Stephen Simon

Producer of acclaimed films including Academy Award® Winning "What Dreams May Come" starring Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding Jr., the classic "Somewhere In Time" starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, and "All the Right Moves" starring Tom Cruise, Stephen Simon was born into a successful Hollywood family. He grew up during the big studio heyday of the late forties and fifties. His father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a sought-after producer/director who made films with the likes of Abbott and Costello and Red Skelton. Stephen earned a law degree but found himself drawn to the movie business. And he wanted to make meaningful, inspirational films. In 2003 he directed the indie phenomenon "Indigo" starring Neale Donald Walsch. Soon after he co-founded The Spiritual Cinema Circle. And in 2005 he fulfilled an important part of his dream when he directed and produced "Conversations with God" starring Neale Donald Walsch.

You know the kind of person who always seems angry at or disgusted by the world? He’s the kind of guy who seems to wear a big sign around his neck that says, “Don’t bother me for any reason at any time.” Ever wonder why he is the way he is?

“Mamma Mia!”  — what a movie! Exhilarating, dazzling, breathtakingly beautiful for your eyes, rockingly wonderful for your ears, and energetically enchanting for your heart, “Mamma Mia” is pure, unadulterated fun.

Based on the smash Broadway hit, “Mamma Mia” revives the old-fashioned movie musical with such a flourish that I kept thinking—where have you BEEN, musicals? Welcome back!

“Wall-E”, the latest film from the inestimably brilliant Pixar Studios, is a completely original work of staggering, visionary genius. The film also possesses so many brilliant nuances and human insights, and has such a pure and gentle heart, that it truly has no filmic antecedent.

Many years ago (1976), my first job in the film industry was as the assistant to a legendary film producer named Ray Stark. Ray produced such classics as “Funny Girl,” “The Way We Were,” and “The Goodbye Girl.” Even though I went out on my own in 1980 to produce “Somewhere in Time,” Ray and I stayed in touch and, from time to time, he would invite me to his home to watch films with him in his projection room. One night, in 1984, he invited me over to see a new film called “Splash.” Ray was particularly interested in “Splash” because, for years, he had been developing a remake to a dramatic film from the 1940’s entitled “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid,” in which a man found a mermaid, put her in a pond near him, and fell in love with her. When we had finished watching “Splash,” Ray turned to me and said. “Well, that’s the end of developing “Peabody.” There are some issues that audiences just respond better to when they’re presented in comedies than when drama is involved. An audience will give you a lot more leeway in a comedy with their willingness to suspend disbelief than they will in a drama.”

One of our subscribers at The Spiritual Cinema Circle recently left an entry on our message boards that included “I just wish Hollywood would wake up.”

That would require much more of a resurrection than an alarm clock. Waking the dead is still quite a challenge for us mere mortals.

As many of you know, I have blogged recently about the pathetic state of mainstream movies and film critics, most particularly the ugly, violent films that were praised by critics and also nominated for the 2007 Academy Awards.

Well, the Oscars were broadcast on February 24 and, lo and behold, the show received the lowest rating in the history of the Academy Awards!

After my two recent blog posts about the darkness and cynicism in films over the last several years, particularly 2007, I’ve been asked to recommend some movies that would dissipate the bad taste from last year. As I started to look for some of those films, I was intrigued to discover how many amazing films were released in one particular calendar year: 1998.

Never have I written a blog or column that generated as much response as the last one I wrote about the dark, violent preferences of both critics and Hollywood. Now it’s plain that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has the party line: The Academy Award nominations were announced on January 22 and, sure enough, the parade of darkness continues.

Before I list my own five favorite films of 2007, I’d like to point out that think it would be wonderful, and more honest, if the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (commonly referred to as The Academy as in “I’d like to thank The Academy”), of which I am a member, changed the characterization of awards from “best” to “favorite”. After all, both the film’s and the individual’s overall popularity always factor into Academy voting anyway, whether members want to admit it or not. Using “best” in regards to the art form of film is not only unfair to all concerned but also simply impossible to gauge. I have no idea what “best” means in films. My own list of favorite films of 2007 consists of films that personally moved me, inspired me, and made me feel better about being human. Since we posted these choices on the message boards for subscribers to the Spiritual Cinema Circle, our community has been sharing some passionate opinions and disagreements of their own. That’s the fun of it. Let the discussions continue!!

I have a message for both the mainstream film industry and its film critics: You have both lost all connection with film audiences.

Hollywood has seemingly decided that “quality” now equates with dark, violent and depressing; consequently, 2007 was one of the bleakest years ever for film distribution. To make matters worse, and to illustrate anew the fable of the emperor’s new clothes, film critics have fallen into lockstep with film distributors.