Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

gunnar wrote:Casablanca (1942) - 8/10 - I decided to rewatch this film since I was a bit underwhelmed when I watched it a long time ago. I enjoyed the film a lot more this time around.

When I first saw this, probably in the 1960s, I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. The clichés were old when the film was made, but it grows on you. By the third or fourth go-around you can say Bogie's lines before he does. By the sixth or seventh, you can say everyone's else's as well.

M (1931) - 9.5/10 - A serial killer is on the loose in this Fritz Lang classic. The killer abducts and kills young children and has been doing so for months. The police don't have any leads and are cracking down on the criminals in their search for a clue. The criminal organizations decide to track the killer down themselves to relieve the pressure they are feeling. The movie is excellent and definitely lives up to its reputation.

Close-Up (1990) - 7/10 - A poor man with an interest in film pretends to be a well known director and becomes acquainted with a family in Tehran. The film is essentially a documentary with quite a few parts reenacted by the actual people involved. It starts with a journalist covering the arrest of the imposter and then proceeds through the trial and its aftermath. It was interesting at times and a bit boring at other times.

Casablanca (1942) - 8/10 - I decided to rewatch this film since I was a bit underwhelmed when I watched it a long time ago. I enjoyed the film a lot more this time around.

Stormy Weather (1943) - 7.5/10 - The film is a musical romance with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and Lena Horne in the leads, but that mainly serves just to allow a number of Black performers to make music and dance. In addition to Robinson and Horne, we get to see Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, and many others, including a spectacular dance number from the Nicholas Brothers. It is a fun film with lots of good performances.

Vampyr (1932) - 5/10 - This vampire movie certainly had a lot of atmosphere and while the ending was good, I didn't really care for most of the film. I can see why others might like it, but it wasn't for me.

Badlands (1973) - 8/10 - Terrence Malick directed this film about a teenage girl who goes on the run with her older boyfriend after he kills the girl's father. The two are on the run for quite a while. Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen were each very good in their roles. The movie is inspired (or loosely based) on the Starkweather killings fro 15 years earlier.

The Nazis Strike (1943) - 7.5/10 - The second Why We Fight documentary looks at the advance of the German war machine as they spread the Nazi ideas through Europe. It had some decent footage and gave a fairly good look at the early stages of the war. I recognized Kazimiera Mika grieving for her sister in a couple of the clips. She was the subject of one of the most famous photos from that time and just passed away in 2020.

Rush (2013) - 7/10 - Chris Hemsworth is race car driver James Hunt who had a rivalry with fellow driver Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) in the 1970s. Much of the film focuses on their battle for the Formula 1 Championship in 1976. Hemsworth is good as Hunt and Brühl is very good as Lauda, but the movie itself didn't really feel that compelling, especially in the race sequences, though they were filmed well. It is a decent and watchable movie, though.

Zero for Conduct (1933) - 5/10 - Four students at a strict boarding school are constantly getting in trouble and decide to rebel on the school's Commemoration Day. The movie isn't really all that interesting and none of the students stand out. There are a few interesting bits here and there, but overall it isn't that great.

Lost in America (1985) - 7.5/10 - Albert Brooks and Julie Hagerty star as a married couple who decide to leave their jobs in California, liquidate all of their assets, and travel the country in a motorhome. Problems arise at their first stop in Las Vegas. This was a pretty solid dramedy.

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) - 8.5/10 - Dennis Price stars as Louis Mazzini, a distant heir to the Dukedom of Chalfont. In revenge for their treatment of his mother, Louis decides to murder the eight heirs who are in line of succession ahead of him (all played by Alec Guinness). What follows is a smart black comedy.

Persona (1966) - 7/10 - A popular stage actress named Elizabet (Liv Ullmann) stops speaking for no apparent reason. She is deemed to be otherwise in perfect health physically and mentally. A nurse named Alma (Bibi Andersson) is hired to be a companion to Elizabet and to tend to her needs. Most of the film features Alma talking to Elizabet, sharing personal details, and slowly seeming to lose her sense of self. The movie is very well done for what it is, but it isn't a film that I really enjoyed all that much.

Lonesome (1928) - 8.5/10 - Mary and Jim are lonely New Yorkers who get up early for work and go about their day. They each decide to go to Coney Island after work and they meet and have a wonderful time together. However, fate intervenes to separate them. I thought it was a wonderful film with great leads and creative filming techniques.

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003) - 7/10 - An alien band is kidnapped, brainwashed, and brought to Earth to perform and win an award. I like Daft Punk and didn't know that they had made an entire movie to go along with one of their albums. It was decent.

Reservoir Dogs (1992) - 7.5/10 - A group of criminals pull off a diamond heist, but it goes bad as the cops seem to be waiting for them. They suspect that there might be a rat in their group. I though Buscemi and Keitel in particular were good and it was a good movie, but I didn't think it was in the same class as Pulp Fiction.

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) - 8/10 - I've never been that interested in South Park, but this was pretty funny and had lots of good songs parodying various musicals. The March of War bit was a nice touch.

Ghost in the Shell (1995) - 7/10 - I read the manga back in the 90s and enjoyed it, but had never watched the anime. This cyberpunk film has pretty good visuals and a decent story, though it could have been better.

It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012) - 9/10 - Bill has some unspecified illness which causes memory and physical issues. The story is animated, but mixes in real footage here and there. The story is a mix of humor and drama and is told in a stream of consciousness fashion. I thought it was excellent.

Dracula (1931) - 6/10 - Bela Lugosi stars as Count Dracula. The movie isn't bad, but it feels like they left way too much out.

Harold and Maude (1971) - 8.5/10 - Harold is a young man obsessed with death. He fakes realistic suicides regularly and his mother has become somewhat inured to them. He attends funerals of strangers and drives a hearse. He meets 79 year old Maude at a couple of the funerals. She is an eccentric who likes to attend funerals of strangers and randomly steal cars. The two become fast friends. The movie has quite a bit of dark humor and is very entertaining.

The Great K & A Train Robbery (1926) - 7/10 - Tom Mix stars as a detective hired to investigate a series of train robberies. He learns that there is an inside man so he doesn't correct the assumption that he is a bandit. There is plenty of action and I thought it was a nice film.

The Toll of the Sea (1922) - 7/10 - Lotus Flower is a Chinese girl who finds and helps rescue an American man who is floating in a tide pool near the sea. They fall in love and marry in the Chinese fashion. He plans to take her back to America with him when he leaves, but is discouraged from doing this by his friends. I thought it was a decent film and it was a very early technicolor feature. The colors and scenery look great.

Temptations of a Great City (1911) - 6/10 - A man with a good job plus additional financial support from his wealthy mother finds himself deep in debt to a loan shark due to his partying and spendthrift ways. The loan shark is aiming for the mother's money. The man complicates things by starting a relationship with the loan shark's daughter. It wasn't bad.

College (1927) - 7/10 - Buster Keaton is a bookish young man who graduates at the top of the class in high school, but the girl he likes rejects him due to his aversion to athletics. In college, he tries all sorts of athletics in order to win her over. It was okay through a good part of the film with a few nice gags sprinkled in, but nothing really special. It comes together nicely in the end, though.


Harold Lloyd shorts

Now or Never (1921) - 8/10 - 36 minutes - Lloyd is rushing back to meet his girl for her 18th birthday. He ends up on a train having to care for a young girl during the trip while his girlfriend is otherwise engaged. It's a pretty funny and entertaining film, especially once they get on the train.

The Marathon (1919) - 7.5/10 - 10 minutes - Lloyd is interested in a girl with many suitors and also has to evade the father, a former heavyweight boxer. This is like a long Benny Hill skit and is pretty funny.

Captain Kidd's Kids (1919) - 7/10 - 20 minutes - Lloyd is recovering from his bachelor party when he ends up going on a cruise.

By the Sad Sea Waves (1917) - 7/10 - 11 minutes - Lloyd is at the beach and becomes a life guard to try and impress a girl. Lots of comedy from other people, but it is a fun short.

Two-Gun Gussie (1918) - 6/10 - 9 minutes - Lloyd is a piano player who gets mistaken for a tough gunfighter. It has its moments, but is so-so.

A Sammy in Siberia (1919) - 6/10 - 11 minutes - Lloyd is a soldier who comes across a young woman who is being chased by a group of Bolsheviks. I enjoyed this, but there isn't really much to this short.

The Non-Stop Kid (1918) - 5.5/10 - 12 minutes - Lloyd is interested in a girl whose father has plans for her to marry a professor so Lloyd goes in search of the professor. It had a few good moments, but was a bit lame.

The City Slicker (1918) - 6/10 - 11 minutes - Lloyd is a city slicker brought in to modernize a rural hotel. There are a few creative bits, but mostly it is so-so.

Next Aisle Over (1919) - 6/10 - 11 minutes - Lloyd becomes a shoe salesman in a department store while in pursuit of a girl. There is plenty of slapstick here.

A Submarine Pirate (1915) - 4.5/10 - 24 minutes - This is really a Syd Chaplin short with Lloyd in an uncredited role. Chaplin is a waiter who overhears a plot to use a submarine to steal gold from a passenger ship. He decides to take over the plan himself. It's not that great.

Bashful (1917) - 6/10 - 10 minutes - Lloyd stands to inherit two million dollars if he has a wife and baby so the girl he likes pretends to be his wife and the butler sets out to find a baby. There are a few good gags here.

Over the Fence (1917) - 5.5/10 - 5 minutes - Lloyd works for a tailor and finds two tickets to a baseball game so he invites his girl, but the tickets are taken. This apparently was the introduction of the 'glasses' character. It wasn't bad, but it was way too short.

Ring Up the Curtain (1919) - 6/10 - 12 minutes - Lloyd is a stage hand who hits on the leading lady of a theater troupe that just arrived. It was okay.

Bliss (1917) - 6/10 - 12 minutes - Lloyd encounters a wealthy young woman on the street and decides to dress up and pay her a visit to court her. Her dad is pretty tough on suitors who aren't noble. There were a few good gags, but nothing special.

Lonesome Luke, Messenger (1917) - 7/10 - 10 minutes - Lloyd and Snub Pollard (who appears in many Lloyd shorts) are messengers who come across a girls boarding school so they decide to stop there. Plenty of Benny Hill antic ensue. It wasn't as polished as his later work, but it was fun.

Luke Joins the Navy (1916) - 4/10 - 5 minutes - Lloyd is a store clerk who decides to join the navy. There isn't much to see here.

Clubs are Trump (1917) - 6/10 - 25 minutes - Lloyd and Snub are hanging out on a park bench when they decide to try and steal a couple of women from their boyfriends without success. They fall asleep and dream of being cavemen with lots of people hitting each other in the head with clubs. They wake up and there is a lot more getting hit in the head with billy clubs courtesy of the police. It was okay.

Spring Fever (1919) - 6.5/10 - 10 minutes - Lloyd works in an office, but is distracted because he has spring fever. He leaves work and causes plenty of mayhem in the nearby park where he happens to find a girl.

Look Pleasant, Please (1918) - 7/10 - 11 minutes - Lloyd works at a corner mart and later ends up being recruited by a photographer whose roving fingers caused a woman to call her husband.

All Aboard (1917) - 6/10 - 11 minutes - Lloyd's girl is being taken on a cruise to Bermuda by her parents so he sneaks on board to be with her and the usual havoc ensues.

That's Him (1918) - 6.5/10 - 11 minutes - Lloyd and his wife are going to take the train to visit his aunt, but he forgot the tickets. He races back home to find them only to get mistaken for a mugger and burglar and chased by the police. It was amusing.

Love, Loot and Crash (1915) - 5/10 - 11 minutes - This is a Keystone Kops film with Lloyd planning to elope with his girlfriend, but there is confusion when a new housekeeper plans to steal from the house and escape at the same time. It had a few good moments.

Move On (1917) - 4/10 - 5 minutes - Lloyd is a police officer who tries to make out with a maid he likes, though his sergeant likes the girl, too. Not very long or good.

A Gasoline Wedding (1918) - 7.5/10 - 10 minutes - Lloyd's girlfriend has plenty of suitor (a common theme with Lloyd) and her father wants to marry her off to a wealthy man. Lloyd and his girlfriend make their escape. I thought this one was pretty good.

Don't Shove (1919) - 5/10 - 9 minutes - Lloyd's girlfriend is having a birthday party, but he gets chased out by the father. Later, they all end up at the roller rink.

The Big Idea (1917) - 7/10 - 10 minutes - Lloyd works at an antique store where business is slow. He comes up with a big idea to drum up business. This one was relatively simple, but fun.

The Peacemaker (Mimi Leder, 1997) 7/10

You don't wanna mess with anyone who loses family through violence begotten via some political agenda. The one who gets left behind has nothing to lose with revenge on the mind. And hey, the dude here is a Serbian Muslim (well, duh...) who loses his wife and daughter in a sniper attack. Ten nuclear warheads are being transported on a Russian train, one is detonated on the train as a decoy while nine are hijacked. It is upto a US Army Colonel (George Clooney) and a White House nuclear expert (Nicole Kidman) to track them down. As with all such films the action set pieces make or break it. This one has three action clichés but all rip roaring amazing - a car chase set on the streets of Vienna (although shot in Slovakia) with the two stars being chased by the Russian mafia, Clooney atop a helicopter and being lowered down onto the truck carrying the warheads which is tottering half off the bridge and the final chase on the streets of New York ending up inside a church. Clooney and Kidman have kick-ass chemistry on screen but the script has no romance lined up for them. Leder, making her debut as a director, crisply manages to stage the action. Ofcourse there is nothing we haven't seen before in countless such thrillers but its all been competently put together and makes for a harmless watch. You enjoy it and then forget it a day later.

The Bourne Identity (Doug Liman, 2002) 7/10

Richard Chamberlain was the star of the tv adaptation of Robert Ludlum's spy novel. This was years before Matt Damon turned this into a franchise which is the closest thing we have to an American version of James Bond. The CIA assassin, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), is fished out of the ocean shot twice in the back and suffering from amnesia. A link to a Zurich bank locker reveals to him his name on a passport, lots of cash and a gun. With people out to kill him (Clive Owen appears briefly as one of the attackers) he manages to escape with the help of a girl (Franka Potente) and discovers that he was part of a covert section of the CIA as a trained super assasin who decided to give it all up. Only he is in too deep and his handler (Chris Cooper), and his boss (Brian Cox) - both highly suspicious - want him dead. Action packed film is shot on exotic locations with Damon making a superlative brutal hero. As with most such films there is not much depth to the proceedings but Damon settles rather well into the role.

The Bourne Supremacy (Paul Greengrass, 2004) 7/10

Bourne (Matt Damon), hidden from the world in Goa with his girlfriend (Franka Potente), has to go on the run when an assassin tries to kill him but gets her instead. He is also framed for two recent murders in Berlin by his old CIA handler (Brian Cox), has to prove his innocence to a new CIA chief (Joan Allen) and seek revenge on the Russian who murdered his lady friend. Action packed sequel has a car chase sequence on the streets of Moscow as its highlight. Damon, in full on deadpan mode, continues to grow into the role and Greengrass provides the action sequences with a sense of dizziness. One does wonder at the end what became of all the mayhem left as collateral damage in the wake of all the car crashes.

The Bourne Ultimatum (Paul Greengrass, 2007) 7/10

Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), still trying to discover his past, finds himself on the run once more as he is hounded by a ruthless CIA official (Scott Glenn) and his agent (David Strathairn) but helped along the way by two other agents (Joan Allen & Julia Stiles) who believe in him. A great supporting cast compliment Damon. Edgar Ramírez as an assassin, Paddy Considine as a journalist whose discovery takes Bourne closer to his past and Albert Finney who is his past and the answer to the mystery of all his anguish. Superbly shot film won 3 Oscars - for film editing, sound mixing, sound editing - all of which helped make the action scenes so memorable.

Three Ages (1923) - 6/10 - Buster Keaton stars as a man who is unlucky in love and is overshadowed by his rival, Wallace Beery. There are parallel stories in cave man times, in Rome, and in the modern day where each story plays out in a similar fashion. There are a few good gags, but mostly the film is pretty dull until the last 15 minutes or so when it picks up and is good.

Charlie Chaplin shorts

Sunnyside (1919) - 5/10 - Chaplin works long hours at a hotel and on the farm in a small rural town. He is mistreated constantly by his boss, the local preacher. There were a few good bits, but overall this film wasn't all that interesting.

A Day's Pleasure (1919) - 7.5/10 - Chaplin takes his family for an outing on a ferry and then for a car ride where they ran into a few traffic problems. The ferry is moving enough to make people seasick. This one was pretty good and had a number of laughs.

Idle Class (1921) - 8.5/10 - The Tramp arrives in town by train and goes golfing. The golf outing has plenty of funny moments. Chaplin also plays a wealthy, but absent minded husband whose wife is upset with him for his drinking. There are some Prince and the Pauper gags as well. I enjoyed this one a lot.

A Night Out (1915) - 4/10 - The Tramp is drunk and goes to a restaurant with his fellow drunk where the two proceed to cause problems for a well dressed man in a top hat as well as the head waiter. At the hotel later, the two run into the waiter again along with his wife. I didn't find the 'humor' here to be funny.

The Vagabond (1916) - 7.5/10 - The Tramp is a street musician who comes across a young woman who is being abused and forced to work by gypsies. It's a bit light on the comedy after the opening sequence at the bar, but it is still a good film.

Police (1916) - 7/10 - The Tramp is released from prison, but finds life on the outside difficult. He falls in with his old cell mate who plans to rob a house. I liked it

The Red Dawn remake filmed a couple of short scenes at the high school I taught at. I think one of them was on the roof. I have no idea if they made it into the final film since I haven’t seen the movie.

Birds of Paradise (Sarah Adina Smith, 2021) 4/10

An elite ballet Academy in Paris, a mixture of enmity and friendship between two roommates - a middle class tomboy (Diana Silvers) from small town America and the upperclass Ambassador's daughter (Kristine Froseth), both competing to win the top prize which is entrance to the prestigious Opéra National de Paris. Both girls hold back secrets which are gradually revealed as the story progresses. At the center of their lives at school is the tough and extremely demanding head of the corps, barking orders in french and passing catty remarks - the one they call “Le diable"- (the devil), played with cold authority by Jacqueline Bisset. The story permeates a sinister atmosphere - there is outstanding cinematography - that seemingly comes off as a combination of "Black Swan" and "Suspiria". Gloomy, heavy and a bore, although the two young leads are both very good.

Being James Bond: The Daniel Craig Story (Baillie Walsh, 2021) 7/10

Actor Craig reminisces about his five stints, spread across 15 years, as James Bond with producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. Along the way we get to see his first screen test as 007, assorted press interviews, candid moments on sets of all five films along with his co-stars. The journey, with Craig, involved rebooting Bond for a modern audience but ensuring to stay faithful to Ian Fleming's source material. The journey ends for the actor with the upcoming release of "No Time to Die" which finally gets a delayed release due to the pandemic.

Who Am I? (Benny Chan, 1998) 3/10

Odd mixture of comedy, spy thrills and Hong Kong action in this Jackie Chan vehicle. The title refers to his character's amnesia - he wakes up, having fallen from the sky, in remote Africa and healed back to life by a tribe. And then all sorts of people are out to get him as the action shifts to Rotterdam as he tries to figure who he is and why he is being chased by shady hitmen and the CIA. After a pleasant if rather corny African interlude the plot turns to action of the Hong Kong variety as each fight sequence goes on and on with nary any blood or wound in sight. Through this cartoon-like plot Jackie sails through various stunts - sliding down a huge skyscraper is the highlight. Boring and silly.

Dune (David Lynch, 1984) 1/10

Hilariously convoluted film version of Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction cult novel. The author was inspired by the desert and how it gave birth to many religions via messiah-like prophets, including T. E. Lawrence who had a similar aura during his involvement in the Arab Revolt. The novel, set centuries in the future, revolves around the prophesy of a young messiah who will arrive to lead to freedom the people of Arrakis - a desolate desert planet which houses a spice that extends life, expands consciousnes and permits safe, instantaneous interstellar travel. Unfortunately Lynch makes the mistake of directing every actor as if the material is to be treated with the utmost reverence with the result the distinginguished cast all come across stiffly self conscious with every actor intoning their dialogue in a monotone. It's incredible how the entire cast seems to have forgotten the art of acting as they flail about either being hammy or just phoning in their lines. What is most shocking about the whole production is how shoddy the special effects are especially coming seven years after "Star Wars" a film that was then the measure against which all science fiction projects were supposed to be compared. This was the first collaboration between Lynch and his mascot Kyle MacLachlan who plays the young protagonist/messiah, son of a Duke (Jürgen Prochnow) and his concubine (Francesca Annis). The story is peppered with eccentric and colorful characters - the Emperor (José Ferrer), his daughter (Virginia Madsen), his concubine and a high priestess (Siân Phillips), a housekeeper (Linda Hunt), a soothsayer (Silvana Mangano - then still married to the film's producer Dino De Laurentiis), the despicable pock-marked villain (Kenneth McMillan taking ham to the next level), his evil nephew (Sting), a good Mentat / human-computer (Freddie Jones), the villainous one (Brad Dourif), a doctor who turns traitor (Dean Stockwell), a swordmaster (Richard Jordan), a troubador-warrior (Patrick Stewart), a planetologist (Max von Sydow) and the messiah's lover (Sean Young). Too many characters and not enough stuff for them to do during the running time. A later tv mini-series version of the story was also not a success. This version bombed big time but luckily did not have a negative effect on the careers of Lynch or his cast. Now after 37 years a new film version of the story, directed by Denis Villineuve, has come out proving that the story has staying power even if previous versions could not come up to the standard of the book. And if you want to see scary worms rampaging through sand dunes look no further than tbe "Tremors" franchise. The ones here are as boring as the story and actors surrounding them.

Red Dawn (John Milius, 1984) 6/10

WWIII by way of a Soviet-Cuban invasion on a small town in Colorado and guerilla resistance by a group of kids who take on the name of Wolverines after their high school football team. In many ways an iconic film and a cult classic - notorious for having the most acts of violence of any film upto that time - with its now iconic cast many of whom would become stars. Unlike the remake where apart from the lead none of the other kids made it big. Here the leader of the pack is played by Patrick Swayze, his brother by Charlie Sheen (in his film debut), and as the other kids who make themselves a damn nuisance for the Ruskies are C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson and Jennifer Grey. An eclectic cast of veteran actors - Harry Dean Stanton, Vladek Sheybal, Powers Booth, Ron O'Neal, Ben Johnson - round out the superb cast. The film has exciting action sequences, is unrepentantly patriotic but surprisingly avoids jingoistic propaganda. As one critic said about the film - "its just a childishly simplistic masturbatory fantasy for right-wing hebephrenics that’s mostly safe enough to play the White House". Sounds about right!!

Red Dawn (Dan Bradley, 2012) 2/10

Remake of the 1984 film which had the Soviet Union attacking small town America. For this version they first thought of an attack by Middle East terrorists which was then changed to the Chinese. Greed took over as the producers did not want to jeopardise the box office in China so they quickly switched and made the invaders North Koreans. It's actually a very interesting premise - the United States being attacked by an invading force on their own soil. Quite a change from what the Americans are usually used to. Kids retaliate, start an underground guerilla movement and make a nuisance of themselves by attacking the Koreans in short bursts causing chaos. Steel-jawed Chris Hemsworth leads the pack of kids (badly acted by the whole bunch of them) with a speech that rattles their patriotism out of its stupor and rallies them into a unified team. Most of the battle scenes are shot inside dark buildings so its difficult to see who is doing what and to whom. Just a lot of shouting and gunfire.

Reza wrote:I really must check out films of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd.

There are a lot of good ones. I watched most of Lloyd's feature length films 5-7 years ago and enjoyed the ones I watched, except for his last picture (The Sin of Harold Diddlebock) which was so-so. My favorites for his feature length films are Why Worry?, Speedy, and Safety Last.

Keaton's also got some good feature length films in addition to the shorts in case you haven't seen them - Sherlock, Jr., The General, The Navigator, etc. I still have a few others to watch.

I really must check out films of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd.

Time for some Harold Lloyd shorts:

Never Weaken (1921) - 8.5/10 - 29 minutes - Lloyd works in an office and is in love with the girl who works next door. He drums up business for her employer and is heartbroken when he thinks that she has jilted him for another. It was pretty funny and had a really nice construction site scene.

Luke's Movie Muddle (1916) - 5/10 - 7 minutes - This early Lloyd film isn't in his usual style and isn't really very good. He's an usher/ticket seller at a movie theater who hits on some of the women.

Haunted Spooks (1920) - 7.5/10 - 25 minutes - A young woman inherits a mansion, but has to live in it for a year with her husband. Since she has no husband, Lloyd is enlisted to marry her. This one is funny and has a number of good scenes.

From Hand to Mouth (1919) - 7.5/10 - 22 minutes - Lloyd is penniless and hungry and befriends a young girl in a similar state before helping an heiress get her fortune. Lots of good chases including a nice one with manholes.

High and Dizzy (1920) - 7/10 - 25 minutes - Lloyd is a young doctor and business is slow. He spends most of the short drunk, part of the time with his friend and fellow drunk. I liked the scene at the hotel desk and the sleepwalking bit as well.

Among Those Present (1921) - 7.5/10 - 34 minutes - Lloyd works at a hotel and is recruited to pose as a lord as part of a 'practical joke'. It's good up until he has to try riding a rambunctious horse and after that it becomes even funnier.

Ask Father (1919) - 7.5/10 - 13 minutes - Lloyd tries to get into to see the busiest man in town in order to ask him for permission to marry his daughter. He goes to great lengths. I thought it was pretty funny and I remembered that I had seen it before just a few minutes in.

Young Mr. Jazz (1919) - 6.5/10 - 10 minutes - There is a funny 'snorkeling' scene at the beach early in the film as Lloyd tries to avoid the father to set up a date with his girl. The action shifts to a crooked dance hall where the two try to avoid the father. It's a decent film, but not one of Lloyd's best.

Get Out and Get Under (1920) - 7/10 - 25 minutes - Lloyd is late getting to a play and gets into all sorts of trouble with his car.

Hey There (1918) - 6.5/10 - 10 minutes - Lloyd tries to deliver a letter that an actress dropped, but has trouble getting to her on set. There are some funny bits.

Take a Chance (1918) - 7/10 - 10 minutes - This is basically a series of related skits that flow one to the next. There was also one part that had similarities with Keaton's Convict 13. It was funny, though.

Billy Blazes, Esq. (1919) - 7/10 - 13 minutes - Lloyd is a gunfighter who sets out to rescue a lady being held by a bad guy and his gang in this western. Lloyd doesn't appear until just before the halfway mark which is unusual, but he is pretty good with some interesting gunplay.

An Eastern Westerner (1920) - 8/10 - 23 minutes - This one was a rewatch. Lloyd is sent by his father to his uncle's ranch in the West. He meets a girl that he tries to impress and has to deal with a gang chasing him. Lots of funny gags.

The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914) - 5/10 - This adaptation of the seventh Oz book came out about a year after it was published and was produced by Baum's movie studio. I imagine it was fairly popular at the time since the books were new and the film industry was still somewhat primitive. However, the film doesn't seem all that great to me, though there were a few interesting bits. One big thing that came out of the movie was the meeting of Hal Roach and Harold Lloyd who each had small parts.

There are quite a few other Lloyd shorts that I plan to watch, but I might switch over to Chaplin for a while first.

I decided to watch a lot of Buster Keaton shorts. In retrospect, I probably should have spaced them out over several days.

The Rough House (1917) - 4/10 - This is really a Fatty Arbuckle short which has Keaton in it. I didn't think most of it was really all that funny, though a few bits in the dinner scene were amusing, such as serving the soup.

Convict 13 (1918) - 7.5/10 - This one was a lot more fun. Keaton is golfing and has a few mishaps and then has a variety of adventures in a prison.

One Week (1920) - 9/10 - After I started watching this, I realized that I had seen it before, but it was worth a rewatch. Keaton is a newlywed who tries to assemble a house from a kit. It's very funny and creative.

The Scarecrow (1920) - 8.5/10 - I thought this was about on par with One Week. The house and its design was very creative and I liked this various gags with the dog, scarecrow, etc.

Neighbors (1920) - 7.5/10 - Keaton and the girl next door are in love, but the families have a bit of a feud. I thought it was a bit simpler in scope, but was still pretty funny.

The Haunted House (1921) - 7/10 - A bank teller runs into a 'haunted' house... I didn't think that this was as funny as the last few I watched, but some of the gags in the haunted house weren't bad.

Hard Luck (1921) - 6.5/10 - Keaton tries unsuccessfully to commit suicide a number of times and then goes off fishing, hunting, etc. with a number of mostly uninspired gags.

The 'High Sign' (1921) - 7/10 - Keaton looks for a job in a shooting gallery and ends up in a gang. This was good and had a few good gags in it.

The Goat (1921) - 8.5/10 - Keaton gets mistaken for a notorious bad guy and spends most of his time on the run. It was pretty funny.

The Playhouse (1921) - 8/10 - Keaton works in a playhouse, though he has bigger dreams than just working there. This one was pretty good.

The Boat (1921) - 5.5/10 - Keaton takes his family out for a trip in his new homemade boat. This one didn't really work for me. A lot of it just seemed dumb.

The Paleface (1922) - 7/10 - Oil barons cheat a Native American tribe and they look to take out their anger on Keaton who wanders in chasing butterflies. It wasn't bad.

Cops (1922) - 7/10 - This one had to set a record for how many police chase a guy in a movie.

My Wife's Relations (1922) - 7/10 - Keaton is an artist who ends up accidentally married.

The Blacksmith (1922) - 7.5/10 - Keaton as a somewhat inept blacksmith working on horses and cars.

The Frozen North (1922) - 5.5/10 - I liked the gag with the holdup, but otherwise this one wasn't that great.

The Electric House (1922) - 7.5/10 - Keaton graduates from college and gets hired to install electricity in a house. He does a pretty good job.

Day Dreams (1922) - 7/10 - Keaton goes out to seek his fortune so that he can marry the woman he likes. He goes through a variety of professions.

The Balloonatic (1923) - 7/10 - Keaton spends time at an amusement park until an errant balloon ride has him end up in the wilderness whee he has further adventures.

The Love Nest (1923) - 7/10 - A jilted lover sets sail in a small boat and ends up on a whaling ship.


I'd rank them this way for how much I enjoyed them:

1. One Week (1920) - 9/10
2. The Scarecrow (1920) - 8.5/10
3. The Goat (1921) - 8.5/10
4. The Playhouse (1921) - 8/10
5. Neighbors (1920) - 7.5/10
6. The Electric House (1922) - 7.5/10
7. Convict 13 (1918) - 7.5/10
8. The Blacksmith (1922) - 7.5/10
9. The Haunted House (1921) - 7/10
10. The Balloonatic (1923) - 7/10
11. The 'High Sign' (1921) - 7/10
12. The Paleface (1922) - 7/10
13. Cops (1922) - 7/10
14. Day Dreams (1922) - 7/10
15. The Love Nest (1923) - 7/10
16. My Wife's Relations (1922) - 7/10
17. Hard Luck (1921) - 6.5/10
18. The Boat (1921) - 5.5/10
19. The Frozen North (1922) - 5.5/10
20. The Rough House (1917) - 4/10

Fantômas: In the Shadow of the Guillotine (1913) - 7/10
Fantômas: Juve Against Fantômas (1913) - 7.5/10
Fantômas: The Dead Man Who Killed (1913) - 7.5/10
Fantômas: Fantômas Against Fantômas (1914) - 7.5/10
Fantômas: The False Magistrate (1914) - 7/10

The Fantômas series features a master criminal who is a thief, murderer, and master of disguise. He is pursued by Inspector Juve and Juve's friend Fandor, a newspaper reporter. Fantômas is quick witted and manages to escape sooner or later when captured. The series is fun with the middle three being the ones that I enjoyed the most.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) - 8.5/10 - I enjoyed this one quite a bit more than when I watched it many years ago. I was probably more receptive to it this time around, but it certainly helped that the version I watched this time wasn't the muddied and dark print that I saw the last time.

The Unknown (1927) - 7.5/10 - Alonzo (Lon Chaney) is a circus performer without arms who performs tricks with guns and knives. He's in love with the circus owner's daughter Nanon (Joan Crawford) who has an aversion to men touching her with their hands and thus finds Alonzo comfortable. However, Alonzo is not quite what he seems. This one was pretty good and Chaney was excellent.

A Dog's Life (1918) - 7/10 - Charlie Chaplin's Tramp is sleeping in a vacant lot. He is hungry and tries to get a job without success. He rescues a dog from a group of other dogs and this eventually leads to his good fortune. I thought it was fun.

Regen (1929) - 8/10 - Rain falls in Amsterdam for 14 minutes. I watched the version with the Larry Marotta guitar soundtrack and it was pretty cool.