Film Review – Hugo

Just because he’s embarked on his first family film odyssey doesn’t mean Martin Scorsese is going to abandon his fascination with moviemaking. The maestro of cinema pulls away from his recent examinations of hoodlums and madness to craft a love letter to the origin of filmmaking with “Hugo,” a picture that pops a few blood vessels trying to maintain an impression of whimsy, yet remains hopelessly chained to a cinder block of solemnity even a master director can’t break free from. Heavens, this feature is gorgeous from top to bottom, with exquisite technical achievements that encourage a genuine sense of awe, yet it’s a production better valued for its ambition than execution, with Scorsese caught between his ease with gloom and his inexperience with warmth. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com