An interesting change of pace from some of his grittier films, Hugo is Martin Scorsese’s 3D celebration of cinema/magical mystery tour through 1930s France. The film, an adaptation of Brian Selznick’s novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret, follows the eponymous young protagonist, an orphan who secretly lives in the walls of a Paris railway station, as he attempts to unlock the mystery of a clockwork automaton, which he believes holds a message from his deceased father. Continue reading
When I first learned that they were making an American version of Let the Right One In, one of my favorite films of 2008, I was less than thrilled. The original Swedish version is a beautifully bleak horror-fantasy, an understated, macabre pseudo-fairytale, equal parts eeriness and whimsy. Very good. Very dark. Very Swedish. To be perfectly honest, I was kinda pissed that they would try to Americanize Let the Right One In. How could they? But, when I learned that Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) was directing, Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass) was starring, and Hammer (a name long synonymous with horror films) was producing, I decided to look on the bright side of life, if you will, hoping Let Me In would be good… and would therefore lead people to check out the amazing source material. That’s the nature of the beast, right? A foreign movie gets made, does well, piques enough interest that the studios think, “Hey, maybe we should remake this for all the people who are put off by subtitles,” and voila, Wings of Desire spawns City of Angels… fortunately, Let Me In is no City of Angels. Continue reading
