The General

I mentioned a while ago after seeing my first Buster Keaton movie that I liked him more than the more famous Charlie Chaplin. At the time I hadn't seen what I consider better films by Chaplin, but after watching The General I remain convinced that Keaton is more my style. His movies don't have the emotional depth of Chaplin's, but he's just a funnier presence on the screen, and that matters more when I'm watching a silent movie with about a dozen title cards worth of plot. The General is quite a bit longer than Sherlock Jr, and while that means it isn't quite as uniquely brilliant at every single moment, it's still a very funny movie with a decent little story of love and war to boot.

It speaks to Keaton's ability as an entertainer that I was only bothered for a few minutes by the fact that I was being asked to root for a Southern man as he tries to disrupt the Yankee war machine during the Civil War. But you could flip the roles and the movie really wouldn't be very different; the plot consists of Keaton being refused for recruitment based on his usefulness as a train engineer, orchestrating a daring rescue of his beloved girlfriend on the fly after she is accidentally kidnapped by Union troops, and then racing back to try to warn his side of a surprise attack. It's a simple story, and it really just serves to set up the action. I was actually a bit annoyed by some of the drama they tried to insert early on, because it's the sort of simple misunderstanding blown out of proportion that would be easily solved if people just talked to each other. But it's a small speed bump.

And yeah, the meat of the movie is pretty great. Most of the action is centered around a couple of scenes taking place on train tracks, with Keaton chasing after the bad guys or vice versa. There's a lot of creativity in some of the gags, although it's tempered somewhat when many are repeated later with only slightly different methods or tweaks. Part of what I prefer about Keaton over Chaplin is his physical ability, obviously Chaplin has pretty great skill there, but Keaton is just all over the place, jumping from train car to train car and pulling off daring stunts. His work is as much an extremely early example of action as it is comedy. And then there's the face. Plenty of actors can don goofy expressions all day long, but I can't think of anyone who can do so much with a simple blank stare. I don't think anyone's ever gotten more laughter out of a confused, emotionless gaze. Certainly one of my favorite comedies of the silent era.

Movie Update 1

I won't name all my posts like this, I'm just catching up right now.

Bringing Up Baby

I'm taking a film class this quarter and we watch a movie every week. The first was Casablanca, which I had previously seen, and is completely great. After that we saw a few silent movies, and then this, an example of the "screwball comedy" which has died out since it was released. Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn are both great actors and work well together to create a funny movie. It seems overly silly nowadays, but it works if you don't take it too seriously. It's full of sitcom situations and enjoyable fast-talking, and I guess it works if you want to see what people like to laugh at a long time ago.

The Gold Rush



One of two silent comedies we saw on the same day, Charlie Chaplin's film about recurring character "The Tramp" and his attempt to find love and riches in the cold north. I don't think he's as funny as Buster Keaton, at least in these two movies, but I think this may be a better film as far as emotional range and actual filmmaking go. It does have many funny moments, and is probably as good an example you're going to find of what silent movies were all about.

Inside Man

Denzel Washington and Jodie Foster have been two of the better actors in Hollywood for a while, and Clive Owen has only started to emerge in the last few years, but I've already grown to like him a lot. You put all three of them together in a movie with an interesting, twisty heist plot behind it and it's probably going to be pretty good. Everyone plays their part well (although what exactly Foster's character was supposed to be was a little vague), and it creates a nice tension where you aren't sure what you want to happen. Owen's bank robbery isn't quite what it appears to be, and the script is great, filled with smart dialogue and an interesting structure as scenes with the two cops interrogating the victims after the fact are spliced in to the normal narrative, leaving you guessing.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

I've got to see more movies with Robert Downey Jr. Between this and A Scanner Darkly, I've decided he's the best actor today when it comes to funny, quirky characters that you find yourself liking even if they aren't the best people. Val Kilmer is almost as funny and Michelle Monaghan is great as the girl who used to be a slut but is really just a clever, nice person at heart. All of the actors work together well in this hilarious take on a mystery movie which has some of the best narration I've ever heard. It continually tops itself with how crazy it gets, and is just extremely fun to watch.

Ocean's Twelve


Yet another movie completely stacked with big-name actors, almost to the point of absurdity. It's not as good as the remake it's a sequel of, but it still has its moments. It has a few too many music-focused montages and it doesn't really spend as much time on actual heisting as it should. It spends more time on the cat-and-mouse between the different characters and seems to be pretty far from the first.

It's got pretty enjoyable dialogue, although maybe the cast is just a little too big to give all the characters the screen-time they deserve. While they spend time fleshing out Brad Pitt's relationship with Catherine Zeta-Jones, Bernie Mac is almost completely absent and Shaobo Qin seems like a utilitarian throwaway. The big "gotcha" twist at the end is okay at first, but it seems a bit lame to me in retrospect because you don't really get a chance to figure it out yourself and it renders a very large part of the movie a complete waste of time. I enjoyed watching it, but hopefully the upcoming sequel gets back to the best parts of the whole concept.

Sherlock Jr.

The other silent comedy, maybe not as well-formed as The Gold Rush but I found it to be more enjoyable. Buster Keaton is a master of both subtle and completely physical comedy, and Sherlock Jr. contains probably the best comedic chase scene I've ever seen. It also has a great, innovative sequence involving a character stepping inside a movie screen. It's oddly structured, as the main thread is partly abandoned in favor of the movie within the movie, but it's a really pleasant watch.

Spirited Away

I've only seen a few films by Hayao Miyazaki, but I can tell he's one of the best creative minds to ever do animation. Spirited Away is endlessly inventive with setting, character, and plot, and is realized with very good, naturalistic animation. Miyazaki is great at creating realistic protagonists that you genuinely like and root for. It's one of those movies that just has a soul, with a great atmosphere that can be both frightening and heart-warming. Seriously, the guy is a genius.

Unknown

I had never heard of this small movie before I saw it, which seemed weird to me because of its great cast. The concept is interesting and is brought to execution as well as can be expected, with good acting, betrayals, mystery, and twists abound. I've seen better thrillers, but this is certainly a good one. It's a little ambiguous about what exactly happens, but it's not too hard to follow and is definitely an interesting ride.

Way Down East

A silent film by famed film pioneer and racist D.W. Griffith. The cut we saw in class was quite long, and it seemed like it took forever, but I wasn't all that bored to be honest, so I guess it's an accomplishment. It's pretty damn primitive nowadays, but back then this was groundbreaking stuff. It has funny moments and a well-structured story that reflects the values Griffith wanted to convey. The ending sequence is pretty far out there and seems out of place, but it's not a bad movie at all.