The Haunted House (1921)

Buster Keaton is a genius. Was that ever a question? In The Haunted House (1921),  the plot is convoluted, yet entirely beside the point. The reason to watch this gem of a short film is Buster Keaton himself, hilariously throwing himself around completely insane situations. Get this: Buster Keaton is a bank worker who spills glue on everything and spends a good chunk of the movie being covered in glue and money. Also there are robbers. And theatre actors. And a haunted house that's not really haunted. And counterfeit money. Can't make sense of it? Who cares! I was cracking up watching Keaton do his thing. "The Great Stone Face" was a legend for a reason. You can watch this on Hulu Plus or YouTube, where you can find any number of his short films. I can't wait to check out more!

Silly Symphonies - "The Skeleton Dance" (1929)

Happy Fall! I'm one of those obnoxious people who announced "It's the first day of fall!" to everyone I encountered today. I love pumpkin-flavored everything, spooky decorations, and of course my beloved movie list of thrillers and frightfests. I also love watching shorts and music videos that put me in the mood for this time of year, be it "Indian Thriller" or "The Headless Horseman."  One of my absolute favorites to watch is this old beloved cartoon by Walt Disney Productions. It has the distinction of being the first of 75 "Silly Symphonies," a collection of short musical cartoons produced between 1929 and 1939. This cartoon features four skeletons dancing in a graveyard with a macabre sort of glee. It's hard to not tap your feet while watching them dance and twirl. So as we welcome the fall season and look forward to Halloween being ever closer, let's enjoy this little romp in the cemetery! 

Salute These Shorts

While I will agree with you that the "shorts" section of The Academy Awards' telecast can be pretty boring, some short films can be pretty awesome. The following is a list of Craig's 15 favorite short films. They span a wide range of genres, styles, countries and even mediums. They are also not in any particular order. Where possible I have included a link to somewhere to view each film online. What are some of your favorite short films? Let us know in the comments!

Scorpio Rising (dir. Kenneth Anger)

Frankenweenie (1984)

I keep seeing trailers for the new Frankenweenie film from Tim Burton. I'm not sure if I'm going to see it in theaters after being so disappointed by Tim's recent work, but it got me thinking about how much I love the original short film.

The premise is simple. Boy loves his dog, dog dies, boy resurrects dog. Barret Oliver (what ever happened to him?) plays Victor Frankenstein with such sweetness, and Shelley Duvall and Daniel Stern play his parents. What makes the film so special is the humble homemade quality of it. It's wacky and a little dark but it has heart and features the misunderstood outsider, qualities which would later come to define Tim Burton's feature films. Frankenweenie was a memorable look at things to come.

If you are interested in watching this short film on Netflix, you have to get the bonus disc of The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Or just watch it on YouTube!

October starts Monday, are you ready? Go watch something scary this weekend to kick-start the spook-fest!

A Trip To The Moon (1902)

A group of astronomers decide to take a trip to the moon. Once there they encounter angry creatures called Selenites who attack them. The astronomers must fend off the attack and find their ship if they ever hope to make it back to earth.

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OK guys. Here's your chance to get ahead of the curve. At the end of this month, Martin Scorsese is releasing his new film Hugo. Since a good portion of the plot centers around pioneering filmmaker Georges Méliès, now would be the perfect time to familiarize yourself with his work so that you can better appreciate Marty's movie. You can be the cool guy who explains all the references to your friends. We all know that people LOVE that guy.

All kidding aside, I'm really excited for Hugo. Of course I'd be excited for any Scorsese film, but this film in particular. This film has the potential to expose a wide audience to the revolutionary work these early filmmakers were doing. Sure the story is disposable and the shots linger for far too long, but the artistry on display is astonishing. It makes total sense that Méliès was originally a magician, because what he was able to do with such primitive tools, is truly magical.

Part of me thinks Perhaps modern audiences are too cynical to really appreciate this magic, but I think kids are still pure enough to get it. My sincere hope is that Scorsese's film will inspire a whole generation of youngsters to pick up the family video camera (or heck even an iPhone) and start telling stories with images. Something to dream about...

In the meantime, please turn off the "irony" part of your brain and just let the magic take you away! I swear it's only 12 minutes and then you can go back to listening to whatever band I'm not cool enough to know about.

Scorpio Rising (1964)

As passionate and visceral as Martin Scorsese's imagery is, the thing that really seals the deal for me is when he ironically sets scenes to popular songs. "Be My Baby" for the opening to Mean Streets, the piano exit to "Layla" when all the bodies are being found in Goodfellas and "Rang Tang Ding Dong (I Am The Japanese Sandman)" from the freak-out scene in Bringing Out the Dead leap to mind. He's so good at it that it seems almost like he was born to do it. But this is not the case.

In countless interviews Scorsese has credited Kenneth Anger's gay biker masterpiece Scorpio Rising, as being the film that opened his eyes to the endless cinematic uses of pop music. For this alone the film should be forever cherished. But wait there's more! The visuals are unforgettable. Anger really has an eye for iconic (nearly dreamlike) images that wedge themselves in your brain. Richard Linklater even nicked the opening image for School of Rock from here.

Thankfully someone has been kind enough to post Scorpio Rising on Youtube! It's divided into 3 segments. Here's the first. you're on your own from there. Enjoy!

Le Ballon Rouge (The Red Balloon) (1956)

The Red Balloon: Making us care about inanimate objects long before Pixar!
This short film is about a boy who finds a red balloon, and the two form a very special and unique bond, as the balloon seems to have a life and mind of its own. The film is simple, with very little dialogue, but it's beautifully shot and emotionally powerful. In such a short span of time we become so involved in this pair and learn about human nature and the beauty of a child's belief in the impossible. I don't want to ruin the ending, but it's amazing. And yes, I got teary eyed. I'm a sap!

It's currently streamable on Netflix, and only 34 minutes long. What are you waiting for?

Enjoy the magic.