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 Small Screen Diaries: 06/21/2026

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: House Of The Dragon: S3E1 (HBO MAX) with audio description, Widows Bay: S1E5 (Apple) with audio description, Berlin: S2E2 (Netflix) with audio description, Mia: S1E3 (peacock) with audio description, Last Week Tonight: Most Recent (HBO MAX) no audio description, Dutton Ranch: S1E4 (Paramount) with audio description House Of The Dragon- The Dragon That Had Yet To Be defends The Queen That Never Was, to the chagrin of the Prince Who Will Never Be, and all because The Spare Who Shouldn’t Be and The Queen Who Is are fighting over the Land That Shall Become. Roy Samuelson performs … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 06/21/2026

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The Best And Worst Nominees At The 2026 Dorian TV Awards

John Stark

GALECA The Society For LGBTQ Entertainment Journalists recently announced their nominees for their Dorian TV Awards, and it should come as no surprise, Heated Rivalry did very well. Of course, so did Hacks, which has been a favorite of GALECA for its entire five seasons. Here’s my thoughts on the best and worst of the Dorian Award nominees.The Worst: Missing Categories I’m going out on a limb to say it’s weird to have a Limited Series category, but the actors are shoved into comedy and drama. For anyone who follows TV at all, this choice disproportionately affects the Drama races. … Continue reading The Best And Worst Nominees At The 2026 Dorian TV Awards

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The Small Screen Diaries: 06/21/26

John Stark

Big week for returning shows. House Of The Dragon just came back last night, with the final season of The Bear dropping this week, as well as the second season of Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix, and The Agency with Michael Fassbender on Paramount Plus. And don’t forget, Avatar: Fire and Ash lands on Disney Plus on Wednesday. TV Shows Watched: From: S4E9 (MGM Plus) with audio description, Star City: S1E3 (Apple) with audio description, Million Dollar Secret: S2E4 (Netflix) with audio description, Top Chef: Final 6 (Peacock) with audio description, Pop Culture Jeopardy: S2E7 (Netflix) with audio description, … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 06/21/26

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Going In Blind: Color Book

John Stark

Color Book is the perfect film arriving at the perfect time for Father’s Day. After building a strong reputation on the festival circuit and picking up awards along the way, Color Book finally landed on Netflix on June 19, giving a wider audience the chance to discover this deceptively simple story about a father trying to take his son to a baseball game. Of course, there has to be a little more to it than that. The film is shot in black and white, a stylistic choice that gives Atlanta an almost timeless quality. But the most notable decision is … Continue reading Going In Blind: Color Book

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The Small Screen Diaries: 06/20/26

John Stark

Happy Father’s Day to all those out there who are, who ahve one, who don’t have one, and all the father figures in our lives. TV Shows Watched: Vladimir: S1E9 (Netflix) with audio description, The Audacity: S1E3 (AMC Plus) with audio description, Half Man: S1E6 (HBO MAX) with audio description, Ted: S2E4 (Peacock) with audio description, Young Sherlock: S1E7 (Amazon) with audio description, Pop Culture Jeopardy: S2E6 (Netflix) with audio description, Virgin River: S7E7 (Netflix) with audio description, and The Four Seasons: S2E4 (Netflix) with audio description Vladimir- Still making my way through this limited series about a professor whose … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 06/20/26

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Love Story: Season 1

John Stark

Ryan Murphy is undeniably talented. That’s what makes Love Story, JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette so frustrating. This isn’t a trainwreck. It isn’t even bad television. In fact, there are moments throughout the series that remind you exactly why Murphy became one of the most influential television producers of the last twenty years. The problem is that the qualities that once made his work feel daring and emotionally insightful now increasingly feel secondary to a desire to shape reality into whatever version of the story he finds most entertaining. Love Story doesn’t suffer from incompetent writing. It suffers from selective … Continue reading Love Story: Season 1

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Never Change

John Stark

Many of us have probably imagined what a high school do-over might look like. Maybe we’d make better choices. Maybe we’d get better grades. Maybe we’d finally talk to the person we spent four years quietly admiring from across the cafeteria. Maybe we’d avoid the mistakes that still occasionally pop into our heads decades later. High school occupies a strange place in our memories. As adults, I’m sure there are things you learned in high school you realize you have yet to use on your own, but there are also skills and knowledge you found missing after you graduated. Why … Continue reading Never Change

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The Small Screen Diaries: 06/19/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: The Night Agent: S3E10 (Netflix) with audio description, Criminal Record: S2E6 (Apple) with audio description,Ghosts: S5E8 (Paramount) with audio description, Off Campus: S1E4 (Amazon) with audio description, Malcolm In The Middle: Life’s Still Unfair: S1E4 (Disney Plus) with audio description, RJ Decker: S1E9 (Disney Plus) with audio description, Abbott Elementary: S5E19 (Disney Plus) with audio description The Night Agent- A full tilt finale, which took me a while to get to, but it is done. Peter gets one more season, and perhaps a partner. Since they are bringing Rose back, it could be her, or Chelsea, or … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 06/19/26

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Whistle

John Stark

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Whistle beyond the fact that it was a horror movie, but that’s a pretty wide spectrum these days. Horror can be genuinely inventive and elevated, or it can be pure schlock. Whistle lands somewhere in the middle. It takes ideas we’ve seen before, makes a few adjustments, and ends up feeling fresh enough to stand out from the crowd of teen horror movies where characters get picked off one by one. The twist here is that the killer isn’t a masked slasher with a knife. It’s an antique wooden whistle. Blow it, … Continue reading Whistle

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Voicemails For Isabelle

John Stark

I’ve always had a soft spot for a good melodrama. Not necessarily a feel-good movie, but the kind that mixes romance, grief, humor, and heartbreak into a story that asks audiences to spend a couple of hours with characters navigating extraordinary circumstances. Netflix’s Voicemails for Isabel absolutely fits that mold, and more importantly, it understands something that a lot of modern romance dramas seem to have forgotten. In recent years, we’ve seen a wave of adaptations from authors like Colleen Hoover. Films like It Ends With Us, Regretting You, and Reminders of Him often begin with tragedy and then build … Continue reading Voicemails For Isabelle

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The Small Screen Diaries:06/18/26

John Stark

Today is Juneteenth.Yesterday, was my best friends birthday, which is relevant only to those who keep wondering how I chose or got Mac The Movieguy. Because I’m old, I grew up in the internet rollout period, and I had been friends with him since before kindergarten because our Moms were friends. So, I saw him even after moving away. We slowly became two very different people, so on one trip back, from my small town in rural Missouri, to Fort Myers, FL, he had a computer set up in his bedroom, complete with internet.I had just gotten a computer, but … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries:06/18/26

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Going In Blind: Maddie’s Secret

John Stark

You can tell a lot from a feature directorial debut. We’ve already seen that this year with filmmakers coming from outside traditional Hollywood paths, but for an established comedian like John Early, there’s already a certain expectation about the kind of film he might make. As one of the more prominent queer comedians working today, and someone whose work often comments on identity and performance, his first feature could have gone in almost any direction. Instead, he gave us Maddie’s Secret. Maddie’s Secret feels like an amalgamation of the things that have inspired Early throughout his life. In fact, it … Continue reading Going In Blind: Maddie’s Secret

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The Small Screen Diaries: 06/17/26

John Stark

I’m angry. Netflix cancelled The Boroughs, which feels like a personal attack. They killed it prior to awards season, I guess assuming that the show would be incapable of landing on anyone’s radar with this talented cast. The show apparently already had a season 2 writers room, and negotiations had already begun for a second season with the cast.Boo. One more terrific one-and-done from the streamer behind My Life With The Walter Boys, Ginny And Georgia, Virgin River, Sweet magnolias, and I’m starting to see the pattern. Netflix: We’re Like Hallmark, But Better Funded TV Shows Watched: Detective Hole: S1E4 … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 06/17/26

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Hoppers

John Stark

At least as of this review, I’ve seen every single Pixar film, which is an achievement in and of itself. Seeing the complete works of any studio is impressive, even if it’s “just” an animation studio like Pixar. And I don’t think anyone is making the argument that Hoppers belongs at the very top of Pixar’s catalog. I also hope nobody is making the argument that it belongs at the very bottom. Realistically, it’s somewhere in the middle, probably almost smack dab in the center. Pixar has struggled in recent years to create the kind of transcendent works that defined … Continue reading Hoppers

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The Small Screen Diaries: 06/16/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Witch Hat Atelier: S1E12 (CrunchyRoll) with audio description, XO Kitty: S3E4 (Netflix) with audio description, Spider-Noir: S1E5 (Amazon) with audio description, Monarch: S1E8 (Apple) with audio description, Crutch: S1E7 (Paramount) with audio description, and The Daily Show: Monday (Paramount) no audio description Witch Hat Atelier- Morena Babu (whose name I assume I’m not getting correct) is an excellent AD writer. This series has terrific writing, which really captures the magic and fantasy of the show, while always trying to bring some flair of the artistic choices. Here, we got a flashback to Richi’s past and why she … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 06/16/26