The Crop Duster has two goals. One is to organize links to my critical work: reviews written for The Herald (Everett, Washington) and Seattle Weekly; and public appearances and TV jobs. Selected past work for Film Comment and elsewhere is also linkified. You may also link to my website of 1980s reviews and learn more about my book on Frankenstein and my graphic novel, ROTTEN.
The second goal is to keep a daily record of films watched, annotated with brisk, brief comments. It's a slightly more advanced version of the movie list I kept, in Flair pen, thumbtacked next to my bed when I was twelve.
You do the translation: "Robert Horton en un infatigable crítico residente en Seattle y colaborador habitual de Film Comment. Su espacio en la red está en The Crop Duster acaso el mejor blog de un cinecrítico profesional americano después del de Roger Ebert." --Ernesto DiezMartinez Guzmán, editor of Vértigo
My piece for the Scarecrow blog this week, and etc.
Time Out. (A revival of a review of a film by the late Laurent Cantet.)
Tomorrow, April 27, we wrap up our current semester of Scarecrow Academy, “Election Year: Politics on Film,” with a free online conversation about Steven Spielberg’s 2012 film Lincoln, with Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role. Join us for that at 2 pm Pacific Time, and register here.
Tonight at 7 pm I’ll be giving a talk at the Camano Island Library, “Time of the Zombie: Why the Living Dead Keep Returning in Movies.” It’s free, so if you’re in the island vicinity, come on by.
And I have another Zeitgeist ’24! talk coming up, on Thursday May 2. This is “Whodunit? And Why Now?”, a look at the recent resurgence of the whodunit, thanks to the likes of Kenneth Branagh and Rian Johnson. But I’ll also be talking about some classic mysteries of the past. It’s free and online, at 7 pm Pacific Time; you can register here.
Lincoln (Steven Spielberg, 2012). Here’s the final title in the current semester of Scarecrow Academy, “Election Year: Politics on Film.” We will meet on Saturday April 27 at 2 pm Pacific Time for a free online conversation about this one; register here, and see you there?
Clue (Jonathan Lynn, 1985). Board game whodunit with a spirited cast. I liked it when it came out (review here), although it’s not exactly a movie that holds up for repeat viewings.
And Then There Were None (René Clair, 1945). Skillfully paced and charmingly directed, by way of Agatha Christie. There’s something nasty in the backstories of the characters, which lends the soufflé a little bit of mustard.
Death on the Nile (John Guillerman, 1978). I’m doing an upcoming talk about why whodunits have come back, and wasn’t sure I ever watched this one. It’s not great. One thing: You would think, based on Peter Ustinov’s usual screen presence and overall puckish personality, that he would do more doodling with the role of Poirot – in fact, you want him to – but he comes across as generally tame. There are six Oscar-winning actors in the thing (if you count Angela Lansbury’s honorary prize), so the film doesn’t stint on that score, but the screenplay (Anthony Shaffer) is surprisingly flat, and Jack Cardiff’s photography is maddening – gorgeous in the location exteriors, appallingly over-lit in the studio interiors. Nice to see Jon Finch in something. Mia Farrow convincingly plays a woman who goes nuts when scorned.
The Witness for the Prosecution (Julian Jarrold, 2016). A British-TV adaptation of the Agatha Christie fooler, with Toby Jones as the barrister and Kim Cattrall as the murder victim. The material has been changed around considerably, and it basically plays as a gloomy TV movie, but Andrea Riseborough is in it (the Marlene Dietrich role, from Billy Wilder’s version), and that justifies sticking around.
Tomorrow, Saturday April 20th, I’ll be leading another free online session in Scarecrow Academy’s “Politics on Film” series, this time a conversation about Spike Lee’s Malcolm X. That’s 2 pm Pacific Time. Register here for that.
Twice next week, for the Sno-Isle Library System, I’ll be delivering “Time of the Zombie: Why the Living Dead Keep Returning in Movies,” a little audio-visual take on that subject. We gather at the Mukilteo Library on April 23rd at 6 pm; and at the Camano Island Library on April 26th at 7 pm. The talks are free, so join us if you’re in the vicinity.
Malcolm X (Spike Lee, 1992). Here’s the next topic in Scarecrow Academy’s “Politics on Film” series, which meets on Saturday, April 19, at 2 pm Pacific Time. The session is free and online, and you can sign up here; join us for this one, won’t you?
The Big Lebowski (Joel Coen, 1998). I didn’t like it the first time I saw it. So obnoxious! Thought it was funnier and truly “about something” the next couple of times I watched it (once for a course in cult movies I was teaching at Seattle University). Now it looks like a slapstick masterpiece, and some kind of crazy, definitive portrait of a generation, whose icon is The Dude.
My piece for the Scarecrow blog this week, and etc.
Civil War. “Some of the film’s ideas are provocative, some are standard-issue dystopian, some are vague. But what’s unforgivable is the flatness of so much of the staging.”
Tomorrow, Saturday 4/13, we’ll convene Scarecrow Academy for a free online conversation about John Sayles’ 1991 film City of Hope, part of our “Election Year: Politics on Film” series. Register here.
City of Hope (John Sayles, 1991). Here’s our next topic in Scarecrow Academy’s free online series, “Election Year: Politics on Film.” Sayles is a strongly political filmmaker regardless of the immediate subject matter, but in this case the subject is an American city and the many levels of corruption and compromise that go into the running of the place. Join us Saturday April 13 at 2 pm Pacific Time; register here, please.
Civil War (Alex Garland, 2024). Will write about this for Friday. On first glance it seems like a serious misstep.
Madigan (Don Siegel, 1968). Have had less time lately for random movies-for-pleasure re-watching. The casting is rich in this NYC policier, even if the dialogue frequently reverts to standard-issue cop-movie material. Widmark’s renegade detective anticipates Dirty Harry and The French Connection, which will arrive very soon, but doesn’t go all the way, as those pictures do.
Ilinca Manolache: Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
My piece for the Scarecrow blog this week, and etc.
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World. “Has some of the method and free-roaming curiosity of Godard’s movies, and about the same amount of interest in following conventional storytelling modes.”
Tomorrow we’ve got another session in Scarecrow Academy’s “Election Year: Politics on Film” semester, this time about the haunting and funny 1979 film Being There, which mixes the talents of Hal Ashby, Jerzy Kosinski, and Peter Sellers. Register here and join us at 2 pm Pacific Time, will you?
HATEFUL DEEDS is a novel of political satire and suspense. Read more and download it here!
FRANKENSTEIN
FRANKENSTEIN is my take on the 1931 film's making and legacy, plus some old-school film criticism. From Columbia University Press's "Cultographies" series. Click the image to order.
The long-suppressed 1877 diary of a ROTTEN agent, now available for the first time!
Rotten
Be More Rotten
Learn more about the blood-soaked yet critically-acclaimed graphic novel, and order the trade paperbacks and the “lost diary” right now.
Rotten Diary
Get the long-suppressed diary of a ROTTEN agent! From Moonstone Books
What a Feeling!
What a Feeling!
My other website: a you-are-there journey through the flabbergasting world of 1980s movies.
The Crop Duster 