Christopher Llewellyn Reed's Blog, page 70
October 16, 2015
In “Steve Jobs,” Sorkin Offers Schema Without Reason
Steve Jobs (Danny Boyle, 2015) Aaron Sorkin has made a career writing clever scripts in which characters speak brilliantly conceived (if unrealistically articulate) lines of dialogue in well-structured dramas. Think A Few Good Men, The American President (which led directly to the 7-season television series “The West Wing“) and The Social Network. That last one is a perfect model for Steve Jobs, […]
“Freeheld” Needs Saving
Freeheld (Peter Sollett, 2015) I have met Peter Sollett a few times, and had him Skype with my students once. He is a very nice man. I am a big fan of his Award-winning short film Five Feet High and Rising, from 2000, and his debut feature, Raising Victor Vargas, which he adapted from that source in 2002. He […]
October 9, 2015
A Pan of “Pan”
Pan (Joe Wright, 2015) Never having been a particular fan of Peter Pan growing up, I was unaware of the shifting origins of the character (changes in age, personality, motivation) or of the fact that the play, Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up, came before the novel, Peter and Wendy (1904 and 1911, respectively). […]
Pedestrian Filmmaking Can’t Destroy “Malala”
He Named Me Malala (Davis Guggenheim, 2015) At the age of 15, Malala Yousafzai was shot by a Taliban gunman in her hometown in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. The reason? She was a champion of young women’s education, and deemed a threat to the patriarchy. She survived, went to the United Kingdom for treatment, accompanied by her family, and […]
October 2, 2015
Check out My Ignite Baltimore 17 Talk, Entitled “Cinnovation: Major Milestones in Movie History”
After a hiatus of over 2 years, I spoke once more at Ignite Baltimore. Here is my talk: Please check out my previous three talks, as well as those of the other great speakers who have presented just recently and in the past. Enjoy!
“The Martian” Is a Great Space Western for Our Time
The Martian (Ridley Scott, 2015) It’s another beautiful day on Mars, our closest planetary neighbor. As far as the eye can see stretches a reddish landscape reminiscent of Monument Valley in the great Westerns of John Ford. Given how science-fiction films supplanted the Western almost 40 years ago, with the release of Star Wars (a process that Western author […]
“Sicario” Starts Strong, but the Deeper We Go, the Dumber It Gets
Sicario (Denis Villeneuve, 2015) Sicario opens with a text-on-screen definition of its title, explaining the word’s Latin roots and current, Latin American meaning: a hitman. All the time, we hear a low bass beat that, to me, at first, sounded annoyingly like music from the theater next door. It’s persistent and grating, and then suddenly we are in the […]
“Sleeping with Other People” Flirts with Tropes from Better Movies
Sleeping with Other People (Leslye Headland, 2015) Alison Brie (Trudy Campbell on “Mad Men“) and Jason Sudeikis (lots of characters on “Saturday Night Live,” since 2003) are both such likable performers with natural chemistry – with the audience and with each other – that it seems a shame they don’t have a better movie in which […]
September 30, 2015
In “The Walk,” Gordon-Levitt’s Manic Pixie Gallic Guy Cannot Ruin the Majesty of Zemeckis’ 3D High-Wire Thrills
The Walk (Robert Zemeckis, 2015) Have you seen James Marsh’s Oscar-winning documentary, Man on Wire (2008)? It tells the story of famed French tightrope walker Philippe Petit, who, in August 1974, hung – somehow – a solid wire between the (at that time) almost-completed World Trade Center towers in lower Manhattan and then, for almost 45 minutes, performed the impossibly […]
September 27, 2015
10/2/15: Midday on Space Exploration at the Movies (and TV)
Since the early 1950s, as the Cold War truly got under way and the rocket race heated up, the filmmakers of Hollywood – first in film, and then on TV – began to imagine what space exploration might look like. After all, if new telescopes could see far into the galactic heavens and we could […]
