My Review: Ender's Game (4/10)

"In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him."

I honestly don't understand some of the love this film is receiving considering how bored I was through the entire running time. The philosophy in this film didn't make much sense for me either and nothing in this sci-fi world felt believable. It was like having to sit through watching my little brother play one of his video games. Gavin Hood has received a lot of hate for his 2009 Wolverine film, but I was a huge fan of his South African film Tsotsi so I did have some hope for this. I guess he should stick to smaller productions because big scale films don't seem to work for him. The screenplay is based on Orson Scott Card's famous book of the same name which I never had heard of so I can't rate this based on its faithfulness to it. What I can say is that there isn't really anything thought provoking about it, which is some of the praise the book received. Here the themes are lost under all the CGI and extended action scenes. There are a lot of child actors in this film, which also hurt it a bit despite how much I like Abigail Breslin, Asa Butterfield, and Hailee Steinfeld. I didn't find anything spectacular form Harrison Ford's performance either, although I understand all the excitement from fanboys getting to see him back in space again. I just found this film hard to endure at times and found it a bit too grim and serious considering the subject matter.

Seventy years after an alien race known as the Formics attacked Earth and almost wiped out its existence if it weren't for Commander Mazer Rackham's (Ben Kingsley) heroics, Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) has been preparing a troop for the next attack. He has decided to attack the Formics at their home ground before they come back and destroy them, and in order to do so he has been training young children in hopes of discovering the next Mazer. He believes the one is Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a very quiet and shy boy who has unique strategizing skills. Graff brings him to space to begin his training at a battle school along with other elite kids like Petra (Hailee Steinfeld), Bean (Aramis Knight), Alai (Suraj Partha), and Bonzo (Moises Arias). Ender quickly shows his potential as he masters the training games by understanding the enemy. Despite Graff's assurance that Ender is the chosen one, Ender still fears he might fail because he hasn't quite understood the real enemy's motivation. Will he be able to save the human race? Are the Formics still a threat to humanity? These are questions racing through Ender's head as he begins to dislike who he's shaping up to be.

I found Ender's Game to be one of the worst sci-fi pics of the year along with After Earth. There was nothing really thought provoking about it for me and it completely failed to engage me. This seems to be only the first chapter to a franchise I'm not really looking forward to enduring. I don't even feel inspired to write a proper review for this film and I don't really have much to say about it. There is no charm or appeal found here, and I never bought into the drama. The story could've at least used some dramatic tension to draw me in, but I never felt anything worth engaging in here. 

My Review: Hugo (10/10)

¨Maybe that's why a broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn't able to do what it was meant to do... Maybe it's the same with people. If you lose your purpose... it's like you're broken. ¨

Hugo is a beautiful film that works really well as a love letter from Martin Scorsese to all movie buffs, especially those who are fascinated with its history and origins. Hugo is a family film, but Martin introduces a bit of history so that everyone can become familiar with how it began. It`s like a film history lesson made in a very entertaining way. There are several funny scenes that kids will enjoy (mostly the scenes with the inspector chasing after Hugo), while there are also several serious and beautiful moments which serve as a homage to film history. Hugo works as sort of a poem and it is just marvelous to look at and listen to. I loved every second of this movie and every scene was so rich in meaning and just beautiful to look at. The use of 3D in this movie is just spectacular and I think Scorsese has used it better than any other film to date (including Avatar). This is Scorsese’s first film in 18 years that gets a PG rating, it’s his first time working with 3D, and it also is the first time in twelve years that he`s worked without Leonardo Di Caprio. That is a lot of firsts for a film that is done in such a marvelous matter. This is one of the best films of the year and it deserves every single one of its five Oscar wins. The visuals, the sound, the story, and the cast are all excellent in this wonderful movie and it`s really worth the price of admission. By all means pay the extra fee to see this film in 3D because it is well worth it. Scorsese knows his film history lesson and he really pays a beautiful homage to those early films which he has worked so hard to make sure get restored and saved.

The story takes place in a train station in Paris where twelve year old Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) lives on his own hiding and running from the Station Inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) while making sure all the clocks in the station work. Hugo is on his own because his father (Jude Law) who was a clock maker and worked at a Museum died in a fire. All Hugo has left is a broken automaton that he was trying to fix with his father. Hugo believes that this automata holds a message from his dead father, therefore he works endlessly to try to find the right pieces to fix it. Hugo survives by stealing from the different shoppers in the station. One day he is caught stealing by a toymaker named Georges (Ben Kingsley) who orders him to give him everything he has in his pockets. Georges takes a notepad that Hugo`s father had given him, so Hugo decides to follow the grumpy old man home in order to retrieve his notepad. This is where Hugo meets Georges`s goddaughter, Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz), who befriends Hugo and the two begin to have adventures together. Isabelle promises to get Hugo`s notepad back and helps him finding the missing pieces needed to fix the automaton. Isabelle also introduces Hugo to the world of literature, while Hugo teaches her about cinema. Together they discover the truth about Georges and decide it is about time he stops hiding from the past.

Hugo is based on Brian Selznick`s children book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and the screenplay was beautifully adapted by John Logan (who previously worked with Scorsese in The Aviator). Besides being a love letter to the origins of film, the movie also has a very powerful message about finding purpose and meaning in life. Like machines, people can be broken if they don`t know what their true purpose in life is. Every piece in a machine has a specific function that makes everything work, and in the same way every person has a purpose that allows life to continue functioning as planned. I really loved the performance from the two kids in this movie: Butterfield and Grace Moretz. They looked lovely together. Grace Moretz is my favorite young actress and she just has the screen presence and charisma that other actresses don’t have. Ben Kingsley was magnificent in his key role, and so was Christopher Lee. Sacha Baron Cohen was funny as always, and his character served as the comic relief because I imagine many kids getting bored if the film only focused on the Georges character. This is really a great family film and one you should see, especially if you are interesting in the history of films and how it all began. There are several scenes from early films, and I can`t imagine how any true film lover wouldn’t like this wonderful movie. It`s a masterpiece.

    

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