The Small Screen Diaries: 06/19/26
TV Shows Watched: The Night Agent: S3E10 (Netflix) with audio description, Criminal Record: S2E6 (Apple) with audio description,Ghosts: S5E8 (Paramount) with audio description, Off Campus: S1E4 (Amazon) with audio description, Malcolm In The Middle: Life’s Still Unfair: S1E4 (Disney Plus) with audio description, RJ Decker: S1E9 (Disney Plus) with audio description, Abbott Elementary: S5E19 (Disney Plus) with audio description The Night Agent- A full tilt finale, which took me a while to get to, but it is done. Peter gets one more season, and perhaps a partner. Since they are bringing Rose back, it could be her, or Chelsea, or … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 06/19/26
Whistle
I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Whistle beyond the fact that it was a horror movie, but that’s a pretty wide spectrum these days. Horror can be genuinely inventive and elevated, or it can be pure schlock. Whistle lands somewhere in the middle. It takes ideas we’ve seen before, makes a few adjustments, and ends up feeling fresh enough to stand out from the crowd of teen horror movies where characters get picked off one by one. The twist here is that the killer isn’t a masked slasher with a knife. It’s an antique wooden whistle. Blow it, … Continue reading Whistle
The Small Screen Diaries:06/18/26
Today is Juneteenth.Yesterday, was my best friends birthday, which is relevant only to those who keep wondering how I chose or got Mac The Movieguy. Because I’m old, I grew up in the internet rollout period, and I had been friends with him since before kindergarten because our Moms were friends. So, I saw him even after moving away. We slowly became two very different people, so on one trip back, from my small town in rural Missouri, to Fort Myers, FL, he had a computer set up in his bedroom, complete with internet.I had just gotten a computer, but … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries:06/18/26
Going In Blind: Maddie’s Secret
You can tell a lot from a feature directorial debut. We’ve already seen that this year with filmmakers coming from outside traditional Hollywood paths, but for an established comedian like John Early, there’s already a certain expectation about the kind of film he might make. As one of the more prominent queer comedians working today, and someone whose work often comments on identity and performance, his first feature could have gone in almost any direction. Instead, he gave us Maddie’s Secret. Maddie’s Secret feels like an amalgamation of the things that have inspired Early throughout his life. In fact, it … Continue reading Going In Blind: Maddie’s Secret
The Small Screen Diaries: 06/17/26
I’m angry. Netflix cancelled The Boroughs, which feels like a personal attack. They killed it prior to awards season, I guess assuming that the show would be incapable of landing on anyone’s radar with this talented cast. The show apparently already had a season 2 writers room, and negotiations had already begun for a second season with the cast.Boo. One more terrific one-and-done from the streamer behind My Life With The Walter Boys, Ginny And Georgia, Virgin River, Sweet magnolias, and I’m starting to see the pattern. Netflix: We’re Like Hallmark, But Better Funded TV Shows Watched: Detective Hole: S1E4 … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 06/17/26
Hoppers
At least as of this review, I’ve seen every single Pixar film, which is an achievement in and of itself. Seeing the complete works of any studio is impressive, even if it’s “just” an animation studio like Pixar. And I don’t think anyone is making the argument that Hoppers belongs at the very top of Pixar’s catalog. I also hope nobody is making the argument that it belongs at the very bottom. Realistically, it’s somewhere in the middle, probably almost smack dab in the center. Pixar has struggled in recent years to create the kind of transcendent works that defined … Continue reading Hoppers
The Small Screen Diaries: 06/16/26
TV Shows Watched: Witch Hat Atelier: S1E12 (CrunchyRoll) with audio description, XO Kitty: S3E4 (Netflix) with audio description, Spider-Noir: S1E5 (Amazon) with audio description, Monarch: S1E8 (Apple) with audio description, Crutch: S1E7 (Paramount) with audio description, and The Daily Show: Monday (Paramount) no audio description Witch Hat Atelier- Morena Babu (whose name I assume I’m not getting correct) is an excellent AD writer. This series has terrific writing, which really captures the magic and fantasy of the show, while always trying to bring some flair of the artistic choices. Here, we got a flashback to Richi’s past and why she … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 06/16/26
Imperfect Women: Series Review
I wasn’t really sure what to make of Imperfect Women at first. I knew it was adapted from a novel, but then again, that doesn’t mean much nowadays. It seems like every novel is getting adapted because a screenwriter can always change the aspects they don’t like. For example, the original novel takes place in England. This series takes place in California. So the change of location is already central to what was considered necessary to make the series work. Then again, if it had stayed in England, we probably wouldn’t have Kerry Washington, Elisabeth Moss, and Corey Stoll, all … Continue reading Imperfect Women: Series Review
The Small Screen Diaries: 06/15/26
I get why this was a slightly easier decision for Netflix, but they just renewed The Four Seasons for a third season. However, Boroughs has been in the Top 10 since its debut, has racked up 117 million viewing hours, and over 18 million completed viewings (people who watched the whole series). The Four Seasons, on the other hand, while also landing in the top 10, is down from last season, with only 18 million viewing hours so far, and only 4.4 million completed views. Granted, it is a shorter series, so if we assumed the Four Seasons would have … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 06/15/26
Spiral: From The Book Of Saw
After a long stretch, there is finally a film in the Saw franchise that climbs back into fresh territory for me, and surprisingly, that film is Spiral. It’s admittedly an odd choice, considering Jigsaw isn’t even in the movie. It’s more of a side story, a departure from the main saga, and I completely understand why some fans don’t connect with it because of that. The movie itself is borderline at times. It’s somewhat predictable, retreads a few familiar ideas, and doesn’t completely escape the shadow of what came before. It might even be a little reductive to point at … Continue reading Spiral: From The Book Of Saw
Finnegan’s Foursome
Edward Burns has spent much of his career exploring family dynamics, Irish heritage, and the baggage people carry from one generation to the next. Finnegan’s Foursome certainly checks all of those boxes. What I didn’t realize until watching it is just how much Burns seems to love golf. And I mean really love golf. Finnegan’s Foursome contains so much golf that it ranks alongside actual golf movies like The Greatest Game Ever Played or Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius. The difference is that those films are about golfers. This one isn’t. The story follows the sons and grandkids of a … Continue reading Finnegan’s Foursome
The Small Screen Diaries: 06/14/26
And now the Stanley Cup! Yesterday I congratulated Knicks fans on an overdue championship, and now Carolina Hurricanes, who won their first NHL title in 20 years, and this is only their second Stanley Cup. So, lots of underdogs. Let’s hold that momentum through November. TV Shows Watched: From: S4E8 (MGM Plus) with audio description, Big Mistakes: S1E5 (Netflix) with audio description,Malcolm In The Middle: Life’s Still Unfair: S1E3 (Disney Plus) with audio description, The Miniature Wife: S1E4 (Peacock) with audio description, SNL: Coleman DOmingo (Peacock) with audio description, The Lincoln Lawyer: S4E8 (Netflix) with audio description, and Pop Culture … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 06/14/26
Chum
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to movies about going back into the water, Australia unleashes Chum upon the world. It’s a low-budget, schlocky attempt at a shark horror movie, notably being released by IFC without the cooperation of Shudder, the branch of the company that specifically handles this sort of thing. They didn’t even want it. Shudder probably heard this thing was coming down the pipeline and dodged it, which says a lot considering some of the highly questionable content they’ve already released. Even then, most of their catalog is better than this. Reasonably, most … Continue reading Chum
The Small Screen Diaries: 06/13/26
Congrats to the Knicks. Man, longtime Knicks fans must be going nuts. They haven’t won a championship in my lifetime. TV Shows Watched: Legends: S1E3 (Netflix) with audio description, Imperfect WOmen: S1E8 (Apple) with audio description, Scarpetta: S1E3 (Amazon) with audio description, Half Man: S1E5 (HBO MAX) with audio description, The Fall And RIse Of Reggie Dinkins: S1E6 (Peacock) with audio description, Pop Culture Jeopardy: S2E4 (Netflix) with audio description, Dutton Ranch: S1E4 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, and Hacks: S5E4 (HBO MAX) with audio description Legends- My opinion went up a bit as they got a bit more tension … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 06/13/26
No Other Choice
Some films arrive at exactly the right moment, and No Other Choice benefits enormously from the period in which it was released. People are struggling to find meaningful employment. They’re struggling to keep up with rising costs. They’re struggling to maintain the basic financial stability that previous generations often took for granted. I recently read a BuzzFeed article collecting comments from shoppers, and one person joked that they knew someone was rich if they could afford to buy cherries at the grocery store. It’s a small observation, but it captures something real about the current moment. Everywhere you look, people … Continue reading No Other Choice