Rating System

I use a seven point rating system for this site because it seemed to make more sense than some of the other systems I've seen. It uses 4 (OK) as a pivot and ranges up to 7 (Classic) and down to 1 (Abysmal). Here's how it works in a little more detail.

1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

4 - OK

4 is the pivot and it simply means OK. OK films are those that may keep our attention from beginning to end but they hold absolutely nothing else for us. There's nothing particularly bad to say but there's nothing particularly good to say either. Also, on occasion an otherwise Good film may have a flaw large enough to warrant a lowering of the rating, or an otherwise Poor film has something notable enough to warrant it raised.

For example, films like Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979), Spencer Tracy's Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (1941) or Mortal Kombat Annihilation (1997) are just there. They just exist and there's nothing much to say about them.

5 - Good

This is the first step up the ratings ladder. Good films should have something positive to them to make them something more than just OK. This could be a great acting performance or an interesting plot, or just something that sticks happily in the mind. But good doesn't mean great, and these films are missing much that could have made them great.

For example, average films like Road to Singapore (1940) or The Company of Wolves (1984) raise themselves up through their sheer energy or by particular distinctive performances. Others like The Oklahoma Kid (1939) or Dollar for the Dead (1998) might rate higher if only I could buy into James Cagney or Emilio Estevez as cowboys.

6 - Excellent

These are highly enjoyable films that are well worth watching, but they have something to keep them down from a Classic rating. There might be obvious flaws or just some sense that something is missing. Maybe there's a major plot hole or one performance just let the side down.

For example, Gone with the Wind (1939) and All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) are superb films that nonetheless contain what to me are unforgiveable flaws. Others, like Russ Meyer's highly distinctive Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! (1966) and Mudhoney (1966) are wonderful movies that I somehow couldn't bring myself to give a Classic rating to.

7 - Classic

These films are the best of the best, the ones that people should still be talking about years from now. Classics should have either no flaws or at very least only forgiveable ones. They should be the best of their genres, command respect or admiration and contain masterclass direction, acting or cinematography. They should be the sort of films to want to see again, and should bear up or be at least likely to bear up under repeated viewings. All films in the IMDb Top 250 list ought to be Classics, but to my mind many aren't. Keep your eyes peeled for my stroll through the whole list over the course of 2010 to see which.

For example, The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) and Casablanca (1942) are essentially perfect films with no discernable flaws. The Abominable Dr Phibes (1971) is certainly not perfect but it outdoes itself by bringing a noticeably unique sense of style to its genre and so its flaws are entirely forgiveable.

3 - Poor

This is the first step down from OK. Poor means that there is something actively bad about a film. It may have redeeming features but these don't outweigh the negative. There could be a performance that's too bad to forgive or maybe an OK film just fell apart partway through. Alternatively Poor films could be Bad films with a single saving grace.

For example, films like Mars Needs Women (1967) or Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975) have much to be ashamed of but somehow they're still guilty pleasures. Others are watchable only for one thing, such as Black Dragons (1942) or Murder By Television (1935) which are bearable only because of the presence of Bela Lugosi.

2 - Bad

A Bad film has much to apologise for. However it should have at least something that is positive. Maybe one actor shone above all the rest, or the script was too good for bad actors to do justice to. Perhaps the film is great at one thing, such as action or kung fu sequences or cinematography, but there's nothing else going for it at all.

For example, Maniac (1932) and Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2002) are frankly terrible but the former contains fascinating sequences and ideas that were unheard of in its era and the latter at least has some superb action scenes. On the other hand, some of the principal characters in Simon Sez (1999) were so intensely annoying that they really spoiled what little the film had to start with.

1 - Abysmal

Abysmal films are the worst of the worst. These films usually have no redeemable features at all and could only be appreciated with overdubs from MST3K. On occasion they might have something to say for themselves but have features that are so truly awful that they wipe out everything else.

For instance, films like Reptilicus! (1962) or Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964) contain no positive features whatsoever. Other films like Strange Interlude (1932) or Battlefield Earth (2000) have something going for them but whatever that is gets trumped by a single overriding failure. The gimmick of the former backfires so spectacularly that even Clark Gable can't salvage the film, and everything the latter stands for is so entirely ludicrous that I just threw up my hands in despair.

Translating to IMDb Ratings

While this seven point rating system works for me, it isn't a common one. The IMDb uses a ten point system, from one to ten, and I can translate mine across to it easily enough.

My 7-Classic would equal a 9 or 10 at IMDb. The Passion of Joan of Arc would be a 10 but The Abominable Dr Phibes would only be a 9.

My 6-Excellent would become either a 7 or an 8 at IMDb. All Quiet on the Western Front would be an 8 but Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! only a 7.

My mid rankings translate easily. A 5-Good would be a 6 at IMDb, a 4-OK would become a 5 and a 3-Poor would equal an IMDb 4.

My 2-Bad would also be a 2 at IMDb but some would reach a 3. Maniac would be a 2 but Simon Sez would be a 3.

Finally, my 1-Abysmal would translate simply to a 1 at IMDb.

Apocalypse Later Film Festivals

In 2013, I was asked to put together a film festival for LepreCon, a small sci-fi/fantasy convention in Arizona, as their previous film festival efforts had floundered. I ditched their existing model, which was to treat it as a fundraising opportunity through submission fees, and set up something completely different.

I carefully selected 90 minutes of quality short sci-fi films from around the world, I brought some local filmmakers out for a Q&A, and I finished up with a feature. I also stipulated that the film festival be on the opening night, free of charge and open to the public. I screened to an appreciative crowd and some bought memberships to the con.

This success led to me programming a similar film festival for CopperCon later that year, then no less than eight events in 2014, including a trip to California to present two steampunk sets at San Diego Comic-Fest. I may well exceed that number in 2015 and I'm already planning some of what I'll be doing in 2016.

It certainly keeps me busy and out of trouble but I'm having a blast bringing amazing films to audiences who might otherwise have never seen them. I'm looking forward to expanding to other conventions, other cities and other states.

Here are all the films that I've screened at these various conventions, with titles linking to my reviews and the IMDb pages added for reference. The most recent event is at the top and the earliest at the bottom, with headers breaking up individual sets. FearCon is the only event where I've selected my sets primarily from submissions; almost everything else is researched and programmed by me.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

LepreCon 41 - Phoenix, AZ (Jun 2015)
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Japanese Doctor Who	2014	4	4	Joshua Kahan	IMDb
Slipperssssssss	2014	4	4	Tuomas Hakala	n/a
Focus	2014	5	5	Matt Chesin	IMDb
Time Trap	2013	6	6	Michael Shanks	IMDb
The Class Analysis	2014	6	6	Webb Pickersgill	IMDb
Frank DanCoolo: Paranormal Drug Dealer	2010	5	5	Andrew W Jones	IMDb
Ouroboros	2014	5	5	Alexander Broderick	IMDb
Losers	2013	5	5	Carlos del Rosario	IMDb
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Fortress	2014	5	5	Dima Fedotof	n/a
Flight Fright	2015	5	5	James Politano	IMDb
Man vs Woman	2006	5	5	Juan Carlos Vargas	IMDb
LiFi	2014	6	5	Preston Peterson & Jason Boesch	IMDb
Step Forward	2013	5	5	Ben Jacobson	IMDb
Evil Twin	2013	4	4	Christian Pfeil	IMDb
RomantiCorp: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Computer	2014	5	5	Kirill Kripak	IMDb
Double Trouble	2013	5	5	Andreas Climent & André Hedetoft	IMDb
The Developer	2013	6	5	Robert Odegnal	IMDb
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Chronoscope	2012	4	4	Mario Daoust, Vincent Laurin, Étienne Marcoux & Dominic Remiro	n/a
Aether: The Rise of Specter	2015	4	5	Drew Hall & Horst Sarubin	n/a
The Mechanics of Underwear	2011	5	5	Charlotte Bolton	IMDb
Virus	2005	5	5	Stephen Amis	IMDb
Sherlock Holmes and the Stolen Emerald	2013	4	4	Céline Terranova	IMDb
Tempus ex Machina	2009	4	5	Andrew Fogel	IMDb
Morgan and Destiny's Eleventeenth Date: The Zeppelin Zoo	2010	5	5	Joseph Gordon-Levitt	IMDb
Valiant	2014	5	5	Robin Phillips	IMDb

Phoenix Comicon 2015 - Phoenix, AZ (May 2015)
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Steam Speed	2014	6	6	Andrew Ledenev	n/a
Tea Time	2014	5	5	J Derek Howard	IMDb
SPAGHETT-1	2009	5	5	Adam Varney	IMDb
The Clocktower	2008	5	5	Cara Antonelli	IMDb
Tick Tock	2014	5	5	Emma Needell & Jake Sally	IMDb
The Mechanical Grave	2012	5	5	Jon Keeyes	IMDb
Jeff Hunt Band - Caravan	2014			Katherine Stewart	n/a

Wild Wild West Con 4 - Tucson, AZ (Mar 2015)
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Lindsey Sterling - Roundtable Rival	2014			Everdream	n/a
Trial of the Mask	2013	4	4	Cory McBurnett & Bill Reichardt	n/a
Step Forward	2013	5	5	Ben Jacobson	IMDb
Valiant	2014	5	5	Robin Phillips	IMDb
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Steam Speed	2014	6	6	Andrew Ledenev	n/a
Tea Time	2014	5	5	J Derek Howard	IMDb
Tick Tock	2014	5	5	Emma Needell & Jake Sally	IMDb
The Clocktower	2008	5	5	Cara Antonelli	IMDb
Cowboys & Engines	2015	4	4	Bryn Pryor	IMDb
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Savant - Kali 47	2014			Mike Diva	n/a
The Mechanical Grave	2012	5	5	Jon Keeyes	IMDb
The Mechanics of Underwear	2011	5	5	Charlotte Bolton	IMDb
1873: The Insidious Intrigue	2013	6	5	Steve Ziolkowski	IMDb
Gurdybird - Defiant 'til Tyburn	2014			Tamsyn Swingler & Paul Betowski	n/a
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
The Deep	2010	5	5	PES	IMDb
Sherlock Holmes and the Stolen Emerald	2013	4	4	Céline Terranova	IMDb
SPAGHETT-1	2009	5	5	Adam Varney	IMDb
Virus	2005	5	5	Stephen Amis	IMDb
Jeff Hunt Band - Caravan	2014			Katherine Stewart	n/a

FearCon de los Muertos! - Phoenix, AZ (Nov 2014)
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Night Mare	2014	5	5	Juan Carlos Camardella	n/a
Sometimes It Comes	2013	5	5	Félix Llorente	IMDb
Martyn	2013	5	5	Francesco Picone	IMDb
Dust Jacket	2013	5	5	Kenneth Miller	IMDb
Plush	2011	6	7	Ryan Denmark	IMDb
Ghost Light	2014	5	5	P J Germain	IMDb
Waterborne	2014	5	5	Ryan Coonan	IMDb
Special	2014	5	5	Mikeal Burgin	IMDb
Woodman and the American Woman	2013	6	5	Jesús Hernández	IMDb
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Hellytubby	2012	5	5	Matt Iseminger	n/a
Cowboy Ben	2014	5	5	Jon Shaikh & Scott Rawsthorne	IMDb
Tin & Tina	2013	5	5	Ruben Stein	IMDb
The Heebie-Jeebies	2014	5	5	Todd Slawsby	IMDb
Night Guards	2014	5	5	Marko Marinkovic	n/a
Sector C-17	2014	5	5	Tim Mattson	n/a
Mr Dentonn	2014	5	5	Iván Villamel	IMDb
Helsing	2014	6	6	Ryan Johnston	IMDb
Bar Talk	2013	6	6	Lowell Northrop	IMDb
Roulette	2013	6	5	Dídac Cervera	IMDb

San Diego Comic-Fest - San Diego, CA (Oct 2014)
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
High TNT	2013	4	4	Kevin McGuiness	IMDb
Tea Time	2014	5	5	J Derek Howard	IMDb
Valiant	2014	5	5	Robin Phillips	IMDb
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
The Mechanical Grave	2012	5	5	Jon Keeyes	IMDb
The Wishing Skull	2013	5	5	Ben Juhl	IMDb
1873: The Insidious Intrigue	2013	6	5	Steve Ziolkowski	IMDb
Sprocky Spittoon	2013	4	4	Veronique Chevalier	n/a

FANtasm - Avondale, AZ (Aug 2014)
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Fhtagn!	2009	5	5	Miguel Santín	n/a
Closed Quarters	2014	5	5	Bonnie Sowle	IMDb
All I Think of is You	2012	5	5	Shad Clark	IMDb
Bar Talk	2013	6	6	Lowell Northrop	IMDb
Air	2011	5	5	Keir Burrows	IMDb
Restitution	2011	6	5	Justin O'Neal Miller	IMDb
Cargols!	2011	5	6	Geoffrey Cowper	IMDb
Where Terror Sleeps	2014	4	4	Jake Roberts	n/a
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Bad Taste	1987	6	6	Peter Jackson	IMDb

Geeks4Good Charity Show for Oakwood Creative Care - Mesa, AZ (Jul 2014)
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Logan Must Make Star Wars	2014	5	5	Nathan Blackwell	IMDb
Bar Talk	2013	6	6	Lowell Northrop	IMDb
Old Jazz	2012	5	5	Elena Albán Lombao, Cintia Fernández Patallo, Josep Miquel Jové Company & Lorena López Pérez	n/a
Secret Identity	2011	6	6	Tyler MacIntyre	IMDb
Present Tense	2013	5	5	Jaz Garewal	IMDb

Jerome Indie Film & Music Festival 2014 - Jerome, AZ (Jun 2014)
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Red Sand	2012	6	6	Caleb Evans	IMDb
The Duel	2012	5	4	Robert Garcia	IMDb
Black Gulch	2003	5	5	Michael Strode	IMDb
Secret Identity	2011	6	6	Tyler MacIntyre	IMDb
The Wishing Skull	2013	5	5	Ben Juhl	IMDb
Gadget	2012	4	4	A J Young	IMDb
Logan Must Make Star Wars	2014	5	5	Nathan Blackwell	IMDb
Terminus	2014	5	5	Angel Ruiz	n/a
Present Tense	2013	5	5	Jaz Garewal	IMDb
Heart Pumping Oil	2014	5	5	Ben Juhl	IMDb
Closed Quarters	2014	5	5	Bonnie Sowle	IMDb

LepreCon 40 - Phoenix, AZ (May 2014)
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Logan Must Make Star Wars	2014	5	5	Nathan Blackwell	IMDb
Trial of the Mask	2013	4	4	Cory McBurnett & Bill Reichardt	n/a
Terminus	2014	5	5	Angel Ruiz	n/a
Timeholes	2013	5	5	Ben Mallaby	IMDb
The Secret Keeper	2011	6	6	Bears Fonté	IMDb
Present Tense	2013	5	5	Jaz Garewal	IMDb
Elephants Dream	2006	4	4	Bassam Kurdali	IMDb
Sight	2012	6	6	Daniel Lazo & Eran May-Raz	IMDb
Evergreen	2006	6	6	Iphigeneia Kotsoni	IMDb

Wild Wild West Con III - Tucson, AZ (Mar 2014)
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
A Gentlemen's Duel	2006	5	5	Sean McNally & Francisco Ruiz-Velasco	IMDb
Legacy	2012	5	5	Adam Floeck	IMDb
Airship Dracula	2012	5	5	Mike Roberts	IMDb
Invention of Love	2010	5	5	Andrey Shushkov	IMDb
Consurgo	2009	5	5	Tom Hankins, René Hoekstra & Gijs van Kooten	n/a
High TNT	2013	4	4	Kevin McGuiness	IMDb
Sprocky Spittoon	2013	4	4	Veronique Chevalier	n/a
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Dr Grordbort Presents: The Deadliest Game	2011	5	5	James Cunningham	IMDb
Gadget	2012	4	4	A J Young	IMDb
Tinkerbell	2011	5	5	Nicholas Humphries	n/a
The Anachronism	2008	5	5	Matthew Gordon Long	IMDb
The Wishing Skull	2013	5	5	Ben Juhl	IMDb
The Watchmaker's Son	2008	5	5	Brandon McCormick	n/a

DarkCon 2014 - Phoenix, AZ (Jan 2014)
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Exoids	2012	6	6	Aristomenis Tsirbas	IMDb
Perspective	2011	5	5	Mehmet Can Kocak	IMDb
Consurgo	2009	5	5	Tom Hankins, René Hoekstra & Gijs van Kooten	n/a
Old Jazz	2012	5	5	Elena Albán Lombao, Cintia Fernández Patallo, Josep Miquel Jové Company & Lorena López Pérez	n/a
Sebastian's Voodoo	2008	6	6	Joaquin Baldwin	IMDb
High TNT	2013	4	4	Kevin McGuiness	IMDb
Retina	2003			Violet Suk & Martin Koch	n/a
Reign of Death	2009	6	6	Matthew Savage	IMDb
ROSA	2011	5	5	Jesus Orellana	IMDb
The Wishing Skull	2013	5	5	Ben Juhl	IMDb
Frank DanCoolo: Paranormal Drug Dealer	2010	5	5	Andrew W Jones	IMDb
The Maker	2011	6	6	Christopher Kezelos	IMDb
Helsing	2014	6	6	Ryan Johnston	IMDb
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Eyeborgs	2009	5	6	Richard Clabaugh	IMDb

CopperCon Revolution - Mesa, AZ (Aug 2013)
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Freeborn	2010	5	5	Carlo Treviso	IMDb
Chameleon	2012	6	6	Samuel Lemberg	IMDb
Ellie	2012	6	5	Ricky Lloyd George	IMDb
R'Ha	2013	6	5	Kaleb Lechowski	IMDb
Secret Identity	2011	6	6	Tyler MacIntyre	IMDb
Doctor Glamour	2011	5	6	Andrew W Jones	IMDb
Archetype	2011	6	6	Aaron Sims	IMDb
Tears of Steel	2012	5	5	Ian Hubert	IMDb
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
The War of the Worlds: The True Story	2012	5	5	Timothy Hines	IMDb

LepreCon 39 - Mesa, AZ (May 2013)
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Rampage: Project Vermillion	2012	5	5	Justin Calen Chenn	IMDb
Red Sand	2012	6	6	Caleb Evans	IMDb
The Duel	2012	5	4	Robert Garcia	IMDb
Second Chances	2013	4	4	Jon Ray	IMDb
We are One	2012	5	5	Andrew David Clark	IMDb
Black Gulch	2003	5	5	Michael Strode	IMDb
The Guy Knows Everything	2012	6	6	Joops Fragale	IMDb
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
The Constant Epiphanies of Billy the Blood Donor	2007	4	4	Nathan Blackwell	IMDb

Charlie Chaplin Centennial

A few years ago, a friend of mine experienced something that he found shocking and he shared it with me. I not only found it shocking too, but felt like I should do something about it and the result is this project which will run throughout 2014.

It's all about Charlie Chaplin, the greatest name in film comedy, and just how recognisable he is and was.

Only a couple of years into his career, which began at Keystone Studios one hundred years ago as I write, he had become not only the most recognisable actor in the world but arguably the most recognisable image too. Wherever on the globe you might happen to be, the locals would know the silhouette of his most famous character, the Little Tramp, whom he portrayed in the majority of his films.

Today, a century later, the modern equivalent might be the golden arches of McDonalds, the MTV logo or Mickey Mouse's ears, but surely the Little Tramp hasn't been forgotten? Well, apparently so, as my friend discovered.

That friend is Jim Politano, a local filmmaker who won an IFP Phoenix Audience Favourite award for his short film Love Sucks and who cast my better half in his thematic follow up, The Sisters of St Mary's. The occasion was the Intro to Cinema class he was attending at Scottsdale Community College (SCC), run by Ed Everroad. The spark was a textbook, Flashback: A Brief History of Film, by Louis Giannetti and Scott Eyman. I have a copy of this book too, but mine is the third edition with Forrest Gump on the cover. The edition Jim had was a custom 2006 edition for SCC with a cover depicting Charlie Chaplin dressed as the Little Tramp and standing next to an old furnace.

It's a scene from his 1925 classic, The Gold Rush, which the American Film Institute voted the 74th greatest American picture of all time in their original Top 100 list and the early film aficionados at SilentEra.com voted the 6th greatest silent movie.

The class Jim was in numbered about thirty, most of them young adults of the sort of age you'd expect to be in a college class but with a handful of mature students too. A dozen or so were working through the film program at SCC. While such students would surely expect to learn something about the history of film in an Intro to Cinema class, you might also expect them to have brought at least a little background with them.

Yet the student in front of Jim turned round and asked him, 'Who is this dude on the cover?' A few of these folk had at least heard of Chaplin but nobody except Jim apparently knew who he was.

That is a scary thought. The Little Tramp has deteriorated from being the most recognisable image in the world to being an unrecognisable 'dude on the cover' of a textbook. The man who did more than anyone to move screen comedy forward from its juvenile slapstick days to something approaching high art has been forgotten by even students in a cinema class. I can hear the collective sigh of classic film fans everywhere at this news. To use a quote the people in this class might have recognised, it's 'as if millions of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.'

Jim's experience resonated with me for a few years until I realised at the tail end of 2013 that the coming February would mark the centennial of Chaplin's debut on film in the Keystone farce comedy, Making a Living. The time seemed ripe for me to revisit the 36 films he made in 1914 and review them from the perspective of how they evolved over that year because of the new approaches that Chaplin was bringing to the screen.

Another trigger was the new availability of these films in remastered editions in the Flicker Alley DVD box set, Chaplin at Keystone. This contains all 34 of the extant shorts that Chaplin made at Keystone Studios in 1914 (Her Friend the Bandit is still presumed lost), along with the first American comedy feature, Tillie's Punctured Romance, and half of the recently rediscovered short, A Thief Catcher, featuring Chaplin as a Keystone Kop. Flicker Alley will release the entire short later this year in The Mack Sennett Collection, Vol 1, which I've happily pre-ordered. I'd seen the majority of these films before, but only in public domain prints that are readily available for cheap, or viewable for free online at the Internet Archive or even YouTube.

These are frankly awful: they're washed out to the degree that it's usually tough to ascertain any detail whatsoever and they're often incomplete because of skipped frames and missing reels. I wasn't particularly impressed when I worked through them most of a decade ago.

Watching them afresh from the Chaplin at Keystone box is a revelatory experience. They're certainly not the classics that Chaplin would go on to make in later years, but they're much better than I could ever have believed from the cheap public domain prints. Now I can see faces and subtleties that bring whole new life and meaning to the films. Even the original intertitles have been restored.

Don't just take my word for it. SilentEra.com has compared the different releases of some of these films and found most seriously wanting. As an example, here's their comparison of versions of Making a Living. Unless someone discovers Her Friend the Bandit or works some sort of new digital magic, Chaplin at Keystone is likely to remain the only recommended release of these films. It can be bought here at Flicker Alley's website.

Flicker Alley did Chaplin's legacy a great service with this box set. Hopefully I can add a little more to that with this set of reviews.

I'm working through them slowly, as if it was 1914 not 2014, and posting each review a hundred years to the day from its original release.

Note: I've now completed this project, which will see book form in January 2015. However, I'll continue to review Chaplin's films on their centennials, beginning with his Essanay films of 1915 and 1916. The next review to post will be His New Job on Sunday, 1st February, 2015.

Here are all the films Chaplin appeared in during 1914, with titles linking to my reviews and the IMDb pages added for reference.

My ratings for films reviewed are from fresh viewings from Chaplin at Keystone. Those for films not yet reviewed are from viewings of public domain prints almost a decade ago. With a third of the films revisited, my ratings have generally increased by a point or two.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Charlie Chaplin's Films for Keystone
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Making a Living	1914	3	3	Henry Lehrman	IMDb
Kid Auto Races at Venice, Cal	1914	3	4	Henry Lehrman	IMDb
Mabel's Strange Predicament	1914	4	4	Mabel Normand	IMDb
A Thief Catcher	1914	3	3	Henry Lehrman	IMDb
Between Showers	1914	4	4	Henry Lehrman	IMDb
A Film Johnnie	1914	5	5	George Nichols	IMDb
Tango Tangles	1914	4	4	Mack Sennett	IMDb
His Favorite Pastime	1914	4	4	George Nichols	IMDb
Cruel, Cruel Love	1914	4	4	George Nichols	IMDb
The Star Boarder	1914	5	5	George Nichols	IMDb
Mabel at the Wheel	1914	4	5	Mabel Normand	IMDb
Twenty Minutes of Love	1914	4	4	Joseph Maddern & Charles Chaplin	IMDb
Caught in a Cabaret	1914	4	4	Mabel Normand	IMDb
Caught in the Rain	1914	5	4	Charles Chaplin	IMDb
A Busy Day	1914	4	5	Mack Sennett	IMDb
The Fatal Mallet	1914	4	4	Mack Sennett	IMDb
Her Friend the Bandit	1914			Mack Sennett	IMDb
The Knockout	1914	4	4	Mack Sennett	IMDb
Mabel's Busy Day	1914	2	2	Mack Sennett	IMDb
Mabel's Married Life	1914	4	4	Mack Sennett	IMDb
Laughing Gas	1914	5	4	Charles Chaplin	IMDb
The Property Man	1914	5	4	Charles Chaplin	IMDb
The Face on the Bar Room Floor	1914	4	4	Charles Chaplin	IMDb
Recreation	1914	4	4	Charles Chaplin	IMDb
The Masquerader	1914	5	5	Charles Chaplin	IMDb
His New Profession	1914	4	4	Charles Chaplin	IMDb
The Rounders	1914	5	5	Charles Chaplin	IMDb
The New Janitor	1914	5	5	Charles Chaplin	IMDb
Those Love Pangs	1914	4	5	Charles Chaplin	IMDb
Dough and Dynamite	1914	6	5	Charles Chaplin	IMDb
Gentlemen of Nerve	1914	3	3	Charles Chaplin	IMDb
His Musical Career	1914	4	4	Charles Chaplin	IMDb
His Trysting Place	1914	5	4	Charles Chaplin	IMDb
Getting Acquainted	1914	5	5	Charles Chaplin	IMDb
His Prehistoric Past	1914	3	3	Charles Chaplin	IMDb
Tillie's Punctured Romance	1914	4	4	Mack Sennett	IMDb

Filmstock 2014

Filmstock runs a set of four film festivals every year in the four corner states: New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona. In addition to running a competition in each state each year, Filmstock cycles some of the winners around to screen as special engagements in other states, effectively working as its very own festival circuit.

I had a blast at the Arizona part of Filmstock 2013 and I'm looking forward to the three days this year at the Harkins Valley Art in Tempe and the festival parties at Rúla Búla.

Here are all the films screening at each of the four events this year, with titles linking to my reviews and the IMDb pages added for reference.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

The Pursuit of Happiness
Sophie's Fortune	2014			Chris Cronin	IMDb
The Joneses	2014			Alejandro Montaya Marín	IMDb
The Things My Father Never Taught Me	2012	6	5	Burleigh Smith	IMDb
Happily Ever After	2012	5	5	Yonni Aroussi & Ben Genislaw	IMDb
The Princess and the Musician	2014			Alejandro Montaya Marín	IMDb
Love Notes	2013	5	5	Ryan Scheer	IMDb
S is for Bird	2012			Matt Sadawski	IMDb
Mean Teddies				Tyler Novo	n/a
SuperFuzz	2013	6	6	David Towles-Moore	IMDb

Student Shorts Showcase
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
O-Star	2014			Dima Otvertchenko	IMDb
Rabbit and Deer	2013			Péter Vácz	IMDb
Dirty Laundry	2013	4	5	Gustavo Martin	IMDb
First Lesson in Love	2012	5	5	Tomer Werechson	IMDb
12 Likes	2013			Anne Chlosta	IMDb

Short Docs, Big World
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
A Beautiful Waste	2012	5	5	Jon Kasbe	IMDb
Keeper of the Mountains	2013	5	5	Allison Otto	IMDb
Backyard	2013			Deia Schlosberg	IMDb
Wild New Brave	2014			Oakley Anderson-Moore	IMDb

The Human Experience
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Ballad of the Boatman	2014			Andy Kastelic	IMDb
For Lotte	2013			Viviane Andereggen	IMDb
Puget Sound, WA				Djochoua Belovarski	n/a
The Last Piper	2013	4	4	Iain Forbes	IMDb
Inseparable	2007	6	6	Nick White	IMDb
Fix	2014			Colton Moyer	IMDb
Insecurity	2013	5	5	Robert Brink	IMDb

Shorts in the Dark
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
A Stray	2013	5	5	Hayden Blades	IMDb
Hellyfish	2014			Patrick Longstreth & Robert McLean	IMDb
Melon Head	2013			Andy Fortenbacher	IMDb
Mr Bear	2011			Andres Rosende	IMDb
Call Girl	2014			Jill Gevargizia	IMDb
Service	2014			Jerry Pyle	IMDb

Short Docs, Big World
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Strong	2014			Nelson Carayannis	n/a
A Beautiful Waste	2012	5	5	Jon Kasbe	IMDb
Ice	2013			Barry Stevenson	n/a
Sky is Not Empty!	2014			Yaser Talebi	n/a
Backyard	2013			Deia Schlosberg	IMDb
Wild New Brave	2014			Oakley Anderson-Moore	IMDb

Shorts for Laughs!
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Mile High				Evan Nix	n/a
Happily Ever After	2012	5	5	Yonni Aroussi & Ben Genislaw	IMDb
Love Notes	2013	5	5	Ryan Scheer	IMDb
Moving Buddies				Evan Nix	n/a
Zugzwang	2013			Yolanda Centeno	IMDb
The Joneses	2014			Alejandro Montaya Marín	IMDb
Dollar Night				Marco Antonio Martinez	IMDb
A Ride Towards the Sea	2014			Damien Stein	IMDb
O-Star	2014			Dima Otvertchenko	IMDb

Drama Salad
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Moving Day	2014			Samuel Z P Thomas	IMDb
Insecurity	2013	5	5	Robert Brink	IMDb
Apparition	2013	5	5	Jahanara Saleh	IMDb
Old School	2013			Ilker Çatak	IMDb
Festus	2014			Shawn Snyder	IMDb
The Last Piper	2013	4	4	Iain Forbes	IMDb
Inseparable	2007	6	6	Nick White	IMDb

The Pursuit of Happiness
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Sign Heist	2014			Connor Rickman	IMDb
Steve from Accounting vs The Shadow Dwellers	2012	5	4	Patrick & Paul Gibbs	IMDb
The Joneses	2014			Alejandro Montaya Marín	IMDb
O-Star	2014			Dima Otvertchenko	IMDb
Insecurity	2013	5	5	Robert Brink	IMDb
Shooting Oliver	2013			Daniel Clements	IMDb

Shorts in the Dark
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Mr Bear	2011			Andres Rosende	IMDb
A Stray	2013	5	5	Hayden Blades	IMDb
For Clearer Skies	2012			Alfredo Salvatore Arcilesi	IMDb
The Routine	2014			Brian Groh	IMDb
Asami	2014			Daniel Farkas	IMDb

Short Docs, Big World
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Backyard	2013			Deia Schlosberg	IMDb
Wild New Brave	2014			Oakley Anderson-Moore	IMDb
Strong	2014			Nelson Carayannis	n/a
Ice	2013			Barry Stevenson	n/a
Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution	2013			Matthew Vandyke	IMDb
Ladies' Man	2014			Lee Quinby	IMDb

Drama Salad
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
The Last Piper	2013	4	4	Iain Forbes	IMDb
Balius	2013			Kenneth Larson	IMDb
A Little Scar	2014			Jahanara Saleh	IMDb
Inseparable	2007	6	6	Nick White	IMDb
A Ride Towards the Sea	2014			Damien Stein	IMDb
Scrabble	2014	6	6	Cristian Sulser	IMDb
The Window	2013			Adam Morse	IMDb

Flashback
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
SuperFuzz	2013	6	6	David Towles-Moore	IMDb
Vinyl	2010			Jay Lee	IMDb
Prometeo	2012			Ignacio F Rodó, Josep M Gifreu & Laia R San Juan	IMDb
The Window	2013			Adam Morse	IMDb
Next Day Delivery	2010			Jeremy Clayton & Bobby Shook	IMDb
Paint Life Beautiful	2012			Brandon Barnard & Mark Susan	n/a

Animated Shorts
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
The Prize Inside	2014			Reece Porter	IMDb
Crocodile	2014			Wendi & Wenting Wu	IMDb
To Edgar	2013			Ewa Łuczków	IMDb
Welcome to Fantasy Island	2014			Lena Greene	n/a
The Pride of Strathmoor	2014			Einar Baldvin	IMDb
A Ride Towards the Sea	2014			Damien Stein	IMDb
Pseudo Evolution	2014			Alexandre Juruena	n/a
Really Bad Movie!	2013			Jasin Sloan	IMDb
Chloé	2014	4	4	Quentin Nigues	n/a
The Astronomer's Sun	2010			Simon Cartwright & Jessica Cope	IMDb
Jinxy Jenkins, Lucky Lou	2014			Michael Bidinger & Michelle Kwon	IMDb

The Darker Side of Shorts
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Scrabble	2014	6	6	Cristian Sulser	IMDb
The Routine	2014			Brian Groh	IMDb
For Clearer Skies	2012			Alfredo Salvatore Arcilesi	IMDb
Red Stains	2013			Magdalena Lauritsch	IMDb
Belly of the Whale	2014	5	5	Kyle Gerkin	IMDb
The Only Man	2013	6	6	Jos Man	IMDb
Mr Bear	2011			Andres Rosende	IMDb

Fresh Off the Docs
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Children of the Holocaust	2014	6	7	Zane Whittingham	n/a
Slomo	2013			Joshua Izenberg	IMDb
Be with Me	2013	5	5	Michael Terrill	IMDb

The Fast and the Fun
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
O-Star	2014			Dima Otvertchenko	IMDb
The Joneses	2014			Alejandro Montaya Marín	IMDb
Bright Eyes	2013	5	5	Jamie Rivera	IMDb
Should've Been an Engineer	2011	5	5	Jason Smart	IMDb
Stolen Afternoon	2014	5	5	Aaron Kes	IMDb
Sheltered Love	2014			Alex Italics	IMDb
Focus	2014	5	5	Matt Chesin	IMDb
Running Down Pathe	2013			Mateo Trujillo-Hobbs	IMDb

Critically Acclaimed Docs
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Wild New Brave	2014			Oakley Anderson-Moore	IMDb
Strong	2014			Nelson Carayannis	n/a
Ice	2013			Barry Stevenson	n/a
Backyard	2013			Deia Schlosberg	IMDb
Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution	2013			Matthew Vandyke	IMDb

Drama Salad
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Decimation	2013			Wade Jackson	IMDb
Rab da Vaasta...	2013			Chakravarty Devulapalli	IMDb
Final Stroke	2013			Anne Chlosta	IMDb
Tu & Eu	2011			Edward Shieh	IMDb
Moths	2014			Andy Fortenbacher	IMDb