Hugo

HUGO (2011) - Nov. 26, 2011
About a boy who lives in the walls of a Paris train station, and who finds himself mixed up with a man who owns a gadget shop and his neice.  The man turns out to be Georges Melies, a twist that I, sadly, had spoiled for me.  There's a lot in the second half about the magic of the movies, and about Melies himself, and all that stuff was really good.  It's easy enough to see what drew Scorsese to the material -- the second half is very much a love letter to silent cinema, and to Melies in particular.  But the film runs at a long 127 minutes; it meanders a lot (especially in the first half) and is a bit too slow-paced for its own good.  **1/2