Christopher Llewellyn Reed's Blog, page 76
May 7, 2015
Long Live the Movies: The 2015 Maryland Film Festival 2015 Is Upon Us!
Welcome back, Maryland Film Festival! Baltimore needs you. Starting last night (Wednesday, May 6), and running through Sunday, May 10, this annual event brings films and filmmakers from around the world to Charm City for a whirlwind slate of screenings that offers documentaries, narrative (fiction) films, hybrids of both, experimental films, and a plethora of short films […]
May 1, 2015
Binoche and Stewart Ground the “Clouds of Sils Maria” in Profound Truths
Clouds of Sils Maria (Olivier Assayas, 2014) Not so long ago, when Kristen Stewart was still turning in listless performances in the unbearable Twilight saga, it would have been very hard to imagine her winning a César (the French Oscar) – or any acting award, other than a Razzie – but win one she did, playing Valentine, personal […]
“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” Is the Latest Marvel Film About the Marvel Universe
Avengers: Age of Ultron (Joss Whedon, 2015) The new film about the Marvel universe – sequel, of sorts, to the 2012 The Avengers – manages to be both busy and inert, as if an angry bee had gotten itself stuck in molasses: there’s much mayhem and destruction, and the appearance of action, but no forward motion. What, you say? An entire […]
April 24, 2015
“Ex Machina” Is a Beautiful Inarticulate Object
Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2015) The first film directed by screenwriter Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Never Let Me Go, Dredd), Ex Machina is not nearly as profound as it seems to think it is (despite its high marks on Rotten Tomatoes, but is still (mostly) very watchable and filled with enough strange and unexpected twists to keep the viewer guessing […]
April 17, 2015
Sebastião Salgado is “The Salt of the Earth”
The Salt of the Earth (Juliano Ribeiro Salgado/Wim Wenders, 2014) Winner of the “Un Certain Regard” Special Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, and a 2015 Oscar nominee for Best Documentary Feature, The Salt of the Earth (which I saw at this year’s SXSW Festival) is an ethereally beautiful tribute to renowned Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. Co-directed by Wim Wenders – prolific […]
In “White God,” Dogs Are More Than Just Co-Pilots: They’re Flying the Plane
White God (Kornél Mundruczó, 2014) In White God, the animals rise up against their human masters. No, this is not a Hungarian answer to the rebooted (in 2011) Planet of the Apes series. Instead, what we get here is an intriguing (and, especially, intriguingly directed) parable about slave uprisings – or about resisting authoritarian rule, at the very […]
April 10, 2015
“While We’re Young” Overcomes a Generic Title … Before It Gets Old
While We’re Young (Noah Baumbach, 2014) The worst thing about this movie is its incredibly generic title, “While We’re Young.” Really? The writer/director of The Squid and the Whale, Margot at the Wedding and Frances Ha – among others – couldn’t do better? It sounds like it belongs on a tacky romcom starring Jennifer Aniston. Fortunately, the best thing about […]
April 7, 2015
“The Longest Ride” Could Be a Lot Shorter (and Better)
The Longest Ride (George Tillman, Jr., 2015) What, oh what, is young Miss Britt Robertson doing in this movie? With co-stars such as Scott Eastwood (son of Clint), Jack Huston (grandson of John) and Oona Chaplin (granddaughter of Charles) – not to mention Alan Alda, who is his own pedigree, at this point – she stands […]
April 3, 2015
“Kumiko the Treasure Hunter” Offers Visual Gold (but Sometimes Leaden Script)
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (David Zellner, 2014) This past weekend, I presented the new film from the Zellner Brothers, Kumiko the Treasure Hunter, at Baltimore’s Cinema Sundays series. I had previously seen it last year at the 2014 Maryland Film Festival (it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, 2014, and then also played at SXSW). The film has received mostly positive reviews, though I had very mixed feelings about […]
March 29, 2015
Happy Brandoday: Midday on Film Celebrates Marlon on April 3
Born in Nebraska in 1924, Marlon Brando revolutionized theater acting in the 1940s, and film acting in the 1950s, as an exemplar of the new American “Method” school championed by the likes of Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler and Sanford Meisner, among others. His raw physicality and ability to completely inhabit a character made him the poster […]
