I generally don’t venture too much into the true crime genre, as it seems like every week someone has made a new documentary, docuseries, or episode of a newsmagazine that focuses on someone being murdered, or going missing, somewhere. I know people love this entire sub genre of television, just like they prefer procedural dramas over non-procedural shows with more linear storytelling. Crime doesn’t pay, but it sure does sell. Night In west Texas made the long list of documentary features that have qualified for the Oscars this year, so perhaps the branch will also embrace their inner true crime … Continue reading Going In Blind: Night in West Texas

I’ve now seen this twice. the benefit of having screeners, is when I have a film like Plain Clothes, where I certainly had questions, I can give it a second go before doing my review. There are so many little things I do all the time to figure out if I interpreted a film as intended, when the audio description doesn’t exist, and sometimes a second viewing is warranted. Not only am I a blind film critic, advocating for accessibility, but I’m also gay, and find that queer cinema is still stuck mostly in niche territory. Every once in a … Continue reading Going In Blind: Plain Clothes

For your consideration: josh O’Connor. In anything. I kicked off the year with Josh in a little film called Bonus Track, which was based off a treatment he wrote. He has since appeared in four films all in the proximity of the Oscars. You could consider him for The History Of Sound, the Mastermind, Rebuilding, and Wake Up dead Man. this guy can’t stop and won’t stop. For this he brought along future Oscar 2026 nominee Amy Madigan, as well as a solid ensemble. And, for what it is worth, his performance here is impressive. It reminded me a little … Continue reading Going In Blind: rebuilding

perspective is everything. I’m Abe to watch films from the comfort of air conditioning, with food and drink easily in reach, and without the fear of being bombed in the middle of all of it. of course, we all have struggles, and trying too compare to race to the bottom seems fruitless, as despite circumstances, there is almost undoubtedly someone who has less, and worse. All we can do is take the life we’ve been given, and shine light on things around us that need improving. That’s why this review is titled going in blind, because that’s my perspective, and … Continue reading Going in Blind: Put Your Soul On your Hand And Walk

it is depressing to start a review like this, but in my history of needing to chase down audio description for screeners, it is a rarity for me to encounter a studio including audio description without me asking for it. this means that anyone, not just me, has the access. let’s be honest, in all the considering happening out there, people are bound to be watching screeners with family, and that family might be low vision or blind, or the individual considering the film might be, as it is fully possible to be members of these guilds and be blind. … Continue reading The smashing machine

Many already believe this is one of the best Stephen King adaptations, and perhaps it is. The bar can be rather low sometimes. Francis Lawrence was the right man for the job here, having already conquered a dystopian future with the Hunger Games (which Quentin Tarantino is apparently NOT a fan). So asking Lawrence to once again direct young actors in a situation where only one survives, and the government is responsible, is spot on. So if you’re signing up for a long walk, could it be even better? Yes. the movie takes place in the future where a post … Continue reading the Long Walk

Multiple things can be true. Marlon Brando can be one of the greatest actors in terms of talent and performance there ever was and ever will be. he can also be, at the bare minimum, problematic, and possibly even a whole lot more. I actually think the audacity in naming the film waltzing with Brando is almost like nodding to the last Tango in Paris incident, which the film has nothing to do with, and couldn’t care less about. This came my way through FYC season, and watching Billy Zane attempt to play Brando should have amounted to a little … Continue reading Going In Blind: Waltzing With Brando

Blindness has opened a world of horror films to me that I was too chicken to watch the first time around. I’m not a big fan of cheap jump scares, because there’s a difference between being startled and scared. The latter actually lingers, and stays with you. You can be startled by damn near anything anytime, without necessarily being scared of it.If you’re sitting in silence, a loud noise will make you jump, which is something horror directors thrive on time and time again. So I avoided The Conjuring. It looked like it was full of jump scares back in … Continue reading The Conjuring: Last Rites

if you’re a glutton for grief, wait until Friday and make a double feature of Hamnet and the Thing With feathers, and just let all those feelings out.An emotional cleansing. when i first heard Benedict Cumberbatch was in a film about loss, featuring a bird, I was reminded of Tuesday, which released last year with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. This one takes an even darker tone, but does it work? Cumberbatch plays a widower still reeling from the loss of his spouse, and trying to figure out how to raise his two young boys without her.n He’s also an artist, who earns … Continue reading The Thing With Feathers

Ain’t no rest for the weary kind. In Train Dreams, the newest Oscar bait coming out of Netflix, we follow an individual through the course of his life, and mange to do so in under two hours. That’s kind of part of the theme of Train Dreams, a film that seems to question not just how much control we have over our own destiny, but how significant we are in the grand scheme. So to summarize this life in less than two hours, also drives home the idea that perhaps we are only legends in our own minds, and our … Continue reading Train Dreams

Would you rip through the fabric of time and space just to snatch some vintage garb, or go antiquing with your friends, at the expense of your own health? Probably. Sadly, a lot of people would choose blue poo as a side effect of stealing goods from the past and bringing it to the future, which is why everyone needs to know that Time travel is Dangerous! This is an inspired British indie mockumentary about two women running a vintage shop in the UK, who also happen to have a Time Machine. Don’t ask questions. If you were perfectly fine … Continue reading Going In Blind: Time Travel Is Dangerous

I would have been pleasantly surprised if Netflix had changed strategies this year and decided to commit to audio describing all their International films in consideration, but alas, they have not. Left Handed Girl does sit in the same world as Il Conde from a few years ago, where they did bother to do a dub track, so I have an understanding of Taiwan’s Oscar submission. Directed by Shi-Ching Tsuo, a frequent collaborator of Academy Award Winner Sean Baker, who is making her solo feature debut here, the premise stands as being what I talk of when I lament the … Continue reading Going In Blind: Left Handed Girl