Sunday, February 19, 2012

Weekly Round-Up (2/13/12 - 2/19/12)

The Descendants (Alexander Payne) ***1/2 - Alexander Payne, for me at least, is a mixed bag of a filmmaker. I thought his early work, Citizen Ruth and Election are a lot stronger as a whole, from his latter works, About Schmidt and Sideways. This is like the latter two, an imperfect film, far from a masterpiece but the strong ensemble of actors especially George Clooney in the central role rises above the flaws and give this film a whole lot of depth and emotional heft without being too saccharine or cliched. It's overall a very, very good film.

Hugo (Martin Scorsese) **** - I love film. I'm passionate about film. Director Martin Scorsese through this magnificent film managed to take that love, that passion and put it magically on the screen through a coming-of-age story of sorts of an orphan boy in the train station. The film is unsurprisingly visually dazzling but more than that, it's also a deeply personal work that obviously comes from the heart and it shows. As someone who likes Martin Scorsese, this is definitely in his top five best films. It's one of the best films of the year and any film which captures why the art of cinema is so wonderful is great in my book.

10 comments:

Outcast said...

Just from your description man Hugo sounds like it's honestly must see material to me, awesome round up as always buddy.

Mark said...

I had heard of Hugo but I had no idea that's what it was like.

Sub Radar (Mike) said...

The commercials for The Descendants make it look so bad, I might have to check it out now. Saw Hugo tho, such a good film.

Thomas Duder, Author of the Things said...

I always find it interesting, how...just, REAL Martin Scorsese keeps it, y'know?

I mean, the man is just good, but he just keeps it really raw.

I dig that.

Unknown said...

These two must probably be the best films to come out this year. I loved the descendants I would give it 8/10. Haven't watched HUGO yet though.

Shockgrubz said...

I'm gonna check out Hugo. Scorsese is a very influential director and his movies always command my attention.

That and Chloe is a doll.

Bersercules said...

I'm gonna have to watch Hugo! Your write up on it really interests me!

MRanthrope said...

Saw Hugo after Valentines with my GF and yeah, we were both floored by how awesome it was.

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