Author: John Stark

Blogger. EIC of macthemovieguy.com. Contributor to mjsbigblog.com and houseofgeekery.com. Previously featured on starpulse.com.
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Descendent

John Stark

Cast: Ross Marquand, Sarah Bolger Written and Directed By: peter Cilella Studio: RELJ Release Year: 2025 Runtime: 96 minutes Audio Description Provided By: Audio Eyes Written By: Micah Grossman Narrated By: Nicole Cyrille What Is it?: A man (Marquand) facing impending fatherhood must deal with the possibility that he has just experienced an extraterrestrial encounter. Between his own personal demons clouding how he feels about fatherhood, and his obsession with his experience that he also decides to keep a secret, we watch as he slips in and out of what is real, and what isn’t. Can he put the past … Continue reading Descendent

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/16/25

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: The Sandman: S2E10 (Netflix) with audio description, Dexter: Resurrection: S1E5 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Chief of War: S1E4 (Apple plus) with audio description, The Summer I Turned Pretty: S3E4 (Amazon) with audio description, Washington Black: S1E7 (Hulu) with audio description, Pop Culture Jeopardy: Semi Finals (Amazon) with audio description The Sandman- While this is typically some flawless writing, there’s a glitch in the description. *spoilers* When the furies are tearing apart the dreaming, they reach Cain and Abel, and kill Abel, telling him it will be his final death, no resurrection. Cain manages to get away. … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/16/25

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East Of Wall

John Stark

Cast: Porschia Zimiga, Tabitha Zimiga, Jennifer Ehle, Scoot McNairy, Jesse Horson, Clay Pateneaude Written and Directed By: Kate Beaucroft original Score By: Lucas Frank and Daniel Meyer R’Keefe Studio: Sony Pictures Classics Release Yeaar: 2025 Runtime: 97 minutes Audio Description produced By: the Media Access Group as WGBH Studios Written By: Narrated By: Emily Hooks What Is it?: An experimental indie of sorts, which has the director using almost entirely a cast of local South Dakotans playing versions of themselves. A cast of nearly entirely green actors tell a story about a trio of women across generations trying to make … Continue reading East Of Wall

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Marlee Matlin: Not Alone anymore

John Stark

Cast: Directed By:Shoshannah Stern Release Year: 2025 Audio Description Provided by: DeCapta Written By: Narrated By: Julian Strauss What Is it?: another terrific disability documentary that also premiered at Sundance this year (along with Deaf President Now), which centers on matlin, her rapid rise to Best Actress Winner, and the presssure of being the face of the movement. Her life had ups and downs, but her Oscar afforded her the opportunities to blaze new paths for others to follow. Matlin talks candidly about her career, her personal demons, and what it is like to be the first (and only) Best … Continue reading Marlee Matlin: Not Alone anymore

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/15/25

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Tires: S2E11 (Netflix) with audio description, Sausage Party: Foodtopia: S2E1 (Amazon) with audio description, The Wonderfully Weird World Of Gumball: S1E4 (Hulu) with audio description, Outlander: Blood Of My Blood: s1E3 (Starz) no audio description, And just Like That: S3E12 (HBo MAX) with audio description, Irish Blood: S1E2 (Acorn) no audio description, Breaking Bad: S2E9 (Netflix) with audio description tires- A moderately funny episode, for the series. Shane really is trying to get back some of that “comedians can get away with anything” thing. It certainly isn’t ever high brow, but it can have a certain charm. … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/15/25

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/14/25

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Smoke: S1E8 (Apple Plus) with audio description, The buccaneers: S2E4 (Apple plus) with audio description, Ginny and Georgia: S2E8 (Netflix) with audio description, Butterfly: S1E1 (Amazon) with audio description, Washington Black: S1E5 (Hulu) with audio description, King of The Hill: S2E14 (Hulu) no audio description, Match Game: S?E5 (Hulu) with audio description, who Wants To Be A Millionaire: S4E5 (Hulu) with audio description Smoke- I was in Episode 8 when I realized… this can’t get a second season. Until this episode, I thought a Season 2 was still possible, but if it is, it will have a … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/14/25

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Going In Blind: Zombie Con

John Stark

Cast: Manny Luke, Erin Aine, Punkie Johnson, Christian Casillas, Carlo Mendez, Nichole McAuley Directed By: Kyle Valle Release Year: 2018 There is no audio description available for this title. What Is it?: A group of cosplaying friends find themselves in the middle of an actual zombie apocalypse. What Works/What Doesn’t Work: I struggled ethically on reviewing this title. I’m on the Tomatometer, and I’m getting some cold calls from really indie films. Someone in Germany has a short, another horror title wants me to review their film but doesn’t have audio description. I had a back and forth with a … Continue reading Going In Blind: Zombie Con

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Fixed

John Stark

Featuring The Voices Of Adam devine, Kathryn Hahn, Idris Elba, Fred Armisen, Beck Bennett, Bobby Moynihan, Michelle Buteau, River Gallo Written By: Genndy Tartokovsky, Jon Vetti, Steve Greenberg, Rich Lufrano Directed By:Genndy Tartakovsky Streamer: Netflix Release Year: 2025 Runtime: 88 minutes Audio Description By: Written By: Narrated By: What is it?: Bull (Devine) is a young pup just starting to mature and get to the point of sexual maturity. he has a thing for the Afghan next door, Honey (Hahn), who is a pure bred show dog. When Bull realizes his owners are about to clip his balls, he takes … Continue reading Fixed

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/13/25

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Alien Earth: S1E1 and S1E2 (Hulu) with audio description, Chief Of War: s1E3 (Apple Plus) with audio description, All of Us Are Dead: S1E7 (Netflix), Leanne: S1E9 and S1E10 (Netflix) with audio description, Irish Blood: S1E1 (Acorn) no audio description, Ballard: S1E7 (Amazon) with audio description Alien: Earth- Love it. I love how the show is taking its time to develop these characters and this world. there’s some carnage, some new ways for people to die, new aliens, and synthetic humans. If you were on the fence, I thought this was great. Watching a bunch of actors … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/13/25

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Leanne: Season 1

John Stark

Cast: Leanne Morgan, Kristen Johnston, Blake Clark, Ryan Stiles, Celia Weston, Hannah Pilkes, Jayma Mays, Graham Roger’s, Tim Daly, Andrea Anders Created By: Chuck Lorre Length: 20 episodes Streamer: Netflix Audio Description By: post House Digital Written by: Narrated By: What Is it?: The stand up comedienne is given her own eponymous sitcom, playing a grandmother whose husband of over 30 years decides he’s not having fun anymore in the marriage, and leaves her behind. With the help of her family, Leanne will rise again. What Works: Not everything Chuck touches turns to Gold, but instead of doing his usual … Continue reading Leanne: Season 1

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Going In Blind: Push

John Stark

Cast: Alicia Sanz, Raul Castillo, David Alexander Flynn Written and directed By: David Charbnier and Justin Powell Studio/Streamer: Shudder Release Year: 2025 There is no known audio description for this title. What Is it?: A pregnant realtor, trying to sell a murder house, is unexpectedly attacked by a crazed individual. to make things worse, not only does she have to survive, but she’s also in labor. What Works: Theoretically, the premise. There was some nice music, sometimes. what Doesn’t Work: Shudder, despite producing audio description for many of its theatrical releases, hasn’t quite figured out how to do it for … Continue reading Going In Blind: Push

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Apollo 13: 30th Anniversary

John Stark

Cast: Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, Kathleen Quinlan, Miko Hughes, Chris Ellis, Xander Berkeley, Clint Howard, Ray McKinnon, Christian Clemenson, Brett Cullen, Roger Corman Written By: William Broyles Jr Al Reinert based on the book Lost moon by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger Directed By: Ron Howard Original Score By: James Horner Notable Producers: Brian Grazer Studio: Universal release Year: 1995 runtime: 140 minutes Audio Description Produced By: Deluxe Written By: Narrated By: Ron Snow What Is it?: the true story of thee astronauts who were headed to the moon, when a mechanical failure changed … Continue reading Apollo 13: 30th Anniversary

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/12/25

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: The Sandman: S2E9 (Netflix) with audio description, The institute: S1E5 (MGM Plus) with audio description, Countdown: S1E8 (Amazon) with audio description, Hitmakers: S1E2 (Netflix) with audio description, Mindhunter: S1E7 (Netflix) with audio description, Breaking Bad: S2E8 (Netflix) with audio description The Sandman- Still consistently great audio description from DVW. Some of the best moments of description are what happens to Fiddler’s Green, and the description of that, but also Loki continuing his mischief. The episode was petty centric on Joanna Constantine and The Corinthian, but definitely ended on a dour note for Dream. The Institute- What a … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/12/25

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Abraham’s Boys

John Stark

Cast: Titus Welliver, Brady Hepner, Judah Mackey, Jocelin Donahue Written and Directed By: Natasha Kermani, based on characters created by Bram Stoker Original Score By: Brittany Allen Studio: RELJ/Shudder Release Year: 2025 Audio Description Provided By: Audio Eyes Written By: Sean Boggs Narrated By: Nicole Cyrille What Is It?: Abraham Van Helsing has left his pst behind him, moved his wife Nina, and their two sons all the way across the world to California, hoping to escape evil. But, evil is everywhere. Maybe evil followed them. Maybe… it never left them. I don’t normally hit big spoilers in my reviews, … Continue reading Abraham’s Boys

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The Ballad of Wallis Island

John Stark

Cast: Tom Basden, Tim Key, Sian Clifford, Akemnji Ndifornyen, and Carey Mulligan. Written by: Tom Basden and Tim Key, based on the short film. Directed By: James Griffiths Original Score By: Adem Ilhan Studio: Focus features Release Year: 2025 Audio Description produced By: Written by: Narrated By: what Is It?: A musician takes a high paying gig to supposedly play a concert for a small crowd on Wallis island. When he arrives, he realizes just how small the audience will be, and his benefactor has booked another act, forcing a reunion of a musical duo that broke up years ago. … Continue reading The Ballad of Wallis Island