|
78%
|
Melancholia (2011)
|
"'Artful hooey' might be the best critical shorthand. Dunst gives a captivating performance, her best in years, but the audience is still left on the outside of her character, looking for a way in."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
78%
|
Battle for Brooklyn (2011)
|
"Battle For Brooklyn is a telling snapshot of (offscreen) political maneuvering, and the tossed-around wrecking-ball weight of corporate might as it relates to individual rights."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
90%
|
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
|
"Assured, strikingly well acted, and grippingly directed -- the best American narrative debut of 2011."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
79%
|
The Skin I Live In (2011)
|
"An exquisite little puzzle-box gem of clinically constructed perversity."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
73%
|
Revenge of the Electric Car (2011)
|
"An entertaining look at the auto industry's about-face on electric cars, but a movie that could have dug deeper, especially in a political climate where one of two parties wears as a badge of honor their continued rejection of climate science."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
50%
|
The Rum Diary (2011)
|
"The Rum Diary is sort of the filmic equivalent of an unexpected blast of jazz -- an amusing slice of tropical noir beholden to little more than its own snappy rhythms."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
10%
|
Trespass (2011)
|
"A thunderously stupid home invasion thriller about a diamond dealer who has a wall-safe with the password 'diamond.' Yes, seriously."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
74%
|
Like Crazy (2011)
|
"Beautifully acted, and tender and evocative -- a closed-loop romance for those seeking uplift, and a melancholic rumination from adulthood for those who are so sure they know better."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
92%
|
Take Shelter (2011)
|
"When its last, proudly ambiguous note is struck, one leaves convinced only that there exists a greater exploitation of this same concept yet to be made, one with sharper contrasts and more starkly defined stakes."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
93%
|
Drive (2011)
|
"A hypnotic and mesmerizing mash-up of Friedkin, Mann and Lynch. In case there were any remaining doubts, after having danced around and avoided it for several years, Ryan Gosling is now taking the bullet train to stardom."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
72%
|
Bellflower (2011)
|
"Bellflower unfolds in a charged-up but emotionally honest hormonal haze. It's the sort of polished, distinctive freshman effort that is told with such cool assurance as to restore one's faith in indie filmmaking."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
82%
|
TrollHunter (2011)
|
"For all its technical accomplishment and cultural specificity, Trollhunter never really clicks on all cylinders. It's mostly droll, but doesn't consistently foment either dread or delight, owing to a need for sharper characterizations."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
71%
|
The Future (2011)
|
"Seeded in equal measure with playfulness and poignancy, The Future is a reflection on the accumulated burdens of generational anxiety, as filtered through a quasi-Dadaist, quasi-Absurdist sensibility."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
——
|
All In: The Poker Movie (2011)
|
"An achingly comprehensive poker-praising documentary that unfolds in rather scattershot form, yet still remains more or less entertaining enough to engage non-players."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
91%
|
Point Blank (2011)
|
"Its innocuous title recalls a Steven Seagal flick, sure, but this frenzied French thriller is more rooted in humanistic impulses and recognizable motivations than most of its skull-cracking American brethren."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
43%
|
The Perfect Host (2011)
|
"The actors give invested performances, but The Perfect Host's story twists reveal it to be a bullsh-t head feint exercise designed from the ground up as merely a collection of goosing scenes."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
44%
|
A Little Help (2011)
|
"Sweetly cast, but the dramatic material doesn't play and the film overall never quite convincingly locates a singular tone or point of focus that would kick it up and make it recommendation-worthy."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
——
|
Wild Cherry (2009)
|
"There's an interesting (and still quite funny, I'm certain) movie to be made about girls discovering their bodies and learning about sex before actually having it. This isn't that movie, however."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
21%
|
Salvation Boulevard (2011)
|
"A toothless satire, either unwilling or unable to commit to a darker path."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
26%
|
The Best and the Brightest (2011)
|
"A slim pan. While there's a certain novelty of setting and a lot of its dialogue pops, the movie's chief problem is the fact that it doesn't seem to wholly embrace the arguably detestable nature of its characters."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
85%
|
A Better Life (2011)
|
"A well acted and nicely detailed if somewhat familiarly plotted immigrant drama, Chris Weitz's A Better Life shines a light on the razor's edge of poverty, with a solid, non-pandering sociocultural authenticity."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
89%
|
The Trip (2011)
|
"Far less than the sum of its parts. The framework upon which it hangs creaks under the weight of injudicious oversight by Michael Winterbottom and editor Mags Arnold, who overindulge their stars."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
87%
|
Buck (2011)
|
"A deeply humanistic film -- rendered with grace, compassion and an unfussy aptitude -- that makes a persuasive and heartrending case for the boundless capability of human healing."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
70%
|
Beautiful Boy (2011)
|
"Frustratingly lacking in certain story elements, but held together by the rawness and unprecious nature of its lead performances."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
84%
|
Beginners (2011)
|
"The sort of movie you never really stop wanting to love, even as it flits about and tests the boundaries of your attention. Warm, full of life and tidbits that illuminate life and love in elliptical fashion."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
54%
|
Hesher (2011)
|
"Powered by a character at once original and representational, Hesher courses with a unique verve missing in many independent productions, hovering somewhere between outright success and 'interesting failure.'"
|
Brent Simon
|
|
79%
|
Earthwork (2011)
|
"Writer-director Chris Ordal does something a lot of young filmmakers either can't do, or consciously try to avoid -- tell a simple story, simply, and without overindulging in stylistic gimmicks or emotional manipulation."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
61%
|
The Beaver (2011)
|
"Off-screen Mel Gibson may be a deplorable human being, but he and The Beaver, a film honest about depression and lined with a certain bruised grace, are uniquely suited to one another."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
71%
|
Exporting Raymond (2011)
|
"A charming and interesting real-life cultural mash-up -- a sociocultural bauble which locates reserves of empathy where one might not expect."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
68%
|
Rubber (2011)
|
"If you see only one film this year about a psychokinetic tire that roams the dusty American southwest exploding the heads of those get in his way, it should definitely be Quentin Dupieux's Rubber."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
75%
|
Everything Must Go (2011)
|
"If life, as John Lennon said, is what happens while you're busy making plans, it's also the sheer accumulation of stuff. Pleasantly offbeat but not aggressively so, this film showcases that axiom in both the material and figurative senses."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
96%
|
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011)
|
"Herzog has previously worked as a conjurer of elemental dread and awe, delving into man's relationship with what he views as the unforgiving harshness of the world. This film shows that same sense of questioning has existed for all of humankind."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
72%
|
POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011)
|
"Spurlock's film is fitfully engaging in its own facile way, but also restless and unfocused -- and thus it never really digs into its subject matter in a deep or interesting enough way."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
50%
|
Cool It (2010)
|
"Dawdling, and hopelessly muddled. Plus it ignores the basic reality that political calculations of those who peddle doom-and-gloom enviro-scenarios stems in part from fact they're dealing with people who decry all science."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
77%
|
Trust (2011)
|
"Trust is heartrending in its depiction of the gulf between the female teenage victim of such a coercive assault and especially her father, as well as the manner in which adolescent judgment is reasonably fallible."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
40%
|
Henry's Crime (2011)
|
"Keanu Reeves sleepwalks through this limp affair, the script is indifferent to the madcap possibilities its conceit engenders, and director Malcolm Venville exhibits no sense of comedic timing or aptitude for building tension."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
100%
|
Con Artist (2010)
|
"Lays bare Kostabi's popularized thinking regarding branding and self-promotion, the impact of which can be glimpsed in the ways people these days jockey to make 'ex-reality show participant' a full-time occupation."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
67%
|
Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead (2011)
|
"The first half is a sycophantic and unfocused look at the health benefits of liquidated fruits and veggies, but Fat's latter half blossoms into something unexpected and heartrending, making it a passable recommendation."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
46%
|
Soul Surfer (2011)
|
"On-the-nose dramatically but marked by invested-in performances, feel-good movie of genial deification Soul Surfer should play quite well in Red State rural and suburban areas."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
91%
|
Source Code (2011)
|
"Casting matters hugely in an endeavor like this, and Source Code's quartet of main players is more than up to the task of breathing multi-dimensionality into the material."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
47%
|
Super (2011)
|
"A self-reflexive, character-based, superhero spoof that has some colorful moments (and a deliciously crazy turn by Ellen Page), but doesn't fully and smoothly embrace the provocative nature of its premise."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
29%
|
Elektra Luxx (2011)
|
"Offbeat, and powered by a game cast, but also full of spun-off asides and backstories that aren't smoothly integrated into the final product, or made to have forward-reaching consequences."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
60%
|
Plastic Planet (2011)
|
"Werner Boote's film is a so-so personal-journey documentary inquiry about the dangers of plastics that succeeds in marginal fashion, almost in spite of itself."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
83%
|
Potiche (2011)
|
"The satire isn't necessarily pointed. Rather, it feels a bit dutiful, even if smiling and fun. If Potiche certainly isn't an essential work, though, it does feature a sublime ending for fans of its legendary lead actress."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
——
|
Scout's Honor: Badge to the Bone (2010)
|
"Mirthless, and wearyingly broad for no discernible reason, this willfully stupid comedy is like a cinematic kick to the groin."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
69%
|
Limitless (2011)
|
"With his pin-up looks and ineffable lack of gradation, Bradley Cooper is a compelling anchor for this sort of material -- you're both rooting for him and weirdly hoping for a bit of dark comeuppance, which makes for some intriguing tension."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
——
|
Spooner (2011)
|
"Spooner unfolds in an alternate, fantasy reality where girls swoon over de-masculinized awkwardness, and its makers additionally assume this is will automatically tickle an audience pink."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
40%
|
Carbon Nation (2011)
|
"Thought-provoking on a macro level in some of its interviews, but its sloppy construction, poor focus and rah-rah boosterism make for a sludgy viewing experience."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
8%
|
Alien Girl (2010)
|
"Alien Girl exudes a wearying, recombinant raison d'être; it's as if all the parts of a dozen American crime thrillers were distilled through a heavy sociocultural filter, reconstituted, and then aped in middling fashion."
|
Brent Simon
|
|
30%
|
Sanctum (2011)
|
"Director Alister Grierson nicely juggles the requirements of confined space adventure with the movie's somewhat more pedestrian human drama. No need for a 3-D presentation, though."
|
Brent Simon
|
