I have over 150 3D Blu-rays and the new standard for 3D is....... - Page 3

I'm afraid then I'm a very different genre of Scorsese fan, give me Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Casino, Gangs of New York, The Departed, and even The Aviator, over Hugo. I just did not find myself truly interested in the character studies. Sacha Baron Cohen's station guard character I found mildly entertaining and Ben Kingsley was consummate as always. Yes all the thematic elements were nicely done including the Parisian period setting. Indeed, I think I found of what I watched of this film to be just too 'Family' for my taste in Scorsese. I rarely find myself going against the broader 'critical' grain on these kinds of films, however in the case I did.

Hilarious, are you the real 'CO'B' lol! Truth be told, thought his gift in directing, has always tended towards fairly violent and gritty, adult dramas anyway. His tangent towards a fam audience film has certainly paid off critically and also resulted in making it into his 6th highest earners at the box office. All I can say is hopefully this one foray is enough of an achievement for him.

Also, as I mentioned here in my initial post, which perhaps you missed just prior, was that I wasn't jumping out of my seat viewing it on 110" 3D proj with the VW1000- hardly, I think most would agreed who've experienced it so far, a slouch with 3D material. The use of 3D in Hugo added a nice ambiance, was pretty, and fairly immersive, agreed. I would still put Avatar along ways ahead in utilisation of 3D, even though it was the one that started the 3D trend. Crossing genres, but given this is a discussion of 3D content generally, I would put certain IMAX titles ahead of it in use of 3D. Def in my top IMAX list is Ultimate Wave, you don't need to even enjoy surfing to appreciate the 'window of reality' the 3D in it creates that draws the viewer in.

I have a question for the OP who says Hugo is the best 3D blu ray he's seen. What's No.2 and No.3 on your list? Or maybe even a top ten....

Thanks.

Conan, Thanks first and foremost for your time spent on a well written review. I am wondering if you have seen Transformers: Dark of the moon in 3D? If so, how was the 3D in that movie?

Here's what I think about it....Transformers Dark of the Moon

Gae

I fully agree with that review of the use of 3D in Dark of the Moon. Having seen it first in DCI 3D at the cinema, then more recently on my VW1000, I found the way Michael Bay uses it, you just kind of forget it's there after a short while. It doesn't add anything especially to the film itself.

OzHDHT, yes. With big blockbuster films, because you're senses are being bombarded with so much information, the 3D just becomes another element and just in the sidelines really.

I really would like to see 3D used more in conventional films. I think it works well in slow paced dramas because we have more time to settle into each scene, enjoy feeling immersed in the world and the 3D brings us closer to the emotional core of the drama. I remember a scene in "My Bloody Valentine" working really well in this respect. It's the scene where the two women are trapped in the supermarket with the killer on the lose. There are no special effects or fast cutting but I remember really feeling trapped with those women in that space. In 3D, we really felt that we were in those supermarket aisles and coridoors and that the killer could appear from around that corner at any time. That's how 3D should work. If we feel within the environment, if our eyes are allowed to adjust and settle in it (that means slower editing I'm afraid guys) then psychologically, its more scary because we are immersed in that situation with the women. I love that type of use of 3D.

Gae

Ok, thanks to all! I will not spend $35 on the movie then My sons both liked the film on blue ray, so I will save the money and get that version instead.

Take it in context. I'd rather personally have 3D in an action scifi like transformers than not. But it's def not 'showcase' use of the 3D format. I'd say its more of a bonus side benefit that most people would still rather have than not have. Certainly better than the complete waste of attempting to convert existing films to 3D, such as star wars ep 1 -being a poster child for reasons not to do it.

If you are buying the Bluray why not spend a few extra bucks for the 3D? The 3D in the movie is as good as or better than most of the movies out there. For me, the fact that you can watch the movie and forget that it's 3D is a plus, although I don't remember feeling that way about the 3D.
Its a movie about a kids toy. I think 3D adds to the experience of talking, transforming robots from another planet

I finally saw Hugo today on my 2010 Samsung PN63C8000 plasma.

In terms of 3D, this movie definitely pushes the envelope in terms of its implementation, using it to really convey a sense of depth and height as well as drawing the viewer into the environment: when a dog pushes its snout out of the screen and snarls for example you can't help but draw back a bit. The movie also has a few nice examples of pop-out moments that work quite well. Long tracking shots never lose their sense of dimensionality and panoramic establishing shots of the city, train station and the inner workings of the massive clocks have endless levels of depth. All the 3D effects are nicely integrated into the film and Hugo is one of the few 3D films that would really be diminished by viewing it in 2D; it was clearly designed with in mind. I also like the fact that it is a full-frame 1.78:1 presentation as the aspect ratio used further pulls you in and helps sell the added dimensionality.

In terms of how it looked and worked on my particular rig, there was quite a bit of ghosting, all of it centered around scenes involving extreme contrast ranges such as the automaton's shiny metal in front of the dark background, Hugo's pale face in front of his hair, Melies' white shirt against his black tux and so on. After watching the film I also had a slight headache, something that doesn't usually happen with active shutter 3D for me. I'm getting an LG passive TV delivered next week and I'll be curious to see how it looks on that one and how I react physically to it.

As to the movie itself, I actually liked it. It is slowly paced and preachy at times, almost morphing into an Imax edutainment feature at a few points, but in the end it is clearly a love letter by Scorsese to the pioneers of film and viewed in that light it works. It is a sweet, innocent film and were it not for all high tech cinematic tricks you'd think it had been shot in a different era. Not your typical Scorsese but that's OK with me because I never cared for his mob or organized crime films (just not into those genres).

My friend has one and it's still a bit ghosty, but I never got a headache from watching 3D like I sometimes do on my DLP PJ.

Yeah, Ep. 1 was horrible, I was very disappointed.

Thank you for the contrast in opinion. i guess I will hope to catch it on sale or something, as my kids did like the movie.

Saw Hugo on my new LG LM7600; zero ghosting and great 3D. Even the shot near the end of Melies wearing the white shirt and black tux (a source of pretty severe ghosting on my plasma) came thru clean on the 7600.

My wife and I saw Hugo in a theater with, I believe, active 3-D glasses. Which made for a pretty dim viewing experience compared to Up and others we've seen in Imax passive 3-D. I then got a chance to watch it on my mom's new LG passive via DirecTV. The scenes inside the clock tower are somewhat dim to begin with, so the LG's brighter presentation added a bit more life to things.

Just because two of the main characters are children, this is not really a movie for kids -- I think Transformers is more their speed. Although I enjoyed it, the rest of my family felt that it was too slow and tedious. Using the "lost notebook" as a vehicle for conflict and suspense in the plot really didn't make things move along well. If your cup of tea is the relentless stream of video-games-as-movies, you'll be bored to tears.

This obviously was a personal project for the director, which is fine if you too are interested in the origins of moviemaking. It's not surprising, then, that the professionals in the movie industry (Academy, etc.) gave it so many awards.

BTW, the same weekend of DirecTV's Hugo presentation, we also got to see a replay of the 2011 Masters in 3-D. My mom was as impressed as I was with that broadcast -- and she despises golf, expecially on TV. (Maybe I can schedule a visit next weekend for this year's edition on ESPN 3D...)

I never knew there where theaters that use active 3D.

Neither did I -- that was my assumption too.

I've seen four other 3-D theatrical movies, all in Imax 3-D. The glasses were lightweight, not very dark and obviously nonpowered. At the Hugo screening at a smaller theater, the glasses were much smaller, heavier, thicker and dimmer -- seemed to resemble the active 3-D specs I've seen in stores. (In hindsight I might have been experiencing "flicker" too.)

i've never seen active glasses at the theater either. wouldn;t it be too expensive to risk people taking glasses?

Watched the 1st 30 minutes of Hugo about 2 weeks ago and it's beautiful 3D, a beautiful movie period. I haven't gotten around to watching the rest of it because the story never grabbed my interest maybe I'll watch it someday and maybe not. If it was 2D I wouldn't have any interest at all, just not my cup of tea.

I agree, while the 3D is quite good the movie is flat out boring. Nothing at all what I expected.

I have the LG 55LM7600 arriving on Tuesday what player are you using? Model would be great too thanks!

At the time I just played it thru my slim PS3; I've since connected a 2010 Samsung 3D BluRay player to the set; I'll try to play that scene again to see if I get the same results.

FWIW, based on what I've seen going between my active Samsung plasma and passive LG I think ghosting is more due to limitations of the technology than the player being used. Green Lantern was another problematic 3D title on my plasma (lots of ghosting) that played perfectly on the LM7600.

The 3D standard is still Beowolf.
Any word on the blu ray yet?

Beowulf is not live action and its not been released on Blu-Ray yet either so we don't know how good it will look on our HT. Its difficult to argue that its THE 3D standard as far as home theatre is concerned at least in light of these facts.

I think Hugo HAS set a standard for live action 3D though almost certainly. Almost every 3D movie I have seen so far uses 3D almost as an after thought, a sort of added extra if you will whereas in Hugo the 3D looks to be the driving force dictating the way in which the movie has been shot. It has definately set a new benchmark in my opinion.

Its a shame that a nice gentle film like Hugo is a dissapointment for some though. It would be a very sad affair if every movie made has to be a fast paced action packed noise fest. There has to be more to the artform than that!

Saw Hugo on sbs format on demand cox cable originally. I bought the disc and the 3d has quite a bit more pop and depth to it on blu-ray. Not sure it is the best 3d I have seen, but it is quite impressive that's for sure. However, I enjoyed Tin Tin which I re-watched after Hugo quite a bit more

I also like drama, comedy, romance or any good story that makes me care about the characters. I just didn't find any of those in Hugo. Some people loved it and good for them. Just because I didn't doesn't mean that I only like action packed noise fests.

I wasn't directing my noise fest comment any anybody in particular so don't take it personally.

Wonka, I saw Tin Tin a few days ago! Very good with decent 3D too.

As an artform, I loved Hugo. But without the 3d there is no way I would have purchased it.