I try and do at least one showing of this AMC-sponsored movie marathon every year. I'm currently in the "dinner break" that they give us. Because I've already talked about The Help and Midnight In Paris, I won't say more, except that I still love them and, at the moment, they're my favorites for Oscar gold. We started with Hugo, which isn't surprising. The pattern is to show the animated movie up front and to break up the melodrama whenever possible. I have more than a few mixed reactions about it. I get, and agree that the animation that makes up most of the setting and backdrops to the film was stunning. There was work with light and color that matches, if not exceeds the quality of any animation work I've ever seen. The clockwork mechanisms were fascinating and a visually interesting, but you could make that argument about just about every aspect of the movie.
How many times have I bitched about Ben Kingsley's choice of roles? How many jokes have I made at his agent's expense. Dozens? Hundreds? A lot at any rate. Kingsley finally lands a decent movie and I hated him. I suspect the problem is he gets shown up by just about everyone in the cast... although we aren't meant to like him. I had other problems: why is everything said in English, but every written word in the film is clearly in French... and not everyone had the same accent. I know, I shouldn't ground creativity in reality, but I usually do. I also found Hugo to be boring. Ron White might have called it a borehole. I couldn't get involved with the characters and more conflict was needed. My thought's on Hugo taking the big prize are that chances are slim. The last animated film to win Best Picture was... I believe nothing, because the Academy isn't generally looking at mass appeal, although plenty of people will argue that point in recent years.
Hugo wasn't terrible. It had a certain head/gut dichotomy that is becoming increasingly common: high marks from my brain, low marks from my gut. I've always considered my tastes largely "beer and pizza," although I'm not amiss to the Art House fare... but I do expect Art to be entertaining, and Hugo didn't do that for me.
