It’s that time of year, for the Best of Lists. Check out my post from yesterday, which ranked the other film critics I share space with on YouTube. I selected Adam Does Movies as my favorite Film YouTuber of 2023. Which streaming service earned top honors this year? And, more importantly, which one is on the bottom? As a blind film critic, I am primarily concerned with accessibility, and the commitment to it. I want to be able to tell another blind individual that a certain service prioritizes them at a level worth their money. So, that, in addition to … Continue reading Best Of 2023: Ranking The Streaming Services

Over the summer, I attended a virtual panel at the annual American Council of The Blind’s annual meeting, where representatives were invited to discuss all the amazing futures their services had regarding audio description. All of this was met with lots of promises of making sure audio description travelled, seeking out audio description as often as possible to make sure that as many titles had audio description on their service that they could get, all without any concrete numbers or goals moving forward as to intended goals for each service. For example, no service promised to be 100% audio described … Continue reading Accessibility Matters, But Are We Shouting into The Wind?

Halloween is swiftly approaching. I’ve already done lists for Hulu, Peacock, and MAX. Following the rules, I will try and recommend as many audio described titles that Disney plus has that qualify, and are worth recommending. i obviously haven’t seen every movie. If I can’t get to 10, I will fill in with non-audio described titles. 1) Coco Audio Description?: Yes I’m probably going to have this on my list every year. it’s a great film, and it has the distinction of being the last film i saw in theatres by myself when my vision was good enough to still … Continue reading 10 Titles On Disney plus To Scare You This Halloween

As much as Nicole Kidman would love to convince me that there’s really nothing like sitting in a movie theatre and seeing a movie on a big screen, sadly that just isn’t the case anymore. And it has nothing to do with the quality of the films, or the structure of these theatres. The seats are nicer, the concession stands frequently serve real food and alcohol, and by all accounts the theatrical experience has never been better. Except for blind people. Recently, I went to a theatre. I haven’t been to one in a while because as a former employee … Continue reading Why Blind and Visually Impaired People Avoid the Theatrical Experience

Yesterday, I passively attended a panel sponsored by the American Council of the Blind through their Audio Description Project on what they are all doing as streamers. in attendance were reps from Apple, Amazon, Disney (for both Disney Plus and hulu), MAX, Netflix, Paramount Plus, and peacock. The event was hosted by Carl Richardson, who has the temperament necessary to get these people to come back to the table each year. I do not. That’s why I’m over here, speaking my own thoughts, not endorsed or working for ACB/ADP. Of course, i have some thoughts. In my YouTube video, where … Continue reading My Ten biggest Takeaways From The Audio Description Panel

Just like I’m rolling out reviews of 40 of my favorite films (that have audio description) after rewatching them, as part of my personal celebration of turning 40, it’s time to talk about the 40 actors who are most likely to get me to watch a film. Favorites. Not the best. There are people I respect, who are terrific talents, but they just don’t draw me in. obviously, I also like more than 40 actors, so a lot of the people on this list will also be here because they have been in several of my favorite things. So, in … Continue reading 40 For 40: 40 Of My Favorite Actors

Last fall, I was attempting to do a seven day free trial of AMC Plus, but their app was so poorly designed, and I was having such a hard time navigating the app, and their customer service team couldn’t figure things out in time, so they comp’d me a year of AMC Plus. At the time, they had almost no audio description. I was told that AMC took accessibility seriously, and would be working on their app as well as expanding their audio description list. That hasn’t happened. After watching major series after major series drop on the platform, from … Continue reading When You Love The Walking Dead, And it Doesn’t Love you Back

I actually turn 40 years old at the end of the month. That time when you flip the first number seems far more likely to cause a rush of nostalgia, or some might call a mid-life crisis, so I’m living mine out by taking to my YouTube channel (YouTube.com/macthemovieguy) and reviewing some of my favorite films of all time. Comfort films. Films I find rewatchable over and over. I’m not saying these films needed Oscars, or that they are cinematic masterpieces, but to me… they kind of are. It’s possible that on my initial review of these films I might … Continue reading 40 For 40: Part 1

As the year begins, you’ll see a lot of little lists from me, mostly celebrating the best I saw in film and television in 2022. I’m spreading it out, and in no way am I starting with major categories. I’m still catching up on a few titles, so by starting small, it gives me a little bit more time to get those lists done. if you’ve been following me, you’ll notice that i have reviewed titles from Netflix, Amazon, hulu, Apple Plus, Paramount Plus, HBO MAX, Disney Plus, and AMC Plus. I’m not rating FreeVee separately, and I barely use … Continue reading Year End Rankings: Which Streaming Service Is On Top?

Recently, I talked about the lack of audio description on Bardo, and my experience asking for English Audio Description for a title directed by an Academy Award Winning director that has a much larger budget than your typical Netflix release. Technically, the film has two audio tracks. Spanish, and Spanish Audio Description, and while it offers Subtitles and Closed Captioning in multiple languages, it has only one audio. A fellow AD enthusiast decided to be the dissenting opinion on this topic, by saying this is typical of Netflix. But is it? Just randomly selecting titles Netflix is trying to throw … Continue reading So What Is Netflix’s Audio Description Strategy?