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Shared Darkness

Shared Darkness is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Brent Simon.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
1.5/5
Clear Cut (2024) Brent Simon Clear Cut unfolds mostly as an escalating series of “LOL”s, by which I mean overwhelmingly dubious choices that combine to give the entire proceeding the feeling of a living instructional document on how not to make a movie.
Posted Jul 19, 2024  Edit critic review
B
120 Days (2013) Brent Simon This doc throws an affecting spotlight on the personal side of immigration, [and] shows that we as a society can't and don't really want to know the full truth about the issue.
Posted Jun 13, 2014  Edit critic review
B+
Ivory Tower (2014) Brent Simon Full of questions for which there are not always necessarily easy real-world answers. But doesn't that describe the college experience itself, however? Our mission: try, try again, fail again, fail better.
Posted Jun 11, 2014  Edit critic review
B
Sunken City (2012) Brent Simon Fans of The Big Lebowski will appreciate this loose-limbed crime comedy, which locates its sweet spot in stoner humor and dry send-up of noir conventions, plus a strong lead performance.
Posted May 14, 2014  Edit critic review
B
Joe (2013) Brent Simon A tender, lyrical slice of underclass drama that also exercises a certain metaphorical connection to the low-lying fog of economic desperation that presently holds so many in its grip.
Posted Apr 21, 2014  Edit critic review
A
Mistaken for Strangers (2013) Brent Simon An engaging work of many colors, at once funny and heart-piercing. There may not be a better film this year about adult sibling jostling, rivalry and affection.
Posted Apr 11, 2014  Edit critic review
C+
Noah (2014) Brent Simon Poised somewhere between a film of pure wonder and a more explicitly religious action text, Noah is a big and interesting and evocative and at times sigh-inducing work, for a variety of reasons.
Posted Apr 01, 2014  Edit critic review
B
Cheap Thrills (2013) Brent Simon A tense, knotty (in more ways than one) valentine of leaching amorality -- a satisfyingly warped walk on the wild side.
Posted Mar 31, 2014  Edit critic review
B+
A Birder's Guide to Everything (2013) Brent Simon Instead of pandering to one and only one sentiment, this engaging offering -- poised pleasantly between quaint and quirky -- does entirely right by adolescent feeling.
Posted Mar 30, 2014  Edit critic review
C
Divergent (2014) Brent Simon Attractively mounted and boasting some nice performances, but also peddling a thunderously stupid conceit whose dodgy details ask viewers to ignore all they know of basic human psychology.
Posted Mar 21, 2014  Edit critic review
C-
Non-Stop (2014) Brent Simon Starts off intriguingly but runs out of interesting little character quirks and recognizable faces stuffed into supporting roles, succumbing to less interesting, jerry-rigged thrills and payoffs that leave one feeling a bit empty.
Posted Mar 04, 2014  Edit critic review
D
Pompeii (2014) Brent Simon Elicits a genuine curiosity to learn more about Pompeii, since one has so much free time to ponder the story's historical underpinnings whilst letting waves of inanity wash over them.
Posted Feb 21, 2014  Edit critic review
C+
Down and Dangerous (2013) Brent Simon There's a weirdly dirty charm to this curio, which has more going for it than not.
Posted Feb 19, 2014  Edit critic review
C
That Awkward Moment (2014) Brent Simon An awkward mash-up [that] in the end will represent nothing more than a momentary, wholly understandable blip on the respective filmographies of its talented young cast.
Posted Feb 10, 2014  Edit critic review
B+
12 O'Clock Boys (2013) Brent Simon An arresting nonfiction look at a subculture of young African-American dirt-bike enthusiasts who view their hobby as a ride-or-die proposition -- a dangerous way to act out proxy battles with authority.
Posted Feb 04, 2014  Edit critic review
B+
Charlie Victor Romeo (2013) Brent Simon An unique and unsettling piece of minimalist experimental cinema [that] blends low-fi technique with high-tension situations, and wrings a real rooting interest out of viewers.
Posted Jan 30, 2014  Edit critic review
D
The Grounded (2014) Brent Simon Passion is outstripped by incoherence in this homeopathic doc, whose aims and claims remain so hazy as to circumvent embrace from even the most sympathetic and open-minded viewers.
Posted Jan 25, 2014  Edit critic review
B+
If You Build It (2013) Brent Simon A bittersweet exploration of outreach and advocacy [that] illustrates the benefits of the practical application of alternative education, and the ripple effects it can create for a community.
Posted Jan 24, 2014  Edit critic review
D
Reasonable Doubt (2014) Brent Simon A ramshackle delivery vehicle for Dominic Cooper's misadventures in accent and the sort of disinterested glowering that Samuel L. Jackson reliably pulls out for paycheck gigs.
Posted Jan 17, 2014  Edit critic review
A-
The Crash Reel (2013) Brent Simon The Crash Reel simply swells one's heart; the Pearce family is a smart and loving one, and the lessons sprinkled throughout this amazing documentary are multitude.
Posted Dec 25, 2013  Edit critic review
C+
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) Brent Simon It ably delivers scenes the sort of which the series' most ardent fans wish to see, [but] for those who aren't hardcore Tolkien enthusiasts it can be a bit of a slog.
Posted Dec 17, 2013  Edit critic review
C-
Lenny Cooke (2013) Brent Simon Lazy, fly-on-the-wall filmmaking. The Safdie brothers have the benefit of some rare extant footage, but absolutely no idea how to shape it into an interesting narrative.
Posted Dec 15, 2013  Edit critic review
C+
Crave (2012) Brent Simon An artful if overlong howl of urban lamentation that puts an intriguingly melancholic top-spin on notions of vigilantism.
Posted Dec 13, 2013  Edit critic review
C+
Oldboy (2013) Brent Simon Part knuckle-bruising revenge thriller and part dark mystery, Lee's streamlined genre offering achieves a certain level of idiosyncratic hold without ever planting deeper roots of its own.
Posted Nov 27, 2013  Edit critic review
B
Sarah Silverman: We are Miracles (2013) Brent Simon The inimitable stamp of Silverman's dark, tart personality is again on rich display in her latest stand-up comedy offering.
Posted Nov 25, 2013  Edit critic review
C
Dear Mr. Watterson (2013) Brent Simon A big-hearted but overly fawning documentary that -- despite some great interview material -- feel like a soggy toss-off, and missed opportunity.
Posted Nov 22, 2013  Edit critic review
B-
Seduced and Abandoned (2013) Brent Simon An entirely odd but nonetheless endearing sort of valentine to the madness of movies in general and the dizzying swirl of Cannes much more specifically.
Posted Oct 31, 2013  Edit critic review
C-
Men at Lunch (2012) Brent Simon Men at Lunch loses sight of its lede and fumbles away viewer interest. The photo itself says more than this muddled documentary.
Posted Oct 14, 2013  Edit critic review
C-
Escape From Tomorrow (2013) Brent Simon Part black-and-white student thesis film, part subversive attack on corporate-peddled American fantasy, Moore's film casts a spell -- until it doesn't.
Posted Oct 14, 2013  Edit critic review
C-
Cassadaga (2011) Brent Simon Cassadaga flirts with conventions of both paranormal horror films and more traditional serial killer thrillers, but is marked by listless characters and indistinct dialogue.
Posted Oct 14, 2013  Edit critic review
B
Broadway Idiot (2013) Brent Simon A film about both [creative] challenges and choices... Broadway Idiot does a good job of tapping into the source material's thick veins of feeling.
Posted Oct 14, 2013  Edit critic review
A
Gravity (2013) Brent Simon An immersive masterwork -- a game-changer, both for the sci-fi genre and Hollywood filmmaking as a whole.
Posted Oct 04, 2013  Edit critic review
C
Herb & Dorothy 50x50 (2013) Brent Simon Defined more by its inessential nature than any of the updates it provides.
Posted Oct 03, 2013  Edit critic review
B+
Money for Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve (2012) Brent Simon There's a gut-punch sadness to the movie -- a melancholic dawning. While enlightening as it relates specifically to the Fed, its chief lesson is evident in other walks of life: money talks, and a well-heeled elite class has a private line.
Posted Sep 21, 2013  Edit critic review
D
Hell Baby (2013) Brent Simon A slog through improv run amok -- a film that seems allergic toward anything that might be construed as a legitimate throughline, lest that somehow be interpreted as 'selling out,' and not subversive enough.
Posted Sep 17, 2013  Edit critic review
B+
Stephen Hawking Biography (2013) Brent Simon Smartly crafted. An engaging, inspirational portrait of as unlikely an iconic figure as the last half-century has produced.
Posted Sep 16, 2013  Edit critic review
D+
Mara (2012) Brent Simon The story here is yawningly thin and the acting immature and not fully formed at best, which immediately and effectively undercuts any attempted stabs at chilly, orchestrated atmosphere.
Posted Sep 15, 2013  Edit critic review
F
Everyone Must Die! (2012) Brent Simon Nothing in the way of performance, execution or imagination to distinguish it from the attempted giallo homage you and your stoner pals put together over the course of three summer weekends in 2007.
Posted Sep 15, 2013  Edit critic review
B
Informant (2012) Brent Simon It suffers from a slow start, but blossoms into a rather fascinating piece of nonfiction psychological portraiture.
Posted Sep 14, 2013  Edit critic review
C-
A Teacher (2013) Brent Simon Despite a deeply invested lead performance, A Teacher gives off strong vapors of phoniness; it's an exercise in lazy minimalism.
Posted Sep 14, 2013  Edit critic review
C
The Lifeguard (2013) Brent Simon With apologies to Thomas Wolfe, you can go home again; The Lifeguard just proves that sometimes it's not the best course of action.
Posted Aug 30, 2013  Edit critic review
C+
The Frozen Ground (2013) Brent Simon A true crime period piece that somewhat interestingly eschews a lot of investigatory grind in favor of moral certitude and throwback, cat-and-mouse tension.
Posted Aug 23, 2013  Edit critic review
B
Scenic Route (2013) Brent Simon Lined with a certain bruised grace... a spare, streamlined, desert-set psychological thriller that doubles as a study in masculine relationship drift.
Posted Aug 23, 2013  Edit critic review
B-
We the Parents (2012) Brent Simon A fascinating look at the new frontier of America's public education crisis -- a timely, relevant snapshot of a cause in active motion.
Posted Aug 22, 2013  Edit critic review
B-
Jobs (2013) Brent Simon A serviceable little amuse-bouche [which] trades readily on the tremendous native interest that attaches itself to and drives this story, given the significant role Apple products play in so many modern lives.
Posted Aug 22, 2013  Edit critic review
A-
In a World ... (2013) Brent Simon So alive, identifiably clumsy and deliciously complicated -- so of the real world -- as to put a smile on viewers' faces.
Posted Aug 17, 2013  Edit critic review
A+
The Social Network (2010) Brent Simon Fincher keeps the movie's tech-y elements on the periphery, focusing instead on the time-honored dramatic elements of isolation, determination, avarice and betrayal.
Posted Aug 17, 2013  Edit critic review
C+
Clear History (2013) Brent Simon There's enough here to still merit a curious click, but Clear History may not be what hardcore David acolytes most crave.
Posted Aug 15, 2013  Edit critic review
B+
Prince Avalanche (2013) Brent Simon Deeper meaning rises sneakily to the surface in the offbeat, austere Prince Avalanche, writer-director David Gordon Green's re-imagined, loose adaptation of a 2011 Icelandic film.
Posted Aug 13, 2013  Edit critic review
C
Off Label (2012) Brent Simon Acute moments of heartbreak punctuate Off Label, a collage-type snapshot of runaway pharma-culture which otherwise struggles to find a topic sentence or cultivate a cogent point-of-view.
Posted Aug 09, 2013  Edit critic review
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