Brent Simon Movie Reviews & Previews

Critics » Brent Simon

Official Websites:
http://SharedDarkness.com

Brent Simon

Agrees with the Tomatometer 73% of the time.

Biography:: A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Brent Simon is a three-term president of LAFCA, a contributor to Screen International and Magill?s Cinema Annual, and film editor of H Magazine. He cannot abide a world without U2 and pizza.
Favorites:: Movies without Bette Midler, Barbara Streisand, Mariah Carey and Eric Schaeffer
Publications:: Entertainment Today , FilmStew.com , H Magazine , IGN Movies , Los Angeles CityBeat , Los Angeles Daily News , Now Playing Magazine , ReelzChannel.com , Screen International , Screendaily , Shared Darkness , Shockya.com
Critics' Group:: Los Angeles Film Critics Association

Total Reviews:: 2311
Total QuickRatings:: 11

Location:: Los Angeles, CA

Listing Of All Reviews & Articles

Showing 1 - 50 of 2311

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Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date
B+	78%	Iron Man 3 (2013)	" Crackerjack popcorn entertainment done right, Iron Man 3 is a robust example of what Hollywood can do right when it puts its mind to it." — Shared Darkness Posted May 1, 2013
C	67%	Manhunt ()	" A frustrating viewing experience. The success of the superb book upon which it's based -- distilling the essence of disparate strands, and connecting them -- proves too difficult a lift for director Greg Barker." — Shockya.com Posted May 1, 2013
B+	18%	Aroused (2013)	" An uncommonly intelligent doc exploration of the inner lives of 16 women in the adult film industry; has an easy, unforced quality to go with its acuity, allowing the humanity and vulnerability of its subjects to come through." — Shared Darkness Posted May 1, 2013
C+	16%	A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III (2013)	" A light (and slight) surrealistic comedy of emotional waywardness -- intriguing enough to qualify as a playful lark." — Shared Darkness Posted Apr 26, 2013
C+	70%	Wrong (2013)	" A work of much playfulness and imagination, Wrong hints at a broader promise of budding, starburst auteurism upon which the film as a whole -- a nice, silly riff that could work better in truncated form -- doesn't fully deliver." — Shockya.com Posted Apr 26, 2013
C-	47%	The Lords of Salem (2013)	" Zombie fails to fully wrestle to the ground any of the movie's themes in an engaging or meaningful way... so its swan-dive into arbitrariness from the second act on is fairly complete." — Shared Darkness Posted Apr 25, 2013
B+	——	Which Way Is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Times of Tim Hetherington (2013)	" A warm, fitting capstone for a man who saw the best in people during some of the worst circumstances, and helped notably reshape notions of war photography." — Shared Darkness Posted Apr 24, 2013
B+	100%	A Whisper To A Roar (2012)	" A powerful documentary that ties together the heroic and ongoing efforts of democracy activists in five countries, and reaffirms the human spirit's innate desire for freedom." — Shockya.com Posted Apr 24, 2013
C+	31%	Language of a Broken Heart (2013)	" Exactly the movie that one expects it to be -- a frustrating quality for some, but smooth medicine for those who trust and like writer-actors' puppy dog tales that unfold loosely in the vein of Ed Burns." — Shockya.com Posted Apr 24, 2013
C+	——	Phil Spector (2013)	" A strange thing -- a film that at times feels like it's trying to cancel out the very reason for its existence -- powered by the magnetic watchability of its two leads." — Shared Darkness Posted Apr 24, 2013
C	27%	Everybody Has a Plan (2013)	" Wanna see/hear Viggo Mortensen get his Spanish on? That's a big part of the potential interest for Everybody Has a Plan, given the otherwise slow, dangling drama of its assumed-identity conceit." — Shockya.com Posted Apr 24, 2013
B	91%	Gimme The Loot (2013)	" A slim, low-budget coming-of-age tale whose richness lies entirely in its interstices. A keenly observed work that celebrates the unfettered joys of youth, and rewards by reminding of the power of a simple tale told well." — Shared Darkness Posted Apr 24, 2013
	46%	Pain & Gain (2013)	" Unfortunately this down-and-dirty air-quote character piece, a florid and casually misogynistic action dramedy... comes unglued early on, and then spends two hours-plus thrashing about wildly, to only middling effect." — Screen International Posted Apr 23, 2013
C	56%	Oblivion (2013)	" A boldly rendered film with faulty nuts, bolts and wiring is still, at its core, a movie that doesn't work. Witness Oblivion." — Shared Darkness Posted Apr 20, 2013
C+	65%	The We and the I (2013)	" An artful, scrambled, energetic blend of youthful connection and hormonally charged carousing [that] works more as a caffeinated conveyance of feeling than an actual plotted story." — Shared Darkness Posted Apr 18, 2013
C	27%	Saving Lincoln (2013)	" An ancillary curio about the man and his struggles, at least for history buffs, and an unusual exception to an old screenwriting rule -- a movie whose framing device benefits it much more than its actual execution." — Shockya.com Posted Apr 18, 2013
B	89%	Koch (2013)	" The gift of Koch is that it embraces the clutter and volume of opinion about the man." — Shared Darkness Posted Apr 18, 2013
D	29%	Upside Down (2013)	" What begins as a grand concept full of unusual possibilities quickly succumbs to a frustrating mixture of pretentiousness and torpor in this threadbare narrative that unfolds in perpetual pursuit of memorable images over narrative sense." — Shared Darkness Posted Apr 18, 2013
B-	54%	The Company You Keep (2013)	" A decidedly American story of graying moral certitude to match graying temples, Robert Redford's ninth film as a director is about secrets, principles and the melting value of absolutes." — Shared Darkness Posted Apr 17, 2013
B-	100%	Rescue in the Philippines (2013)	" If every war is a thousand rolling tragedies, then the flip side of such conflict is also the opportunities it provides for humanity to showcase the better angels of its nature." — Shockya.com Posted Apr 17, 2013
B	89%	A Place at the Table (2013)	" A smart, poignantly argued documentary [which] casts obesity and hunger as neighbors, and makes a persuasive case for important social investments." — Shared Darkness Posted Apr 17, 2013
B	17%	Brief Reunion (2013)	" A solid, smartly wound little psychological drama that digs into some of the knotty qualities of mid-life adult relationships." — Shockya.com Posted Apr 17, 2013
C-	56%	Eddie The Sleepwalking Cannibal (2013)	" A quirky but unfulfilling Canadian-Danish horror-comedy that has a substantial helping of originality on its side, but not much in the way of inspired execution." — Shockya.com Posted Apr 15, 2013
A-	83%	Uprising (2013)	" The authoritative behind-the-scenes snapshot of a watershed event in human history -- the first digital age people's revolution." — Shared Darkness Posted Apr 15, 2013
C	44%	Thale (2013)	" Ultimately all wind-up -- a work that dances around a couple moods and genres without ever really wholeheartedly committing to one in particular." — Shared Darkness Posted Apr 15, 2013
B	97%	Beware Of Mr. Baker (2012)	" By turns sad and darkly comedic, but never less than mesmerizing -- a moving and morally conflicted portrait of a true questing spirit." — Shared Darkness Posted Apr 15, 2013
C	56%	Hunky Dory (2013)	" A period piece spin on Glee, as filtered through the gauzy lens of underclass-artistic-exuberance that's plagued a subset of comedic-leaning British imports ever since Billy Elliot." — Shockya.com Posted Apr 15, 2013
B	96%	Blancanieves (2013)	" A loving tribute to European silent films of the 1920s; a reminder that cinema need not be constrained by words." — Shared Darkness Posted Apr 14, 2013
A-	66%	Spring Breakers (2013)	" An audacious, synth-pop mélange of ecstatic heaven and drugged-out hell -- an allegory for the corruption of innocence and the fear of blossoming female sexuality." — Shared Darkness Posted Apr 14, 2013
C+	77%	42 (2013)	" Skimming pleasantly enough along the surface of more potentially roiling drama, and lacking an inner boil, 42 is a biopic of carefully crafted but ultimately superficial uplift." — Shared Darkness Posted Apr 12, 2013
C+	94%	Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters (2012)	" An example of narrowcasting through and through, this documentary offering achieves a certain hold for those inclined toward psycho-social rumination." — Shockya.com Posted Apr 12, 2013
B-	94%	Room 237 (2013)	" Powered by a deep and abiding affection for both The Shining and Kubrick in general, Room 237 is an amuse-bouche of remix culture." — Shared Darkness Posted Apr 12, 2013
D	8%	Tomorrow You're Gone (2013)	" Assuming a series of increasingly empty noir postures and grimaces, Dorff expedites the plunge into frustrating pointlessness of this curious psychological drama." — Shockya.com Posted Apr 12, 2013
B-	——	Lucky Bastard (2013)	" A fairly clever little indie film that shrewdly marries the popular but well-worn "found footage" framing device to a prurient storyline." — Shockya.com Posted Apr 3, 2013
C-	13%	Love And Honor (2013)	" A well meaning but essentially dopey period piece film that tries with increasingly diminishing effectiveness to meld an anti-war message with Nicholas Sparks-type romance." — Shockya.com Posted Apr 3, 2013
C-	59%	Detour (2013)	" While not lacking for decent acting or technical execution, Detour lacks a compelling enough arc to sustain what might have worked much better as a short film." — Shockya.com Posted Apr 3, 2013
D	8%	K-11 (2013)	" A pulpy, psychologically hollow and emotionally indiscernible mélange of phony jailhouse intrigue and showy gender-politicking, with a bit of anal rape sprinkled in." — Shared Darkness Posted Mar 27, 2013
C-	28%	G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)	" A disjointed exercise in cosplay action theatrics that evidences the worst instincts of cobbled-together Hollywood overindulgence." — Shockya.com Posted Mar 27, 2013
C-	40%	Mental (2013)	" If one wants to see Toni Collette light a fart on fire, well, this misguided reunion with her Muriel's Wedding director may be the only chance they get." — Shared Darkness Posted Mar 27, 2013
B	79%	Ginger & Rosa (2013)	" A tender, impressionistic coming-of-age tale set against the backdrop of the Cold War in Great Britain, Ginger & Rosa is a colored pencil sketch of a movie distinguished by its acting." — Shockya.com Posted Mar 25, 2013
C+	56%	Come Out And Play (2013)	" An unnerving, humid slice of elemental horror that conjures up memories of Children of the Corn by way of George Romero. It mostly works, until it doesn't." — Shared Darkness Posted Mar 25, 2013
B-	83%	Genius On Hold (2013)	" A movie that underscores that the winners and losers of some battles of capitalism aren't always confined to a single generation; its shadows are long ones." — Shockya.com Posted Mar 25, 2013
C	65%	Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey (2013)	" All mic-ed up, but also all mixed up, this indulgently apportioned doc is a glad-handing fan project all the way." — Shockya.com Posted Mar 25, 2013
B	69%	The Croods (2013)	" The Croods tells a pleasant story about family, the utility of man, and letting go -- all of which I will demonstrate in review with caveman-speak." — Shared Darkness Posted Mar 25, 2013
C-	20%	Girls Against Boys (2013)	" A wan, overly precious and self-satisfied psychological thriller that tries to toe the line between gender statement and ambiguity, and fails." — Shockya.com Posted Mar 21, 2013
B+	87%	Trashed (2012)	" A vividly sketched doc of environmental warning which deploys co-producer Jeremy Irons as its inquisitive guide, Candida Brady's film serves as a compelling indictment of modern profligacy." — Shared Darkness Posted Mar 21, 2013
C	15%	Dorfman in Love (2013)	" Sara Rue is charming as the title character in this generous, slightly fizzy character study of a woman on the verge. The story, however, lets her down." — Shockya.com Posted Mar 21, 2013
B+	75%	Murph: The Protector (2013)	" A moving chronicle of some of the traits that should be more widely venerated in a media and pop cultural landscape too driven by the elevation of the trivial." — Shared Darkness Posted Mar 21, 2013
C-	94%	The Bitter Buddha (2013)	" Forget the tears of a clown as it pertains to inner psychology of a comedian -- what about the rage of a clown? That's the principal focus of The Bitter Buddha, a doc that's too polite and removed." — Shared Darkness Posted Mar 20, 2013

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