Is God Is
Somehow Is God Is slipped completely by me. I remember seeing it listed when it was opening in theaters, and it was a film starring Sterling K. Brown and Vivica A. Fox, and I immediately thought, why is this being released theatrically? I also thought it was probably a Christian movie, and it is anything but. It’s amazing what happens when you actually know what something is about, but I skip nearly every trailer for a film, so I work largely off of what studios send me and what other critics are talking about. It wasn’t until after Is God … Continue reading Is God Is
Off Campus: Season 1
The expectations were pretty high going into Off Campus, as Amazon had already picked up the show for a second season, feeling ultra-confident that it had a new hit on its hands. It comes from Elle Kennedy’s popular book series, which allows the show to have almost a Bridgerton-like structure, meaning the focus can shift to a new couple each season. But I grew up on these types of shows, coming-of-age teen dramas. I was blessed to be there for the arrival of The WB, starting off with shows like Dawson’s Creek, moving into things like One Tree Hill and … Continue reading Off Campus: Season 1
Going In Blind: The Snare
I was not part of the After School Special generation. I did not come home after school to watch a weepy teen drama about life lessons, but if that were still a thing, I imagine The Snare could have found a place among the pantheon of what I’m sure are legendary classics. It’s very much a cautionary tale, both for teenagers in terms of being a coming-of-age story and for parents who apparently need to get all up in their kids’ business 24/7, because the world from The Snare’s perspective is very much waiting to find your children and eat … Continue reading Going In Blind: The Snare
The Small Screen Diaries: 08/15/26
Coming up this week, a bit of a slow week, Lanterns (HBO) premieres tonight, Outer Banks (Netflix) returns for a final season on Thursday, with Conan O’Brien Must Go (HBO) dropping on Friday. Disney is celebrating itself all week long with various content on Disney Plus, and features like Passenger (Paramount) and Mother Mary (HBO MAX) hit their streamers. I also believe THe Christophers (Hulu) is dropping this week. TV Shows Watched: Avatar: The LAst Airbender S2E1-5 (Netflix) with audio description, Pop Culture Jeopardy: S2E16 (Netflix) with audio description, Marshals: S1E12 (Paramount Plus), Little House On The Prairie: S1E7 (Netflix) … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/15/26
The Bear: Season 5
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That’s the phrase, anyway. But here, it’s also the question, because I already reviewed the fifth and final season of The Bear once, and I still didn’t feel like I adequately explained why it didn’t work for me. Then I looked at that 97% Rotten Tomatoes score and realized just how far into the minority I’m going to be when I put up a Rotten review for this show. So I wanted to come back and really pin down why. The best explanation I can give is surprisingly simple: Season 5 … Continue reading The Bear: Season 5
Monstrous Me
Obviously, if you’re here, you know I’m a blind film critic. Or maybe you don’t. Maybe you found this review, clicked on it thinking it was just another review of Monstrous Me, and just learned that a blind film critic exists. I’m also an advocate for audio description. So pretty much whenever somebody comes to me and says, “Hey, will you review my movie? It has audio description,” I go, “Sure.” I want to support films that bothered to snag an audio description track for people like me, since major studios are still releasing titles without them. It’s funny that … Continue reading Monstrous Me
The Small Screen Diaries: 08/14/26
Two shows entered cancellation thunderdome, with one getting renewed, and the other cancelled. Stuart Fails To Save The Universe has been picked up for a second season at HBO MAX, while the synthetically described Deli Boys failed to make it to a third season.Synthetic narration. It may be hazardous to the health of your series. TV Shows Watched: Silo: S3E7 (Apple) with audio description, Stuart Fails: S1E4 (HBO MAX) with audio description, Tomb Raider King: S1E1 (CrunchyRoll) with audio description, Detective Hole: S1E8 (Netflix) with audio description, Will Trent: S4E17 (Disney Plus) with audio description And in other news, stay … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/14/26
The Witness (2026): Series Review
Well, at least it was only three episodes. I know that’s not necessarily the most reassuring way of convincing you to watch a show, but these days, sometimes reminding an audience that something is appropriately lengthed instead of being drawn out for ulterior motives is oddly refreshing. The Witness could have been some 10-episode limited series where every aspect and detail of the case was spread out and beleaguered, with additional material packed in for dramatic effect until the passage of time slowed considerably and we spent a lifetime in a story that is rather simple for what it is. … Continue reading The Witness (2026): Series Review
The Small Screen Diaries: 08/13/26
TV Shows Watched: Citadel: Season 2 (Amazon) with audio description, Stranger Things: Tales From 85 (Netflix) with audio description, Life Larry and the Pursuit Of Unhappyness: S1E6 (HBO MAX) and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: S5E3 (Disney Plus) with audio description Citadel- I did review this yesterday, so check it out. Also, if you were thinking about watching the second season of Citadel, and have pushed it down your watchlist, move it up before someone ruins that finale for you. Jaw dropped. I couldn’t go enough into it in my review, but the show takes a really big swing … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/13/26
Wishing You Were Somehow Human Again: X-Men 97: Season 2
I just want to take a second right up here at the top of my review to be grateful for this moment. To be living in a time where Marvel saw the value in their X-Men animated series from the ‘90s and brought it back to life, returned many of the original voice cast, and tried to keep the structure of the series intact. This was the show I grew up with. The Saturday morning cartoon I fell in love with, and the X-Men became my superheroes of choice. Other people elevate Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Hulk, or any number of … Continue reading Wishing You Were Somehow Human Again: X-Men 97: Season 2
Going In Blind: Night Nurse
When I was a kid, my parents did not pay for the premium cable channel packages: HBO, Cinemax, Showtime and The Movie Channel. I’m old enough that I predate Starz, so in case you’re wondering why I didn’t mention Starz, well, I’m older than you are. Those were the four movie channels you could pay extra for to get your big movies without commercials and without the profanity edited out of them. I used to get really excited whenever they had their free preview weekends or weeks. Sometimes, you might even get lucky and just barely be able to see … Continue reading Going In Blind: Night Nurse
Citadel: Season 2
Citadel is back, roaring onto the big stage at Prime Video and bringing its stellar cast back for another adventure. It feels like it’s been a long time since the first season of Citadel, to the point where I don’t remember the finer details of Season 1, but I remember the overall themes and plot. Callbacks to smaller moments would probably be lost on me. I know the series stars Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden as Nadia Sinh and Mason Kane, spies and former lovers who are trying to deal with loss of memory and identity amidst the chaos … Continue reading Citadel: Season 2
The Small Screen Diaries: 08/12/26
TV Shows Watched: X-Men 97: S2E9 (Disney Plus) with audio description, Ted Lasso: S4E2 (Apple) with audio description, Nemesis: S1E6 (Netflix) with audio description, Sheriff Country: S1E18 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, The Comeback: S2E3 (HBO MAX) with audio description, and- S4E8 (Netflix) with audio description X-Men 97- What a bumpy ride this was. I do have every intention of doing a season review because I’m a big fan, but I’m deeply disappointed that Disney cut the budget on Deluxe, forcing them to use a synthetic narrator for one of their branded shows. It’s already entering pre-production on Season 4, … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/12/26
The Fable Of Synthetic Voice
The conversation around the use of text-to-speech audio description has been inflamed recently as certain streaming services and film distribution companies have turned to their top tier branded content, replacing human audio description performers with synthetic, non-human voices replicating the human vibe, but still unable to deliver a human performance. This isn’t terribly shocking, since we seem to be a brad crumb society, patiently waiting for, and accepting the scraps given to us. Aside from the disability centric ReelAbilities, there isn’t a single streaming service that is 100% accessible, nor is there a network or cable channel offering 24/7 audio … Continue reading The Fable Of Synthetic Voice
The Small Screen Diaries: 08/11/26
TV Shows Watched: The Witness: Full Series (Netflix) with audio description, Tracker: S3E18 (Paramount) with audio description, The Miniature Wife: S1E9 (Peacock) with audio description, and The Rookie: S8E9 (Disney Plus) with audio description The Witness- Three episodes of this true crime limited series based on the memoir Letting Go by the grown up version of the little kid who is left as the only witness to his mother’s brutal murder, when he was three. We’ve seen Hollywood play with little kids as lone witnesses before, and even if they all spun from this true story, they do it better. … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/11/26