Hugo (2011)
Unlock the secret
So this is going to be a bit different, as it’s a bit of a joint review. See, VR users have had access to a program called Bigscreen for a while - formerly Bigscreen Beta, currently Bigscreen VR I believe. As you might guess from the name, it’s got a bit of a movie theater vibe to it - and at some point they managed to get a deal with Paramount that allows them to sell tickets to digital showings - so, for example, you pay 5 bucks for a ticket, and then get to go watch tonight’s movie for example. I figured that it’s time to get into it a bit, because one of the big punchilnes of it is 3D showings - and my little eyes tend to get more from 3D when in VR for some odd reason, and tonight’s movie is said to have some good 3D effects, so it all just sort of aligns. Get yourselves all cranked up, it’s time to go check out Hugo.
Hugo is an interesting movie in the sense that despite being at times slow or word-quiet, the movie manages to keep you largely interested through it’s run time. Our story involves quite a bit of tragedy, but also some mystery and hopeful musings to go with it. It centers around the the titular character Hugo, as we try and find out just whats going on - a boy is living inside the walls of a train station in France. As the movie goes on, we get threads of interest - a notebook filled with mechanical drawings, skills at maintaining clockworks, and a need for parts. We get flashbacks at one point that fills things in much further - the fate of the boy’s father, how he go to be in the walls of the station keeping the clocks on time. The funny part is that by the end, the story almost shifts from being about the boy and his mystery to the mystery surrounding his eventual friend’s guardian. What is his past, why do they act the way they are? How does it all tie into the main character?
There’s a lot of little character moments in this movie, and they aren’t all necessarily required or even involving the main character. The cute little romance going between two of the frequents of the station as it plays out normally quite humorously, or the story between the orphan-catching station security and the girl he has his eye on, or even the short bit of the book store owner. Although it’s a bit debatable as to if any of it is actually necessary, it does help fill out the movie and give it a bit of “Paris charm” - wherein you get that classic romanticism France that I’m sure a lot of people would imagine in their head, with little people interactions that are charming or romantic while still retaining some level of humor. Of course, there’s also a good amount of tasty looking food floating about - but it’s not really about that, despite the main taking some to eat in his orphan-like situation. In turn, it’s rather apparent that most characters are a face level thing when it comes to how they are presented - most don’t have a ton of depth, with the main brunt being focused on the main and his old-man counterpart.
The actors do a good job here - it might not be award winning awesome, but it totally feels believable as far as in the movie goes. There are plenty of parts where you could argue that it’s rather over-blown at times, especially in the case of the security guard, but the at times comical showing just makes the entire more entertaining in most regards without actually hurting the feeling of the movie. There are a few moments where perhaps the acting can feel a bit bland, or not so great - particularly with the kids a few times - but for the most part the acting never feels bad in a painful way. Lines are delivered in intentional ways with suitable emotional ties for what the scene wants, and honestly sometimes the movie doesn’t even need lines to deliver a feeling or mood, and the opening intro actually lasts for quite some time without having any real words of import being spoken.
An adventure!
The reason part of that is so interesting is the movies tie to movies as well. It has plenty of moments that draw parallels to old time movies, where it was all about imagination and fantasy and people being scared because a train was coming at the viewer. Sometimes this is a more literal thing, other times it’s more just how things are shot or put together. The real old movies didn’t have audio and often would have an in-theater little band playing a score to go along with it, which in the case of the more verbal-silent parts of the movie gets invoked pretty well. It also generally helps the movie from being overly wordy - even though some of the characters will certainly wordy and talkative, regardless of the quality of line deliveries. The scoring does its job nicely as movies normally do - it’s upbeat when it wants to be, foreboding at others - but like most of those doesn’t really stick around that long afterwards.
In the effects department, things are pretty good. We get some nice sets and scenery - from the interesting internal walls of the train station, the creepy little graveyard, all the way up to the lovey interior of the station and outdoor streets. Costumes are a bit period with a some being a bit fancier than others, but there’s a decent variety without it getting to out of hand. The movie ties provide plenty of moments to see some real out there things - like lobster suits - although it’s a costume in a movie that’s a costume in the movie. Each character, including most the little side characters, have a specific look about them, so it’s very easy to tell who is who without hearing them at all. Overall, the movie looks good to the eye. Now, there is a little caveat here that I should get into - being that I watched this in VR, the quality isn’t quite as good as it would otherwise have been should I have watched on a monitor, TV, or my usual go to - the projector. The Index handles image quality pretty well, reducing the screen door effect noticeably for me over the old Vive I used to use, but it’s still not as clear and clean as the old pancake flat-screen equivalents. Even with that, it still looked good without to much sacrifice of detail - although I did have a hard time getting my audio balanced well so the movie would be louder, but the movie’s balance was still fine despite the fact.
Now, the other big reason I opted for this in VR was the nature of offerings in the Bigscreen app - many of the selection (usually at least one a week) offers 3D. The last run of this me and a friend had was the most recent Star Trek movie, and it was pretty alright in 3d. Hugo, on the other hand, has plenty of moments where it really kicks it out of the park, or screen if you will. Plenty of moments have that extra feeling of depth that you normally expect from 3D, but other moments really do come out at you. A point when the guard character is going on a bit of a rant in particular is amazingly done, with his head and hat feeling like its about to smack you in the face, adding not just the 3D effect for fun but also thematically matching what’s going on in the screen as it adds to the intimidation the character is having. Other scenes might not pop quite as much as that one, but it honestly is a movie where it feels like it’d be worth seeing in 3D given the breadth of the events that benefit from it.
Stop right there!
In the end, the movie was quite enjoyable. It has a good balance to it, not being overly slow or too fast. The effects work is good, particularly the 3D, and the entire thing has a charm about it that gives it a feeling of fantasy within a grounded world. The very nature of it provides a decent enough movie for a full family - although some of the jokes will probably be over the kiddo’s heads whilst being aimed at the adults. It’s quite a charming movie, even despite it’s flaws, and I don’t feel I wasted my five dollars at all here, so at the very least I’d imagine this would make a good rent for a lot of folks. If they have 3D tech available with which to watch it, I’d even recommend going after it that way.
Now, the other thing I wanted to do was just express a little bit about Bigscreen. It’s not sponsored (heck, the closest I’ve ever gotten in my entire history of doing reviews to being sponsored was a community rep for a company once followed my youtube account) or anything like that, but it’s something that I wanted to mention for a while now. The main purpose most would use it for is to mirror their desktop into VR, which is great for things like playing non-VR games and the likes, setting up little fake-LAN parties with friends or of course watching group movies. The internet out here isn’t the absolute best, so for me the peer 2 peer streaming (my buddy watching a movie on my computer, for example) doesn’t work the greatest. When they first got the deal with Paramount, I also was hesitant to jump into it - largely because I didn’t think I’d want to try and watch a movie when surrounded by a bunch of digital potential hooligans trying to distract me from the movie (although I’m sure it’s not that bad). Now, the tickets bought can be used in private showings - which is perfect for me - as long as each person in the private showing buys their own ticket to the movie (no free rides!). The stream quality is good, the 3D works quite well, and they do offer up some custom theater environments to go along with the movies (Star Trek has a space ship theater look) at times. The best thing that could be said for it was when my friend bumped something with his (real) legs and it made him suddenly remember that he wasn’t really in a theater. Part of the reason I mention all this, despite most people not getting much any use out of it I’m sure (given the cost of VR) is double fold - VR gives me a more effective way of watching VR, even if it’s still not at the same strength the normal viewer would witness it. Secondly, I really want to see this supported, because the future premise is amazing to me - being able to see a new movie from the comfort of home with friends while still largely getting that theater experience instead of driving all the way out somewhere? The hermit in me absolutely loves it.