About chrisreedfilm
Christopher Llewellyn Reed is a film critic, filmmaker, and educator. He is the lead film critic at hammertonail.com, an online magazine devoted to independent cinema; a regular film critic at filmfestivaltoday.com; the host of Dragon Digital Media’s award-winning "Reel Talk with Christopher Llewellyn Reed"; a regular film commentator for the "Roughly Speaking” podcast with Dan Rodricks at "The Baltimore Sun"; an occasional writer for the magazine bmoreart.com; and the author of "Film Editing: Theory and Practice."
[NOTE: My Film Festival Today colleague Jay Berg will soon post his own Top 5 list, complete with a more detailed history of the festival] The American Film Institute (AFI) exists, as its website proclaims, “to train filmmakers and preserve … Continue reading →
Posted in Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Featured, Festivals, FFT Festival Coverage
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Tagged ACORN and the Firestorm, AFI DOCS, AFI DOCS 2017, Amanda Lipitz, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, An Insignificant Man, Atomic Homefront, Bonni Cohen, Brian Knappenberger, Cara Mertes, Chris Shellen, chrisreedfilm, Christina Clusiau, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Cine São Paolo, City of Ghosts, David Byars, Felipe Tomazelli, Gethin Aldous, Guggenheim Symposium, Jairus McLeary, Jay Berg, Jeff Malmberg, Jennifer Brea, Jon Shenk, Khushboo Ranka, Laura Poitras, Matthew Heineman, No Man's Land, Nobody Speak: Trials of a Free Press, Rebecca Cammisa, Reuben Atlas, Ricardo Mareasen, Samuel D. Pollard, Shaul Schwarz, Spettacolo, Stefan Avalos, Step, Strad Style, The Work, Trophy, Unrest, Vinay Shukla
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The Hero (Brett Haley, 2017) 2½ out of 4 stars. A pleasant enough diversion, The Hero – starring Sam Elliott (Grandma) as Lee Hayden, an aging star of Westerns – nevertheless sinks into a mire of clichés from which it never … Continue reading →
Posted in Breaking, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews, Specialty Releases
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Tagged Brett Haley, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Katharine Ross, Kristen Rytter, Laura Prepon, Nick Offerman, Sam Elliott, The Hero, Westerns
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The Book of Henry (Colin Trevorrow, 2017) 1 out of 4 stars. To be brief: there is nothing wrong with The Book of Henry that a good script could not fix. Given what we have, however, courtesy of screenwriter Gregg … Continue reading →
Posted in Breaking, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews
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Tagged chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Colin Trevorrow, Dean Norris, Gregg Hurwitz, Jacob Tremblay, Jaeden Lieberher, Kalina Ivanov, naomi watts, The Book of Henry
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Posted on June 9, 2017
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed
My Cousin Rachel (Roger Michell, 2017) 2½ stars out of 4. As a big fan of writer Daphne du Maurier, I find it odd that I often find gothic screen romances less than compelling, since that is one of the … Continue reading →
Posted in Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Featured Specialty, Film Reviews, Specialty Releases
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Tagged chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Cornwall, Daphne du Maurier, gothic, gothic romance, Holliday Grainger, My Cousin Rachel, Rachel Weisz, Roger Michell, Sam Claflin
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The Mummy (Alex Kurtzman, 2017) ½ star out of 4. There have certainly been worse films than The Mummy to come out of the Hollywood system, yet even in a year that saw the release of the dismal The Fate … Continue reading →
Posted in Breaking, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews
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Tagged Alex Kurtzman, Annabelle Wallis, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Christopher McQuarrie, Dark Universe, David Koepp, Jake Johnson, Russell Crowe, Sofia Boutella, The Mummy, Tom Cruise, universal, Universal Pictures
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Posted on June 1, 2017
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed
Wonder Woman (Patty Jenkins, 2017) 3 out of 4 stars. There is much to recommend in Wonder Woman, the latest (but hardly the last) entry in the DC Comics cineverse. Given the recent dismal output from this particular franchise – … Continue reading →
Posted in Breaking, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews, Mainstream Films
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Tagged Chris Pine, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Connie Nielsen, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, DC Comics, Eugene Brave Rock, Ewen Bremner, Gal Gadot, Patty Jenkins, Robin Wright, Saïd Taghmaoui, Wonder Woman
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Posted on May 25, 2017
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed
Baywatch (Seth Gordon, 2017) 2½ out of 4 stars. The original Baywatch television series ran on NBC for just one season, 1989-1990, before the network cancelled it. Its star, David Hasselhof (previously known for Knight Rider), refused to accept no … Continue reading →
Posted in Breaking, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews, Mainstream Films
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Tagged Alexandra Daddario, Baywatch, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, David Hasselhof, dwayne johnson, Ilfenesh Hadera, Jon Bass, Kelly Rohrbach, Pamela Anderson, Priyanka Chopra, Seth Gordon, Zac Efron
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Posted on May 18, 2017
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed
Alien: Covenant (Ridley Scott, 2017) 2½ out of 4 stars. The original Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979) masterfully blended science fiction and horror, taking the conventions of monster movies and setting them on a lonely spacecraft in a galaxy far, far … Continue reading →
Posted in Breaking, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews, Mainstream Films
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Tagged Alien, Alien: Covenant, billy crudup, Callie Hernandez, Carmen Ejogo, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, Katherine Waterston, Michael Fassbender, Prometheus, Ridley Scott
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Posted on May 17, 2017
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed
Founded in 1990, the Washington Jewish Film Festival prepares to run its 27th iteration this year, beginning on May 17 and running through May 28. A project of the Edlavitch DCJCC, the festival brings a variety of different kinds of … Continue reading →
Posted in Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Featured, Festivals, FFT Festival Coverage, Interviews
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Tagged Agnieszka Holland, Barry Levinson, bilbao, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Diaspora, Diner, film festival, film festivals, Ilya Tovbis, Jewish, Jewish cinema, Jewish film, Jewish movies, Liberty Heights, Washington Jewish Film Festival
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Posted on May 14, 2017
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed
The Maryland Film Festival (MdFF), founded in 1999 by Festival Director Jed Dietz, just ran its 2017 iteration May 3-7, in Baltimore. With 11 blocks of short films – including the traditional opening-night program of five – plus 34 features, the … Continue reading →
Posted in Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Featured, Festivals, FFT Festival Coverage, Film Reviews
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Tagged Albert Birney, Alex Ross Perry, Ashley Connor, Ashley McKenzie, Beach Rats, Blood Is at the Doorstep, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Christopher Radcliff, Dustin Guy Defa, Eliza Hittman, Erik Ljung, festivals, Golden Exits, HBCUs, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Janicza Bravo, Jessica Kingdon, Kentucker Audley, Lauren Wolkstein, Lemon, Maineland, maryland film festival, Miao Wang, Motherland, Park, Parkway Theatre, Person to Person, Princess Cyd, Ramona Diaz, Rat Film, Sean Price Williams, Sofia Exarchou, Stanley Nelson, Stephen Cone, Sylvio, Tell Them We Are Rising, The Strange Ones, Theo Anthony, Werewolf
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