Hugo

Nominated for Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Directing, Film Editing, Best Picture, Visual Effects, and Adapted Screenplay in 2011.

I think this is probably the movie that Martin Scorsese was destined to make.  Most Scorsese fans, at least the ones that I know, love his gangster movies - their violence and caricatures and soundtracks.  But this is definitively HIS love letter to the cinema, and I don't think any other human being could have poured such love into every three dimensional frame.  The film is an adaptation of the novel "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," which I have unfortunately not yet read.  It tells the story of an orphan boy and the lesson he teaches to the disillusioned grownups that fill his world (I suppose one could argue that disillusioned adults is a theme through all Scorsese's movies).  I knew nothing else about the story going in, and if you're a movie lover, I think you should experience it the same way.

The juxtaposition of color's in Hugo's mechanical world and his fantastic world are perfection; his life is filled with muted blues and earth tones but his discoveries are fairy purples and mermen green.  The sets . . . I mean, come on.  The sets, man!  I found myself wishing that every single place visited was real, a place where I could go play.

To borrow a phrase from the good men at MYMHM, I have to give "Hugo" one Dubious Award, and I regretfully advise that you will probably see me make this complaint ad nauseum.  This is an American film, set in Paris - but all the actors, even the American ones, have British accents.  Drives.  Me.  Crazy.  That being said, I still think - oh my god, is she gonna say it?  I think she's gonna say it - this is my favorite Scorsese movie.