Category: Movie Review

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Going In Blind: The Incomer

John Stark

Sumerian Pictures popped up on my radar earlier this year when they snapped up Sundance darling Josephine, surprising a lot of people who did not know what Sumerian was and weren’t entirely sure what that meant for the future of Josephine in terms of its awards possibilities. Despite the critical acclaim and its success at Sundance, will it actually go on to land any Oscar nominations this year? That’s still a question that has to be answered. But Sumerian picked up more than just Josephine. They also picked up The Incomer, the new Scottish comedy written and directed by Louis … Continue reading Going In Blind: The Incomer

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Going In Blind: The Deputy

John Stark

There are a lot of small towns out there. A lot of murders. That’s what I’ve learned from my years on this planet watching television shows and movies. Murder is not just limited to New York, although the Law & Order franchise would certainly suggest that crime happens there on a pretty consistent basis. No, sometimes murder breaks out in a small town where there’s a sheriff and a deputy, and not necessarily a whole squad of police officers or different departments scattered across the city. Sometimes there are just a couple of guys responsible for keeping everybody safe from … Continue reading Going In Blind: The Deputy

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Going In Blind: Funny Money: The Dane Cook Story

John Stark

I didn’t even know we had made a Dane Cook documentary, and it gave me a Tourgasm. Boy, I wanted it to. Ultimately, though, despite my adoration of Dane Cook, and despite the fact that he seems to have fallen completely and totally out of fashion, I struggled with Funny Money: The Dane Cook Story. The documentary is interesting if you know nothing about the situation involving Dane and his half-brother, Darryl McCauley, who stole millions of dollars from him while managing his finances. Dane and Darryl apparently had a strong familial connection despite technically being half-brothers, which obviously makes … Continue reading Going In Blind: Funny Money: The Dane Cook Story

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/20/26

John Stark

Normally, when I do the Small Screen Diary, I start with the actual order in which I watched the shows. Today, I actually want to throw American Hostage, Season 1, Episode 1, right up at the top. This is the new MGM+ drama, and it was actually one of the later things I watched during the day, but it also had one of the more interesting audio description tracks. I didn’t get to listen to the credits at the end, so I don’t have the full AD information yet, but some choices are definitely being made here. This is the … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/20/26

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Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear

John Stark

I often refer to documentaries like this as content creation, because it seems like with the rise of streaming services has come the rise of, “Let’s send a camera crew to follow a celebrity that people will want to watch a documentary about, and let’s bring in some easy views.” You can tell which ones they didn’t put a lot of time and attention into, and which ones are actually a labor of love. Something like last year’s John Candy documentary comes to mind, or even this year’s Martin Short documentary, directed by his longtime friend Lawrence Kasdan. Then you … Continue reading Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear

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Pressure

John Stark

Literally every time I think of this movie and its title, I think of “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie, specifically that bassline right at the top, the one Vanilla Ice repurposed for “Ice Ice Baby” and then got into some legal trouble over. I hear it every single time. I don’t know why, but that is the pressure that has been put on me by the film Pressure: trying to remember the lyrics to a Queen and David Bowie song. Pressure is a nice, pleasant surprise for the year, a World War II drama that somehow manages to … Continue reading Pressure

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Going In Blind: First They Came For My College

John Stark

As a Floridian, I was acutely aware of what had happened to New College of Florida. It became part of the larger battle over education in this state, stretching from elementary schools all the way through our public universities. New College was a particularly strange target. This is a small public honors college in Sarasota, with a campus that incorporates part of the former estate of Charles and Edith Ringling. It wasn’t known for athletics. It was known for taking a different approach to higher education, giving high-achieving students considerable freedom in structuring their studies and encouraging unusually close interaction … Continue reading Going In Blind: First They Came For My College

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Where Did The Adults Go?

John Stark

I am pleasantly surprised that this little indie film, with actors no one would necessarily consider bankable, yet who are very talented, somehow managed to get an audio description track. I think the selling point here is the fact that disability is actually central to the story, which you would think would initiate the demand for accessibility across the board. Sadly, that’s not true. I would point toward Netflix and its release of Color Book this summer, a film where a disabled youth was at the center of the story, yet the film did not have an audio description track. … Continue reading Where Did The Adults Go?

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Supergirl (2026)

John Stark

I hate to say it, but I think Greta Gerwig would have killed this movie. It could have been great. Instead, for reasons unbeknownst to everybody, we got Craig Gillespie, who sort of lacks a singular voice as a director and is utilized a bit more to plug into various different genres. He just seems to be able to make a broad film for audiences, whether it’s comedy, action, horror, or something else. He’s touched all of the genres, and now he’s coming for Supergirl. The problem is that he’s coming for James Gunn’s Supergirl. Because make no mistake, this … Continue reading Supergirl (2026)

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The Mandalorian and Grogu

John Stark

Sometimes being able to Monday morning quarterback a film is a little bit more interesting, because you get to see the car accident of film critics clashing over the initial release, fighting to get their opinions out there and determining whether or not they have the most valid opinion in the marketplace. Well, hold my beer, because the blind film critic has entered the chat. I did not see The Mandalorian and Grogu on the big screen. Of course, I really don’t see anything on the big screen, thus the blind film critic part. Instead, I watched this with audio … Continue reading The Mandalorian and Grogu

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Tyler Perry’s Why did I Get Married Again

John Stark

The benefit of having aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes is that you can find critics who come from all various walks of life, with different perspectives, approaching each film from a different angle, with a different background and a different subset of films that we’ve seen throughout our lifetimes. Different upbringings, different life struggles, so on and so forth. And in this regard, you have stumbled onto a review of a Tyler Perry movie. But not just any Tyler Perry movie. The third film in the Why Did I Get Married? franchise. And you get to read this from the perspective … Continue reading Tyler Perry’s Why did I Get Married Again

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Going In Blind: The Weight

John Stark

Jumping back into the review fray with Vertical’s acquisition out of Sundance, The Weight. This Ethan Hawke historical drama premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, where it was eventually acquired by Vertical for distribution, landing on a September release date. This didn’t used to be a strong month for releases, but every once in a while somebody throws a strong blockbuster into September, confusing people and making them think it’s suddenly a valid month for consumers. Really, what usually happens is they have a title so big it doesn’t matter where it opens because it’s going to draw people … Continue reading Going In Blind: The Weight

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Mayday

John Stark

I really didn’t know what to expect from Apple’s new film Mayday, which skipped a theatrical release despite the star presence of Ryan Reynolds and was slotted into early September. The late August and early September period around Labor Day used to be considered the doldrums of theatrical releases. Every once in a while, a film would challenge that idea, obviously, but this isn’t necessarily when people release their best films. So, with Apple dropping Mayday here, I was definitely a little worried. However, I was encouraged by the directorial team of John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who previously … Continue reading Mayday

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The Runner (2026)

John Stark

I got to The Runner slightly later than a handful of other critics, so I had already watched its Rotten Tomatoes score rapidly plummet and seen most of the ire targeted specifically at Gal Gadot. She seems to be a fairly easy target nowadays. Her choice of films, her limitations as an actress, her thoughts on various topics—pick one. I’m sure there’s a reason why you or someone you know doesn’t like her. However, she is not the reason this movie fails. She is merely one piece in a catastrophic puzzle that Amazon has decided to thrust upon the world … Continue reading The Runner (2026)

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The Whisper Man

John Stark

Do you know the Whisper Man? He’s nothing like the Muffin Man, so if you do know the Whisper Man, you might want to stay away. Maybe not from this film, though. The Whisper Man has sort of its own identity in that it’s not as terrible as a slew of other Netflix original titles, but it’s also not going to launch into the upper echelon of the few, the proud, the Netflix originals that make the subscription worthwhile. It’s basically a one-time-watch type of film, especially given how much it hinges upon a twist ending. Directed by James Ashcroft, … Continue reading The Whisper Man