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- Review count2
- Helpfulness votes0
- First reviewDecember 4, 2011
- Last reviewJanuary 16, 2012
- Featured reviews0
- Average rating3.5
dcguyhere2000's Reviews
Overall rating
3
/
5
Harry Potter Knock-Off
PostedJanuary 16, 2012
dcguyhere2000
from McLean, VA
Director Martin Scorsese decided to tap into the 3-D craze with a Harry Potter knock-off that simultaneously pays homage to Scorsese's father, who sent him "messages" early in his career as a film-maker, and to one of the fathers of motion pictures, Georges Melies, best known for a one-reeler about a trip to the moon. The result is a slow-moving, effects-heavy, child-centered, feel-good bit of nostalgia set in a Balzacian Paris in the 1930's. It was either this or football on a Sunday afternoon, and we chose this.
I remember 3-D when it came with red and green glasses in a cardboard frame. Then it was spooky. Now it just distorts spatial perceptions and is mildly bothersome. .
All of the characters in Hugo are too cute. The kids are too cute, of course, but so is the station gendarme with a stiff leg, who passes for a bad guy, the old lady with a tiny dog, assorted shopkeepers, the man who drives the train, and even an automaton that bears an uncanny resemblance to R2D2. If the characters are too cute, this must be a family film.
The homage to Melies, on the other hand, was fun. He grew out of a French vaudeville career, and his movies were fantasies ripe with costumed music hall dancers. It was enjoyable seeing him at work. Melies was played here, all too ponderously in his old age, by Ben Kingsley.
But the best part of the movie was two or three mild dirty jokes that presumably went over the heads of the intended core viewers. Scorsese always makes you laugh.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
4
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5
Not Being There
PostedDecember 4, 2011
dcguyhere2000
from McLean, VA
The Met's HD transmissions on the multiplex screen are good shows. The close-ups, the back-stage interviews, and even the promos of upcoming performances all make for great remotes, more like made-for-television movies than theatrical experiences. But not being there -- not being in the house in New York -- has its limits: the Met's normal lighting is inadequate for HD, the sound is definitely low-fidelity (lacking in highs, lows, and proper volume), and of course there are no fly-away chandeliers or intermission champagne to be had. At bottom, you get what you pay for, which is a lot less than a seat even in the family circle. Seeing an opera on the big screen is an alternative to traveling to New York for a live performance or hearing it on satellite radio, but it isn't necessarily the best alternative.
"Rodelinda" was definitely well sung, especially by Renee Fleming and Stephanie Blythe, but the listener had to use his imagination to add hall acoustics or pick out shapes on the dark stage. The direction and sets were first-rate. The music was -- well -- Handel, so it couldn't be disappointing. It was interesting to hear one of Handel's 40 operas produced over the half generation before he gave up Italian opera for English oratorios. The interviews of the two countertenors -- we've had The Three Tenors and The Three Irish Tenors; why not The Three Countertenors? -- the conductor, and Fleming and Blythe were fun.
I'll be attending the next few HD transmissions of the Met, and I am hoping that the producers can improve the lighting and sound quality of future performances.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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