Creator / Brad Jones

"Jesus, bro!"

Brad Jones (born December 20, 1981) is a long-running internet comedian and film critic from Springfield, Illinois.

He's better known as The Cinema Snob, a character originally based around slasher and exploitation films that Jones felt were unfairly panned by moralizers such as Roger Ebert (hence the wide-rimmed glasses "Snob" wears). Cinema Snob episodes are less frequent these days, but his focus widened to more mainstream films. The line between Jones and the Snob is increasingly blurred, with Jones posting his own standalone reviews with a comedic bent: the most notable of them are his Christian film series and recaps of failed TV shows (Binge Watch). Even these categories are malleble, since Jones has reviewed some acclaimed series, as well, such as Fuller House.

Jones is a part-time screenwriter, film director, and indie film actor. He participated in Ninja the Mission Force, a series by Dark Maze Studios which parodies the ninja films of Godfrey Ho and other 80s "ninjasploitation" films. He also appeared on Radiodrome, pop culture opinion podcast hosted by Josh Hadley, until Brad left in 2013.

He is a featured contributor on Channel Awesome, and remains the only contributor left outside of Doug's crew after the mass exodus of contributors in early 2018 and Guru Larry's departure in February 2024.

Brad's current regular shows include:

• The Cinema Snob (2007-present) – His most prominent show, in which he plays a snooty film critic reviewing exploitation films.
  • Problematic! with The Cinema Snob (2019-present) – A spinoff vlog series in which the character expresses (satirical) outrage over a film-related issue of the day or parodies other kinds of video reviews.
  • The Trailer Snob (2019-present) – A spinoff vlog series in which the character talks about recent trailers, sometimes pitting the film in question against an exploitation film of decades past.
• Brad Tries... (2010-present) – An impromptu series where Brad (as himself) samples various novelty foods, particularly long-since-discontinued soft drinks, often with his wife and friends.
• Midnight Screenings (2011-2019, 2019-present) – In which Brad and his friends^note Occasionally dubbed "Team Snob". They also appear in many videos which Brad hosts as himself, like Brad Tries go to see the midnight screenings of various new movies and review them immediately after seeing them. Was briefly ended in 2019 and retooled as Friday Night Movies, only to be revived several months later due to Brad and Laura's move to Chicago. Currently intermittent due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, though Brad continues to review current films and TV at home.
  • Brad Ruins Rob's Day (2020-present) – A spinoff of Midnight Screenings produced for the Channel Awesome channel, Brad tells Rob Walker (of The Nostalgia Critic) about various (generally terrible) direct-to-video films.
• Binge Watch (2016-present) - Brad binge watches various shows, spinning off from a v-log Brad did after bingewatching the first season of Fuller House.
• TV Heaven (2011-present) – Where Brad (as himself) reviews obscure TV shows, educational films and specials that haven't been officially released on home video in years. Previously known as DVD-R Hell.
• The Lloyd Show (2020-present): Brad's cat Lloyd (voiced by Brad) "reviews" various cat toys. Not to be confused with the Lloyd animated series.

Brad also has a plethora of discontinued or off-and-on series, including:

• 80's Dan (2011-2012) – A sitcom parody where Brad, as the title character, reviews obscure shows and products from The '80s with his roommate and neighbors, the Crabtrees, and a ROB robot who has a crush on Mrs. Crabtree.
• The Big Box (2009-2010) – In which Brad plays Vic Dealio, a sleazy infomercial host hawking eighties movies from the era when VHS tapes came in big plastic clamshell cases, co-hosted by the Big Box Model (played by his now ex-wife Jillian Zurawski).
• Brad and Jerrid (2009-2011) – Fictionalized versions of Brad and friend Jerrid do random things. Turned into Brad and Irving when Brian Irving replaced Jerrid Foiles after he and Brad had a (temporary) falling out.
• Brad Jones' Demo Reel (2014) – A remake of the short-lived Demo Reel. A one-time April Fools joke.
• The Bruno Mattei Show (2009-2011) – A series of roundtable discussions on one of Italy's more infamous exploitation directors.
• Flaming Brian's Kitchen (2011-2015) – A spinoff of Brad Tries in which Brad, Brian Lewis, and various others try different types of Blazing Inferno Hellfire Sauce.
  • Drunk Brian Tries (2010-2012) – A spinoff of a spinoff in which Brian Lewis gets drunk off his ass as the the rest of Team Snob push bizarre alcoholic beverages on him.
• Friday Night Movies (2019) – A retooling of Midnight Screenings, the show featured Brad, his wife Laura and his friends reviewing the latest releases off-the-cuff and answering fan questions. Was discontinued after Brad and Laura moved to Chicago and resumed the original format.
  • Trailer Reviews (2019) – Brad gives his thoughts on the latest trailers, either by himself or with friends.
• GAME BOYS: The Animated Series (2013) – An animated continuation of his 2008 film of the same name.
• Kung Tai Ted (2009-2011) – Where he dissects classic martial-arts B-movie fight scenes as the titular martial artist wannabe.
• Lloyd (Season 1 aired 2015-2017) – An animated noir series based on Brad's cat Lloyd. Produced as part of a Patreon milestone, it covers the life of Lloyd, a hard-boiled detective and features guest-voices from other video producers and members of "Team Snob."
• Me and Mrs. Jones (2018) – Brad and his wife Laura Luke-Jones play old 90's games together and comedically riff on them.
• Once Upon a Time When I... (off and on since 2016) – Brad tells random stories about his life, with topics ranging from his suicide attempt to being in a '90s rap video.
• The Reviewers (2013-2014) – A comedy about two friends trying to make it in the world of internet reviewing.
• Snob Riffs (off and on since 2009) – Brad riffs short films MST-style, mostly as himself.
• Snobcast (formerly The Random Button) (off and on since 2013) – A podcast where Brad and (usually) one of the persons from his team (who also participate in the Midnight Screenings) review a random movie found on Netflix or other formats.
  • From Dusk Till Dawn-Cast (2014) – A podcast with Mister X from Geek Juice Media covering the El Rey television adaptation of the film episode by episode.
• Softly from Cable (2010-2011) – So far his only show where he himself does not have a starring role, showcasing classic late-night skinemax films from The '90s. Only lasted two episodes.

He has also written and produced (and directed, unless otherwise specified) the following films/miniseries:

• Freak Out - A 2003 thriller starring Brad Jones, Nick Foster, and Sarah Ogg. Loosely inspired by the death of infamous serial killer, Dean Corll, the film is about Corll's (Jones) last night alive as he and his friend Wayne (Foster) throw a party filled with drugs, killing, and disco music.
• Cheap - A 2004 picture starring Brad and David Gobble. Max Force (Gobble) is the sleazy owner of an amateur Porn site, looking to expand his site's popularity and its profits. Jack Stone (Jones) is a disturbed pornographer desperate to leave his mark on the industry with productions that have never been made before, specifically Snuff Films. The two initially seem to have a stable partnership until Max oversteps a major boundary.
• Midnight Heat - A 2007 erotic thriller set in the late 80's. A vicious killer named The Scalper has stalking the streets of Lake City, killing off prostitutes by scalping them. This has particularly affected Martin (Brad Jones), a soft hearted pimp who simply has no business being in that line of work. The killings have also attracted the likes of detective Rick Wilson (Jake Norvell), a coked up cop who's itching to get out of suspension and sees the Scalper as a means to get his job back.
• Game Boys - A 2008 romantic comedy, about a depressed alcoholic (Brad Jones) who attempts to hold a contest surrounding the infamous Custer's Revenge porno game in an attempt to get his mind off the recent breakup between him and his ex-girlfriend.
• The Hooker with a Heart of Gold – A 2010-2011 mini series that takes the trope of the same name literally as it follows a well meaning prostitute who is brought back to life by a lonely doctor with a revolutionary robotic heart.
• Paranoia – From an old script Brad wrote and directed by Ryan Mitchelle. When a strange man enters and subsequently dies in Mark Bishop's home, Mark is instantly thrown into a huge mystery surrounding a killer that's been preying the streets. Released in two different cuts in 2011, with Ryan Mitchelle's original version available on DVD while Brad's "Writer's Cut" was posted to the Cinema Snob website.
• The Cinema Snob Movie, an origin story co-starring Glaser and Noah Antwiler (along with most of Team Snob) was released on September 27, 2012. Craig Golightly is an aspiring exploitation filmmaker who, along with his friend Neil, is trying to make a blaxploitation homage called Black Angus. When Dan Phillips, leader of the local film board and pretentious movie snob, proves to be a frustrating obstacle in getting his film made, Craig hatches a scheme. Infiltrate Dan's film club disguised as a fellow cinema snob, and try to coax film permits out of Phillips. Things seem to be going according to plan until suddenly, members of the club begin getting killed off, one by one. Directed by Ryan Mitchelle.
• Shot On Shitteo, an unreleased anthology horror-comedy that is being shot on actual VHS tapes in order to mimic the grainy, lo-fi and amateurish look of similar films from the '80s. Due to the firing of lead actor Jake Norvell, the film was believed unreleasable. After securing funding for Jesus, Bro!, Brad decided to complete Shitteo during that film's pre-production, and has completed shooting with new material from a retooled script. Brad has constantly flip-flopped on whether he'd release the film. While initially wanting to keep it from the public so the film could be his own "The Day The Clown Cried", Brad has later considered releasing the picture in parts across several months.
• Jesus, Bro!, Brad's parody of amateurish, No Budget, Unfortunate Implications–filled Christian movies like God's Not Dead and War Room shot in November 2016 after a successful Indiegogo campaign. It was released on Good Friday 2017. A popular internet atheist called "The Rickhead" (David Gobble) gets heavily drunk one night, to the point of blacking out. While in the coma, the Rickhead is visited by Santa Christ, who commands him to go forth and spread the word of the gospel. Upon waking up, the Rickhead makes a full conversion...going from a douchebag Atheist to a douchebag Christian. Directed by Ryan Mitchelle.
• DISCO, a feature-length production written and directed by Jones, set in the late 70's and is about three estranged sisters having one hell of a night at a discotheque. The film is a Patreon Exclusive and was released on December 14, 2017, timed to Saturday Night Fever's fortieth anniversary. An extended "final" cut was released on April 23rd, 2018.
• Another Cinema Snob Movie, Stoned Gremlin Productions' next big project and their second movie to have a crowdfunding campaign. Set years after the first movie, Craig Golightly has just released his first movie in theaters...a movie that's laughed out of town. Seeking to get his credibility back, Craig, along with a few other similarly disgraced youtubers, set out on a road trip to contact Craig's father, a former TV executive. Was released on July 26th, 2019.
• Brad has announced that his next directorial project will be a dramedy Spin-Off of Midnight Heat, focusing on Bianca Queen's character. His next collaboration with Ryan Mitchelle as director is expected to be a parody of Hallmark Christmas movies starring Tamara Chambers.

In 2023, Jones also published his first novel, Class of '86, independently through Amazon.

In addition, Brad is also a recurring guest on other Channel Awesome series, including The Nostalgia Critic and Tamara's Never Seen.

The following tropes apply to Brad's works:

• Actor Leaves, Character Dies: In the first installment of Brad and Irving (which hangs a lampshade on both McLeaned and The Other Darrin), Brad directly invokes this trope by claiming that he last saw Jerrid boarding a plane with Henry Blake. Anyone who gets the reference (or read comments on the video written by people who did) will get the implications.
• Alter-Ego Acting: Brad's real persona is nothing like the characters he plays.
• Attack of the Killer Whatever: One of the Shot on Shitteo segments features a killer wheelchair.
• Author Appeal
  • Guaranteed to like a film so long as it contains either disco or eighties synth.
    Brad: Proving that in the '80s, even the bad songs have a hook!
  • If there's a chance to make a reference to Manimal (his favorite show), Tequila and Bonetti (his OTHER favorite show), Pod People (his favorite episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000) or Caligula (his favorite film), it'll be taken.
• Berserk Button:
  • Homophobia. While reviewing Rock: It's Your Decision in DVD-R Hell, he riffed on the protagonist's final speech until he made a homophobic reference – Brad dropped his joking demeanour and pretty much ended the review on the spot.
  • Christian propaganda which argue that the hand of Satan is in all things secular such as toys or Halloween, especially if the people presenting it are either demonstrably wrong or hypocritical
  • Depictions of animal cruelty or bestiality. He called Lars Von Trier a piece of shit for the dead animal shots in Antichrist and Manderlay, and only implied the rabbit slaughter in Nekromantik (and got really pissed off about it) and wouldn't even mention what happens later to the cat. He also complained about exploitation movies using bestiality as a go-to kink in the reviews for Los Ritos Sexuales del Diablo and Island of Death (which made him Go Mad from the Revelation). One reason Cannibal Holocaust made him so uncomfortable was that animals were actually killed for the movie. He also raises the issue in his review of Cannibal Ferox.
    • During the review of Elves, when the heroine's stepmother kills a cat, Brad breaks character and threatens to kill her. Remember, Brad's cats are pretty much costars on this show.
    • He said during John Wick, he wanted the antagonists dead as badly as the protagonist did for invoked killing John's dog.
  • Terrence Malick
    • Further enforced with his dislike of Robert Altman, specifically for his "you're smarter than me crap".
    • He also isn't too fond of Gus Van Sant, citing Gerry as one of his least-favorite films.
  • CGI over practical effects.
  • Mishandled rape scenes. He's utterly appalled by the comedy-dubbed rape sequence in Dracula the Dirty Old Man, and snaps at the rape scene in Angel Above - The Devil Below, pointing out it's the longest sex scene in the film (up to that point a porno played for humor) and thus the scene the filmmakers likely wanted to focus on.
  • Brad really hates Mood Whiplash moments.
  • When films he feels are genuinely good are snubbed by the industry or treated as niche cult fodder, especially if it's because of an inferior movie that real critics and film snobs insisted was better.
  • "Film Twitter" and online film culture in general, which he frequently accuses of groupthink and decries their efforts to "cancel" certain films (especially when the films in question are merely okay, the backlash is misguided or overzealous, or the film hasn't been released yet). This reached a peak in 2019 when he reacted to Green Book's Academy Award victory with a deluge of mocking comments aimed at the backlash.
  • The word "problematic".
• Bile Fascination: invoked He eulogized Ebert, whose scathing reviews compelled Brad to seek out Zero Star films — including Caligula, which ironically became his favorite film of all time.
• Broke the Rating Scale:
  • A Serbian Film was enough to push past even Brad's limits. He even points out that his favorite movie is Caligula and he didn't regret watching ET: The Porno, Porno Holocaust, or Las Vegas Bloodbath, if only for the ability to complain about them. He couldn't do that with A Serbian Film.
    Brad: Thinking about all unpleasant movies that I've sat through... Um. I... I think this might be the first one that I... I regret watching. I really regret watching this movie.
    • To further drive home how little he thought of the film, he not only had it as his #1 entry in his "10 Worst Films of 2010", he also says that he would rather watch #10-#2 in order again than watch A Serbian Film again—the list includes The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, The Last Airbender, Resident Evil: Afterlife, Titanic II, and Saw 3D.
  • After many years of stressing that he would never voluntarily walk out of a film (though he has admitted the temptation before with the likes of Tyler Perry's The Single Mom's Club), he and Dave finally did so with Dinesh D'Souza's Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party, leaving halfway through in a fit of anger and characterizing the film as a Documentary of Lies which did nothing but repeatedly call him a racist. He eventually regretted the decision, reviewing the movie as a whole for The Cinema Snob and sitting through the entirety of D'Souza's follow-up Death of a Nation.^* He didn't like that one either.
• The Cameo: LordKat appears in The Big Box review of Don't Open the Door as Vic Dealio's Uncle Lino.
  • Ed Glaser made a guest appearance on The Bruno Mattei Show.
• Cluster F-Bomb: While The Cinema Snob (or any of Brad's scripted material) is more prone to Precision F Strikes, anything involving Brad simply going off the cuff (such as a Vlog) is all but guaranteed to result in at least one instance of these.
• Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch: Brought this up while talking about A Serbian Film, when talking about how he never regretted watching Las Vegas Bloodbath, which he states is the worst movie he's ever seen. He reasons that if he hadn't watched it, then he wouldn't be able to call it the worst movie ever made.
  Brad: [Otherwise] I'd be picking on a movie I've never seen, and that would just be mean!
• Deadpan Snarker: And he's got the perfect voice for it.
• Department of Redundancy Department: From Ninja: The Mission Force:
  "An evil ninja challenges a righteous ninja. Only a ninja can defeat a ninja. Ninja ninja ninja ninja ninja."
• Determinator: Brad himself. He willingly sits down to watch movies like Gross Out, Necromantik, and E.T. the Porno. And then there's his Brad Tries... segments...
• Disco Dan: Brad himself seems to resemble this trope a lot, the eighties was his decade. He's even been in Genre Throwbacks to sleazy eighties movies.
  • 80's Dan, a completely made-up character, appeared briefly as a "cameo" in The Cinema Snob Caligula review. Now he has his own show.
• Everyone Has Standards: In his Top 10 Worst Films of 2010 video, he comments that it feels like he's just picking on The Twilight Saga when he mentions Twilight: Eclipse.
• Fanboy: For Pierre Kirby, Manimal, old Looney Tunes shorts, and all things James Bond.
  • Pierre Kirby squirts out a tear in Dressed to Fire. Being that it's Pierre Kirby though, this leads immediately into a Lock-and-Load Montage.
    Snob: Badassssssss.
  • And for A Clockwork Orange, to the point where he gets mad at A Clockwork Orgy for taking a line from the film out of context.
• Hitler Ate Sugar: From an anime Q&A panel: "Snooki is an accomplished writer." "So was Hitler."
• Insult Backfire: Brad loved Tron: Legacy, so when Spoony in his "Top 11 worst movies of 2010" list said that anyone who liked Tron: Legacy was "easily amused and has no standards", Brad had to respond in his top eleven favorite list.
  Brad: I know, I know, I'm easily amused and have no standards. It's true. *Smiles coyly*
  Snob: *Puts paper down* Pfht, whatever, I hated this fuckin' movie! *Puts paper back up* No fucking sense...
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: He loves his cats. Even if he's ranting, he pauses to pet them and speaks to them in a very gentle tone of voice. They provide cute comic relief and Funny Background Event moments throughout the series.
  • There was one moment where O.O.C. Is Serious Business kicked in when during his review of Elves, the main character's stepmother kills her cat, resulting in Brad dropping character and outright snarling "I'd kill her! I'd fucking kill her!"
• Old Shame: invoked
  • Brad hates some of the older films he did within the Stoned Gremlin Films brand. Cancelled Sitcoms and Straight to Video are two he really hates in particular. Cancelled Sitcoms was done for a college class he took and was done in an artsy style, while Straight To Video was a much more comedic film. Thankfully for Brad both are probably lost forever (His only copy of Cancelled was part of his old DVD collection that got stolen) though he said Hooker With A Heart Of Gold was based on elements of the latter film.
  • According to a conversation he had with Lord Kat, he didn't even watch Pop Quiz Hotshot (Channel Awesome's new game show that Brad hosts) and was annoyed to find out that they left flubs in due to lazy editing.
    • Additionally, on the Channel Awesome panel at Midwest Media Expo 2015, when asked what he thought of Pop Quiz Hotshot, he responded: "Well, everybody needs a Battlefield Earth on their resume."
• One-Steve Limit: Brad has two friends named Brian in "Team Snob", Brian Lewis and Brian Irving, so the latter is just called Irving to avoid confusion.
• Pizza Boy Special Delivery: Parodied in the Softly From Cable episode covering Animal Instinct. The female protagonist gets a visit from a cable guy who makes some Accidental Innuendo, to which Jillian's character responds, "I know where this is going... he's going to order her a pizza."
• Reference Overdosed: Brad enjoys making obscure pop culture references to older exploitation films, B-movies, failed TV pilots and other stuff that invites you to consult an encyclopaedia or surf the Internet for more background information.
• Sexy Santa Dress: His wife wore one for a Christmas edition of The Big Box.
• Take That!: Brad is a man of very strong likes and dislikes. Get comfortable, this could take a while.
  • Favored targets: Twitter / X, Eli Roth, Chuck Lorre, Seth MacFarlane, Roger Ebert, Suzanne Nagy, Dinesh D'Souza, Uwe Boll, Stephenie Meyer, Ehren Kruger, Skip Woods, The Boondock Saints, reality television, christian propaganda, some Michael Bay (when he feels that someone "put a leash" on him; he likes Bay when he goes all out), most Will Ferrell movies (barring stuff like Anchorman and The LEGO Movie) most horror remakes (except A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)), the Razzies, Tim & Eric, misleading trailers, modern music and screening movies in 3D when the 3D is poor.
  • He elaborated somewhat by saying that while he does like some rap music, it's similar to country music in that it's not really his thing.
  • He used to strongly dislike The Big Bang Theory and the character of Sheldon Cooper, making frequent jabs at it and Young Sheldon on Midnight Screenings, but ultimately softened on the series after watching the entire thing for Binge Watch, and wound up finding Sheldon a more sympathetic and well-acted character than he initially believed (the same could not be said for his feelings on Raj, however).
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • Brad LOVES Crystal Pepsi. So much that he's started a letter campaign to have it revived. In the Leprechaun crossover review, he also claims drinking Crystal Pepsi is how his voice got the way it is. he did not hesitate to taste test a 20 years old bottle of it as well as a knock-off with the truly unfortunate name Not-See Kola on the witness accounts that it's an exact taste match (which he initially confirmed, but reneged after comparing it to the brand-new Crystal Pepsi, though he still thinks it's a good drink). He was greatly excited when Crystal Pepsi made its return in a 2015 contest. When Crystal Pepsi was finally re-released, Brad was among the first to receive a free six-pack due to his vocal efforts to bring back the drink. There's a photo of Brad grinning with delight while cradling a six-pack of Crystal Pepsi to his bosom as if it were his own child.
  • The man loves his McDonald's, especially the McRib.
• Vocal Dissonance: Brad is a short man (watch his crossover videos with much taller Linkara, Kyle Kallgren, Phelous, or Diamanda Hagan ^note "I'm not short! You're just Richard Kiel!") with a deep voice.
• What Could Have Been:
  • According to the commentary of "Brad and Jerrid do The Room", Brad's review of The Room (2003) was going to be a Kung Tai Ted, but then Tommy Wiseau's lawyers came into the picture and started taking down various online reviews of that film.
  • Suzanne Nagy, producer of Grizzly II, allegedly contacted Brad about potentially writing a The Disaster Artist-style adaptation of the film’s many-decades-long Troubled Production. Brad took interest, but, for unknown reasons, Nagy stopped contacting him about the idea after a few conversations.
• Working with the Ex: He continued to work with his ex-wife Jillian Zurawski for a time after they separated. However, she was later phased out as she lost interest in making videos, and Brad later remarried.

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(Growl) Manimal!

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