I’ve never read Orson Scott Card’s “Ender’s Game,” but from all accounts it’s one of the seminal pieces of science fiction written in the past century. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1986, and a film version has been in the works for years. Now, director Gavin Hood is one month away from production on a movie starring Hugo‘s Asa Butterfield as the lead character, and a few more names have jumped on board.

Sir Ben Kingsley will play the role of Mazer Rackham, a former war hero who trains Ender in Command School. Brandon Soo Hoo (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) joins as Fly Molo, one of Ender’s fellow soldiers. Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), and Abigail Breslin are also aboard the project.

Like I said, I’m totally unfamiliar with everything about this book. A cursory glance over the details gives me the impression that the book had a great deal of influence on the Halo video game franchise, but I don’t want to read too deeply into the synopsis if I’m going to see a movie version in just over a year. So I’ll throw it to the people who actually know what they’re talking about with this one: fans of the book, are you looking forward to the movie version? Knowing these characters, do Kingsley and Soo Hoo sound like good fits? I’m depending on your comments to either build or deflate my excitement for this film, which hits theaters March 15, 2013.

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While Sacha Baron Cohen made his name with the mockumentaries Borat and Bruno, he’s been taking solid acting gigs in ‘real’ films over recent years such as Sweeney Todd and most recently Hugo. He’s also set to appear in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained and will play the villain in Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables, but not before he unleashes another wacky character onto the world with The Dictator.

Paramount has today released the first trailer for the film via Moviefone, and this time Cohen in joined by Anna Faris, Sir Ben Kingsley, Megan Fox, John C. Reilly and J.B. Smoove.

In the film Sacha Baron Cohen plays a ruthless dictator who heads to the U.S. for a meeting at the United Nations and finds that his number two has replaced him with an unsuspecting sheepherder lookalike. As the dictator wanders the city, he meets the owner of an organic food store. She turns around his dictatorial thinking, and there’s a little romance in it as well.

Cohen has re-teamed with Borat and Bruno director Larry Charles, and The Dictator will be released May 11, 2012.

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For a movie that looks radiant – including the 3D – and handled with precision from behind the lens, Hugo is shockingly a numbing experience.

Chances are you will not feel a thing until the last third of the film. This is also the point where the purpose of the story is finally revealed. It’s the first time where yours truly had to wrestle with if a movie did in fact need a purpose or sturdy plot to be entertaining. Hopefully this will be answered in just a few paragraphs; or in this case, rambles.

Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) is a young orphan that has a knack for fixing anything mechanical. The setting of this tale is 1930s Paris, at a massive train station in the heart of the city. Hugo spends most of his days adjusting all the clocks throughout the station – a job his drunken Uncle (Ray Winstone) should be doing. When he’s not adjusting clockwork mechanisms, he ends up fiddling with an over-sized mechanical doll with human-like features. Trying to get the automaton to function is proving quite the task for someone who usually figures out everything fairly quickly. He believes that this robot has a message from his late father (Jude Law in cameo mode), but learns that its history runs deeper than he once thought.

When he’s not working on the little metal man, he carefully maneuvers around the station, avoiding the shrewd station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) and his k-9 sidekick, Maximilian, who takes an unusual pride in catching shoplifting orphans. Hugo is also a watcher (no pun); as he peers through secret crevices taking in the daily people who work at small shops on the station grounds; his favorite being the quiet toy store operator, Georges Melies (Ben Kingsley). Through his visual stalking, he coincidentally becomes friends with Georges’ daughter, Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz). During their time together, the two explore the riddle behind Hugo’s wind-up robot; the interest Georges has, or doesn’t have, in it; and the magic of filmmaking. And naturally, the two do get into some mischief.

While Chloe Grace Moretz dazzles again, the young male lead is no slouch either. Their chemistry and emotional discharge is a pleasure to watch considering their young age. And with people like Ben Kingsley and the great Christopher Lee showing up in supporting roles, the veteran actors are able to anchor this down as the more-or-less wise mentors. Even Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat, Bruno) shows that he’s more than just a shock and awe actor. His timely and subtle comedy is right on for the family-friendly atmosphere. And if you listen closely, it does have some mature edge to it.

Having all these fine performances keeps your attention. Plus director Martin Scorsese creates an atmosphere that ushers in old-school and modern-day filmmaking aesthetic that will have your eyes constantly exploring. It’s definitely a holiday movie yet its purpose remains hidden for some time. Mainly because the script changes its mind on where the focus is going to be and the transition is anything but smooth.

And that’s why it’s amazing that this film can’t project any emotion off the screen to the audience. Aside from an educational montage that showcases the pioneer techniques of filmmaking, which is beautifully orchestrated, the direction or message this piece is trying to depict remains as mysterious as the mechanical robot angle. But it’s not the good kind of mystery. It’s the I-really-don’t-care-anymore feeling that will consume your mind. Very strange not to have any interest in the story yet you do not mind admiring the physical characteristics. Guess that’s similar to a conversation with a stripper…or watching Avatar again.

This flick may be worth the price just to see how aptly 3D can be used in conjunction with jaw-dropping set designs. Other than that, this would have been more moving and engaging if this instituted one of those old-school movie mechanics and ran silent for its near two-hour duration.

Overall, Hugo is quite frankly, attractively boring. The storytelling is lacking but the visual aspects and filmmaking mechanics can, and do, pick up the slack. All the production people deserve the utmost recognition, but this feature as a whole, just feels underwhelming, despite some exceptional performances from the entire cast.
RATING: 3 out of 5

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GK Films has released a new trailer for Martin Scorsese’s 3D family adventure Hugo. It’s a bit odd saying the words “Martin Scorsese” and “3D” in the same sentence, but with “family adventure” thrown in the mix, it causes one to scratch his or her head, wondering if it’s just a big prank.

Alas, it is as real as it gets, and from the looks of the new trailer, it looks surprisingly intriguing. But who can complain with a cast consisting of Jude Law, Ben Kingsley, Christopher Lee, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ray Winstone, Chloë Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass), and Asa Butterfield (The Boy in The Striped Pajamas).

Check out the trailer below:

‘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 Scorsese’s first film shot in 3D.

Now it’s no doubt that Hugo is a dramatic departure from the usual violent and gritty films Scorsese’s become iconic for, such as GoodFellas and Shutter Island. But, with that being said, the trailer manages to capture a mysterious and emotionally engaging adventure with adult elements, contrary to the first trailer’s whimsical “kiddie” feeling.

It may be hard to wrap your head around, but it looks like Scorsese is managing quite well in new territory, which promises us a feel good mystery/adventure film that is geared for all ages. The only quip I have, which is obvious, is Scorsese’s attempt at using 3D elements. It just doesn’t feel like this is the type of film that warrants the need for the technology (then again most modern films don’t) and, again, it just doesn’t feel right for the director. Scepticisms are no doubt abundant, but we’ll know soon enough if Scorsese can pull it off when the film releases.

Hugo is released on 2D/3D screens across the US from November 23rd and the UK from December 2nd.

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Paramount Picture have released the first trailer for Martin Scorsese’s upcoming 3D family adventure Hugo (formally The Invention of Hugo Cabret). It looks to be new territory for the director, who has directed serious thrillers such as The Departed and Shutter Island over recent years.

The film, based on Brian Selznick’s bestselling children’s book, stars Asa Butterfield, Chloe Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jude Law, Emily Mortimer, Ben Kingsley, Christopher Lee, Helen McCrory, Ray Winstone, Richard Griffiths, Frances de la Tour and Michael Stuhlbarg.

You can watch the trailer below:

‘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 Scorsese’s first film shot in 3D.

Hugo is released on 2D/3D screens across the US from November 23rd and the UK from December 2nd.

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Bruno may not have been as successful as Borat, but that didn’t stop Paramount giving Sacha Baron Cohen the chance to make another movie with another one of his weird and wonderful characters. The Dictator is currently filming and won’t be released until May 2012, but the studio has today released our first official look at Cohen in character.

Here’s the full look:

In the film Sacha Baron Cohen plays a ruthless dictator who heads to the U.S. for a meeting at the United Nations and finds that his number two has replaced him with an unsuspecting sheepherder lookalike. As the dictator wanders the city, he meets the owner of an organic food store. She turns around his dictatorial thinking, and there’s a little romance in it as well.

Cohen has re-teamed with Borat and Bruno director Larry Charles, and will be joined on-screen by Sir Ben Kingsley, Jason Mantzoukas, and Anna Faris.

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While doing press for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley and Gemma Arterton were interviewed by a guy who, instead of asking them the usual predictable questions, challenged them on how “Gyllenhaal” is actually pronounced. It turns out we’ve been saying it wrong for years!

“Yillenhulahay” is quite a mouth full, so I think it’s best if we just refer to Jake and Maggie with the usual “Gyllenhaal”.

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A couple of months ago it was announced that Martin Scorsese’s next film would be an adaptation of Brian Selznick’s book The Invention of Hugo Cabret, filmed from a script by John Logan (Gladiator). Deadline now has the news that Scorsese is now in talks with two actors for this project: Sacha Baron Cohen and Ben Kingsley.

Baron Cohen would reportedly play the station inspector, who I believe acts as some sort of antagonist to the main character, a 12 year-old orphan living in a Parisian train station in the 1930s. Baron Cohen hasn’t appeared in much apart from his characters Ali G, Borat and Brüno, so I guess it’ll be interesting to see him in a less outrageous role, in a more narrative-based film.

Kingsley is in discussion to portray George Méliès, the real-life film director (who worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries), and a central character in the story. I haven’t read the book yet, but this seems like spot-on casting – it’s not hard to picture him as the old director, building things in his workshop.

It was also recently suggested in a Variety article that Scorsese is interested in filming Hugo Cabret in 3D. The visuals should be unique at least, if they stick closely to the book, so let’s hope that this casting is as good as it sounds, and that the intriguing premise of the plot holds up too.

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UGO received the final poster for Prince of Perisa: The Sands of Time which features Jake Gyllenhaal as Dastan, Gemma Arterton as Tamina, and Ben Kingsley as Nizam. I’m sure the marketing guys at Disney could have come up with something a bit more creative, but it does it’s job.

Set in medieval Persia, the story of an adventurous prince who teams up with a rival princess to stop an angry ruler from unleashing a sandstorm that could destroy the world. Which is why after the prince was tricked by a dying Vizier to unleash the Sands of Time that turns out to destroy a kingdom and transforms its populace into ferocious demons. In his effort to save his own kingdom and redeem his fatal mistake, it’s up to the prince and the princess to return the sands to the hourglass by using the Dagger of Time, which also gives him a limited control over the flow of time.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time will be released on May 28th.

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Disney has released a second trailer for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. The first trailer has been keeping me entertained for the past few months, so it’s good to have another epic trailer to stick on repeat. This new one explains more of the story and showcases a bunch of special effects heavy scenes, which are probably completed by now seeing as though the film was originally going to be released last summer.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley, Gemma Arterton, Alfred Molina and will be released on May 28th.

You can check out Filmonic’s Prince of Persia gallery here!

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