Scorsese scores again!

Rating: 8/10 (14 January 2012)

Legendary Director Martin Scorsese likes movies; he really, really likes them. Sorry to start this review with a Sally Field-esque play on words, but I just had to mention that since Scorsese's latest gem "Hugo" is Marty's love letter to movies and film preservation. "Hugo" stars child actor Asa Butterfield as the title character. Hugo is an orphan who lives in the walls of a Paris train station in the 1930's, and works the station's clock due to the absence of who is supposed to be working the clock that being Hugo's lush uncle who goes missing due to his clockwork drunkenness. Hugo's later father, played by Jude Law, was an inventor who was trying to fix a robot before his unfortunate death in a museum fire. Hugo goes to extremes to find a heart-shaped key to run the automation of the robot that his late father was working on. Hugo befriends Isabelle the goddaughter of George Melies, the cranky toy store owner whose past holds a cinematic secret that that might be the key to Hugo's robotic dreams. Scorsese's illuminating and heartfelt picture is truly movie magic due to the vision of master Marty. John Logan's "Hugo" screenplay was solid, but at times it stalled in its narrative progression. But in all, Logan's word-run with "Hugo" was worthy. Ben Kingsley was superb (when isn't he?) as Melies, and child actor Butterfield's time has come in the movie business with his impressive debut as Hugo. I have inspected Sacha Baron Cohen's performance as the Hugo-intimated "Station Inspector", and I must say that it passed its thespian inspection. Chloe Grace Moretz continues her rise to "tween actress" supremacy with another impressive turn, here with her charismatic performance as Isabelle. The art direction of "Hugo" is a piece of cinematic beauty with its timeless depiction of 1930's Paris; and in due time it will garner the Best Art Direction Academy Award. I think it's time for me to end my "Hugo" review. And the time has also come for you to set your clock for a "Hugo" viewing. **** Good