Christopher Llewellyn Reed's Blog, page 63

Two Documentary Reviews on “Hammer to Nail”: “The Last Man on the Moon” and “Here Come the Videofreex”

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!

In 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 ago, in Olympus Has Fallen, he executed a brilliant rescue of the President of the United States – against impossible odds! – trapped in […]

#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 University – joined Dan Rodricks on his Baltimore Sun podcast, “Roughly Speaking,” where we discussed last night’s Oscars ceremony and the awards given. We also talked about the performance of host Chris Rock and how he handled the […]

Three 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 documentary category, for me, is almost always the strongest. While I frequently have disagreements with the Academy over their choices for Best Picture, […]

In “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, where neither good guys nor bad rule the day, and where the very concept of one or the other may, in […]

Made 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 press kit). Or rather, it is posed by Marco, the male lead (an excellent Luke Kirby, from Take This Waltz). He’s a street poet and rapper who […]

Mr. Reed’s Metaphysical Neighborhood on the 2016 Oscar-Nominated Live-Action 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. Unfortunately, the other two categories of short films – animated and live-action – are not nearly as consistently strong. Here […]

Mr. 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. Unfortunately, the other two categories of short films – animated and live-action – are not nearly as consistently […]

My “Hammer to Nail” Reviews of Criterion “Gilda” Blu-ray and Sundance Festival’s “Pleasure. Love.”

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: Pleasure. Love. Enjoy!

“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 debut feature this is – has previously directed a few short films, but mainly worked as a Production Designer, Art Director and Costume […]