The Ballad of Songbirds And Snakes
Young adult or not, I really enjoyed The Hunger Games franchise. I actually read the books before watching the movies, and it is one of those odd franchises where I didn’t hate all the changes. yes, I could get really nit picky especially around characters totally left out of the books, but some of the aspects that were changed made sense. If you’ve only seen the films, for example, when it is just down to the final three in the first book, the game unleashes these human/wolf hybrids using the reanimated corpses of the fallen child tributes. I’d imagine that … Continue reading The Ballad of Songbirds And Snakes
Kokomo City
Shortlisted for the Documentary Feature Oscar, Kokomo City landed on Paramount Plus without audio description. It is a shame, because we never really get to know the ladies of Kokomo City that way. This feature finds a few trans sex workers in the Miami area and lets them tell their stories. It does feature a few other interviews, with potential male clients, but it’s a bit nebulous to follow without the audio description. As a fan of the documentary Paris Is Burning, I can’t help but see the stark contrast time has given to this community. With a touchstone documentary … Continue reading Kokomo City
The Small Screen Diaries- 02/29/24
Actually typing out the 29th of February feels like a mistake, until you convince yourself that yesterday was, in fact, Leap Day. So, how did I spend it? With some disappointing audio description. Of course, that means Abbott Elementary (ABC/Hulu), which Disney has apparently just decided to throw down the tubes this season for blind people. If ABC wanted to experiment with whaat seems to be AI generated audio description on every level, perhaps start with not your number one show. Just a thought. Over on Will Trent (ABC/Hulu), this show did have audio description, but it really felt lacking … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 02/29/24
The Small Screen Diaries- 02/28/24
I did happen to see an encouraging statement from one of the stars of Criminal Record (Apple Plus) that was confident a second season was happening, which is great because I just finished the first, and for a very predictable series, it was surprisingly well done. The acting is excellent, the audio description is terrific, and I would fully watch with anticipation a second season. I do not get One Day (Netflix). I don’t like this couple I’m supposed to like. This lead guy is annoying. I don’t hate the audio description, though I’ve seen some grumbling about it online. … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 02/28/24
The Small Screen Diaries- 02/27/24
I do typically now avoid continuing to platform shows without audio description, but I have to say that watching The Daily Show and Jon Stewart’s tribute to his dog that passed the day before was very moving. While I do not currently have a dog, I have had them before, and I miss them very much. It is so odd in life that we as humans chose long ago to pair ourselves to creatures that do not have an average lifespan remotely near ours, always setting us up for some kind of grief. No matter what you feel about Jon … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 02/27/24
The Small Screen Diaries- 02/26/24
Let’s kick this day off with the big new debut. The Ones Who Live (AMC Plus), which AMC has finally added audio…. Oh wait. no. They haven’t. This show, like Daryl Dixon, Dead City, and the flagship show completely lacks audio description. Great. I wish the show I love loved me back. I’m stuck in an emotionally abusive relationship with The Walking Dead universe, ever since my vision loss. One of the biggest TV shows of all time, which has produced now SIX spinoffs, has no audio description. In Comparison, one of the biggest and longest running TV shows, NCIS, … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 02/26/24
The Small Screen Diaries- 02/25/24
Let’s go ahead and get the big title out of the way first. Avatar The Last Airbender (Netflix) is finally out, and I even conferred with a friend, a sighted one, who is obsessed with the original series. he loves the new show, and hated the movie. I think his direct quote was “The first 15 seconds of this show are better than that 3 hour movie”, and went on to tell me all about the actors, and how close they look and act like their cartoon counterparts. as a late stage fan, who technically has seen all Airbender related … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 02/25/24
Nei Nei and Wai Po
I just want the world to know, that as a blind film critic, I take on this years Oscar nominees as presented to me. Disney Plus currently has this nominee for Best Documentary Short, and much like they’ve been doing with all their other Oscar hopefuls, they said “hey, you know those blind people? yeah, fuck em. Fuck em hard, the Mickey Mouse way.” I totally sat through this film which is entirely in another language, so i could write a review that pointed out that yet again, Disney Plus has put out another Oscar film without audio description.Bobby Wine: … Continue reading Nei Nei and Wai Po
Journey To Bethlehem
I gotta admit, I was expecting something else. i certainly wasn’t expecting this very odd musical that panders to everyone about the birth of Jesus. This movie seems catered to try and rope in teenagers who don’t go to church. The best part? It has audio description. readily accessible audio description. Other faith based films from 2023 like Jesus Revolution and Sound of Freedom hit streamers without their tracks, but this odd rock musical with Antonio Banderas as a jealous King had audio description day and date on Netflix. It is basically the story. It just has a very modern … Continue reading Journey To Bethlehem
The Small Screen Diaries- 02/24/24
Man, i hope the SAG awards stay on Netflix. no commercials. Say anything you want. Fantastic. The predictable awards were predictable, and the other trophies painted a picture of the Actor and Actress race. Cillian Murphy has now won both the BAFTA and SAG, defeating Paul Giamatti at both. I cannot shake the feeling that Giamatti is winning for The Holdovers. It may just be because of how much I adore Paul, but I love both films and performances. On the actress side, Lily Gladstone closed the gap between her and Emma Stone by winning the SAG Actress trophy, while … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 02/24/24
Ferrari
Michael Mann deserves more love than he’s gotten in his career. I think people forget he directed Heat, and somehow assume based on the casting it was Martin Scorsese, but it isn’t. He also did excellent work with The insider, and I even enjoyed his little seen Black Hat. Ferrari isn’t Heat, it isn’t perfect, but it also walked away with zero Oscar nominations. Did it deserve that fate? For my blind fans, you can watch this film on demand right now. It’s from Neon,which had been sending their films to Hulu. The existence of audio description isn’t super consistent … Continue reading Ferrari
Suzume
Nominated for a Golden Globe for best Animated Feature, this CrunchyRoll film caught my attention. i just didn’t want to pull that trigger right away. It doesn’t have audio description. in fact, nothing on CrunchyRoll has audio description. Perhaps, that is the best reason for me to have watched this, because if Sony’s streamer doesn’t show a metric that there is a demand among the blind community for audio described anime, then will they ever choose it on their own? CrunchyRoll as a streaming service predates many existing services that currently have audio description, including MAX, Peacock, Apple Plus, Tubi, … Continue reading Suzume
All Dirt Roads Taste Of Salt
The title is a lie. I found a dirt road, and it did not taste of salt. it tasted awful. Luckily, this feature debut from Raven Jackson, and has a few Independent Spirit Award nominations. As a voter, I was provided with a screener. As a blind voter, I was not provided with accessibility. As a human being, I was ignored by A24, so I hope Raven can take some solace in the fact that I did actually pay to watch a film I had a free screener too just because I’m disabled and apparently that’s a big problem for … Continue reading All Dirt Roads Taste Of Salt
The Small Screen Diaries- 02/23/24
Last night, I was on the panel discussing this years nominees at the Oscars, and their audio description tracks. I had a blast, and a huge shoutout to The Audio Description project, The American Council of The Blind, and my fellow panelists Erika, Carl, and Renee, for inviting me to be a part of the experience. No idea how broadly watched this program was, but I did really have fun talking about this year’s best films. I wish Poor Things had its VOD drop already so I could have been 10/10 of the Best Picture nominees. On the TV side, … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 02/23/24
The Small Screen Diaries- 02/22/24
Big TV news for fans of True Detective! HBO has ordered a fifth season of the anthology drama following the success of the just wrapped fourth season. Also, Paramount Plus put a ring on those tossed salads and scrambled eggs, and the Frazier revival is officially returning for a second season on the streamer. Now that Julia is axed, will David Hyde Pierce guest star? The Traitors (Peacock) is getting rough. I don’t think the shows producers even expected someone to turn down being a traitor, so they had to move quickly to come up with some episode extending twist … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 02/22/24
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