Thanksgiving Box Office: Hugo, The Muppets, Arthur Christmas, Melancholia

Here is an interesting article from http://www.debbieschlussel.com/  reviewing some of the movies that came out over the past weekend. This follows this post some of the movies from last week and  THIS POST about some movies that have been released over the past few years that you might have missed!  This all  follows this post about guidelines to chosing good movies to watch yourself!





Thanksgiving Box Office: Hugo, The Muppets, Arthur Christmas, Melancholia

By Debbie Schlussel



Finally, some great movies at the box office. Three great movies and only one stinker. It figures that the “adult” movie by a Hitler-supporting Jew-hater is the only bomb in the bunch.




* “Hugo“: Finally a 3D movie that should be in 3D. Martin Scorsese directed this visually stunning and terrific story. You’ll love this, and it’s great for families. Kids will love it, but so will adults, as I did.  But you’ll  have to disregard that two of the co-stars are Sacha Baron Cohen and the actively anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian Ben Kingsley.



Set in 1930s Paris, Hugo is a young orphan who fixes the clocks at a train station. Unbeknownst to everyone, he lives alone in a hidden apartment inside the station’s clock tower. He and his father used to fix clocks, but his father was killed in a fire. Hugo and his father were trying to fix a mechanical robot, and Hugo continues to fix it, using parts he steals from the train station toy shop of an old man (Kingsley). Soon, though, he gets caught by the man and is forced to fix toys at the store, while he tries to get back his notebook about how to fix the mechanical robot, which the shopkeeper takes from him. But he meets the man’s granddaughter (Chloe Grace Moretz), and she and Hugo become fast friends, sneaking into movies and poring over books at a the train station’s used bookstore because of their shared love of reading classic books.





Hugo and the granddaughter try to figure out what the old man shopkeeper’s connection is to the mechanical toy robot and they soon make an incredible discovery about who this man, the grandfather, is and why he’s so sad.



A tremendous movie that moves slowly at first but is full of charm and magic. The style, color, sets, costumes, and everything else is simply terrific. The special effects and the colorful characters that populate the train station are rich, as is the story.



FOUR REAGANS



* “The Muppets“: I thought I’d hate this movie because 1) I never liked “The Muppet Show” as a kid, and 2) it’s written by and stars  Jason Segel, who is most well known for displaying his penis in multiple scenes on the big screen in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” (read my review).  But I was wrong. This movie is terrific, aside from a bad left-wing message against businessmen and oil drillers. It’s very funny, entertaining, and will be enjoyed by kids and adults. In fact, many of the jokes, which make fun of the ’80s, might be a little over kids’ heads. But they will love it. Great for families. And very cute. It is typical Hollywood anti-business, anti-”big oil” stuff, though, as the villain is an evil, rich businessman who wants to drill for oil on Muppets land. So, you have to explain to your kids to ignore that message. It’s sad you have to do that with a kids’ movie. The late Jim Henson, as far as I remember, did not have political messages in his Muppets movies. The movie also has several musical numbers.



Gary (Jason Segel) has a brother, Walter, who looks like a Muppet and never gets older and more mature, unlike the adult Gary, who has grown up. Walter desperately wants to fit in but is constantly made fun of. Soon, he discovers re-runs of the ’80s series, “The Muppet Show,” and loves it, feeling he can identify with the Muppets. Gary has been dating a teacher, Mary (the talented Amy Adams, who has a great singing voice), for ten years, and she wants to get married, but she is upset that Gary takes Walter everywhere. Gary and Mary take Walter on their trip to Los Angeles, where they tour the old, decrepit Muppets studio. While there, Walter overhears the two Muppet lawyers negotiating to sell the Muppets studio to an evil businessman (Chris Cooper) who pretends he will update the Muppets’ land for more tours. But he really wants to tear it down so he can drill for oil. Walter and Gary try to find Kermit through maps of the stars’ homes and plot to take back the Muppets studios with a telethon.



You’ll see all the old Muppets in this movie, a few new ones, and plenty of celebrity cameos, including (sadly) James Carville (why?). The movie has several musical numbers and is overall a great movie, sadly enmeshed with the left-wing messages I note above. Without that, it would have been a FOUR REAGAN movie.



THREE REAGANS




* “Arthur Christmas“: I very much enjoyed this cute, animated movie for kids. I could have done without the cheesy Justin Bieber music video at the beginning, though.



Arthur Christmas is the clumsy, misfit younger brother in Santa Claus’ family. His father is Santa, and his big brother is the high-tech guru who runs computerized operations at the North Pole,where every delivery of Christmas gifts is planned, timed to the second, and coordinated using the latest in technology and intelligence. But a Christmas present of one girl gets misplaced in the computerized commotion. While Santa is willing to forget about it because it’s too late to deliver the gift–and he’s tired–Arthur and his grandfather, Grandsanta (who is upset he’s been involuntary retired) set off into the night to deliver the gift, using an old-fashioned sleigh, rather than the high-tech spaceship sleigh Santa now uses. What could go wrong?



Charming, cute, fast-paced, and great for kids.



THREE REAGANS




* “Melancholia“: This extremely boring, way too long, uber-pretentious piece of crap was directed by Hitler fan, and Jew-hating, anti-Israel fanatic Lars Von Trier.  It figures that a Nazi would make something beautifully and neatly shot with nothing else to offer.  There is barely a story and definitely no plot.  It’s stupid.  And I couldn’t wait for it to be over.  I also struggled to stay awake.  Starring the always dull, highly overrated pothead Kirsten Dunst, the movie begins with Dunst as a new bride in the limo on the way to her disastrous wedding reception at her sister and wealthy brother-in-law’s (Kiefer Sutherland) countryside mansion estate. They are two hours late, and when they get there, the depressed Dunst is constantly sullen and frequently disappears from the event. She finally realizes she doesn’t want to be married to the guy she just married and has random sex on the lawn with some guy from the reception. Then, the earth is about to be destroyed because a planet, Melancholia, is coming closer and closer to colliding with the earth. I’m not sure what else happens other than Dunst pouting and yelling at others, horses roaming, Dunst posing nude, and people shown sitting and looking.



A complete waste of time by a Nazi. Yay. You’ll be beyond melancholy that you wasted at least ten bucks and more than two hours on this high brow crap. Complete garbage.



FOUR MARXES PLUS