About chrisreedfilm
Christopher Llewellyn Reed is a film critic, filmmaker, and educator. A member of the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, he is lead film critic at hammertonail.com, an online magazine devoted to independent cinema; a regular film critic here at filmfestivaltoday.com; the host of Dragon Digital Media’s award-winning "Reel Talk with Christopher Llewellyn Reed"; a film commentator for the "Roughly Speaking” podcast with Dan Rodricks at "The Baltimore Sun"; and the author of "Film Editing: Theory and Practice." In addition, he is one of three co-creators, along with Summre Garber of Slamdance and Bart Weiss of Dallas VideoFest, of "The Fog of Truth" (fogoftruth.com) – available on iTunes, SoundCloud and Stitcher – a podcast devoted to documentary cinema.
Just over a month ago, I published my interview with AFI DOCS director Michael Lumpkin and now it’s time to give my must-see recommendations for this year’s festival. AFI DOCS is an annual showcase of documentary cinema in Washington, DC. … Continue reading →
Posted in Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Featured, Festivals, FFT Festival Coverage
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Tagged A Love Song for Latasha, AFI DOCS, AFi DOCS 2019, Alex Holmes, American Factory, Avi Belkin, Barak Goodman, Chris Durrance, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Clayton Brown, David Charles Rodrigues, Everything You Wanted to Know About Sudden Birth* (*but were afraid to ask), Gay Chorus Deep South, Jehane Noujaim, Jialing Zhang, Julia Reichert, Karim Amer, Linda Goldstein Knowlton, Luke Lorentzen, Maiden, Matt Wolf, Midnight Family, Mike Wallace Is Here, Monica Long Ross, Nanfu Wang, One Child Nation, Pia Hellenthal, Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project, Scott Calonico, Searching Eva, Slay the Dragon, Sophia Nahli Allison, Steven Bognar, The Great Hack, We Are the Radical Monarchs, We Believe in Dinosaurs
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Plus One (Jeff Chan/Andrew Rhymer, 2019) 3½ out of 4 stars. Anyone worried about the state of romantic comedies should take heart at the release of Plus One, a delightful concoction from writer-directors Jeff Chan and Andrew Rhymer, making their … Continue reading →
Posted in Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Featured Specialty, Film Reviews
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Tagged Andrew Rhymer, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Jack Quaid, Jeff Chan, Maya Erskine, Plus One, rom-com, romantic comedy, romcom, weddings
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The Dead Don’t Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019) 2½ out of 4 stars. Jim Jarmusch’s latest oddball of a film, The Dead Don’t Die, features the director’s trademark nonchalance and idiosyncratic dialogue, as well as something new (for him): zombies. It’s … Continue reading →
Posted in Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Featured Specialty, Film Reviews
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Tagged Adam Driver, apocalypse, Bill Murray, Caleb Landry Jones, Chloë Sevigny, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Danny Glover, Jim Jarmusch, RZA, Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi, The Dead Don’t Die, Tilda Swinton, Tom Waits, zombies
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Late Night (Nisha Ganatra, 2019) 3 out of 4 stars. From writer/star Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project) comes a charming, if uneven, new comedy, Late Night, about the lone female late-night talk-show host whose time in the spotlight may be … Continue reading →
Posted in Breaking, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews
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Tagged chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, comedy, Denis O'Hare, Late Night, Mindy Kaling, Nisha Ganatra, Reid Scott, television
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Men in Black: International (F. Gary Gray, 2019) 2½ out of 4 stars. Back in 2012, the keepers of the Men in Black cinematic franchise served up a delicious third course for the series, largely making up for the less inspired … Continue reading →
Posted in Breaking, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews
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Tagged Art Marcum, Barry Sonnenfeld, chris hemsworth, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Emma Thompson, F. Gary Gray, Kumail Nanjiani, liam neeson, Matt Holloway, Men in Black, Men in Black: International, Tessa Thompson
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Posted on June 6, 2019
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed
Dark Phoenix (Simon Kinberg, 2019) 1½ out of 4 stars. There is nothing wrong with Dark Phoenix that a coherent plot – and, even more important, logical placement of the film within the larger X-Men cinematic universe – wouldn’t fix. Since script is everything, … Continue reading →
Posted in Breaking, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews
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Tagged Alexandra Shipp, Andrew Stehlin, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Dark Phoenix, James McAvoy, jessica chastain, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Kota Eberhardt, Marvel, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Simon Kinberg, Sophie Turner, X-Men
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Posted on June 6, 2019
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed
Leto (Kirill Serebrennikov, 2018) 2½ out of 4 stars. A somewhat film, albeit a strange one to be given an American release, Kirill Serebrennikov’s Leto(the title means “summer” in Russian) tells the highly specific story (in terms of time and … Continue reading →
Posted in Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews, Specialty Releases
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Tagged Aquarium, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Irina Starshenbaum, Kino, Kirill Serebrennikov, Leningrad, Leto, Mike Naumenko, rock 'n' roll, rock and roll, Roman Bilyk, Soviet Union, Teo Yoo, USSR, Viktor Tsoi, Zoopark
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Posted on June 4, 2019
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed
First to the Moon (Paul J. Hildebrandt, 2018) 3½ out of 4 stars. What a marvelous cinematic year it has been for America’s once-great space program! Since October, 2018. we have seen four films about two Apollo missions, #8 and … Continue reading →
Posted in Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Featured Specialty, Film Reviews
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Tagged Apollo, Apollo 11, Apollo 8, Bill Anders, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Earthrise, First to the Moon, Frank Borman, James Lovell, NASA, Paul J. Hildebrandt, space program
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Posted on May 30, 2019
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed
Rocketman (Dexter Fletcher, 2019) 3 out of 4 stars. I went into Rocketman, the new biopic about Elton John, knowing little to nothing about the life of the man but loving much of his music. That said, it doesn’t take … Continue reading →
Posted in Breaking, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews
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Tagged biography, biopic, Bryce Dallas Howard, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Dexter Fletcher, Elton John, Jamie Bell, Lee Hall, Richard Madden, Rocketman, Taron Egerton
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Posted on May 30, 2019
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed
Ma (Tate Taylor, 2019) ½ out of 4 stars. A film as nonsensical as it is terrible, Tate Taylor’s Ma commits numerous cinematic crimes, among them the absolutely indefensible one of wasting the talent of the great Octavia Spencer. Featuring laughably … Continue reading →
Posted in Breaking, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews
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Tagged bad movie, blood, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Diana Silvers, Ed Wood, horror, Juliette Lewis, Luke Evans, Ma, McKaley Miller, Missi Pyle, Octavia Spencer, tate taylor
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