Jason goes to the Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival--Day 3

I skipped Day 2 to see my Quakes take on the hated L.A. Galaxy at Stanford...a grand day full of drinking and victory!

THE FAMILY SECRET (1924): The last day of the festival started with this Baby Peggy gem (and she was there in person and still beautiful.) This isn't the first time it has played at our festival, the last time I saw it was 2011, when I said this:

Baby Peggy is that secret, as her parents were married in secret. See, Margaret and Garry loved each other and got married, even though her father disapproved. When he catches him in the house, he sets him up as a burglar and has the police take him away for 4 years. In the meantime, Peggy is born and starts growing up. Her mom is depressed and spends days in bed. Her nanny is at best humorless and at worst negligent as she reads romance novels while Peggy wanders off. The nurse won't let Peggy stay with mommy because she gets to nervous. Grandpa has little time for her. So she spends her time playing with the cook and the maid, who dote on her as she gets into all sorts of hijinx. Meanwhile Garry is finally released from prison, but doesn't know how to find his daughter (even though they're still living in the same home. That seems like a plot hole to me). But you know what, I'll overlook that plot hole. The real heart of the movie is how Baby Peggy can melt anyone's heart. Her grandfather's character arc is particularly nice. And I loved how the audience was totally into it, cheering the good guys and hissing at the villains.

That's all still true. A beautiful movie with great heart. And I have it on good authority that a new DVD of it will be released soon. Details to come...

And then we ended the night with a bunch of Hazards of Helen flicks.

IN DANGER'S PATH (1915): Hazards of Helen often involved trains. In fact, all in this program did. In this one Helen (Holmes) has to escape from a refrigerator car and avert a train disaster. Very exciting.

THE GHOST OF THE CANYON (1920): Also played at the festival back in 2011. Here's what I said then:

The rare moments when Helen Holmes used a stunt double, her double was Helen Gibson (back when she was still Rose Gibson), so she was a natural to step into the role when Holmes left. This movie feels like the inspiration for a Scooby Doo mystery, with a ghost haunting a railroad trestle. Tons of fun, with more amazing stunts.

Ha ha, cool! I still agree, and it's definitely got a Scooby Doo plot (only...almost 50 years before Scooby-Doo was a thing.)

THE WILD ENGINE (1915): In this one, we're back to Helen Holmes. This time a runaway train is rumbling down the track and she has to make a mad dash by motorcycle and swim across a river to warn the excursion train and all their passengers. Wild stunts, and of course a just-in-the-nick-of-time ending.

MISTAKEN ORDERS (1925): Not surprisingly, the later these get the more sophisticated the plot. In this one, Helen Holmes is Helen Barton, and the plot revolves around whether it's safe to have a girl working for the railroad. And of course she has to prove the chauvinists wrong with a mad dash to the rescue once again. Very thrilling, and a great way to end the 2015 version of the festival.

Total Running Time: 177 minutes

My Total Minutes: 402,545

Jason goes to the Broncho Billy film festival--Day 1

Our little weekend silent film festival in Niles kicked off in style with a couple of 100 year old locally made flicks.

BRONCHO BILLY AND THE CLAIM JUMPERS (1915): Our "patron saint," Broncho Billy Anderson kicked off the festival with this story of evil men who try to prevent him from registering his claim by drugging the stagecoach driver. Luckily the driver's daughter (and Broncho Billy's sweetheart) Marguerite Clayton steps in and helps save the day. Very exciting.

WHEN SLIPPERY SLIM WENT FOR THE EGGS (1915): Then the Snakeville gang, the local jokesters had some fun picking on Slippery Slim (Victor Potel.) In particular, Mustang Pete (Harry Todd) and Hiram Clutts (Ernest Van Pelt) have quite a few laughs before the tables are turned. Very funny.

THE TOMBOY (1924): And then the feature, starring Dorothy Devore as Tommy Smith, a tomboy who runs a boarding house with her father. A stranger Alden Farwell (Herbert Rawlinson) comes to town and stays at their boarding house. A bit of a love triangle ensues as she likes him, but he gets vamped by trendy flapper Sweetie Higgins (Helen Lynch.) There's also a plot about a bootlegging ring and Mr. Smith is the prime suspect. It all makes for an entertaining hybrid of action melodrama and romantic comedy.

Total Running Time: 84 minutes

Jason watches JURASSIC WORLD

ROAR! CHOMP! SMASH! SCREAM! Repeat.

This was way more fun than it should've been.

Running Time: 124 minutes
My Total Minutes: 402,284

Jason goes to Niles for Comedy Shorts Night

Still catching up...this was Comedy Shorts Night a month ago.

SHANGHAIED (1915): Chaplin, in his Essanay days, in a very funny short where the tramp helps to shanghai a crew and then gets shanghaied himself. There he works in the kitchen and has to save himself and his girlfriend who stowed away (Edna Purviance.) Oh yeah, and the owner actually intends to scuttle the ship for the insurance money.

ONE WEEK (1920): A Buster Keaton classic. Here's what I said the last time I saw it:

Buster is given a house as a wedding present--all he has to do is build it himself. Unfortunately, his spurned rival messes with the plans and he ends up with a bizarre monstrosity.

Yup, still hilarious.

Then a brief intermission, and a couple more shorts.

NO FATHER TO GUIDE HIM (1925): Charley Chase (my favorite little-known silent era comedian) in a very funny short. Like much of his movies, it revolves around marital discord, but in this case he gets along fine with his wife and son. He doesn't get along with his mother-in-law, who has barred him from the house. So he has to sneak his son out for a day at the beach, where hilarity ensues (including lost swimsuits, yowza!)

YOU'RE DARN TOOTIN' (1928): Another one I had seen and written about before:

Laurel and Hardy as lousy musicians (they don't play by ear or by reading music, they play by brute force) in an orchestra. They get fired, try to survive as street performers, and get into all sorts of hilarious trouble.

Yup, still hilarious.

Total Running Time: 76 minutes
My Total Minutes: 402,160

Jason watches INSIDE OUT

But first, let's talk about the short that precedes it, LAVA, which I had already seen at SFIFF. Back then, I called it "Kinda cute. But mostly sappy." But as soon as the title appeared, my heart sank. It turns out, really, this short sucks. And there's plenty of corroborating opinions on the Internet, and if I wrote this right away I would advise everyone to estimate ~15 minutes of trailers + 7 minutes for this short and step into the theater 22 minutes after the posted showtime. But then I've also heard from people who thought LAVA was adorably cute and loved it. So...to each her own, I guess. Don't miss it on my account, but also don't blame me if you see it and hate it. For what it's worth, my complaints about LAVA:
- There's no action, it's a song that's entirely exposition. Movies are a visual medium, so why is it all told, not shown (because showing a volcano sitting around for eons is boring, I suppose.)
- Besides exposition, the song is based around one pun (lava = love) which isn't a very good pun (if there is such thing as a "very good pun") to begin with and is then repeated ad nauseam.
- It's incredibly sappy, emotionally manipulation.
- The last Pixar short that annoyed me nearly as much was BOUNDIN' (2003) but at least I could see that was a study in motion. I don't think there was anything in LAVA that broke ground in the technical side of animation.

Okay, enough of that, on to the feature!

INSIDE OUT is a hilarious, charming, and pretty smart movie. WALL-E is still my favorite Pixar film (sometimes I'd call it my favorite animated film...or maybe even favorite film) but INSIDE OUT is up there with the best. It takes place mostly inside a little girl's head, as she deals with her family moving from...[crud, I can't remember if it was Minnesota or Wisconsin...anyway, a hockey-playing northern midwest place]...to San Francisco. Her emotions are characters, with Joy ruling central command and Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness backing her up. Well, they try not to let Sadness control too much, but that's not always possible. And actually Joy's attempts to suppress Sadness lead to a whole mess of problems. There are lots of clever jokes and insights into how the mind works, and it's all very entertaining. And without giving anything away (I think) it's ultimately a story about the important process of growing up and how life isn't about being happy, but about being you. And that's a pretty cool subject for a kid's movie.

Total Running Time: 101 minutes
My Total Minutes: 402,084

Jason goes to Docfest--Closing Night

Well, crap. I've fallen over a month behind on my blog again. Prepare for a flood of quick and dirty (and probably inaccurately remembered) updates, starting with my last two films at Docfest.

PETALS IN THE DUST: THE ENDANGERED INDIAN GIRLS is a personal and horrifying story of gender violence in India, and in Indian families abroad. Director Nyna Pais Caputi was lucky that she was born to a family that cherished their daughters and gave her all the same opportunities they would a son. And she has used those opportunities to document the abuse of Indian girls. Infanticide, sex-selective abortions, neglect, forced child marriages, rape, etc. And lest you think this is only an issue for backwards savages, she documents abuse in very modern, upscale, progressive families. And even more surprisingly, in Indian communities abroad, in very secular progressive countries like the U.S. and Canada. That kind of surprised me, that Indians living far away in countries that generally wouldn't tolerate such abuse...seem to cling to it as their "tradition" even more than Indians in India. I just don't know what to make of that. Anyway, it's a very well made movie, but not one you're going to leave feeling happy.

And finally, (T)ERROR is a sobering and disturbing look at FBI undercover tactics in the war on terror. In particular, the use of...somewhat untrustworthy characters to infiltrate mosques and dig up dirt on "extremists"...even if the subjects need some coaxing to become extremists in the first place. The film gives us an unprecedented view to the process, and convinced me that this isn't making us one bit safer. So...sleep well! Great movie.

That's all I have to say. Docfest 2015 is officially done!

Total Running Time: 174 minutes
My Total Minutes: 401,983

Jason goes to Docfest--Day 14

The penultimate night! I'm almost done.

First up was the dance flick, LORDS OF BSV. BSV = Bed Stuy Veterans, and they're disciples of Brukup, a dance style that...this white boy has no idea how to describe. It's fun, it's awesome, and it should just be watched. Hey, check out this trailer for a taste. Now imagine a feature film of that, and you get to meet all the characters. Wouldn't that be cool? Heck, yeah it was.

And then SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL--THE TRUE STORY OF THE PROCESS CHURCH OF THE FINAL JUDGMENT. Asked--but never really answered--many times throughout the film is "What is the Process?" And it sometimes seemed like a joke, sometimes a dangerous cult, but mostly just a joke. Okay, maybe that's my bias because that's my opinion of all religion, but these people seemed to be more "in" on the joke than most. And then they're called Satanists (because they kind of worship Jesus and Satan) and blamed for inspiring Charles Manson. So I don't know, maybe they're more serious than I think, or this movie makes them out to be. Fuck, I don't know, it was over a week ago and I was tired. I think I enjoyed it.

Total Running Time: 180 minutes
My Total Minutes: 401,809