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 Caine Mutiny Court Marshal

John Stark

Where I Watched it: Paramount Plus English Audio Description Provided By: Roundabout Narrated By: Elias Recently, we lost director William Friedkin, who had already earned his place among the best directors of all time. He’s been in that group since his 1971 Best Picture winner The French Connection, which he followed up with the horror classic The Exorcist. Honestly, he could have just stopped there. He probably should have. Though his career does include some fondly remembered films like To Live and Die in LA, it also features the Al Pacino flop Crusin, the David Caruso forgotten erotic thriller Jade, … Continue reading The Caine Mutiny Court Marshal

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The Too Much TV Roundup- 11/03/23

John Stark

Well, I suppose the studios weren’t ready to accept SAG’s proposal, so they sent back a counter. Honestly, these companies needing to win this AI battle is pissing me off. Stop trying to own a person’s likeness, especially without informed consent, and certainly not in perpetuity. Also, the new trailer for Echo dropped, and it’s going to be TV-MA. 9) The Gold (Paramount Plus) English Audio Description?: Yes Status: Limited? in what should have been a movie, we slowly build to the police making their case and being able to arrest people for the heist. Episode Grade: B- 8) Strange … Continue reading The Too Much TV Roundup- 11/03/23

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Accessibility Matters, But Are We Shouting into The Wind?

John Stark

Over the summer, I attended a virtual panel at the annual American Council of The Blind’s annual meeting, where representatives were invited to discuss all the amazing futures their services had regarding audio description. All of this was met with lots of promises of making sure audio description travelled, seeking out audio description as often as possible to make sure that as many titles had audio description on their service that they could get, all without any concrete numbers or goals moving forward as to intended goals for each service. For example, no service promised to be 100% audio described … Continue reading Accessibility Matters, But Are We Shouting into The Wind?

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The Cloverfield Paradox

John Stark

Where I Watched it: Netflix English Audio Description?: Yes I finally took this Halloween season to round out the Cloverfield franchise by finally checking out this much derided entry. it deserves a lot of the hate being thrown its way, as it feels like a film that was made, and then given a Cloverfield spin.It barely takes advantage of the world created by Cloverfield, and spends its time in space with a rather impressive cast doing unimpressive things. It’s one of those “am I losing my mind?” Films, and deals with parallel dimensions and stuff, but nothing that would lead … Continue reading The Cloverfield Paradox

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Double Dragon

John Stark

Where I Watched it: Peacock English Audio Description?: No Peacock knew exactly what totally random title to suggest to me in that moment, and that moment was ripe for Double Dragon. no, it doesn’t have audio description. Yes, it should. Will anyone care? No. Double Dragon is a pretty notoriously awful film adaptation from the 90’s, which features mark Dascascos and Scott Wolf (one of them can actuallly fight, the other is pretty), who get roped up in the attempt to bring an actual plot and story to the old school Nintendo game. This was still from the period where … Continue reading Double Dragon

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The Too Much TV Roundup- 11/02/23

John Stark

Nothing too big in the TV world. The CW confirmed what we already assumed, that this is the final season of The CW… I mean… Superman and Lois. It marks the final show to be cancelled in the once dominant DC Arrowverse that started with the Stephen Amell led series, and birthed spinoffs The Flash, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, Superman and Lois, and arguably also Stargirl and Swamp Thing, though those were originally created for DC’s streaming service. The new CW seems less interested in making their own programming, and instead repurposing Canadian, British, and Australian shows. 9) … Continue reading The Too Much TV Roundup- 11/02/23

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The Too Much TV Roundup- 11/01/23

John Stark

The fact that I’m hearing that the SAG AMPTA negotiations are being held up over AI really tells me all I need to know about the studios positions. I do hope SAG does not waiver on their counter to many of the terrible ideas these studios were proposing, including owning an actors likeness in perpetuity, simply because they showed up as an extra for one day. People say that AI is the future, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. If we don’t regulate it now, that same person is going to have their face regenerated into a … Continue reading The Too Much TV Roundup- 11/01/23

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The Too much TV Roundup- 10/31/23

John Stark

It’s the day after Halloween. I had such a weird experience, where years of declining trick or treaters apparently led to a group trying to reclaim the night, and hundreds of people were out. No one could possibly have prepared that much candy. What was your Halloween experience? 13) Alias (Disney Plus) English Audio Description?: No Status: Ended This show has LONG scenes just set to music where action is happening, and no dialogue, which makes it really hard to follow, even for someone who has seen this show before. Sydney was still reeling from Dixon having a second detonator, … Continue reading The Too much TV Roundup- 10/31/23

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The Too Much TV Roundup- 10/30/23

John Stark

Even though this is a roundup of what I watched on the 30th, you are reading this on the 31st, which means…. there’s someone standing behind you! BOO! happy Halloween! May your trick or treat bag be full of the good stuff. What horror movie or TV show do you have lined up today? 9) Chip and Dale’s Rescue Rangers (Disney Plus) English Audio Description?: No Status: Ended Well, at least Zipper wasn’t in charge of everything this time, and I could follow this episode. it’s always so refreshing to hear the theme song. It just takes me back. I … Continue reading The Too Much TV Roundup- 10/30/23

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The Too Much TV Roundup- 10/29/23

John Stark

First off, I want to give a big shoutout to Scott Blanks, another movie lover and audio description advocate who just dropped his first review on my site for Birth/Rebirth. Make sure to check that out. 9) Billy The Kid (MGM Plus) English Audio Description?: No Status: Season 2 Just Started I wanted to start this show and give it a shot, but sadly, this story based on the titular outlaw is really hard to follow without audio description. I tried, and failed. The sad thing is, where The Winter King just left me cold, there’s a part of me … Continue reading The Too Much TV Roundup- 10/29/23

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Friday The 13th (2009)

John Stark

Where I Watched it: MAX English Audio Description?: Yes Before we even talk about this, we need to have a talk, just me and the peeps at wBD. hi. it’s me. The guy who consistently calls out streamers for nonsensical decisions when it comes to streaming and audio description. Can someone on your end explain to me why you selectively choose to provide audio description for sequels but not the first film? MAX has three of the original Friday The 13th films described, but not the original, and there’s a gap. Serious question, is this how you watch movies? Do … Continue reading Friday The 13th (2009)

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Strays

John Stark

Where i watched It: Peacock English Audio Description?: Yes I love dog movies. I don’t know why, but they have one hell of an ability to make me cry. I was an absolute mess at the end of Marley and me. I remember that My Dog Skip got me back in the day, and even A Dog’s Purpose had a moment (though the sequel did not). I didn’t cry during Strays. Think of Strays as the Sausage Party version of its predecessors. Hilarious, raunchy, and whip smart, Strays takes a look at things from a different perspective and puts them … Continue reading Strays

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Appendage

John Stark

Where I Watched it: Hulu English Audio Description Provided By: point 360 Written By James Mason Narrated By Robert Ericsson Hulu seems to invest in low-budget horror for October, as every year I end up watching some random stuff they are pumping out that no one else is watching or cares about. Even a cast member of Schitt’s Creek isn’t enough to make this pop. And mislabeling this movie as a Comedy/Horror is not going to help. in fact, considering that a large chunk of this film and how the monster works is making someone depressed, lonely, and feeling worthless, … Continue reading Appendage

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Come Play

John Stark

Where I Watched it: Free Vee English Audio Description?: Yes Narrated By: AI Yeah, I’m pretty sure this was an AI narrated film. It’s sad, because I spend my whole day dealing with artificial intelligence and screenreaders that range from nightmarish to almost human. Even as i type, this inhuman voice is giving me the letters back as I hit them. I suppose after seeing Come Play, I should be happy that the only thing my device is giving me is this voice. Come Play is an interesting horror title from a few years back that features Gillian Jacob’s and … Continue reading Come Play

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Totally Killer

John Stark

Where I Watched it: Amazon English Audio Description By The Media Access Group Narrated By Xanthie Page One of my favorite horror movies is a little seen horror comedy The Final Girls. In many ways, this reminded me of that film. Except, this one is less Groundhog Day, and more Back To The Future. A teenager lives in a community where years ago three girls were brutally murdered, and the killer was never caught. She really wants to go out with her friends, but her mom is overprotective because she lived in the town back then, along with her dad, … Continue reading Totally Killer