Author: John Stark

Blogger. EIC of macthemovieguy.com. Contributor to mjsbigblog.com and houseofgeekery.com. Previously featured on starpulse.com.
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Movies With Pride: A Single Man

John Stark

As pride month continues, I really wanted to take a look at something that I had not seen in years, but remained striking. I’ve seen and already reviewed films that are near and dear, but Tom Ford’s A Single Man isn’t something I have a nostalgic attachment for, but rather just something that the question is does it hold up on the second viewing? Now that I’m blind, I’ve experienced films differently, in both ways. Some films seem to get better, particularly films with strong violence that might have been a turnoff. Not being able to see gore allows me … Continue reading Movies With Pride: A Single Man

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The Small Screen Diaries- 06/22/2024

John Stark

Well, I saw that coming. Bridgerton (Netflix) finally needed a bit of conflict this season, and it got some right at the tail end of Episode 6. Now, we’ll have to see if our lead romantic couple can withstand. Meanwhile, I don’t know what the problem with Francheska choosing John is. I must have missed that. Is he a chimney sweep or something? Whatever it is, romance is abound, and with the hint of a potential gay romance to take a more center position next season, the question remains is how would Bridgerton feature such a romance and stay relatively … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 06/22/2024

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MoviePass MovieCrash

John Stark

Just a few years ago, the movie theatre industry was rocked by something that would dramatically affect attendance. That thing was the rise of cable TV, pay cable, home video, DVD, video rental stores, Netflix by mail, streaming services, and the pandemic. Through all of those trials, we’ve always had Nicole Kidman to bring us back to the theatres. But, when moviePass pounced, it was the thing no one saw coming (except everyone did). As you learn the history of MoviePass, you learn that it was pitched in early concept stage, to the industry, and they saw no value in … Continue reading MoviePass MovieCrash

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Bit City Greens: Spacecation

John Stark

granted, I’m putting this review up a little late after having seen this when it originally dropped on Disney Plus, but it is important to immediately note that this film doesn’t have audio description on the service. It is such a shame, because even though I have only a teensie bit of knowledge regarding this show, I have to say the movie, or what I could understand of it, reminded me so much of when Disney used to turn their 90’s properties into films, with Ducktales: Treasure Of The Lost Lamp and A goofy Movie. Big City Greens has been … Continue reading Bit City Greens: Spacecation

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Atlas

John Stark

Between this being her now, and sharing her greatest love story never told, this has certainly been ‘a year’ for Jennifer Lopez. I have no idea what is happening with her personal life, but I do actually hope she and Ben can figure this out.At bare minimum, they are actors, and you can’t drop a whole movie about your loe and then just split. But, what you can do is save the world from Shang Chi destroying human life as we know it. You can be a strong female lead who can never seem to find a good cup of … Continue reading Atlas

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The Small Screen Diaries- 06/21/24

John Stark

Kicking off my day, I chose Sweet Tooth (Netflix), as I savor the final season of a show I liked enough that I could have gone another season for sure. The third episode of the season featured our gang headed for this boat to get to Alaska. They reach it too late, have to build a boat, but the wolves show up and not everyone makes it on board. We also get the backstory of where the wolf hybrids came from,and why they are so feral. What I don’t like about the show is that everyone always magically finds where … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 06/21/24

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Arthur The King

John Stark

There is this wonderfully perfect Saturday Night Live sketch Mark Wahlberg Talks To Dogs, and in so many ways this feels like the feature adaptation of this. You will find Mark Wahlberg having many conversations with a dog in this movie.Is it enough? Based on a novel that has a much longer title, Arthur The King isn’t really about Arthur, so much as it is Mark Wahlberg playing a guy who competes in extreme challenges and needs one more shot at glory before he retires and becomes a stay at home dad. Marky Mark has come a long way. Still, … Continue reading Arthur The King

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The Small Screen Diaries- 06/20/24

John Stark

I would love to know whaat I missed that turned Black Noir into such a chatty Cathy on The Boys (Amazon), because he went three seasons with silence, and now he just pops up. It’s not even like he now oddly says like one word, which could be hilarious. He’s just some dude. But the fourth episode of the season once again belongs to Antony Starr, who was scary as hell as Homelander. The simple phrase”Homelander wouldn’t be happy” is now terrifying. You wouldn’t like him when he’s not happy. I’m also really excited that we likely will see more … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 06/20/24

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Movies With pride: The Normal Heart

John Stark

I believe fairly recently, I mentioned to someone why I was taking the opportunity to celebrate Movies With Pride in the month of June. I’m a blind film critic, and my driving force in life is to change the perspective on how blind and low vision people do actually enjoy films, and that there’s just this massive problem in terms of getting the accessibility we need on a consistent basis. This month, I made it a point to track down some titles I hadn’t yet reviewed, at least from my blind perspective that highlight the LGBTQ community in impactful ways. … Continue reading Movies With pride: The Normal Heart

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She Came To me

John Stark

I’ve been having thoughts about what I can do to contribute to the discussion of film, but more importantly from a blind perspective. I expressed a lot of frustrations about Godzilla minus one being allowed to be submitted for Oscar consideration without being accessible. Even if the Acadmey made exceptions for certain categories, like International or the Short Film categories, there’s no reason to exempt a movie being considered for visual effects. If anything, that’s the category that should be required, otherwise any blind or low vision Oscar voters are at a disadvantage. Not to mention, the general population. So … Continue reading She Came To me

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RIP: Donald Sutherland

John Stark

As we get older, the legends who inspired us do too. The truth about life is that we lose people along the way, until eventually we become the lost. Today, Donald Sutherland has passed at the age of 88. Most recently Sutherland portrayed a judge trying to find the measured interpretation of the law in Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount Plus limited series Lawmen: Base Reeves. His career led to over 200 credits on iMDB, spanning several decades. he also is the father of Kiefer Sutherland, who has had quite an impact on film and television in his own right. Despite being … Continue reading RIP: Donald Sutherland

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The Small Screen Diaries- 06/19/24

John Stark

Hope you enjoyed your Juneteenth celebrations. I’ve been stuck in my house with unbelievable fumes after having my bathroom retailed and bathtub resurfaced. I feel like a Resident Alien in my own home. Speaking of, that show just got a 4th season pick up, but is moving to USA instead of Syfy. Of course I watched The acolyte (Disney Plus) first thing in the morning. I’m mostly enjoying the show, though my interest has waned a little bit. The original concept of this mysterious person managing to kill Jedi was intriguing, but that hasn’t quite played off quite like it … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 06/19/24

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The Small Screen Diaries- 06/19/24

John Stark

Happy Juneteenth! I didn’t do a Diary yesterday, so today is a bit of an amalgamation of stuff from the last two days that had audio description. But I did notice the news that Comedy Central is rebooting Everybody Hates Chris, and also Ryan Murphy is trying to do a male Golden Girls at Hulu with Matt Bomer and Nathan Lane. I don’t understand it either. So let’s just tip my hat streamer to streamer: Netflix: In the last two days, I’ve watched another episode of Eric, which Paula Hoffman is doing an excellent job of narrating. I kind of … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 06/19/24

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Godzilla Minus One

John Stark

I started today feeling pretty down about myself, which honestly is like most days. I wasn’t sure I was going to push out any reviews today, but I noticed the next title on my list was Godzilla Minus One. I talk a lot about audio description, but I can’t do that here. It doesn’t existt. There is no known audio description for Godzilla Minus One. the film was released theatrically without audio description, and was submitted for Oscar consideration without any accessibility for any blind or low vision Academy members, and managed to win an Oscar. Why? Because there are … Continue reading Godzilla Minus One

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The Beach Boys

John Stark

Disney Plus has a new music doc out this year, and my official pull quote is that “you’ll have fun fun fun”, unless your daddy takes your T-Bird away. Honestly, it is just your usual safe music documentary, that explores the phenomenon of the Boys, while significantly tipping their hat to Brian Wilson (who does not contribute to the film). Starting out with how the Boys were formed, to how their career rose at the same time as The Beatles were invading America, while keeping it light, and not going into any potential dark moments. It is a fluff piece, … Continue reading The Beach Boys