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.
Alita: Battle Angel (Robert Rodriguez, 2019) 3 out of 4 stars. Based on a Japanese manga series by Yukito Kishiro, the crazy new film from writer/director Robert Rodriguez (Machete Kills) and writers James Cameron (Avatar) and Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island), Alita: Battle Angel serves … Continue reading →
Posted in Breaking, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews
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Tagged Alita Battle Angel, chrisreedfilm, Christoph Waltz, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Gunnm, james cameron, Jennifer Connelly, Keean Johnson, Laeta Kalogridis, Mahershala Ali, manga, Robert Rodriguez, Rosa Salazar, Yukito Kishiro
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The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (Mike Mitchell, 2019) 2½ out of 4 stars. I loved The Lego Movie, which came out in 2014 to great critical and commercial success. Though seemingly a marketing ploy to sell more LEGO toys, … Continue reading →
Posted in Breaking, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews
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Tagged Chris Pratt, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Christopher Miller, Elizabeth Banks, Everything is AWESOME, Lego, Mike Mitchell, Phil Lord, The Lego Movie, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, Tiffany Hadish, Will Arnett, Will Ferrell
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The Sundance Institute was founded in 1980 by actor Robert Redford in Park City, Utah, as a filmmaking laboratory to promote the art and craft of independent cinema. In 1985, the Institute took control of the U.S. Film Festival, later … Continue reading →
Posted in Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Featured, Festivals
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Tagged Alex Gibney, Alexandre O. Philippe, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Alien, Andrew McConnell, Anthropocene: The Human Epoch, Apollo 11, China, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, documentaries, documentary, Edward Burtynsky, Elizabeth Holmes, Fog of Truth, Garry Keane, Gaza, Hail Satan?, Hammer to Nail, Harvey Weinstein, Hassan Fazili, Jennifer Baichwal, Kim Longinotto, Knock Down the House, Lynn Zhang, Maiden, Matt Tyrnauer, Memory: The Origins of Alien, Midnight Traveler, Nanfu Wang, Nicholas de Pencier, One Child Nation, one child policy, Park City, Penny Lane, Rachel Lears, refugees, Robert Redford, Satanic Temple, Shooting the Mafia, Sundance 2019, sundance film festival, sundance institute, The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, Theranos, Todd Douglas Miller, Tom Skerritt, Untouchable, Ursula Macfarlane, Utah, Where's My Roy Cohn?
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Velvet Buzzsaw (Dan Gilroy, 2019) 3 out of 4 stars. Documentarian Nathaniel Kahn’s The Price of Everything came out this past fall, and in it the director explores the outrageous sums involved in buying and selling art in today’s market. How value … Continue reading →
Posted in Breaking, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews
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Tagged art criticism, art world, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Dan Gilroy, Daveed Diggs, horror, Jake Gyllenhaal, John Malkovich, Natalia Dyer, Nathaniel Kahn, Rene Russo, satire, The Price of Everything, Toni Collette, Velvet Buzzsaw, Zawe Ashton
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The Kid Who Would Be King (Joe Cornish, 2019) 3 out of 4 stars. A silly, if thoroughly enjoyable riff on the myth of King Arthur, The Kid Who Would Be King follows 12-year-old Alexander Elliott as he discovers a sword in … Continue reading →
Posted in Breaking, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews
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Tagged Angus Imrie, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Dean Chaumoo, Excalibur, Joe Cornish, Kid Who Would Be King, King Arthur, Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Morgana, Patrick Stewart, Rebecca Ferguson, Rhianna Dorris, Tom Taylor
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King of Thieves (James Marsh, 2018) 2½ out of 4 stars. Based on a real-life 2015 heist, director James Marsh’s King of Thieves assembles a cast of fine British actors of a certain age, among them Jim Broadbent (The Lady in the … Continue reading →
Posted in Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews, Specialty Releases
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Tagged Charlie Cox, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, heist, James Marsh, Jim Broadbent, King of Thieves, Michael Caine, Tom Courtenay
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Stan & Ollie (Jon S. Baird, 2018) 3 out of 4 stars. Stan Laurel (1890-1965, born Arthur Stanley Jefferson) and Oliver Hardy (1892-1957, born Norvell Hardy) were mildly popular performers in their own right when, in 1927, producer Hal Roach paired … Continue reading →
Posted in Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews, Specialty Releases
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Tagged Arthur Stanley Jefferson, biopic, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Jeff Pope, John C. Reilly, Jon S. Baird, Laurel and Hardy, Nina Arianda, Norvell Hardy, Oliver Hardy, Stan & Ollie, Stan Laurel, Steve Coogan
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Glass (M. Night Shyamalan, 2019) 2 out of 4 stars. I still remember the frisson of anticipation, back in 2000, before I sat down to watch M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable, given how much I had enjoyed his previous film, The Sixth … Continue reading →
Posted in Breaking, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews
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Tagged Bruce Willis, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Glass, James McAvoy, M. Night Shyamalan, Samuel L. Jackson, Sarah Paulson, split, Unbreakable
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The Standoff at Sparrow Creek (Henry Dunham, 2018) 3 out of 4 stars. Just a few months ago, I had never heard of James Badge Dale, and now all of a sudden (or so it seems) he appears in three movies … Continue reading →
Untouchable (David Feige, 2016) 4 out of 4 stars. Most human beings, I hope, can agree that the sexual abuse of children is a grievous wrong that should be punished to the full extent allowed by the courts. Beyond such a … Continue reading →
Posted in Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews, Specialty Releases
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Tagged Amazon, chrisreedfilm, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, David Feige, Google Play, iTunes, Jacob Wetterling, Lauren Book, Patty Wetterling, recidivism, Ron Book, sex offender, sex offender registry, Untouchable
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