Category: Movie Review

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Win A Date With Tad Hamilton: 20th Anniversary

John Stark

Win A Date With Tad Hamilton: 20th Anniversary- We Deserve This. Quick Take: A movie that hasn’t aged well. While the premise of a young woman from a small town getting the opportunity to date a matinee idol seems like a charmer, the movie is more about her eventually realizing her boss, who even tries to exude his influence on her to thwart her chances with Tad Hamilton, is the guy for her. yes, they were friends presumably before he got promoted, but this feels icky. You’ll want Kate Bosworth to choose herself. Netflix had it with audio description though. … Continue reading Win A Date With Tad Hamilton: 20th Anniversary

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Wimbledon: 20th Anniversary

John Stark

Wimbledon: 20th Anniversary- A Second Look- Still An underrated Charmer Quick Take: I used to think I was the only one who enjoyed this. It opened in September of 2004, and was not a box office hit. But, what a great year to revisit this, and Netflix had it with audio description. Challengers made tennis sexy again, and Wimbledon, which features winning performances from Paul Bettany and Kirsten Dunst is a charmer, even if it isn’t memorable in the grand scheme of cinema.A nice watch and trip down memory lane. For more, check out the video. Continue reading Wimbledon: 20th Anniversary

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Boys Don’t cry: 25th Anniversary

John Stark

Boys Don’t Cry: 25th Anniversary- A Second Look: Still Very Resonante In 2024 Quick Take: It has been 25 years since Hilary Swank burst onto the screen with her Oscar winning performance as Brandon Teena, a performance that some believe today should have been played by a trans actor. The truth is, it likely would not have had the same profile, as it already felt subversive for 1999, just existing. I don’t even remember this opening near me until after it won the Oscar. I came from a rural area, like brandon, and the truth is that LGBTQ culture in … Continue reading Boys Don’t cry: 25th Anniversary

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Do The Right Thing: 35th Anniversary

John Stark

Do The Right Thing: 35th Anniversary- The Original Spike Lee Joint Quick Take: While not Spike Lee’s directorial debut, it does feel like his arrival. Lee fans will always remember what came before, but this was lee making his typical statement and socially conscious movie and getting Oscar recognition. Many feel this is still his best work, and they are justified in feeling that. it is hard to watch this movie today, and think of how violence plagues us just like this today. the emotional resonance of this film, and a real life event like George Flloyd’s murder cannot be … Continue reading Do The Right Thing: 35th Anniversary

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Election: 25th Anniversary

John Stark

Election: 25th Anniversary- A Timely Look Back On High School Politics Quick Take: Election didn’t work for me when I was 16. It came out when I was being bombarded by teen movies in 1999. It wasn’t until later, when I realized how good Alexander Payne was, that I revisited it, and understood all the nuance. It works more as an adult, and revisiting it this year with audio description was fun. I think because of Tracy Fleck, the movie has held the test of time thus far, and people still are exploring Alexander Payne’s body of work. For more, … Continue reading Election: 25th Anniversary

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Boy Kills World

John Stark

Boy Kills World- A Bloody Good Time Bill Skarsgard situated himself with three movies in 2024. One of them isn’t good. This is not that one. This is, thankfully, a bloody good time at the movies. The plot is fairly simple, following a lot of the same revenge laden films we’ve gotten since John Wick made everyone realize the importance of their pets, which now has taken on an almost comedic tone. Nobody, starring Bob Odenkirk, certainly started to lean the genre in that direction, but Boy Kills World goes full on graphic violence, while maintaining a very obvious tone … Continue reading Boy Kills World

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Much Ado About Dying

John Stark

Much Ado About Dying- We All Eventually Will, But Gracefully? A new documentary aims its lens at aging, gracefully or otherwise, and captures its subject perfectly in a lighting in a bottle type scenario. I actually related quite a bit to the themes of this documentary. My childhood was half spent taking care of my grandfather in a nursing home. When I was 10, I lost my grandmother, and I moved with my Mom to a small town with one nursing home, and my grandfather required full time care. He was already a full time wheelchair user, and a combination … Continue reading Much Ado About Dying

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Bad Boys Ride Or Die

John Stark

Bad Boys Ride Or Die- Is 4th Time A Charm For Smith and Lawrence? It is funny how sometimes the things we don’t like really stand out, almost like the reverse of rose colored glasses. You start out by not liking something, and sometimes time looks even less fondly upon that thing. Ride Or Die isn’t a bad fourth outing, with some nice cast additions, and decent villains, but it really went for a joke and beat it to death. the movie features Martin Lawrence cheating death, near the beginning of the film, and he has this messiah thing going … Continue reading Bad Boys Ride Or Die

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Didi

John Stark

Didi- Kids Actually Feel Like Kids In This Winning Indie Featuring Joan Chen While it has been a minute since I’ve viewed Focus Features Sundance acquisition, I’m aware this is being campaigned as a possible Supporting Actress bid for Joan Chen.Knowing that, I expected to be moved by her work, but the film really is just mostly about kids doing shenanigans, with a hint of that specific culture thrown in. Chen plays the Grandmother to our lead, an aspiring artist. The film really does belong to the main kid, and the silly things kids do, but Joan does have some … Continue reading Didi

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The Small Screen Diaries- 11/30/24

John Stark

I managed to do all below, and put up the Christmas Tree. Just remember that when you see only 3 shows, and 4 movies. I managed a tree in here as well. Why do blind people put up trees? I’m not the guy to answer that. I like this holiday, I like trees, I had amassed some pretty cool non-traditional ornaments that I like to continue to use. Not very many people come inside, but it is always a nice conversation starter when they as “Is that Batman on your Christmas Tree?” yes. yes it is. TV Shows Watched: The … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 11/30/24

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Lonely Planet

John Stark

Lonely Planet (Netflix)- Laura Dern Is Sucked Into The Netflix Paycheck Algorithm Laura Dern took the paycheck. She’s a great actress, an Oscar winner, so good for her to get one of the Netflix movies of the week reliant upon one or two big names. hell, Nicole Kidman anchored a movie and series for Netflix this year. So, why not Laura Dern? She even gets to have the much younger Liam Hemsworth as her co-star and love interest. However, considering this film still needs a plot, that is where we come up short. Dern plays an author who has come … Continue reading Lonely Planet

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Don’t Move

John Stark

Don’t Move (Netflix)- A Spooky Season Review San Raimi jumped on as producer to help boost the profile of this horror/thriller. I can see why, from the stance that there’s certainly something there, but at the same time, the film does constantly overplay its hand. The plot of the movie revolves around a woman who meets up with a guy who is actually a serial killer, and he kidnaps her, with plans to do what I’m sure he’s done a dozen times before. He has injected her with a paralytic, but before the paralytic takes full effect, our final girl … Continue reading Don’t Move

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Sting

John Stark

Sting- A Spooky Season Review Are you afraid of spiders? Well, then Sting is for you! When you think about what a scary movie is supposed to do, then you realize you should watch things that scare you. Alien spiders? Sign me up. Thinking back to all those cheesy monster movies from back in the day where actors looked like they were acting in front of a large screen with some insect being blown up to extraordinary size, and Sting feels like how far we’ve come. I do nod my head to Eight Legged Freaks, and of course Arachnophobia, for … Continue reading Sting

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Carved

John Stark

Carved (Hulu)- A Spooky Season Review I would not be surprised at all if the VFX didn’t live up to the expectations of sighted audiences. Luckily for Carved, you can have Asylum level VFX, and I’d have no idea, but I can just assume this production didn’t have the highest of budgets. that’s not to say you need a large budget, and for something like Carved, it would be hard to play broadly. Carved is a horror comedy about a mutated pumpkin that reaches its breaking point, coming alive, and murdering all those who dare to carve a pumpkin on … Continue reading Carved

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Woman Of The Hour

John Stark

Woman Of The Hour- A Spooky Season Review? As someone who can see the FYC campaigns coming my way, it dos make me wonder where Netflix is with Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut. This is something that should be in the mix, and very much has opportunities to be honored at least by various critics groups. Certainly, Anna Kendrick for a first time feature category seems like a strong contender. But, Netflix is leaning hard on Emilia Perez, The Piano Lesson, and Maria.In comparison, I’ve received FYC campaigns for everything from Sonic The Hedgehog 3, Horizon: Chapter One, to the maligned … Continue reading Woman Of The Hour