Hugo? Hu-no

Rating: 4/10 (18 January 2017)

I'm a huge Scorsese fan, so I was excited to see this film. I knew going in that this was not the normal Scorsese work, so I was also curious and even a bit anxious to see him step outside of his typical genre. For the first hour or so, I was fascinated. For the next half hour, I became a bit bored, but still hoped for a satisfying payoff. When it finally came, I was massively disappointed. Maybe I missed something. But I'm pretty sure I didn't. I realize I'm in the minority of people who seriously dislike this movie, but I just don't understand what's so great about it. I gave it 4 stars due to gorgeous sets and cinematography, and pretty damn good acting. Too bad these potentially interesting characters had an immensely uninteresting story to work with. If you're not familiar with the plot, it centers around a boy who lives in and around a train station, set in days past, who dodges various surly types (Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen), while trying to unlock a mystery involving an automaton left behind by his deceased father. Sounds promising right? That's what I thought. I was wrong.