“Scorsese’s HUGO Brings Cinema Back to Its Future”_

Hugo opens with a visual bang, as we soar across 1920’s Paris and through a busy train station. We soon meet Hugo Cabret, a young boy who’s been recently orphaned and lives within the walls of the train station, maintaining its clocks and observing life through holes and ventilation screens. In between stealing food for meals, Hugo also works on repairing his father’s final unfinished project: an automaton with clock parts and a mysterious heart-shaped keyhole. He falls for Isabelle, the daughter of Georges, the owner of the station’s toy shop and discovers the heart-shaped key she wears holds a connection to the automaton deeper than he had anticipated.

Director Martin Scorsese has created one of his most visually stunning works so much that I found myself wishing I could manually pause the film to fully appreciate the texture and color within the its frames. Hugo’s immersive 3D brings an extra layer of life to night scenes with falling snow as well as the dust and smoke that complements the train station’s wood and gold furnishings. The camera flies through shafts of pipes within the station’s walls and also through gigantic clocks with moving gears. Hugo’s 3D is the not only the most technically perfect I’ve seen, but it also furthers the story instead of serving as a distractive gimmick.

Thanks to a top-notch cast, Hugo’s sentimentality comes across as genuine and never overdone. We see the story through the blue eyes of Asa Butterfield as a child forced to grow up too fast. Butterfield’s scenes with Jude Law as his clockmaker father ring true with subtle emotion while contrasted with Hugo’s cold, alcoholic uncle played by Ray Winstone. Let Me In’s vampire Chloë Grace Moretz plays Hugo’s love interest Isabelle with pure, sweet, innocence. Also notable is Sacha Baron Cohen as the comedic Inspector Gustav, the station’s security guard who’s bent on ridding the station of its thieving orphans (including Hugo) while in romantic pursuit of  beautiful florist Lisette (Emily Mortimer).

Hugo’s standout is its Oscar-caliber performance by Ben Kingsley as Georges Méliès. Kingsley shows us a worn old man who was once one of cinema’s pioneers at the turn of the century, but now the bankrupt owner of the station’s toy stand. He feels he’s lost it all until a glimmer of hope appears in the form of Hugo Cabret.

Hugo is a story for all ages, especially for those with a passion for film history.   Most impressive are the scenes of Méliès’s open glass studio and the making of his most famous film, A Trip to the Moon. Martin Scorsese along with producer Johnny Depp has weaved a timeless, magical tale using the latest in filmmaking technology to delight and educate us about the beginnings of cinema.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Extras include:

The Making of Cape Fear

Behind-the-Scenes of the Fourth of July Parade

On the Set of the Houseboat

Photograph Montage

Matte Painting

Opening Credits

Source: Blu-ray

Watch the trailer at Apple Trailers in HD here.

Hugo tells the story of an orphan boy living a secret life in the walls of a Paris train station. With the help of an eccentric girl, he searches for the answer to a mystery linking the father he recently lost, the ill-tempered toy shop owner living below him and a heart shaped lock, seemingly without a key. Based on Brian Selznick’s award winning and imaginative New York Times bestseller, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, this magical tale is Academy Award(R)-winner Martin Scorsese’s first film shot in 3D.

Source: Apple Trailers

I’m sure a hi-res version is forthcoming. Hugo opens November 23rd, 2011, starring Asa Butterfield, Chloe Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Kingsley, Jude Law and Emily Mortimer.

Source: Coming Soon

The source also is reporting that Scorsese and Lars Von Trier met discussing five different ideas for remaking Taxi Driver, his violent, controversial 1976 film that really put Scorsese on the map. It would be called Five Obstructions, a challenge in remaking Taxi Driver much like von Trier challenged Jorgen Leth to remake his 1967 film The Perfect Human, the results being compiled into the original The Five Obstructions. Says von Trier: “The idea behind this obstructions thing is that you give each other tasks which will move you into an area where you have been reluctant to go yourself. Under protest, you do that and then you enlarge your repertoire.”

Thoughts?

A French magazine Le Parisien has a photo from Martin Scorsese’s upcoming 3D film, Hugo Cabret, based on the best-selling novel. The film stars Asa Butterfield, Chloe Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Christopher Lee, Emily Mortimer, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jude Law, Michael Stuhlbarg, Emily Mortimer, Ray Winstone, Frances de la Tour and Richard Griffiths. But look for Depp in this pic (far left) to do a cute cameo…oh, the thoughts of a real Depp/Scorsese collaboration is irresistible!

Hugo Cabret, Scorsese’s first film shot in 3D, tells the tale of an orphan boy living a secret life in the walls of a Paris train station. When Hugo encounters a broken machine, an eccentric girl, and the cold, reserved man who runs the toy shop, he is caught up in a magical, mysterious adventure that could put all of his secrets in jeopardy. (From Collider)

Source: The Playlist

Frank Sinatra’s youngest child, Tina, will be producing the film. No word on when Scorsese will get around to making the film as he’s already said to be eying Silence as his next film, and it may even take a couple of years to get off the ground.

The film is Scorsese’s first leap into the world of 3D, it stars Chloe Moretz, Jude Law, Ben Kingsley and Sacha Baron Cohen.

You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? Then who the hell else are you talking… you talking to me? Well I’m the only one here?

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has officially announced Taxi Driver for Blu-ray release on April 5th, in a 35th Anniversary edition. What’s great about this release is that it will have the Criterion Laserdisc audio commentary from Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader, that’s been a long-time wish list on every edition of the film on DVD. I think someone should just take this city and just… just flush it down the f*ckin’ toilet.

All of the other extras have been ported over from the really good special edition of a few years back on DVD.

* Commentaries:

o Director Martin Scorsese and writer Paul Schrader (recorded in 1986 by The Criterion Collection)

o Paul Schrader

o Professor Robert Kolker

* Interactive Script to Screen

* Martin Scorsese on Taxi Driver interview

* God’s Lonely Man featurette

* Producing Taxi Driver featurette

* Influence and Appreciation: A Martin Scorsese Tribute

* Taxi Driver Stories featurette

* Making Taxi Driver

* Travis’ New York

* Travis’ New York Locations

* Storyboard to Film Comparisons with Martin Scorsese

* Animated Photo Galleries

* Sony’s movieIQ

Still no cover art has been released yet.

Source: Blu-ray

The Film:

Martin Scorsese’s best film. What does that mean to you? Granted, to my fellow Scorsese fans and cinema fans, that means a lot. Despite being snubbed the Best Picture Oscar in 1980 (like wtf?), Raging Bull is the best film of the 1980s, and possibly one of the better American films in the last 30 years. But I’m finding it increasing odd and depressing that younger movie fans could care less. Raging Bull is a study in not only Film-making 101, but a study in the artist through the art. “And though I’m no Olivier, but if he fought Sugar Ray, he would say that the thing ain’t the ring, it’s the play. So give me a stage where this bull here can rage, and though I can fight, I’d much rather hear myself recite: That’s entertainment.“

While the film focuses on Jake LaMotta, a Bronx boxer with a deep rage and even deeper sexual insecurities, the film is essentially the Resurrection of Martin Scorsese. While he gave us two stellar films in the late 1970s in Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, personal issues with health, depression, and cocaine almost ended the career and maybe even the life, of one of our very best directors. Through Jake LaMotta, Scorsese found himself, as he and LaMotta found a way to exorcise their inner demons. But what does that mean to a 20-something punk wanna-be director not listening to his/her teacher in Film School? It means lay off the Jersey Shore.

Seriously, not liking or appreciating Raging Bull is like not liking sex. It’s impossible to fore go and ignore. It’s craft is unparalleled. Notice the sound design during LaMotta’s battle (and I mean battle, not boxing match) with Sugar Ray Robinson. It’s an orchestra of noises and emotion rarely seen today. The black-and-white photography echoes the themes far better than color. Raging Bull is the time of film we get once a generation. It’s a film the moves men deep within. It’s a film that is about close to perfection as one can get. If that isn’t what you want to copy in your own work, then I pity the sheep.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: MGM’s HD presentation here is 99.999% the same transfer and audio as the 2009 release. To upgrade? Nah. But the transfer is gorgeous; deep contrast and clarity in close-ups are superb. Black-and-white is made for HD, folks, and while not the best example, it’s damn close. The DTS track is great. I’ve had issues with the DVD releases because the audio sounded muffled a bit, forcing me to turn up my receiver. Here? It’s not an issue, really.

What makes this edition special is the newly made extras (in HD):

Marty and Bobby: A nice little chat between De Niro and Scorsese about their long standing working relationship and how it high a new high here.

Raging Bull – Reflections on a Classic: Although I like to believe this film has influence more than the four directors here, it’s a nice echo on what makes this film great. Listen up, students!

Remembering Jake: Dubbed one of the Top 10 Best Middleweights in Boxing History, it’s great to here the association talk about the man and his career.

Marty on Film: Scorsese checks back in with more thoughts on cinema and what made him a director.

The rest of the extras have been ported over from the 2009 Blu-ray edition, as well as, prior DVD editions. All in SD, though.

Commentaries: We get three and they’re all great. Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker on the first; the cast on the second; and Paul Schrader with LaMotta himself on the third. After these three, you’re ready to graduate Film School.

Raging Bull – Fight Night: A complete, thorough, documentary with a “Play All” feature that gives us a great look at the film and its making. Runs over an hour.

The Bronx Bull: This is mostly Jake LaMotta discussing the film and his life, but editor Thelma Schoonmaker shows up to talk about the film too.

DeNiro vs. LaMotta: A great side-by-side comparison of the real guy fighting and DeNiro fighting. It shows the great transformation DeNiro went through for the film, and eventually, the Oscar.

Trailers, Tonight Show segment, and some more real-life fight footage round out the extras.

The Film: Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Look for Hugo Cabret this time next year.

So what does he think of the format? The Guardian got a word from the Oscar-winning director on the format. “Every shot is rethinking cinema,” he enthuses, “rethinking narrative – how to tell a story with a picture. Now, I’m not saying we have to keep throwing javelins at the camera, I’m not saying we use it as a gimmick, but it’s liberating. It’s literally a Rubik’s Cube every time you go out to design a shot, and work out a camera move, or a crane move. But it has a beauty to it also. People look like… like moving statues. They move like sculpture, as if sculpture is moving in a way. Like dancers…” He is clearly entranced by challenges and themes of Hugo Cabret, and says that the new technology with which he’s working puts him in mind of Picasso and Braque and how inspired they were by the early cinema of Méliès and the Lumière brothers.”

That’s encouraging. It’s great to hear his excitement, but how do you feel about Scorsese’s next in 3D?

“All my life I always wanted to be a gangster.” Should be interesting to watch and see what comes of this.

“The film, co-directed by Scorsese and Kent Jones, made its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival and its North American premiere at the Telluride Film Festival. It is also an official selection of the New York Film Festival where it will screen alongside Kazan ’s America, America on September 27th.

Martin Scorsese cites the works of Elia Kazan as being highly influential on his life and career.

Of making the film, Scorsese says, “It took many years. I asked my old friend and collaborator Kent Jones to work with me, and we spent quite a long time looking at the films, talking about them, looking at the life, the fame, the infamy, and finding the tone, the balance that felt right for this picture. I feel that the finished film speaks to the power of art, in this case the art of Elia Kazan.”

With respect to the Elia Kazan Film Collection, Scorsese added, “I’m very excited that Fox is making our film available as part of a box set of Kazan’s work – I’m especially pleased by the inclusion of five pictures that have never been released on DVD, Wild River and America, America in particular. Getting the movies seen – that’s what we’re all aiming for.”

A Letter to Elia will air nationally on PBS as part of the “American Masters” series on October 4, 2010, accompanied by a companion short documentary featuring some of the country’s most noteworthy actors and directors talking about Kazan ’s influence on their work and on the American film industry.

On November 9th, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release the Elia Kazan Film Collection, an 18-disc DVD gift set including A Letter to Elia and 15 of Kazan ’s most acclaimed and noteworthy films. The full collection, in addition to the documentary, includes: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), Boomerang! (1947), Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), Pinky (1949), Panic in the Streets (1950), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Viva Zapata! (1952), Man on a Tightrope (1953), On the Waterfront (1954), East of Eden (1955), Baby Doll (1956), A Face in the Crowd (1957), Wild River (1960), Splendor in the Grass (1961), and America, America (1963). Of the collection, 5 films have never before been released on DVD: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Viva Zapata!, Man on a Tightrope, Wild River, and America, America .

Source: Fox