Christopher Reed
Baltimore
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Articles by Christopher Reed
TANGLES - Hammer to Nail
(The Middleburg Film Festival ran October 15-18 in Middleburg, VA. Check out Chris Reed’s Tangles movie review from the fest! Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) The new animated film Tangles—the debut feature of director Leah Nelson—beautifully marries comedy and drama in a manner that enhances both.
RIPTIDES - Hammer to Nail
(The New/Next Film Festival ran Oct 1-4 and HtN has reviews coming your way like Chris Reed’s Everytime movie review. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) Actor Alex Karpovsky (Fits and Starts) has long entertained audiences with his offbeat performances in a great variety of roles (one of my favorites is his turn as a corporate trainer in Amazon’s Homecoming series).
EDIE ARNOLD IS A LOSER
(Check out Chris Reed’s Edie Arnold Is a Losermovie review, it’s in theaters now. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) “Our Lady of Undying Sadness” is a hilarious name for a Catholic high school. No doubt, based on how they spoof the institution, filmmakers Kade Atwood and Megan Rico have some experience with the religion and its stricter adherents, as well as with parochial education in general.
EVERYTIME - Hammer to Nail
(The New/Next Film Festival ran Oct 1-4 and HtN has reviews coming your way like Chris Reed’s Everytime movie review. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) Austrian director Sandra Wollner’s Everytime—winner of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard prize—follows the mysterious journey of the human brain through the pathways of grief.
JOSEPHINE - Hammer to Nail
(The Toronto International Film Festival (or TIFF) ran September 10-20 and HtN had boots on the ground covering all the best indie films they have to offer. Check out Chris Reeds’s Josephinemovie review from the fest! Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) In Josephine, writer/director Beth de Araújo (Soft & Quiet) has created a harrowing drama about a child witnessing something terrible.
THE DAUGHTERS OF ABRAHAM
(The Toronto International Film Festival (or TIFF) ran September 10-20 and HtN had boots on the ground covering all the best indie films they have to offer. Check out Chris Reeds’s The Daughters of Abrahammovie review from the fest! Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) French director Hanaël El Yousfi makes a powerful feature debut with The Daughters of Abraham, in which she places a Jewish-Muslim friendship at the heart of a story about confronting the patriarchy.
ELSINORE - Hammer to Nail
(The Toronto International Film Festival (or TIFF) ran September 10-20 and HtN had boots on the ground covering all the best indie films they have to offer. Check out Chris Reeds’s Elsinoremovie review from the fest! Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) In 1989, actor Daniel Day-Lewis walked off the stage of London’s National Theatre in the middle of performing Hamlet. As one can imagine, this plunged the production into some turmoil.
A Conversation with John Trengrove (THE SMELL OF APPLES)
In The Smell of Apples, South African director John Trengrove examines the dawning consciousness of an Afrikaner boy as he begins to realize the horrors of the apartheid system. An adaptation of the 1993 book by Mark Behr, the movie features a tour-de-force performance from its young lead, Dawian van der Westhuizen, who carries much of the emotional heft of the narrative on his slim shoulders.
DARLENE LOVE: I KNOW WHERE I’VE BEEN
(The Toronto International Film Festival (or TIFF) runs September 10-20 and HtN has boots on the ground covering all the best indie films they have to offer. Check out Chris Reeds’s Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Beenmovie review from the fest! Seen it?
THE ONLY LIVING PICKPOCKET IN NEW YORK
(The Toronto International Film Festival (or TIFF) runs September 10-20 and HtN has boots on the ground covering all the best indie films they have to offer. Check out Chris Reeds’s The Only Living Pickpocket in New Yorkmovie review from the fest! Seen it?
A Conversation with Jan Holoubek (WILD WILD EAST)
With his latest film, Wild Wild East, Polish director Jan Holoubek has combined the Western with a noirish thriller and thrown the mix into the middle of World War II. The year is 1943, and a mysterious stranger rides into town. He’s played by Itay Tiran in a tour-de-force turn as a Nazi official, Martin Wolff, hot on the trail of missing Jewish gold. Where it is and who will get to it first is the riddle that needs solving.
EDWARD SAID: BETWEEN WORLDS
(The Toronto International Film Festival (or TIFF) runs September 10-20 and HtN has boots on the ground covering all the best indie films they have to offer. Check out Chris Reeds’s Edward Said: Between Worlds movie review from the fest! Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) It can unfortunately sometimes be risky to express sympathy for the plight of Palestinians, so wrapped up is their past, present, and future in the fate of Israel.
THE SMELL of APPLES
(The Toronto International Film Festival (or TIFF) runs September 10-20 and HtN has boots on the ground covering all the best indie films they have to offer. Check out Chris Reeds’s The Smell of Applesmovie review from the fest! Seen it?
WILD WILD EAST - Hammer to Nail
(The Toronto International Film Festival (or TIFF) runs September 10-20 and HtN has boots on the ground covering all the best indie films they have to offer. Check out Chris Reeds’s Wild Wild East movie review from the fest! Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) Neither World War II nor the Holocaust are strangers to cinema; both have been the frequent subject of many a filmmaker.
HA-CHAN! SHAKE YOUR BOOTY
The Toronto International Film Festival (or TIFF) runs September 10-20 and HtN has boots on the ground covering all the best indie films they have to offer. Check out Chris Reed’s Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! movie review. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) In his 2021 Catch the Fair One, writer/director Josef Kubota Wladyka revealed himself extremely capable in the arena of gritty drama.
BUDDY - Hammer to Nail
(Check out Chris Reed’s Buddy review. It’s in theaters now. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) I was not a child in the 1990s, nor did I have children of my own, but I would nevertheless catch the occasional glimpse of the TV show Barney & Friends in the background, its titular purple dinosaur leading kids in song and dance as they learned valuable lessons.
COLONY - Hammer to Nail
(Check out Chris Reed’s Colony review; it’s in theaters now. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) In the video game and TV series The Last of Us, humans are infected by the Cordyceps fungus and thereby become the walking dead. Now, in Colony, South Korean director Yeon Sang-ho’s latest take on the zombie apocalypse, it’s the turn of slime mold.
THE RIVALS OF AMZIAH KING
(Check out Chris Reed’s The Rivals of Amziah King, it’s in theaters now. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) The Rivals of Amziah King is only writer/director Andrew Patterson’s second feature—the first was the wholly original 2019 The Vast of Night—yet you wouldn’t know it from the artistic confidence of his mise-en-scène.
WILD INSIDE - Hammer to Nail
(Check out Chris Reed’s Wild Inside movie review. The documentary will have its world premiere in Central Park on July 29 in partnership with Rooftop Films. It then opens at IFC Center July 31, followed by a nationwide theatrical rollout. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) I have rarely met anyone willing to ask probing questions—personally, professionally, spiritually, etc.—of systems in which they are deeply invested.
ASK E. JEAN - Hammer to Nail
(Check out Chris Reed’s Ask E. Jean movie review, it’s in theaters now. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) Crime should not pay, at least not for the criminal. Those found guilty in a court of law must face the judicial music, no matter who they are. Just ask E. Jean Carroll. In fact, you don’t have to go to her directly, thanks to Ivy Meeropol’s new documentary, conveniently titled Ask E. Jean.
ROMERÍA - Hammer to Nail
Check out Chris Reed’s Romeriamovie review, it’s in theaters now via Janus Films. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) In her phenomenal 2017 feature debut, Summer 1993, Spanish director Carla Simón brought challenging moments from her own childhood to vivid cinematic life. Now she returns to autobiography in her third feature, Romería, in which her protagonist, Marina, travels to Spain’s Atlantic coast to discover the traces left behind by her long-deceased parents.
“The Invite” Delights Through Laughter and Tears
The Invite (Olivia Wilde, 2026) 4½ out of 5 stars An adaptation of the 2020 Spanish film Sentimental (or “The People Upstairs,” as it was called in its American release), Olivia Wilde’s new movie The Invite sparkles with wit, vim, and a lot of vigor. Featuring a screenplay by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack (co-writers of the 2012 Celeste & Jesse Forever), it delivers intelligent dialogue and genuinely funny moments.
A Conversation with Shalini Kantayya (LOVE APPTUALLY)
In her latest documentary, Love Apptually, director Shalini Kantayya takes an informed look at how we date in the modern world. Through a series of character profiles, including of French journalist Judith Duportail—who has written extensively on the subject, based on her personal experience and research—Kantayya offers different perspectives on the algorithms that rule our romantic lives these days.
“Supergirl” Falls Flat
Supergirl (Craig Gillespie, 2026) 1 out of 5 stars It’s tough finding novel ways to tell superhero stories these days, given the 21st-century glut in the movie market, so kudos to anyone trying their best to say something new. Unfortunately, originality does not emerge from surface retooling of genre tropes but rather from inventive writing and fresh character development. The new DC film Supergirl, from director Craig Gillespie (Dumb Money), has very little of either.
The Design of “Couture” Disappoints
DC/DOX Review: “School for Defectors” School for Defectors (Jeremy Workman, 2026) 5 out of 5 stars After its occupation by Japan from 1910 to 1945, the Korean peninsula was divided between its northern and southern halves, the former under Soviet rule and the latter under the United States.
LOVE APPTUALLY - Hammer to Nail
(The 2026 DC/DOX Documentary Film Festival ran June 11-14. Check out Chris Reed’s Love Apptuallymovie review, fresh from the fest. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) Finding a companion—whether for a moment, a lifetime, or somewhere in between—has always posed certain challenges. With the rise of online dating in the 1990s, the search for love (or lust) was suddenly made easier, or so it seemed at the time.
DC/DOX Review: “School for Defectors”
Still from SCHOOL FOR DEFECTORS. Courtesy of Jeremy Workman. School for Defectors (Jeremy Workman, 2026) 5 out of 5 stars After its occupation by Japan from 1910 to 1945, the Korean peninsula was divided between its northern and southern halves, the former under Soviet rule and the latter under the United States.
PLAYING POTUS - Hammer to Nail
(The 2026 DC/DOX Documentary Film Festival ran June 11-14. Check out Chris Reed’s Playing POTUS movie review, fresh from the fest. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) Political satire is essential to a healthy democracy. Comedy, in general, allows the flexing of the mind in ways that further critical thinking, without which we are but sheep.
BUCKS HARBOR - Hammer to Nail
(The 2026 DC/DOX Documentary Film Festival ran June 11-14. Check out Chris Reed’s Bucks Harbor movie review, fresh from the fest. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) Longtime photographer Pete Muller marks his feature-film debut with the documentary Bucks Harbor, which offers a meditation on different representations of manhood in the town of Machiasport, Maine.
A Conversation with Gar O’Rourke (THE SIEGE OF PARADISE)
In the documentary The Siege of Paradise, Irish director Gar O’Rourke examines the toll that rapidly rising rates of tourism take on Italy’s beautiful Cinque Terre region. Comprised of five separate villages—Corniglia, Manarola, Monterosso, Riomaggiore, and Vernazza—along the northern Mediterranean coast, south of Genoa, the area is famed for its culture as much as its landscapes.
Tribeca Interview: “Funk” Director Aly Muritiba
l-r: Aly Muritiba and Chris Reed at Tribeca 2026 With Funk, Brazilian director Aly Muritiba (Private Desert) crafts a love letter to “putaria,” the kinky funk music of the favelas surrounding Rio de Janeiro. That genre is unabashedly sexual in its lyrics and themes, often in very explicit fashion.
THE SIEGE OF PARADISE
(The Tribeca Festival is back and celebrates its 25th year! Taking place June 3 – 14 in various screening rooms around NYC, HtN has tons of coverage coming your way like this The Siege of Paradise movie review from Chris Reed! Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) In The Siege of Paradise, what is at stake is less actual heaven than cultural heritage and identity, though there are times when the sheer beauty of the places we see approach cinematic nirvana.
Tribeca Review: “Funk”
Funk (Aly Muritiba, 2026) 3½ out of 5 stars Brazilian funk music—or, more specifically, “kinky funk”—is filled with bumping, heavy-on-the-bass beats and other electronic sounds, coupled with explicitly sexual lyrics and accompanying salacious gyrations. Called “putaria” in the favelas (the dense, lower-income settlements outside major urban centers such as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo), this musical genre features both singing and rap, and is big business at home.
HOW TO FEED A DICTATOR
(The Tribeca Festival is back and celebrates its 25th year! Taking place June 3 – 14 in various screening rooms around NYC, HtN has tons of coverage coming your way like this How to Feed a Dictator movie review from Chris Reed! Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) In How to Feed a Dictator, director Andrew Neel (Goat) uses the device of exploring the eating habits of autocrats to examine larger issues of humanity’s propensity towards violence.
TIME WARP - Hammer to Nail
(The Tribeca Festival is back and celebrates its 25th year! Taking place June 3 – 14 in various screening rooms around NYC, HtN has tons of coverage coming your way like this Time Warp movie review from Chris Reed! Seen it?
Five Films to See at DC/DOX 2026
DC/DOX is back, now in its 4th year, running June 11-14. I wasn’t able to attend last year’s fest, though I attended the first two iterations. As before, the event features a great variety of films from around the world. This year promises to do the same.
Tribeca Review: “Mario”
Mario Cuomo in MARIO. Courtesy of Tribeca Festival. Mario (Peter Kunhardt/George Kunhardt/Teddy Kunhardt, 2026) 3½ out of 5 stars Mario Cuomo (1932-2015) served three terms as the governor of New York State, from 1983 to 1995, losing his bid for a fourth term against Republican George Pataki. At the height of his popularity, Cuomo offered a powerful progressive voice in opposition to the social Darwinism of the Reagan-Bush era.
THE HAUNTING OF PENNHURST
(The Tribeca Festival is back and celebrates its 25th year! Taking place June 3 – 14 in various screening rooms around NYC, HtN has tons of coverage coming your way like this The Haunting of Pennhurst movie review from Chris Reed! Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) Good haunted houses are a ton of fun. You never know what’s right around the corner and, if you’re lucky, your heart will stop in the best possible way.
Tribeca Review: “The Lorraine”
The Lorraine (Sam Pollard, 2026) 3½ out of 5 stars Director Sam Pollard (Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes) is a reliably competent documentarian, always able to inform as well as engage. In The Lorraine, a film conceived and written by Alvin Hall, Pollard gives us the account of the titular motel, in Memphis, Tennessee.
Tribeca Review: “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass”
Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass (David Wain, 2026) 3 out of 5 stars An immensely silly film that deserves full kudos for effort, Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is both beneficiary and victim of its almost overwhelming zest for fun.
KIDS LIKE ME - Hammer to Nail
(The Tribeca Film Festival is back and celebrates its 25th year! Taking place June 3 – 14 in various screening rooms around NYC, HtN has tons of coverage coming your way like this Kids Like Me movie review from Chris Reed! Seen it?
Tribeca 2026: “Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial VS That’s the Weight of the World)”
Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial VS That’s the Weight of the World) (Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, 2026) 3½ out of 5 stars The Roots drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, also a documentarian, just premiered his latest film, Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial VS That’s the Weight of the World), at the 2026 Tribeca Festival.
Five Films to See at Tribeca 2026
Once again, I am headed to the Tribeca Festival, which runs June 3-14 with 118 feature films in its slate. This is the 25th anniversary of the annual event. The opening-night movie is Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s latest documentary, Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial VS That’s the Weight of the World).
“Pressure” Has Both High and Low Points
Pressure (Anthony Maras, 2026) 3 out of 5 stars Barometric pressure may not be an exciting topic for everyone, but as the principal character in the new movie Pressure states, weather itself can be very dramatic. Storms are never static. Based on a play by actor/writer David Haig (who played the protagonist in the original theatrical run), who co-wrote the screenplay with the director, Anthony Maras (Hotel Mumbai), the film is also quite lively and engaging.
A Conversation with Katie Aselton (MAGIC HOUR)
Director Katie Aselton (Mack & Rita) is out with a new film, Magic Hour (which I also reviewed), in which she also stars, joined by Daveed Diggs (Blindspotting), Brad Garrett (Cha Cha Real Smooth) and others. Co-written with her husband, Mark Duplass (Creep 2), the movie is a meditation on loss and grief, set in the beautiful location of California’s Joshua Tree National Park.
“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” Is Fun but Rote
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu (Jon Favreau, 2026) 3 out of 5 stars The Mandalorian debuted in 2019 as the first original series on the then-brand-new streaming service Disney+.
TUNER - Hammer to Nail
(Check out Chris Reed’s Tuner movie review, it’s in theaters now. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) In his first narrative feature, Tuner, Oscar-winning documentarian Daniel Roher (Navalny) proves that he is just as capable of telling a fictional story as he is one ripped from the latest headlines. With impressive visual flair, he introduces unique characters into a familiar genre (the crime drama) and emerges with a thoroughly engaging movie.
MAGIC HOUR - Hammer to Nail
(Check out Chris Reed’s Magic Hour movie review, it’s in theaters now. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) Grief is a universal human experience. Live long enough, and you will gain an increasing variety of it. There’s no way to avoid the pain of loss in this world. For that reason alone, choosing to treat the subject on screen comes with a fair amount of risk, above all the temptation to wallow in maudlin sentiment.
“The Wizard of the Kremlin” Fails to Conjure a Spell
The Wizard of the Kremlin (Olivier Assayas, 2025) 1½ out of 5 stars I have not read Giuliano da Empoli’s 2022 novel The Wizard of the Kremlin, on which French director Olivier Assayas’ largely listless new film is based, but if it’s anything like the cinematic adaptation, one has to question why it has received its accolades.
MISPER - Hammer to Nail
(The 2026 Maryland Film Festival ran April 8–12 at the SNF Parkway Theatre and venues across Baltimore. Check out Chris Reed’s Misper movie review, from the fest. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) Misper—the title is short for “missing person”—may be director Harry Sherriff’s feature debut, but it feels like the work of a very confident filmmaker. Mixing comedy and tragedy with gusto, Sherriff crafts a unique tale of lost opportunities and unrealized passions.
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