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Brent Simon

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:
1695
Total QuickRatings:
1684
Location:
Los Angeles, CA

Movie Reviews Only

Showing 1 - 50 of 1684
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Rating T-Meter Title | Year Add Date
C- —— Hannah Has a Ho-Phase (2013) " In the zeitgeist shadow of works with much more strongly defined voices, this slice of mock-shock has little going for it except for that great title and a few likable performances." — Shockya.com
Posted Jun 17, 2013
B+ 97% 20 Feet From Stardom (2013) " Its stories are so rich in detail -- and, alternately, humor, heartache and triumph -- that one will leave never quite being able to listen to the FM dial in quite the same way." — Shared Darkness
Posted Jun 17, 2013
C- 24% Rapture-Palooza (2013) " In a post-South Park world, lazy execution of a ribald, potentially controversial concept will not suffice -- especially not when the apocalypse is being handled with much more wit, vim and verve just across the megaplex." — Shared Darkness
Posted Jun 14, 2013
D+ 61% The Wall (2013) " A German/Austrian import so weighed down by a stereotypically angst-ridden voiceover of emotional numbness and philosophical despair that one could be forgiven for thinking Werner Herzog wrote it as a goof." — Shockya.com
Posted Jun 14, 2013
B- —— Us () " An unusual yet sympathetically pitched examination of mental illness through the prism of an odd love triangle, Us is anchored by a superb lead turn from Alanna Ubach." — Shared Darkness
Posted Jun 13, 2013
C —— Steve Chong Finds Out That Suicide Is A Bad Idea () " A sort of breezy, micro-budget, down-tempo riff on The Hangover that bobs along pleasantly for a while, but also has a lack of forward-leaning momentum or insight to make these characters stick to the psyche." — Shockya.com
Posted Jun 12, 2013
C+ —— Emoticon ;) () " Professionally mounted and attractively lensed, this indie production is a fresh, off-the-beaten-path conceit that gets mileage from its willingness to examine notions of non-nuclear family and changing identity." — Shockya.com
Posted Jun 12, 2013
C+ —— KUMPANIA Flamenco Los Angeles () " A concise documentary look at flamenco dancing and music. Those with a predetermined investment in its rhythms will want to get up and dance along." — Shockya.com
Posted Jun 12, 2013
C+ —— Tumor, It's In The System () " A damning, thought-provoking assessment of how potential alternative treatments and even cures for cancer have been suppressed since the early 1900s." — Shockya.com
Posted Jun 12, 2013
B- 100% Free China: The Courage to Believe (2013) " A damning nonfiction look at the human rights abuses of China, as filtered specifically through the oppression of Falun Gong practitioners and two sympathetic, steel-spined subjects." — Shockya.com
Posted Jun 8, 2013
75% World War Z (2013) " It ignores or fudges various geopolitical realities, and in fumbling away one of the chief strengths of its source material morphs into just another anonymous quasi-post-apocalyptic blockbuster." — Screen International
Posted Jun 4, 2013
85% This Is the End (2013) " As with Superbad, which was at its core a comedy about the anxiety of codependent male high school separation, This Is the End digs into the under-discussed drift of fraternal camaraderie." — Screen International
Posted Jun 2, 2013
50% Now You See Me (2013) " Smart casting, agreeable performances and a fresh narrative backdrop power this facile, twisty treat, helmed by Louis Leterrier." — Screen International
Posted Jun 2, 2013
C- 50% The Great Gatsby (2013) " Luhrmann's take on perhaps the original American #RichPeopleProblems novel -- about misplaced male ambition and romantic longing, and the perils of female drivers -- is a work of fizzy, surface decadence." — Shared Darkness
Posted May 25, 2013
62% Epic (2013) " If, on a fundamental level, the film's mix of tones doesn't always fully mesh, its many chases and other aerial moments at least provide a nice array of whiz-bang excitement." — Screen International
Posted May 23, 2013
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+ 25% 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+ 68% 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+ 42% 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 35% 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
45% 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 55% 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+ 67% 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- 56% 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 50% 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 98% 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 94% 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- 65% 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 7% 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
Showing 1 - 50 of 1684
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