A Day At the Movies (Patagonia, AZ)

When it is just too cold to go outside, I like to curl up under my quilt hoop with a cup of hot tea and watch movies....when I'm not working, of course.

Thanks to a major cold snap of freezing temperatures in the low teens, the Preserve has been very quiet.  An excellent time to catch up on a few new releases.  I have three new favorites.  Which means I will enjoy watching them again and again.
Hugo
Have you seen the movie "Hugo"?  I know I am way behind with seeing this movie.  I do remember seeing the trailers and thinking another time-travel or fantasy-based movie with too many special effects.  I'm happy to say it is neither.  It was a mystery, an adventure, and a history lesson.  All done in a brilliant fast-paced setting of the 1930's filmmaking style.  I actually sat and watched the whole movie without sewing.  Very unusual for me.  I have watched it twice in less than two months.

Hugo, an orphan lives inside the Paris train station's walls with only an Automaton for company while keeping all the station's clocks on time.  The Automaton was the only thing left by Hugo's father.  He is convinced the old broken-down robot holds a message from his father.  Hugo spends most of his time keeping out of the Station Inspector and his dog's sight while scrounging around for parts and food which makes for some funny chases through the station.  That is just one part of the story.

Automaton robot

The big surprise was getting a history lesson about one of the first film makers.  I have seen a clip of the silent film with a rocket landing in the eye of the moon, but no movie or show has ever explained where this film came from or who made it.

So, the other part of this movie is about a French filmmaker Georges Méliès and what became of him after his life work in films went bankrupt. I found I was very interested in learning how the first films were made and about Georges Méliès.

1902 French silent film "A Trip to the Moon" Georges Méliès

I don't want to spend too much more of your time talking about movies, so I'll just mention the other two that I really enjoyed.

Another feel-good movie by Rob Reiner.  Morgan Freeman has lost his inspiration to write when his nephew decides his uncle needs a change of view and moves him to Belle Isle.

They can't afford to live on their retirement pay.  Younger family members want them in homes or don't know what to do with them at all.  An excellent movie about retired Britons looking to start a new life in India with a limited budget only to find their new home has seen better days.   They soon find they have many new challenges and are far from being worthless.

Okay!  Another cold day, so I'm off to get some quilting done and watch some more movies.
Happy Quilting!