Hugo

[warrior1]

Film buffs and steampunk fans may want to check out this little gem. I went to see this with my bro., only about 6 people in the theater.

Sort of based on the true story of Georges Méliès (December 8, 1861 – January 21, 1938), full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest cinema. He was very innovative in the use of special effects. He accidentally discovered the stop trick, or substitution, in 1896, and was one of the first filmmakers to use multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted color in his films. Because of his ability to seemingly manipulate and transform reality through cinematography, Méliès is sometimes referred to as the First "Cinemagician."<1>

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a historical-fiction book written and illustrated by Brian Selznick and published by Scholastic Press. The hardcover edition was released on January 30, 2007, and the paperback edition was released on June 2, 2008. With 284 pictures between the book's 533 pages, the book depends equally on its pictures as it does the actual words. Selznick himself has described the book as "not exactly a novel, not quite a picture book, not really a graphic novel, or a flip book or a movie, but a combination of all these things."<1> The book won the 2008 Caldecott Medal,<2> the first novel to do so, as the Caldecott Medal is for illustrations.

The book’s primary inspiration is the true story of turn-of-the-century pioneer filmmaker Georges Méliès, his surviving films, and his collection of mechanical, wind-up figures called automata. Selznick decided to add automatons to the storyline after reading Edison's Eve by Gaby Wood, which tells the story of Edison's attempt to create a talking wind up doll. Méliès actually had a set of automata, which were either sold or lost. At the end of his life Méliès was broke, even as his films were screening widely in the United States. He did work in a toy booth in a Paris railway station, hence the setting. Selznick drew Méliès's real door in the book. It is reported that Méliès did sell some of his films to a company where they were ultimately used to make heels for shoes.

George Melies



Sir Ben Kingsley

[alphafemale]

1. I plan on seeing it sometime this weekend. It looks like a visual delight.

Only 6 people? I thought this movie would do really well. Maybe at the shows later in the week it will.

[warrior1]

2. well it's still a work day

and people maybe traveling. We didn't see it in 3d and there may be more people at that showing.

[marzipanni]

3. The Invention of Hugo Cabret book website is interesting, too

http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/index.htm