Lakota Nation vs United States
I really do wish that AMC Plus would consider hosting all of the existing audio description, especially for its own AMC, IFC, and Shuddder titles. It actively makes them look like they are trying to dismiss the accessibility needs of a disenfranchised population. Hey, look, it’s a documentary about a disenfranchised population. What are the odds? I watched this without audio description, and while I’m sure this could have been made better, this is a pretty straight forward exploration of how we have continuously screwed over the indigenous populations of this country, especially the titular Lakota Nation. This has quite … Continue reading Lakota Nation vs United States
Bedknobs And Broomsticks
This little window of time where I keep watching random titles on streaming services that were nominated for Oscars but I still hadn’t seen has been rewarding. One of those titles is this film right here. Yes, I’ve never seen the utterly bonkers Bedknobs and Broomsticks. It feels like a project that was green lit because of the success of Mary Poppins, and Angela Lansbury jumped in because she was affronted that she wasn’t Mary Poppins, so she was going to do this… dammit. Disney has let Roundabout do the audio description, which has been a mixed bag in the … Continue reading Bedknobs And Broomsticks
The Small Screen Diaries- 01/18/24
Apparently Netflix turned The Gentleman into a TV show. Alright. Moving on…. Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Disney Plus) continues to introduce new characters with as little description of what they look like as possible. Ever wondered what Ares might look like? Keep wondering. Not the most recent episode of The Traitors (Peacock) but I did get the second episode out, and that first elimination really needed to set up the inevitable second quickly. I would have made more of a case to say “remember when I turn out to be faithful, the only reason my name even came up … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 01/18/24
The Small Screen Diaries- 01/17/24
The BAFTA nominations come out today. Excellence in British film. It could be a huge launching pad for All Of Us Strangers for the Oscars, if it was strongly embraced by the BAFTAs like All Quiet On The Western Front was last year. But, in TV world, no really solid news stories. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (Netflix) featured a jaw dropping return at the end, and more suspicions about that darn robot that keeps popping up that we didn’t really know was popping up because the audio description wasn’t tracking the robot, and pointing it out would have been a … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 01/17/24
The Small Screen Diaries- 01/16/24
I did noticed that Apple has picked up For All Mankind for another season, thankfully, since they left too many doors open in the season finale. Now onto The Brother’s Son (Netflix), which is barely a Michelle Yeoh show at this point. The second episode continued to shape the world, boosting TK as a character a little bit, and having the brothers run around with a head for the episode. I don’t hate the audio description here, and if anything, after hearing all that stuff about the dismembering of the body from the first episode, I felt that this show … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 01/16/24
The Small Screen Diaries: 01/15/24
The Emmys were last night, and Succession predictably did well, while Better Call Saul finished its run with not a single win for anything ever. I’m most excited for Paul Walter Houser who won Supporting Actor in a Limited for Blackbird, which was on Apple Plus in July 2022. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should. He’s fantastic. And now, the shows I actually did watch. My Life With The Walter Boys (Netflix) has some audio description that has grown on me. Of course, four episodes in and I have a bit more of a grasp on this show … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 01/15/24
Dog Day Afternoon
My readers are learning a lot more about which classics have eluded me all these years as I continue to fill the pre-Oscar nominee period with Oscar nominees I had never seen. Of course, this is a biggie. It’s usually on lists of the best films ever made, and I’m positive is on an AFI list of some kind. Sidney Lumet, making his second appearance in this timeframe, directs Al Pacino in an electric performance about a bank robbery gone wrong. Of course, they didn’t count on being up against One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. But, with multiple Oscar … Continue reading Dog Day Afternoon
society Of The Snow
Where I Watched It: Netflix English Description Provided By Descriptive Video Works Written By David Chen Narrated By Paula Hoffman Directed By JA Bayona I posted a review of this on my YouTube, and i happened to mention that the film was a little long. Not necessarily a bad thing, depending on how you pace the film, and someone commented that 72 days in the Andes is a long time. Well, yeah, and as intensely tragic as these circumstances are, the film isn’t 72 days long either. Movies are meant to capture and funnel the ideas into a more succinct … Continue reading society Of The Snow
Amistad
when I was in film school, there used to be classes that tackled the body of work of a prolific director. When I took it, I was lucky enough to land Alfred Hitchcock, so I’ve taken a class that was a full dive into the Cock. But, the semester before was Steven Spielberg, and perhaps I would not be here having to admit I never saw Amistad. Although, after having seen it, i can actually feel pretty good in saying it’s not in my top 10 for whatever year or crop of films it was against. Spielberg has heavy hitters, … Continue reading Amistad
The Too Much TV Roundup- 01/14/24
Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! I don’t think I watched anything yesterday that fits with today. Maybe I’ll try to do that on the day of, but then I’ll be mentioning it the next day. It’s like having a Newsweek subscription nowadays, when everything has already been discussed. The Critics Choice awards last night were pretty predictable. I did see one site refer to Emma Stone’s win as a “shocker”. Really? Yes, Lily won the Globe… but so did Emma. They were just finally in the same category. Interestingly, the same “journalist” had nothing to say about the “shocker” … Continue reading The Too Much TV Roundup- 01/14/24
Somewhere In Time
Believe it or not, this is an Oscar nominated film, which helped me on my journey to try and review an Oscar nominee I never watched before off all my streaming services. This was on FreeVee. I can honestly say, I’ve met people who *this* is their favorite film. I never quite understood that, but I’ve always been intrigued. Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour in a time travel romance. what could go wrong? Well, honestly, I don’t really know, because there’s no audio description. However, the plot is silly. Reeve plays a man who falls in love with a woman … Continue reading Somewhere In Time
The Unknown Country
I decided after her Gotham win that I needed to know about Lily Gladstone’s other film. It seemingly came out of nowhere, just suddenly winning her a Best Actress prize, and not for Killers Of The Flower Moon. I’m glad that I saw this even if it didn’t have audio description, as it gave me more of an idea of Gladstone’s range, but this film is about as independent as you can get. not that independent is really a genre, except to say it takes a lot more artistic choices than films aimed at the mainstream. It also does not … Continue reading The Unknown Country
Vanilla Sky
Where I Watched It: MGM Plus English Audio Description?: Yes Starring: Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Jason Lee, Kurt Russell, Timothy Spall, Noah Taylor, Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, Johnny Galecki, Ken Leung, and Alicia Witt. Written and Directed By: Cameron Crowe My Oscar shame tour is continuing up until Oscar nominations are announced, with me taking this time to review films I had never seen before that were nominated. MGM Plus had an odd selection, and most didn’t have audio description, or I had seen them. I landed on Vanilla Sky, which I have seen, because I figured time … Continue reading Vanilla Sky
The Small Screen Diaries- 01/13/24
The fourth episode of Squid Game: The Challenge (Netflix) just feels like filler. The audio description team, with Sri Gordon as narrator, is still doing solid work, but this episode was just a lot of dumb challenges. The only interesting one was having them vote off three people. That and the way they handled it was fine, and since we ended on a solid number, with 70 contestants remaining, it felt like that was where we needed to go. While I don’t know the results of the Jack In the Box game, it’s not everyone competing, and the fact that … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 01/13/24
Passages
This is another exploration of why we need audio description. I rented Passages after it started popping up in awards races, before I was ever granted access as a member of Film Independent. Apple wasn’t offering audio description, and with the film being distributed by Mubi, things weren’t looking good. There’s a lot of French here, so unless you are fluent, or French Canadian, likely Passages is going to get you with a language barrier. Even the role occupied with Ben Whishaw isn’t enough to make up the difference. he’s supporting, and the film is really about an un likable … Continue reading Passages
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