Scoop
Films about journalism have had a broad impact, as we have classics like All The President’s Men and Spotlight, and even well-reviewed but slightly less classics like Frost/Nixon and She Said. So I’m sure someone thought that the world really wanted a film about the earth shattering Prince Andrew interview from 2019. Instead of making a broader look at that Epstein scandal, this is laser focused on just how this interview came to be. It’s the kind of minutiae that definitely wasn’t going to rock the box office. but sliding it onto Netflix, and who knows? right? Much like the … Continue reading Scoop
The Small Screen Diaries- 05/04/24
Was the fourth with you always yesterday? Well, for me it was. I checked out the new animated Star Wars entry Tales Of The empire (Disney Plus), and after realizing how short it was, I did the whole thing. So that’s behind me now. It’s basically a sequel to Tales Of The Jedi, but with a new focus, and one on the darker side, focusing on elements of the empire, and some series staples like General Grievous. The show has excellent audio description by Descriptive Video Works, which immerses us with narration from Jamie Treacher. While I’m not sure the … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 05/04/24
Night Swim
Night Swim hurts like jumping off the high jump with a belly flop into a kiddie pool. If you thought I was going to buck the trend on night Swim, and tell you it is the most groundbreaking horror of the year, you haven’t seen Night Swim, or you just woke from a coma since birth, and this was the only movie you’ve ever seen and have no point of reference. Night Swim ultimately fails to deliver any chills or thrills, and instead devolves into a frustrating mess. Whether it is underveloped characters, a half baked plot, or its reliance … Continue reading Night Swim
The Book Of Clarence
I actually remember when religious outrage was a thing. Films suffered backlash because of their thematic elements. Somehow, and likely because it flew completely under the radar, there wasn’t any noise here. Still, this basically was abandoned and buried at the beginning of January with a theatrical release that was extremely underwhelming. So, is this the next Dogma? No. The director of The Harder They Fall has once again assembled an insane cast, including Lakeith Stanfield, who pulls double duty as twin brothers. One of them is a disciple of Jesus, the other is Clarence. Clarence is just a regular … Continue reading The Book Of Clarence
The Wages Of Fear
Sadly, I’m not talking about the 1956 version. No, I clicked on a random Netflix title, and I got a French action film that somehow passed the audio description quotient at Netflix. i don’t understand why I can see this with audio description, but Oscar nominees Roma, Bardo, and El Conde all lacked audio description. Three filmmakers whose content I’m actually interested in, and this random terrorist thriller got audio description. To be fair, it got AI audio description. And while I might have mistaken some human voices as AI in the past, I will not budge. This is not … Continue reading The Wages Of Fear
The Small Screen Diaries- 05/03/24
Since today is Star Wars Day, let me start off by saying May The 4th Be With You. but, this is about the shows I watched on the 3rd, which isn’t Star Wars Day. So, no Star Wars here. Sorry, Force fans. Second day in the row i get to talk about how audio description for an ABC show failed to make it to Hulu. This week’s episode of Abbott Elementary (ABC) had no audio description as of 6PM EST on 05/03/24. This episode is from Wednesday, so it really should have had it. The episode was still fun, but… … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 05/03/24
Wish
Wish landed with all the enthusiasm of an audience that did not enjoy the 2022 Disney entry Strange World. There was too much weight on this film being a part of Disney’s 100 years celebration. It was supposed to somehow represent the totality of everything that came after Walt first conceived the mouse that would go on to launch an empire. Somehow, Wish would bring in the audiences who loved early Disney animation like Snow White and The Seven Dwarves, the middle years with 101 Dalmatians, the dark times of The Black Cauldron, the renaissance of The Lion King, the … Continue reading Wish
The Boys In The Boat
This was a late stage potential Oscar spoiler. Amazon posting a George Clooney directed film over the Christmas frame felt so much like what they tried to do with The Tender bar. While Ben Affleck did get a little traction for his supporting turn in that film, these Boys rowed on a path to nowhere. perhaps, because, we’ve seen an inspirational sports drama about almost everything already. So, a film about the underdogs at the historic Berlin Olympics who got there by rowing crew, perhaps wasn’t the Oscar bait we thought it might be. Based on the best-selling novel of … Continue reading The Boys In The Boat
The Small Screen Diaries- 05/02/24
I’ll start off with the good news! The Connor’s is coming back for a short final season on ABC. So they will get to finish on their own terms. Now the less good news. I did try to watch Jeopardy Masters (Hulu) and no audio description was available. This is disappointing, not that it stopped me, as I’m there to try and answer those trivia questions too, but I did want to point that out. I made it through the third episode of Dead Boy Detectives (Netflix), which I’m really enjoying, and even though they have a ‘case of the … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 05/02/24
The Truth Vs Alex Jones
In the grand tradition of versus movies like last years Lakota Nation vs United States, or more comically lined up entries like Godzilla Vs Kong, Freddy Vs Jason, Ecks Vs Sever, or Joe Vs The Volcano, now we have another battle. Though, much like if Joe were to actually be fighting a real volcano, there is a clear winner here and it isn’t Alex Jones. This MAX documentary with audio description from Zoo Digital.I’m sure that if you are here, you already have an opinion, and you have already made up your mind if this is in your wheel house … Continue reading The Truth Vs Alex Jones
The Small Screen Diaries- 05/01/24
X-Men 97 (Disney Plus) is back again this week with the first in a two parter, which hopefully isn’t the season finale but probably is. Bastion has revealed himself and his plan, and the X-Men are outnumbered and outgunned, even with the additional support from Cable.Some classic phrases during this episode, including Beast and his “My stars and garters!” And Professor X with “To me, my X-Men!”, not to mention the iconic phrase “Magneto was right.” Shoutouts to Omega Red and Silver Samurai were welcomed, and seeing Roberto finally using all of his powers to save Jubilee was nice. Can … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 05/01/24
The Small Screen Diaries- 04/30/24
I’ve seen some stuff on the internet where I guess the woman who feels that Baby Reindeer (Netflix) is about her is calling herself a victim. That’s an interesting take. One thing is for sure, the producers of the show do not consider Martha to be a victim. Episode 3 got a little more nuts as she continued to get a little more over the top, and we’re still in the first half of this series. Like, she’s physically attacking people, and spending hours upon hours outside his flat. I’m scared of where this goes. The audio description is terrific … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 04/30/24
Lisa Frankenstein
Sometimes it’s fun to watch the reactions to a film, and then to watch it for myself, and still enjoy a film that seemingly not many people enjoyed. I think that is very much the case with Lisa Frankenstein, which is currently streaming on peacock with audio description. The directorial debut of Zelda Williams, the daughter of the late Robin Williams, off a script from Juno scribe Diablo Cody. Clearly, Williams has a quirky sense of humor, no doubt influenced by her father, and all the gaming they did together. Robin was a big fan of World Of Warcraft, and … Continue reading Lisa Frankenstein
The Small Screen Diaries- 04/29/24
I started off my day with the cheerful Ripley (Netflix), which really put the audio description to work. He killed again, and the attention to detail as Tom spent all this time trying to figure out how to dispose of a body, and clean everything up, really made me appreciate the audio description so much more. probably the best example so far of why this episode needed audio description, even if I did get the stomach churning image of Tom kissing a corpse thanks to the description. So gross. Renegade Nell (Disney Plus) is just a surprise charmer of a … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 04/29/24
Little Wing
We’ve made a movie about almost every single sport there is. I think what happened here, is that someone noticed that there was a gaping hole where “racing pigeons” was, and decided to write an inspirational sports drama around that. Sadly, instead of this making any sense whatsoever, they rope in an angsty teenager as the lead. So, a sport almost no one knows anything about is talked about by teens like they probably talk about the latest hashtag trends. At its core, it is a heartwarming film with room for improvement. A coming of age story wrapped in a … Continue reading Little Wing
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