The Best Christmas Pageant Ever- A faith based holiday offering that doesn’t suffer from some of the poor production values of many underfunded faith based films.Featuring at least a few recognizable names in Judy Greer and Lauren Graham, the supposedly true story features a family of the worst children who find out that church gives out free food, and since they are poor, and their parents are quite literally never around, they start working the church. But, this is the time of the Christmas Pageant, and this church puts on a legendary pageant. This year, the lady who has been … Continue reading Going In Blind: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Big Boys, American Cats

This continues to serve as a reminder of all the shows that are currently on my “watchlist”, as I don’t always get to every show every week, and as new shows come in, old shows go out, or I just stop watching something I’m not invested in for the long term. Joining this week are: The Residence (Netflix), Good American Family (Hulu), Long Bright River (Peacock), Wolf King (Netflix), Top Chef (Peacock), Real Time With Bill Maher (MAX), Everybody’s Here with John Mulaney (Netflix), and the walking Dead: Dead City (Netflix). Winner: Severance (Apple plus) (Apple Plus) with audio description- … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: The Weekly Rankings

Looks like American Dad is exiting TBS, and headed back to FOX. What a strange journey. But, the show has managed to run for 19 seasons so far, so why stop it? TV Shows Watched: The Residence: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description, Yellowjackets: S3E6 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Reacher: S3E5 (Amazon) with audio description, The Traitors: UK- S3E2 (Peacock) no audio description, Berlin ER: S1E4 (Apple Plus) with audio description, Love you to Death: S1E5 (Apple plus) with audio description, SNL: Shane Gilles (Peacock) with audio description. Best Episode: Yellowjackets- Clearly, there’s a darkness that has followed all of … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 03/22/25

Venom: The Last Dance- We had three films in the Spider-Man Cinematic Universe in 2024, a move that likely stripped Sony of some of their cash flow, and this was easily the best of the three. Somehow, the people behind the Venom films have understood to some extent why Venom is popular as a stand alone character, and managed to craft a trilogy of films out of him. Still, with all the multiverse and Spider-Verse possibilities, I hope this isn’t the last we see of Venom, as he could be quite terrific in the right hands. But, in a slightly … Continue reading Going In Blind: Venom The Last Dance, La Cocina, Cash Out

The Front Room- Much like Brandy experiences in this film, this is shit. It is easily the worst thing A24 has released upon the world, and the nicest thing I can say is that at least Brandy was in a film that went theatrical. A24 didn’t even bother including this in their awards packages. The writing was on the wall. They teamed up with incompetent directors because their last name was Eggers, and made what is basically an awful Blumhouse movie, that might be worse than some of the Blumhouse horror films released in 2024. The “plot” revolves around a … Continue reading Going In Blind: The Front Room, Never Let Go, Boneyard

TV Shows Watched: Severance: S2E10 (Apple Plus) with audio description, Good American Family: S1E1 (Hulu) with audio description, Will Trent: S3E10 (Hulu) with audio description, Shifting Gears: S1E10 (Hulu) with audio description, Papa’s House: S1E13 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Going Dutch: S1E9 (Hulu) no audio description, The Daily Show: Thursday (Paramount Plus) no audio description, The Rookie: S7E10 (Hulu) with audio description, Abbott Elementary: S4E18 (Hulu) with audio description Best Episode: Severance- Of course. The Emmy nominated series closed itself out in fine fashion, with a battle between the two sides of Mark, both trying to save the woman … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 03/21/25

Kraven The Hunter- I have to believe that there are shenanigans going on at Sony, when JC Chandor (Margin Call) is incapable of directing a film in the Spider-Man Cinematic Universe that is worth watching. Chandor broke through with his impressive stock broker thriller, and then later took Robert Redford out on a boat for All Is Lost, a performance that should have landed Redford a nomination. So, what actually happened with Kraven? Is it that the film was ill conceived from the beginning, or has Chandor lost all of his skills? To be fair, I don’t hate this quite … Continue reading Going In Blind: Kraven The Hunter, Armor, The Listener

A Different Man- Sebastian Stan won a Golden Globe for this A24 awards bait, which elevated him into the Oscar conversation for a second film. Of course, he would end up nominated for The Apprentice, but his work in A Different Man is still part of a foundational building of a better Stan, one who is able to tackle deeper characters and tougher subject material. I think Sebastian Stan started out as just a pretty face. I remember him back when he recurred on Gossip Girl, and while he was fun, I never would have guessed he’d be the Winter … Continue reading Going In Blind: A Different Man, 2073, First Shift

Kicking off the diary today with an announcement. Tonight (3/21/25) at 8PM EST, I am hosting a panel on Diversity and Representation in Audio Description for Film and Television. I have invited a wonderfully diverse panel of audio description professionals to join me, and discuss if audio description is currently doing what it needs to do to support the diversity of the ensembles on screen, what could be done that could make a better focus on representation, and is the industry itself supporting a diverse talent pool and making efforts to hire the most appropriate talent for the job. You … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 03/20/25

The return: Ralph Fiennes reteamed with his English Patient co-star Juliette Binoche for a retelling of a Greek tragedy. Odysseus has returned home after quite an ordeal ((for more information, read up on Greek mythology), and has found his wife is basically being held prisoner until she chooses a new husband (who will then be the new ruler) and his son (Charlie Plummer) will likely be put to death so there won’t be a line of succession. It’s a little like Fiennes’s other 2024 entry Conclave, in that there is quite a bit of politicking going on, and jostling for … Continue reading Going In Blind: The Return, High Tide, los Frikis

Queer- In his effort to continue to establish himself as an auteur, Luca Guadagnino managed to release two films in 2024. One of them was the film fanatic darling Challengers, which somehow managed no Oscar nomination, and the other is thiss film. Queer, based on the book by William S. Burroghs is a complicated take on the human experience. What in our search for meaning in life, we often find that we look for meaning in many other things, reasonings, and connection. This is explored through a terrific lead performance from Daniel Craig, as an American ex-pat living in Central … Continue reading Going In Blind: Queer, Dandelion, Merchant Ivory

TV Shows Watched: Another renewal notice is Hulu’s Paradise, which is coming back for a second season. TV Shows Watched: daredevil: Born Again- S1E4 (Disney Plus) with audio description, The Righteous Gemstones: S4E2 (MAX) with audio description, Your Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man: S1E10 (Disney plus) with audio description, The Walking Dead: dead city: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description, The Wheel Of Time: S3E2 (Amazon) with audio description, The Daily show: Tuesday (Paramount Plus) no audio description, Suits: LA: S1E4 (Peacock) with audio description, and Running Point: S1E4 (Netflix) with audio description Best Episode: The Righteous Gemstones- A tough call, but after … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 03/19/25