Author: John Stark

Blogger. EIC of macthemovieguy.com. Contributor to mjsbigblog.com and houseofgeekery.com. Previously featured on starpulse.com.
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The Small Screen Diaries- 01/17/24

John Stark

The BAFTA nominations come out today. Excellence in British film. It could be a huge launching pad for All Of Us Strangers for the Oscars, if it was strongly embraced by the BAFTAs like All Quiet On The Western Front was last year. But, in TV world, no really solid news stories. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (Netflix) featured a jaw dropping return at the end, and more suspicions about that darn robot that keeps popping up that we didn’t really know was popping up because the audio description wasn’t tracking the robot, and pointing it out would have been a … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 01/17/24

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The Small Screen Diaries- 01/16/24

John Stark

I did noticed that Apple has picked up For All Mankind for another season, thankfully, since they left too many doors open in the season finale. Now onto The Brother’s Son (Netflix), which is barely a Michelle Yeoh show at this point. The second episode continued to shape the world, boosting TK as a character a little bit, and having the brothers run around with a head for the episode. I don’t hate the audio description here, and if anything, after hearing all that stuff about the dismembering of the body from the first episode, I felt that this show … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 01/16/24

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The Small Screen Diaries: 01/15/24

John Stark

The Emmys were last night, and Succession predictably did well, while Better Call Saul finished its run with not a single win for anything ever. I’m most excited for Paul Walter Houser who won Supporting Actor in a Limited for Blackbird, which was on Apple Plus in July 2022. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should. He’s fantastic. And now, the shows I actually did watch. My Life With The Walter Boys (Netflix) has some audio description that has grown on me. Of course, four episodes in and I have a bit more of a grasp on this show … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 01/15/24

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Dog Day Afternoon

John Stark

My readers are learning a lot more about which classics have eluded me all these years as I continue to fill the pre-Oscar nominee period with Oscar nominees I had never seen. Of course, this is a biggie. It’s usually on lists of the best films ever made, and I’m positive is on an AFI list of some kind. Sidney Lumet, making his second appearance in this timeframe, directs Al Pacino in an electric performance about a bank robbery gone wrong. Of course, they didn’t count on being up against One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. But, with multiple Oscar … Continue reading Dog Day Afternoon

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society Of The Snow

John Stark

Where I Watched It: Netflix English Description Provided By Descriptive Video Works Written By David Chen Narrated By Paula Hoffman Directed By JA Bayona I posted a review of this on my YouTube, and i happened to mention that the film was a little long. Not necessarily a bad thing, depending on how you pace the film, and someone commented that 72 days in the Andes is a long time. Well, yeah, and as intensely tragic as these circumstances are, the film isn’t 72 days long either. Movies are meant to capture and funnel the ideas into a more succinct … Continue reading society Of The Snow

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Amistad

John Stark

when I was in film school, there used to be classes that tackled the body of work of a prolific director. When I took it, I was lucky enough to land Alfred Hitchcock, so I’ve taken a class that was a full dive into the Cock. But, the semester before was Steven Spielberg, and perhaps I would not be here having to admit I never saw Amistad. Although, after having seen it, i can actually feel pretty good in saying it’s not in my top 10 for whatever year or crop of films it was against. Spielberg has heavy hitters, … Continue reading Amistad

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The Too Much TV Roundup- 01/14/24

John Stark

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! I don’t think I watched anything yesterday that fits with today. Maybe I’ll try to do that on the day of, but then I’ll be mentioning it the next day. It’s like having a Newsweek subscription nowadays, when everything has already been discussed. The Critics Choice awards last night were pretty predictable. I did see one site refer to Emma Stone’s win as a “shocker”. Really? Yes, Lily won the Globe… but so did Emma. They were just finally in the same category. Interestingly, the same “journalist” had nothing to say about the “shocker” … Continue reading The Too Much TV Roundup- 01/14/24

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Somewhere In Time

John Stark

Believe it or not, this is an Oscar nominated film, which helped me on my journey to try and review an Oscar nominee I never watched before off all my streaming services. This was on FreeVee. I can honestly say, I’ve met people who *this* is their favorite film. I never quite understood that, but I’ve always been intrigued. Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour in a time travel romance. what could go wrong? Well, honestly, I don’t really know, because there’s no audio description. However, the plot is silly. Reeve plays a man who falls in love with a woman … Continue reading Somewhere In Time

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The Unknown Country

John Stark

I decided after her Gotham win that I needed to know about Lily Gladstone’s other film. It seemingly came out of nowhere, just suddenly winning her a Best Actress prize, and not for Killers Of The Flower Moon. I’m glad that I saw this even if it didn’t have audio description, as it gave me more of an idea of Gladstone’s range, but this film is about as independent as you can get. not that independent is really a genre, except to say it takes a lot more artistic choices than films aimed at the mainstream. It also does not … Continue reading The Unknown Country

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Vanilla Sky

John Stark

Where I Watched It: MGM Plus English Audio Description?: Yes Starring: Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Jason Lee, Kurt Russell, Timothy Spall, Noah Taylor, Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, Johnny Galecki, Ken Leung, and Alicia Witt. Written and Directed By: Cameron Crowe My Oscar shame tour is continuing up until Oscar nominations are announced, with me taking this time to review films I had never seen before that were nominated. MGM Plus had an odd selection, and most didn’t have audio description, or I had seen them. I landed on Vanilla Sky, which I have seen, because I figured time … Continue reading Vanilla Sky

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The Small Screen Diaries- 01/13/24

John Stark

The fourth episode of Squid Game: The Challenge (Netflix) just feels like filler. The audio description team, with Sri Gordon as narrator, is still doing solid work, but this episode was just a lot of dumb challenges. The only interesting one was having them vote off three people. That and the way they handled it was fine, and since we ended on a solid number, with 70 contestants remaining, it felt like that was where we needed to go. While I don’t know the results of the Jack In the Box game, it’s not everyone competing, and the fact that … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 01/13/24

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Passages

John Stark

This is another exploration of why we need audio description. I rented Passages after it started popping up in awards races, before I was ever granted access as a member of Film Independent. Apple wasn’t offering audio description, and with the film being distributed by Mubi, things weren’t looking good. There’s a lot of French here, so unless you are fluent, or French Canadian, likely Passages is going to get you with a language barrier. Even the role occupied with Ben Whishaw isn’t enough to make up the difference. he’s supporting, and the film is really about an un likable … Continue reading Passages

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The Poseidon Adventure

John Stark

Another Oscar nominee I’ve never had the pleasure. It’s a shame too, because the cast is really a strong cast for the time period, and with a special Oscar for visual effects (before there was a full category), I kinda want to know how good this really looks. But, alas. This is on Starz, which of course means it doesn’t have audio description, because searching for audio description or someone who cares about it at Starz is like trying to find El Dorado or Atlantis. A futile and stupid gesture that I keep doing anyway. But, I have seen, and … Continue reading The Poseidon Adventure

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The Small Screen Diaries- 01/12/24

John Stark

Apple better be continuing on with For All Mankind. That season finale was a beast, and did exactly what I thought it would. Because the show takes these leaps forward in time, original cast members have to keep being shaved off because there’s only just so much you can age a person. Just like how last season ended with a few original cast members exiting, it’s highly likely that the way certain characters are written, means the end for them on the show (at least as regulars). However, there was one prominent character whose future was not shown, and that … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 01/12/24

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Sound Of Freedom

John Stark

Where I Watched it: Amazon English Audio Description?: No Cast: Jim Caveizel, Mira Sorvino, and Bill Camp Written By: Rod Barr Directed By: Alejandro Monteverdi I dreaded the attention a review of this might bring to my YouTube, and that landed without any disruption, so let’s talk about Sound Of Freedom. A couple of things. I’m glad Mira Sorvino is working. Jim Caveizel is not my favorite human being, but he has turned in some terrific performances in his career. I do really love Frequency, and I even thought When The Game Stands Tall used him rather well. i pretty … Continue reading Sound Of Freedom