Category: Movie Review

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The Lost Children

John Stark

The Lost Children (Netflix)- Documenting The Rescue Of Plane Crash Survivors In Harsh Conditions Quick Take: I’m not mad for watching this. It was an interesting story about groups of very different individuals converging to rescue indigenous children after a plane crash. this is a documentary based on a real story of how some children survived a small plane crash in the Amazon, and how they came to be found. A wonderfully complex story, that I wish had audio description. it does have an English dub, as the movie is not in English. However, technically, since you never visually understand … Continue reading The Lost Children

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The Wild Robot

John Stark

The Wild Robot- Dreamworks Beautiful Spin On What It Means To Be A Parent Quick Take: I’ve been waiting to catch up to this point. This is on my list of films to rewatch when I have free time. I caught this in the middle of my awards screener blitz, and it is the best thing Dreamworks has done since How To Train Your Dragon. Following the story of a robot created to help humans, who finds herself lost in the wild where there are none, the robot (voiced by lupita Nyong’o) has to adapt to her new surroundings. We … Continue reading The Wild Robot

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Family Pack

John Stark

Family Pack (Netflix)- Jean Reno Anchors This French Jumanji-esque Adventure Quick Take: Jean Reno stars in French Jumanji, as Netflix has chosen to dub this adventure where a family is pulled into a videogame where a scared village is trying to hunt down werewolves. The various family members end up with their own quirks, but it turns out one of their own might be a lycan, and they have to figure out a way to save them, and get out of the videogame. It is French jumanji, especially since the newer remakes deal with being sucked into video games. the … Continue reading Family Pack

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Quality Check: Back In Action

John Stark

I’m quite backed up in terms of reviews of 2024 titles. I wanted to shake things up a bit, so this is hopefully a first in a series for me. As of me writing this, I have not seen this movie. These thoughts are first impressions and immediate reactions to moments in the audio description track. I’m not sure, at the onset, who made this, who narrated, or who wrote it, so we’re in this cold. Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz star. Diaz hasn’t done a film in years, and you would think Netflix would give her a better slot … Continue reading Quality Check: Back In Action

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Cruel Intentions: 25th Anniversary

John Stark

Cruel Intentions: 25th Anniversary- Still Just A Bittersweet Symphony Quick Take: one of the rare instances where an adaptation or a remake of a source material gains life of its own. Much like how 10 Things I Hate About You went on to have life beyond just the movie, despite just being an adaptation of The Taming Of the Shrew, this adaptation has a straight-to-video sequel that started as a FOX pilot, a stage musical, and a recent Amazon series. roger Kumble’s sexy teen drama from 1999 still can put it wherever it wants. I have nostalgia problems. I often … Continue reading Cruel Intentions: 25th Anniversary

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Red Rooms

John Stark

Red Rooms (2024)- A French Canadian Indie Hit In Need Of Audio Description Quick Take: this is a quickie. Red Rooms was recommended to me, and I also was given a screener. Sadly, to my knowledge, this movie has no known English audio description. It is also a French Canadian thriller, and while it may have fans, i can’t read the subtitles. I need audio description for films not in the English Language. Nevertheless, I sat through this, since the assumption always is that if a film is presented to me without accessibility, it must be in a form that … Continue reading Red Rooms

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The Last Showgirl

John Stark

The Last Showgirl- Pamela Anderson Is Mind Blowing In This Dramatic Turn Quick Take: I’ve had the opportunity to debate this quite a bit since seeing this film, and I prefer to reward talent when i truly believe they are near or at the top of their game. So in a year where Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Kate Winslet, Soarise Ronan, and others delivered strong performances, none of them were definitively their best. In what is like watching a baby walk for the first time, that can’t be said of Pamela Anderson who was matched perfectly to the right role … Continue reading The Last Showgirl

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Afraid (2024)

John Stark

Afraid (2024)- Hey Siri, Tell Alexa There’s Nothing Remotely Scary Here Quick Take: I refuse. They tried to follow the AI horror title M3gan, with their own obnoxious title, Afr1d, which is just totally unnecessary. The whole film is unnecessary. this film isn’t scary, there are no consequences, and it is fundamentally everything wrong with cheap horror. John Cho, who seems to get sucked into shitty horror movies rather easily, is the father of this family that gets a special advanced AI, but things start happening, and the AI starts manipulating the children. It is a bafflingly useless movie, which … Continue reading Afraid (2024)

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Look Into My Eyes

John Stark

Look Into My Eyes- A24 Does Documentaries As Well Quick Take: I watched this as part of my screener packet from A24. They did not include audio description. My only viewing, which the video reflects, is that of no audio description. You can catch the film on MAX now with audio description. I’m not looking forward to watching it again anytime soon, so this original review stands. I wasn’t a huge fan of the psychic/medium documentary, and there are other movies I’d rather watch a second time first. This may not do much for you, as you can now access … Continue reading Look Into My Eyes

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Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind: 20th Anniversary

John Stark

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind: 20th Anniversary- Still An Unforgettable Masterpiece Quick Take: We live in a wonderful time where studios like A24 and Neon are boosting interesting filmmakers, and challenging wide audiences to like films not initially thought to be mainstream. That’s how we get something like Everything Everywhere All At once. But, how is it that in this great age, with the rise of filmmakers like Ari Aster and Robert Eggers, that Michel Gondry is nowhere to be found? I realized, after enjoying Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind for the umpteenth time, that Gondry was a … Continue reading Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind: 20th Anniversary

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Blink Twice

John Stark

Blink Twice- A Strong Directorial Debut From Zoe Kravitz Quick Take: A few actors had really strong directorial debuts in 2024. dev Patel ((Monkey Man) and Anna Kendrick (Woman of The Hour) both proved they have potential, but I was most impressed with Zoey kravitz and her work on the thriller Blink Twice. What a difficult audio description track to write. It is also a hard movie to review, as it gets twisty, and I want you to watch it without anything being spoiled. loosely, the film centers on a waitress who catches the eye of a tech millionaire, and … Continue reading Blink Twice

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Romancing The Stone: 40th Anniversary

John Stark

Romancing The Stone: 40th Anniversary- Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny Devito Quick Take: If I had a bucket list of films I knew I needed to watch for whatever reason, I would have had this Robert Zemeckis flick on there. It has been on there for 40 years, and it took an anniversary release for me to get off my ass and finally knock this one out. I think every film critic who isn’t claiming Medicare still has films. There were just so many years of film before I was born, and then every year, more is created. Still, before … Continue reading Romancing The Stone: 40th Anniversary

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War Of The Roses: 35th Anniversary

John Stark

War Of The Roses: 35th Anniversary- Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny Devito Quick Take: Both Romancing The Stone and War Of The roses hit anniversary years in 2024. The latter, directed by Danny Devito, is something I feel like I saw my mom watching once, tried about five minutes, and then it was over my head. As a kid, I really loved my kids centric fare, so I could have seen this anywhere from 1989-1993 and not understood or cared. Now, I see this as a nice reread for Michael Douglas and Kathleen turner. It isn’t the best. I think … Continue reading War Of The Roses: 35th Anniversary

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Kneecap

John Stark

Kneecap- An International Hopeful With Audio Description! Quick Take: From what I can tell, because I’ve seen almost the entire shortlist, this is one of two International Oscar hopefuls with audio description. If you’d like to check it out, Sony Pictures Classics currently has this on Netflix. It is Irish, and centers around the preservation of the Irish language, in staunch defense to the British colonial rule that seems to perpetually plague the Irish. They speak this language to keep it alive, and Kneecap is actually a punk rock band that rocks out in Irish. There is a fair amount … Continue reading Kneecap

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Oh Canada

John Stark

Oh, Canada- Richard Gere, Uma Thurman, Jacob Elordi, Paul Schrader Quick Take: Another screener without audio description. Paul Schrader, whose last film I also did not have audio description for (Master Gardener) is back with Richard Gere, Uma Thurman, and Jacob Elordi for a Wes Anderson adjacent look at a man who was a draft dodger. There’s some quirky quality in interviewing the man as an older man (Gere), and seeing him in flashbacks as his younger self (Elordi). However, even though Schrader occasionally knocks films out of the park, which gets me interested, it does seem like his last … Continue reading Oh Canada