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 Surfer

John Stark

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Julian McMahon, Finn Little Written By: Thomas Martin Directed By: Lorcan Finnegan Release Year: 2025 Audio Description Provided By: Deluxe Written By: Narrated By: William Michael Redman What is it?: Simplistically, a man (Cage) is at a beach in Australia with his son (Little), and would like to go surfing, but a gang of locals refuse to let him surf. So it becomes one mans quest to surf… even if it kills him. What Works: All the acting is great. Cage is finally used in a film that requires his talents, instead of some basic crap like … Continue reading The Surfer

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Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning

John Stark

Cast: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Esai Morales, Angela Bassett, Pom Klementieff, Henry Czerny, Holt McCallany, Nick Offerman, Janet McTeer, Hannah Waddingham, Tremmell Tillman, Shea Wiggham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Cary Elwes, Katie O’Brien Written By: Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jenderesen, based on the TV series Mission: Impossible Directed By: Christopher McQuarrie Notable Producers: Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg Studio: Paramount pictures Release Year: 2025 Runtime: 169 minutes Audio Description Produced By: Icon Group Written By: Need Credit Narrated By: Anthony Hanson what is It?: It’s the final countdown. Your mission, should you choose to … Continue reading Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/23/25

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Outlander: Blood of My Blood: S1E4 (Starz) with audio description, The Hunting Wives: S1E5 (Netflix) with audio description, Foundationn: S3E7 (Apple Plus) with audio description, Hitmakers: S1E4 (Netflix) with audio description, Ballard: S1E9 (Amazon) with audio description, Pop Culture Jeopardy: IDK (Amazon) with audio description, The Rainmaker: S1E2 (Peacock) with audio description, and Hostage: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description Outlander: Blood of My Blood- Yesterday, I got an email back from a rep, after saying I would love to screen and review their film, but if they had an English Audio Description track for the film, it … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/23/25

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Smoke: Season 1

John Stark

Cast: Taron Egerton, Jurnee Smollett, Greg Kinnear, John Leguizamo, Rafe Spall, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, Hannah Emily Anderson, Anna Chlumsky Series Created By: Dennis Lehane Streaming Service: Apple TV + Length: 9 episodes Audio Description Provided By: Written By: Narrated By: Roy Samuelson What Is it?: An arson investigator (Egerton) is stuck in a town that seems to have two arsonists he can’t catch. he gets help from a detective (Smollett), who has been sent downstream for personal reasons, relegated to arson. She has a past with arson herself, having survived one as a child. Together, they must figure out … Continue reading Smoke: Season 1

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Eenie Meanie

John Stark

Cast: Samara Weaving, Carl Glossman, Andy Garcia, Steve Zahn, Jermaine Fowler, Marshawn Lynch, Randall Park, Elle Graham Written And Directed By: Shawn Simmons Studio/Streamer: 20th Century Fox/Hulu Release Year: 2025 Audio Description provided By: Credit Needed Written By: credit Needed Narrated By: Credit Needed What is it?: A young woman (Weaving) is pulled back into the life she left, because her ex-boyfriend is a tool, and she’s just gotten some news from the doctor regarding her future. Refusing to let him be killed by a crime boss (Garcia), she jumps behind the wheel for a heist that should pay back … Continue reading Eenie Meanie

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/22/25

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Peacemaker: S2E1 (HBo MAX) with audio description, Sausage Party Foodtopia: S2E2 (Amazon) with audio description, Long Story Short: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description, Dexter: S5E12 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Invasion: S1E? (Apple plus) with audio description, Match Game: S6E6 (Hulu) with audio description, and who wants To Be A Millionaire: S4E6 (Hulu) with audio description Peacemaker- Really excited this is back.I would recommend, based on what I just watched, if you have the time to rewatch or binge season 1, please do. Not only has it been a while, which Chris (John Cena) tries to catch … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/22/25

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Going In Blind: Locked

John Stark

Cast: Cast: Bill Skarsgard, Anthony Hopkins Written By: Michael Arlen Ross based on the film 4X4 Directed By: David Yarovosky Release Year: 2025 There Is no Known Audio Description In Existence For This Film What Is It?: A man (Skarsgard) breaks into a fancy new car that is far more high tech than he could have ever imagined, and becomes trapped in a torture chamber on wheels, as the car’s owner (Hopkins) is determined to teach him a lesson. What Works: Keeping in mind, I’m a blind film critic, and this film assumes I could follow the film just like … Continue reading Going In Blind: Locked

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Alma And The Wolf

John Stark

Cast: Ethan Embry, Li Jun Li, Jeremy Harris Written By: Abby Miller Directed By: Michael Patrick Jann Release Year: 2025 Audio Description produced By: Written By: Directed By: What Is it?: A somewhat functional cop (Embry) has a run in with Alma (Li), who mentions that they attacked her dog, and is covered in blood. He begins to investigate this reported wolf attack, only for things to get stranger, and his son goes missing. What Works: Not much. Ethan Ebry was an actor I grew up with, and really wanted Hollywood to do more with. Somehow, for some reason, Embry … Continue reading Alma And The Wolf

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Everything’s Going To Be Great

John Stark

Cast: Bryan Cranston, Allison Janney, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Jack Champion, Simon Rex, Chris Cooper, Laura Benanti Written By: Steven Roger’s Directed By: Jon S. Baird Release Year: 2025 Audio Description Produced By: Alpine Group Written By: Narrated By: Tansy Alexander What Is it: A teenager (Ainsworth) attempts to come of age, but isn’t quite sure in which direction. he’s disgusted by the word vagina, but also isn’t certain which way he leans. His troubles are exasperated somewhat by his absurdist upbringing as the youngest in a theatrically minded family, whose patriarch (Cranston) eats, sleeps, and breathes theatre, while his once … Continue reading Everything’s Going To Be Great

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/21/25

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: The Buccaneers: S2E5 (Apple Plus) with audio description, Twisted Metal: S2E4 (Peacock) with audio description, Tires: S2E12 (Netflix) with audio description, Mindhunter: S1E8 (Netflix) with audio description, The Summer I turned Pretty: S3E5 (Amazon) with audio description The Buccaneers- So much drama! Nan returns home from Ginny/Guy, to her Duke Theo, who has been in the sheets with Lizzie this whole time, but Lizzie is about to get married herself. Of course, no one can get divorced, and Ginny is trapped by a wolf of a husband who is seemingly magically not abusive all of a sudden. … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/21/25

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/20/25

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Alien Earth: S1E3 (Hulu) with audio description, Dexter Resurrection: S1E6 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Butterfly: S1E3 (Amazon) with audio description, Ginny and Georgia: S2E9 (Netflix) with audio description, The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox: S1E1 (Hulu) with audio description, Irish Blood: S1E3 (Acorn) no audio description Alien Earth- More really strong science fiction world building. Some are disappointed that the Xenomorph isn’t taking as center stage as they assumed, but I am enjoying learning more about this world around the aliens, and what our earth looks like. I think even the kids in adult synth bodies … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/20/25

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/19/25

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Smoke: S1E9 (Apple Plus) with audio description, The Institute: S1E6 (MGM Plus) with audio description, and The Rainmaker: S1E1 (Peacock) with audio description Smoke- Still very busy, but I did manage to wrap up Smoke. I’m planning on reviewing the series, as I did like it, and the little twist in the final moments of Episode 9 is just stunning. It puts the entire series in a new perspective, as you could go back and rewatch the series, and view it from that context. Yes, Smoke has some predictability woven in, but that creative little spin at … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/19/25

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/18/25

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Black Mirror: S4E2 (Netflix) with audio description, Platonic: S2E3 (Apple Plus) with audio description, Last Week Tonight: Most recent (HBO MAX) no audio description yet Black Mirror- Archangel. Sadly, not The X-Man, but a program you can install into your child’s brain that will tell you where they are, what their vitals are, allow you to have parental controls to block out troubling things they may encounter in real life, and even see what they see. Rosemarie Dewitt (Untamed) stars. I could see all the problems with this software immediately, and knew where we were headed. However, … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/18/25

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/17/25

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: The Hunting Wives: S1E4 (Netflix) with audio description,From: S3E1 (MGM Plus) with audio description, Butterfly: S1E2 (Amazon) with audio description, Dexter: S5E11 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Twisted Metal: S2E3 (Peacock) with audio description,Ballard: S1E8 (Amazon) with audio description Programmer’s Notes: This coming week is going to be a bit light. the job that pays is in education, and my brain is typically elsewhere the first and last weeks of every semester, so I’m lucky to get 2 or 3 shows in. The Hunting Wives- I think it was a little early in the season for a … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/17/25

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Quality Check: Twisted Metal

John Stark

I’ve had enough. Enough is enough. Advocating for audio description is more than just me bitching at Hollywood corporations for not providing any audio description, it also is me turning the floodlight back on companies who are cashing checks off my disability. So, we’re going to take a look at Twisted Metal: S2E3. It’s a cold watch. I haven’t yet watched the episode, but the last episode, and the overall general content that seems to get pushed out by this company, has gotten us here. We open with title cards. Peacock, Sony, etc. No notes. So a white man wearing … Continue reading Quality Check: Twisted Metal