I like to watch silent films, D.W. Griffith epics, especially. To watch the actors and actresses overdoing their roles is an anachronistic treat. Plus, I love the rickety fonts of the old title cards. Black and white motion pictures seem to me to have a depth and dimensionality that somehow is lost in lushly colored contemporary films. Maybe it’s the simplicity, the limitation in palette to shades of gray, but I’ve always been someone who appreciates nuance over spectacle. The grappling with social issues — and here, I’m thinking of films like “Intolerance” and “Birth of a Nation” — make for interesting historical reference points, especially when it’s all one can do to keep from getting dragged to “Twilight.”