Tag Archives: Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Film Review: Stylish “Galveston” Is a Heartless Place to Linger

Posted on October 17, 2018
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Galveston (Mélanie Laurent, 2018) 2½ out of 4 stars. Galveston, based on the eponymous book by Nic Pizzolatto and directed by Mélanie Laurent (Diving), is both a stylish slow-burn of a noirish thriller, meticulously acted by a cast that includes Ben … Continue reading →

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Film Review: In Occasionally Inspiring “First Man,” Armstrong Mopes His Way to the Stars

Posted on October 12, 2018
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed

First Man (Damien Chazelle, 2018) 2½ out of 4 stars. A slow, meditative look at America’s great space program of the 1960s, First Man is long on family drama and short on action, but this is not always a bad thing, except … Continue reading →

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Netflix Film Review: “22 July” Is Both Effective and Deeply Unpleasant

Posted on October 10, 2018

22 July (Paul Greengrass, 2018) 3 out of 4 stars. It takes a certain kind of masochist to embrace the cinematic adaptation of a horrific real-life event. This does not make Paul Greengrass (Jason Bourne), the director of 22 July – a retelling … Continue reading →

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Film Review: “Venom” Is Cinematic Poison

Posted on October 5, 2018
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Venom (Ruben Fleischer, 2018) 1 out of 4 stars. Listen up: I have a really interesting idea for a movie. Imagine a human character inhabited by a super-intelligent, super-sensory and super-strong being, using its body as host, who initially rejects the … Continue reading →

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Film Review: “Monsters and Men” Brilliantly Explores the Complicated Aftermath of a Police Shooting

Posted on October 4, 2018
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Monsters and Men (Reinaldo Marcus Green, 2018) 4 out of 4 stars. A filmic triptych of intersecting lives in a Brooklyn neighborhood riven by the police shooting of an unarmed African-American man, Monsters and Men evokes powerful emotions with remarkable narrative economy. … Continue reading →

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Film Review: “A Star Is Born,” Yet Again

Posted on October 4, 2018
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed

A Star Is Born (Bradley Cooper, 2018) 2½ out of 4 stars. How one reacts to Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born will very much depend on one’s tolerance for maudlin sentimentality mixed with romance. A fan of Puccini’s opera La Bohème, … Continue reading →

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Film Review: “The Hate U Give” Mostly Conquers, with Love

Posted on October 3, 2018
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed

The Hate U Give (George Tillman Jr., 2018) 3 out of 4 stars. Based on the eponymous 2017 young-adult novel by Angie Thomas, itself inspired by the late rapper Tupac Shakur’s THUG LIFE tattoo (Shakur said the letters stood for “The … Continue reading →

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Film Review: Bad Girls Rule in “Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.”

Posted on September 27, 2018
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. (Steve Loveridge, 2018) 4 out of 4 stars. In a rousing documentary profile of Sri Lankan-born activist and hip-hop performer M.I.A., director Steve Loveridge (making his feature debut) – a friend of hers since their mutual time in a London art … Continue reading →

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Film Review: In “Fahrenheit 11/9,” Michael Moore Trumpets a Powerful Clarion Call to Action

Posted on September 20, 2018
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Fahrenheit 11/9 (Michael Moore, 2018) 3½ out of 4 stars. A frequently effective, but often equally undisciplined filmmaker, Michael Moore has made his share of powerful indictments of the deep inequalities at the root of these United States, among them Roger … Continue reading →

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Chris Reed’s Top Five Narrative Fiction Films from TIFF 2018

Posted on September 17, 2018
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Following my piece on my favorite documentaries at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), here are my Top 5 favorite fiction features, in alphabetical order, again with brief capsule reviews of each, most of which are adaptations of longer … Continue reading →

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