Hugo was the first film I've seen theatrically in quite a while. I went to see it because of a combination of boredom and interest generated by positive reviews that made it sound like director Martin Scorsese really made a great movie that perfectly employs 3D technology. Well, Hugo is a very nice movie, kind of slow paced, but I think it can be just as easily enjoyed on TV in good old fashioned 2D.

Asa Butterfield plays the title character, a boy, or maybe a small teenager, secretly living and working in a Parisian train station. He befriends a gal, Chloe Grace Moretz, and together they try to solve the mystery of an automaton that Hugo’s father once found in a museum. There’s not much more I can say about the movie except that the cast is pretty good, especially Moretz, best known as Hit Girl in KICK ASS, and the young vampire in LET ME IN. Butterfield’s not bad, but I kind of expected more from him. He does a lot of standing around w/ intense eyes, and he’s got that down pretty well, but I expected more.

Ben Kingsley is also in the flick and really, have you ever seen him not be good? Exactly.

It can be said that if SUPER 8 was JJ Abrams’ love letter to Steven Spielberg’s movies, then Hugo is Martin Scorsese’s love letter to the history of film in general. It’s a sweet film, but again, I think it’ll work just as well on your TV.