Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Even Scorsese tries to return to the magical moment of ecstasy from the world of visions, to the dimension in which the image on the retina changes into the complex world behind it. I spent two hours in the movie theatre in bliss and ecstasy from something that was not and is not. Hugo's value is not in its (factually dubious) encyclopedic teachings, but in the fact that the film teaches us to rejoice in the imagination - not in the stimulating visual expansion that evokes its utter stunting, but in the journey into the interior in which the most beautiful spells are always performed, stimulated by the magic of pen and celluloid masters. I hope that one day I will raise a kid that the anachronistic illusionist Hugo will entertain, even with its embarrassingly romantic (and soothing) vision of the world as a mechanism in which everything has a fixed place... (06/03/2012)