In Brilliant “45 Years,” the Past Derails the Present
45 Years (Andrew Haigh, 2015) Pity the poor Tom Courtenay (Quartet). He’s a marvelous actor, yet paired opposite the grand Charlotte Rampling (Never Let Me Go) – Oscar-nominated for this film – he...
View Article“Roughly Speaking” on “Hail, Caesar!” and the Coen Brothers
Today, Linda DeLibero – Director, Film and Media Studies, Johns Hopkins University – and Christopher Llewellyn Reed (that’s me) – Chair and Professor, Department of Film & Moving Image, Stevenson...
View ArticleAnother “Hammer to Nail” (Festival) Triptych: “Fursonas,”“Rams” and “All...
Over the past two weeks, Hammer to Nail published three reviews of mine for films that played at recent film festivals, one at Slamdance and two at Sundance: Fursonas, Rams and All These Sleepless...
View ArticleJokey Violence and All, the Delightful “Deadpool” Reinvigorates Its Genre
Deadpool (Tim Miller, 2016) As I feel obliged to mention every time I write a review of a new film from the Marvel universe, I am not an aficionado of any comic-book series, anywhere or anyhow. Except...
View ArticleIn Self-Congratulatory, Smug and Intellectually Lazy “Where to Invade Next,”...
Where to Invade Next (Michael Moore, 2015) Where to invade next? Where to start . . . ? Filmmaker Michael Moore begins with a mildly funny satirical construct: travel the world as a representative of...
View Article“The Witch” Casts a Strong Spell Until It Breaks It at the End
The Witch (Robert Eggers, 2015) Even having done no research on the film beforehand, watching The Witch I could tell that the director had a strong background in design. Indeed, Robert Eggers – whose...
View ArticleMy “Hammer to Nail” Reviews of Criterion “Gilda” Blu-ray and Sundance...
I had two pieces published in Hammer to Nail last week, one a review of the Criterion Collection‘s new Blu-ray release of Gilda and the other a review of a film that recently played at Sundance:...
View ArticleMr. Reed’s Metaphysical Neighborhood on the 2016 Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts
I have a piece up at Hammer to Nail on the 2016 Oscar-nominated documentary shorts. Those 5 films set the bar very high, and were I part of the Academy, I would have hard time determining the winner....
View ArticleMr. Reed’s Metaphysical Neighborhood on the 2016 Oscar-Nominated Live-Action...
I have a piece up at Hammer to Nail on the 2016 Oscar-nominated documentary shorts. Those 5 films set the bar very high, and were I part of the Academy, I would have hard time determining the winner....
View ArticleMade with Passion, “Touched with Fire” Ultimately Flickers, Rather Than Burns
Touched with Fire (Paul Dalio, 2015) Is manic depression a prerequisite for artistic genius? That is one of the questions posed by Touched with Fire (formerly known as Mania Days, according to its...
View ArticleIn “Triple 9,” Much to Our (Lack of) Surprise, Crime Doesn’t Pay
Triple 9 (John Hillcoat, 2016) “The code on the street is never black and white,” reads the tagline on the poster (above). It would seem that we are in for a psychologically complex thriller, then,...
View ArticleThree Oscar-Nominated Documentaries Worth Watching on Netflix
Lucky you! There’s still time to watch a few more of the Oscar-nominated documentary films before the February 28, 2016, Academy Awards ceremony. So hop to it! All five are available online. The...
View Article#RoughlySpeaking (#HashtagEdition) on #Oscars2016 (and #OscarsSoWhite)
Today, Linda DeLibero – Director, Film and Media Studies, Johns Hopkins University – and Christopher Llewellyn Reed (that’s me) – Chair and Professor, Department of Film & Moving Image, Stevenson...
View ArticleIn Ultra-Violent “London Has Fallen,” the Means Are Always Justified
London Has Fallen (Babak Najafi, 2016) Secret Service Agent Mike Banning, like Die Hard‘s John McLane before him, always seems to find himself at the center of a whirlwind of violence. Just three years...
View ArticleTwo Documentary Reviews on “Hammer to Nail”: “The Last Man on the Moon” and...
In the past two weeks, I have had two reviews – both of documentary films – published in Hammer to Nail: The Last Man on the Moon and Here Come the Videofreex. Enjoy!
View ArticleReviews of Two Oscar-Nominated Foreign-Language Films on “Bmoreart”: “Son of...
In the past month, I have had two reviews – both of Oscar-nominated foreign-language films – published in Bmoreart, an award-winning Baltimore-based online journal: Son of Saul (the eventual Oscar...
View ArticleIn Clever “10 Cloverfield Lane,” the Demons May Not Be All in Your Head
10 Cloverfield Lane (Dan Trachtenberg, 2016) Just because you’re paranoid, it doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. Such is the set-up for 10 Cloverfield Lane, an extremely clever sort-of-sequel to...
View Article“Reel Talk”– with Chris Reed and Max Weiss – on #Oscars2016, “Hail, Caesar!”...
Welcome to the fourth episode of the 2015-2016 season of Dragon Digital Media‘s Reel Talk with Christopher Llewellyn Reed . My guest this time was Max Weiss, film critic for Baltimore Magazine and...
View ArticleWelcome to SXSW2016!
It’s that time of year again, as it was in 2014 and 2015, when I took my first and second trips, respectively, to the annual SXSW Festival in Austin, TX. As I did last year, I have traveled with a...
View ArticleSXSW2016, Part 2 (Monday-Tuesday, March 14-15)
The last two days of the festival have seen me continue with more of the same – movie screenings and interviews with directors and actors. Here are the reviews and interviews that have been published...
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