Big Daddy: 25th Anniversary
25 years ago, Adam Sandler put out a film that launched the career of the twins that would go on to Suite Life their way to one of them living in Riverdale, and this year starring in Lisa Frankenstein. And to think it all started because Dylan and Cole Sprouse could wipe their own ass. I would say I’m a Sandler fan. Some of his films are desert island comedies for me (Billy Madison, happy Gilmore, Big daddy, The Wedding Singer, and maybe even 50 First Dates), I saw him do solid acting in films other people ignore (Reign Over … Continue reading Big Daddy: 25th Anniversary
Exploding Kittens: Season 1
Oh what a difference a generation makes. I remember when it was such a huge scandal to have God, The Devil, and Bob on NBC, and here we are on Netflix with a series that has a boardroom in Heaven vote to turn God into a cat, and make him spend time on earth, and God is voiced by Tom Ellis (Lucifer). Whoever made God, The Devil, and bob should pitch a revival. The easy plot is that both God, and the daughter of the Devil are sent to earth as cats where they both interact with the same family, … Continue reading Exploding Kittens: Season 1
The Descendants: The Rise Of Red
Somewhere way back there, I reviewed Disney’s Descendants, because it became this phenomenon, and I have touched base with a few of their big touchstones. I made sure to check out the first two High School Musical film, I’ve seen Camp Rockk, and of course Descendants. Now, The Rise Of Red is on Disney Plus, both the first and most recent effort are Deluxe by Laura Post. So, rather than go yet another review of the first film, let’s just leapfrog. This version has basically set the original crew free. There’s a nice tribute to the deceased Cameron Boyce, but … Continue reading The Descendants: The Rise Of Red
The Small Screen Diaries- 07/28/24
So, after a week off, we’re back. The format is going to change to reflect more of what I was doing in the audio description essentials, and I will acknowledge any program I watched, with or without audio description, because I want to continue to engage shows that need audio description. Generally, I’ll kick it off with any film/TV news I want to tackle, move into the list of what I watched (including some extras now) and then focus hard on one title for the day. So, the only news I want to talk about is that the Robert Downey … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 07/28/24
Sausage Party: Foodtopia- Season 1
Eight years after the film, Seth Rogen has assembled as many of the celebrities who would be willing to do this as possible. Four. He got four voice actors to return. And he saved money by really just paying Will Forte and Sam Richardson, and then relying heavily on unknown voice talent to fill in the rest. This show asks important questions like… what happened next? The answer is simple. Food killed all humans. I mean, in some ways, that is a commentary on highly processed food, but in the first episode, they tackle rain. They killed all humans and … Continue reading Sausage Party: Foodtopia- Season 1
Sausage Party: A Second Look
Yes, I’ve reviewed this film before. The great thing about maintaining a website this long is that someone can look back and see what I initially wrote about Sausage Party. with the release of the new Amazon series Sausage Party: Foodtopia, I took the advantage of Sausage party being on Netflix, with audio description, to watch and see how the audio description holds up and compares. Also, is this film still funny? I do want to type this part out. It’s important. This film stars the vocal talents of: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Edward Norton, Salma … Continue reading Sausage Party: A Second Look
Space Cadet
Emma Robert’s press tour for this was a nightmare. It’s never good to go out and talk about how film criticism has devolved before your film comes out, because it hasn’t. There are just more film critics. I can promise Emma, that if we went back to the simpler times, with eight critics as she remembers (which never happened in her lifetime), her Rotten Tomato score would still be zero. I look at this, and I wonder what Emma saw in it to defend it so much. The movie is based around a young woman (Robert’s) who once was super … Continue reading Space Cadet
Speed: 30th Anniversary
Often when critics and various awards groups gather at the end of the year to honor the years best, it is with a very narrow view of what we thought best represented that year.Many times, blockbuster films, or even films that just didn’t reach a wide enough audience, end up being rediscovered, or really holding on and becoming an essential film standing the test of time. This is often the toughest job of all, because film critics and historians can always pull lesser known films throughout the years, but the truth is that a film like Speed ends up with … Continue reading Speed: 30th Anniversary
The Audio Description Essentials- Day 7
I’ve been doing this long enough now that now whenever a decision is made to release a film without audio description, I feel like it is because they feel like we can watch it without audio description. Because, if the implication was anything other than that, they should and could create a cheaper version for us that filters to give us just the audio described content, so we are paying the appropriate price for the amount of content described. As an example, let’s say you were paying 10 dollars for StreamingPlus, and that made up service actually had 10% of … Continue reading The Audio Description Essentials- Day 7
The Audio Description Essentials- Day 6
Really, something I haven’t jumped into quite as much individually is casting in audio description. Is someone’s voice right for the project? No narrator is appropriate for all situations. that just isn’t a thing. At some point, that voice is out of its comfort zone, and it starts to sound off putting, or it clashes with the project it is narrating. Some of the best talents do have a broad range, because they can change up their vocal performance. That allows them to sound serious enough for an Oscar bait drama, or light enough for a comedy, and even engaging … Continue reading The Audio Description Essentials- Day 6
Legends Of The Fall: 30th Anniversary
Edward Zwick’s sprawling romantic epic turns 30 this year, so naturally, it’s time to take a grown up look at this film. I remember parts of this, from a part in time when my mom would make me close my eyes during certain sequences. Not that 11 year old me was really excited about Legends of The Fall, but it does feel like we should revisit it. After all, it is an Oscar nominee, and has an impressive little ensemble of Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt, Julia Ormond, Aidan Quinn, and Henry Thomas. Hopkins plays the patriarch of this family living … Continue reading Legends Of The Fall: 30th Anniversary
The Audio Description Essentials: Day 5
Welcome back to this deviation. I’m taking a look at specific programs and discussing their needs, because not every project is the same. This goes beyond the basics, which are things like “who is in the room?”, “who entered/exited the room?” “Who is talking, and to who?”, which are often things we take for granted, but addresses the nuance of how every project is different, though they may share a likeness when they share a genre. I’m hoping to elevate the conversation on audio description, so people don’t just want/expect the bare minimum, and certainly do not recognize it as … Continue reading The Audio Description Essentials: Day 5
The Imaginary
This is the year of imaginary friends I guess. I’ve seen three films centered around them, and this is my review of the second. Netflix has an animated adventure about an imaginary friend, who becomes worried that he’s being forgotten, and gets some help from other imaginary friends on how to stay alive. It’s actually kind of interesting how this film handles imaginary friends, with them disappearing if forgotten, but they find safe havens, like libraries, that radiate with enough imagination to keep them alive. However, when our main imaginary friend suspects that something might be wrong with his human, … Continue reading The Imaginary
Back To Black
The short life of Amy Winehouse is explored in this biopic by Sam Taylor Johnson, who starts with a clearly very talented Amy (Marisa Abela) before she signs to a major label, and her career explodes. Her tumultuous life is explored in a somewhat neutral tone, where no one really seems to be at fault, including Amy, for anything that happened. While she begins a rocky relationship with what many of her fans believe was an enabler, but much like everyone in Amy’s life, it seems to suggest that no one really tried to make her go to rehab, but … Continue reading Back To Black
The Audio Description Essentials: Day 4
The fourth in my new way of breaking down the individuality and special needs of different shows. This goes beyond simple entrances and exits, and dives a bit more into the nuance and specificity of each program. The Small Screen Diaries are on hiatus, which was more concerned with mentioning everything I had watched with audio description, and this is designed more to directly address specific programming needs, and whether or not those shows are meeting them. Occasionally, a show may not have audio description at all. Time Bandits (Apple Plus) S1E1 and S1E2 Kevin is an 11 year old … Continue reading The Audio Description Essentials: Day 4
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