If you want to see an example of creativity as "intelligence having fun," watch the opening sequence from 1920's The Scarecrow as the 5'6" Buster Keaton and 6'3" Joe Roberts sit down to one of the most elaborately choreographed breakfasts you will ever see in your life.
There is a folk tale / fairy tale feel to this month's San Francisco Silent Film Festival. The festival's upcoming winter event, a now annual day-long series of screenings at the Castro Theater, takes place on Saturday, February 16.
Most creative talents have a professional bag of tricks they like to employ in the course of creating art. From alliteration to asymmetry, from pointilism to pizzicato, these gimmicks help startle an audience and add to an artist's personal style.
Just when you start believing there's no hope for anything daring and original coming out of Movieland, something gets released that surprises you. The Artist is one such movie -- and what's new about it is that it's old.
Hugo is transporting, a smart and imaginative treat that would make a great double-feature with Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist. Put it on your holiday movie list.
The parade of film festivals through San Francisco's arts calender offers a constant source of entertainment. But if I had to choose one, my favorite would undoubtedly be the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.
The number of American-born all-time greats in the field of writing, painting, and composing is legion, but given the nation's relative inception (con...
Erasure wanted to do something a little extra to spread light on this inspiring message of tolerance and to help raise money for an organization that is on the front line for gay and human rights.
The bottom line is that if the music commissioned for a silent film does nothing to support the work being shown on screen, then a genuine effort should be made to hire more talented composers.
If for some reason you haven't watched the acclaimed UK original Life On Mars, it's all gathered together in one neat package with audio commentary, behind the scenes documentaries and more.
If you find yourself watching a Buster Keaton movie and feeling very smug and intellectual about it, somebody needs to wallop your head with a dead fish.
With time it was inevitable that the technological innovation called "Blu-ray" would impinge on my particular corner of the movie universe, and I would have to confront it, willingly or not.