Category: Movie Review

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Code Eight: Parts 1 and 2

John Stark

Netflix has these frequent releases, and one of them was something called Code Eight: Part Two. Immediately, I was like… there was a Part One? How did I miss this? When did I miss this? Well, a few years back, Netflix decided to release a superhero themed original starring the Amells (Robbie and Stephen) and I guess it checked a metric for them. I never remember this happening. But at the speed it took for this sequel to come out answers the question of why we still haven’t seen that Old Guard sequel that was green lit. That means I … Continue reading Code Eight: Parts 1 and 2

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Damsel

John Stark

Millie Bobby Brown needs to have a deal with… life. The poor girl basically is living inside Netflix, as the star of Stranger Things, which will probably air its final season when she’s 30, and the Enolah Holmes series, Brown is of course doing Damsel for Netflix. The problem with that, is that Netflix has a movie vomit approach to its platform, and it is so hard to parse which films are worth your time just by assuming it’s the new Friday release. Netflix has so many mediocre movies with movie stars they could stock a defunct Blockbuster with just … Continue reading Damsel

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Frida (2024)

John Stark

Amazon has quietly released a documentary about Frida Kahlo that is uniquely animated to represent her style, and is told through her Owen voice and/or words. The draw here would be, well, the drawings. The animation bringing to life this story, and doing so in a way inspired by one of the most recognizable artists of all time. However, as a blind film critic, it was really just a documentary. Without the ability to wow me with the visual intentionality, how did the audio description help Frida? Well, the audio description done here by the Media Access Group has quite … Continue reading Frida (2024)

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Mea Culpa

John Stark

I’ve seen more Tyler Perry projects in my life than I think I ever truly intended to. Granted, when I started all the way back with Diary Of a Mad Black Woman, I heard that he was big in black culture, but I was far more impressed by the performance Kimberly Elise turned in than his focus stealing Madea character that became such a focus of nearly every film after that. I’ve sat through far more Perry projects than most directors I actually enjoy on a regular basis. The last film I remember Tyler Perry giving to Netflix was A … Continue reading Mea Culpa

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The Greatest Night In Pop

John Stark

Ah. The 80’s. What a wonderful time. I don’t remember much of it, and the parts that I do remember revolve almost entirely around toys, cartoons, and elementary school, so I was not really aware that We Are The World had so much that went into it in order to make it happen. Of course, I am familiar with the song, and knew it had a bunch of famous artists that worked on it, but I didn’t know that in 2024 we would get a documentary exploring just what went into the production of this song. First, this is a … Continue reading The Greatest Night In Pop

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Ricky Stanicky

John Stark

Peter Farrelly returns to his comedy roots with this Amazon original that is sure to leave you feeling like this was, in fact, a movie that you just watched. There will be no doubt, you just sat through a film, and not anything else. A funny film though? Well, comedy is often subjective. Lots of people are really into Tom Green. I’m not. But, for those people, they think he’s funny. Someone out there will find this hilarious. The plot centers around a group of kids who get into trouble, and make up a fake friend who is to blame … Continue reading Ricky Stanicky

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Megamind vs The Doom Syndicate

John Stark

I should have been alerted to the quality of this when it just showed up on Peacock with little to no fanfare. Kung Fu Panda 4 went theatrical, and it did so without the Furious Five involved. So, if Dreamworks was willing to make massive sacrifices for a theatrical sequel, imagine what they were willing to do for a straight-to-streaming sequel. Of course, gone is the charming original star studded voice cast of Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, and even David Cross. Instead, we’ve got… Laura Post. Wait, what? Come to find out, Laura does more than … Continue reading Megamind vs The Doom Syndicate

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We Have Always Lived In The Castle

John Stark

Sometimes I still review a film without audio description. This popped up on Hulu, and Hulu and IMDB can’t seem to agree on when this was released. It might qualify as 2024, but probably not. This is a weird little thriller about two sisters, played by Alexandra Daddario and Taissa Farmiga, who lose their father and live in a time when women need men to guide them. They have an uncle (Crispin Glover) who is certifiable, but seems like a nice guy, and then in comes a cousin (Sebastian Stan) who may have ulterior motives. Reasons for audio description: 1) … Continue reading We Have Always Lived In The Castle

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Luca

John Stark

As people discuss the downfall of Disney, and the lackluster output by Pixar, I need to point out always that Luca is terrific. This Spring, taking advantage of a release schedule altered by the strikes last year, Disney released Soul, Turning Red, and Luca theatrically, since they did not receive theatrical runs due to the pandemic. I thought Soul was good, but I wasn’t obsessed. I’m not a big Turning Red fan, but Luca is delightful. Taking place off the coast of an Italian fishing village, this is a story of discovery, adventure, family, taking risk, and making the most … Continue reading Luca

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Mean Girls (2024)

John Stark

They call themselves The Plastics. They’re shiny fake and hard. Sometimes, when you strive to appease everyone, you end up appeasing no one. Luckily, that isn’t the case with mean Girls, the musical adaptation that hit theatres in 2024, but it does suffer from a lack of identity. The movie is neither a complete reimagining of the original film. Or a faithful adaptation of the musical. Hell, it isn’t even a new version of the musical, in the way that they just fill the movie with new songs. It tries to be everything. On Wednesdays we wear pink. Get in … Continue reading Mean Girls (2024)

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Players

John Stark

I want to enrich my cinema experience. I want to watch less bad, or mediocre movies. But the problem is, I actually like certain actors. So, when Netflix regurgitates something with a generic title like Players, I ignore it. Then I notice it stars Gina Rodriguez (Jane The Virgin, Not Dead Yet), Damon Wayans Jr (Happy endings, let’s Be Cops), and Tom Ellis (Lucifer), and I really am genuinely supportive. The same thing happened with Dan Levy’s writer/directorial feature debut earlier this year. Normally, with a lesser known actor,I would have passed on Good Grief. Netflix keeps hiring actors I … Continue reading Players

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Orion And The Dark

John Stark

I would have liked this concept to go to basically anyone but who actually made this. Arguably, even Dreamworks knows they didn’t stick the landing, which is why you are just now hearing about this as a Netflix original. It’s Dreamworks Animation. This is the same parent company that was more than happy releasing Ruby Gilman Teenage Kraken last year, and had no problem putting Megamind Vs The Doom Syndicate straight to Peacock. Meanwhile, they ditched this. Joke is on them, because it is better than that Megamind sequel (more on that in its own review). Orion and the Dark … Continue reading Orion And The Dark

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The Trolls Trilogy

John Stark

In preparation for watching the third entry in the series, Trolls Band Together, I decided to just do the whole darn trilogy. Somewhere back on my site is my reaction to the original Trolls, which I was able to see before losing my eyesight and transitioning to blind film critic. So I understand the character designs. The second film, I skipped. i didn’t like the second. Now, I’m trying to talk about audio description, so let’s just cover all three of them, shall we? The first one introduces us to the world of Trolls.I had a few of these as … Continue reading The Trolls Trilogy

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Upgraded

John Stark

There are fleeting moments in the audio description where I feel like the description is strong. There are moments where I feel like it isn’t making the best choices. And, there are long moments where it seems like there is no audio description. Upgraded is in many ways a film you’ve already seen. A young woman looking to move up in her field must deal with her difficult boss while working on a huge life changing opportunity and juggling this cute new guy she just met. That is this film in a nutshell. They just change some things around, throw … Continue reading Upgraded

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Lift

John Stark

Sometimes, i don’t mind seeing a film just a little bit after the flood of critics and online haters. It really gives me perspective. I always approach every movie as neutral as possible, but often, the crowd is right. Maybe not quite to the extremes.While I didn’t really care for either Meg 2 or The Expend4bles, I definitely saw worse last year. Lift was getting that kind of bad press, and I’m going to lightly disagree. It’s not worth fighting over, but in a rotten/fresh, thumbs down/up world, I’d recommend this over not recommending it. Kevin Hart leads an all-star … Continue reading Lift