Tag: Ariana DeBose

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Scarpetta: Season 1

John Stark

It dawns on me that with all of the crime procedurals we have on television, and how it constantly feels like there’s a new detective or investigator showing up across networks, streaming services, and film franchises, there must be twice as many living on the shelves of libraries waiting for their turn. Every time one series ends, somebody discovers another bestselling author with twenty novels sitting there ready to adapt. The latest character to join that ever-growing lineup is Kay Scarpetta, Patricia Cornwell’s legendary medical examiner, who finally gets her own television series courtesy of Amazon. The show has already … Continue reading Scarpetta: Season 1

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Going In Blind: Tow

John Stark

Rose Byrne had a great 2025. Technically it bled into 2026, the year she actually heard the words “Academy Award nominee,” but the film that earned her that recognition, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, was released in 2025. It was excellent, one of my ten favorite films of the year, and easily the best performance of her career. That’s a tough act to follow, but she’s followed it up with another terrific performance in a film that, for some reason, seems to have entered the witness protection program. Did you even know she starred in a movie this … Continue reading Going In Blind: Tow

Movie Review, UncategorizedLeave a comment

House Of Spoils

John Stark

House Of Spoils (Amazon)- A Spooky Season Review This is definitely beneath Academy Award Winner Ariana DeBose. You probably aren’t sure what this even is. To be fair, years later, Ariana won’t remember either. In short, a chef is looking to open her own restaurant when she stumbles upon a rather odd garden full of fruits and vegetables she has never encountered. There’s obviously a spooky reason for all of this, but she presses forth anyway. It feels like a film destined to be forgotten. It comes not long after the excellent The Menu, which will certainly continue to have … Continue reading House Of Spoils

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I.S.S.

John Stark

Now is an excellent time to make more thrillers about tensions between America and Russia. I’m not sure we really ever stopped, though I do remember the Red Dawn remake specifically switched the baddies to North Koreans because they couldn’t run the Russian narrative at the time. Well, now we are shooting So you Think You Can Dance alumni Ariana Debose into space. Yeah, I know, she won an Oscar. But she started on So you Think You Can Dance. #neverForget Debose plays an astronaut we know next to nothing about, as the movie starts with her already on her … Continue reading I.S.S.

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Wish

John Stark

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

AwardsLeave a comment

The Best Of 2021

John Stark

With the Oscar’s swiftly approaching, and my Oscar final predictions released yesterday, it’s finally time to discuss who i think actually should have been nominated in the major categories, and who I would vote to win. This list will be completely different than the Oscar list, because I am just myself, I have no guild or board of people to mess up my nomination process, and my awards mean nothing. No actor is sitting out there waiting with bated breath to see if they will be included on Mac The Movieguy’s Best of 2021. Which is great for me, because … Continue reading The Best Of 2021

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West Side Story (2021)

John Stark

Starring: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Ziegler, Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Rita Moreno, Mike Faist, Brian D’Arcy James, Corey Stoll, and Josh Andres Rivera (plus a ton of other Jets and Sharks). Directed By: Steven Spielberg Where I Watched It: Disney Plus (though it is also currently available as of this writing on HBO MAX as well) English Audio Description Available?: Yes The Plot: A remake and reimagining of the classic Leonard Bernstein musical that hit screens sixty years ago. The Romeo and Juliet inspired plot follows to rival gangs, the Jets (the poor white kids) and the Sharks (the Latino immigrants) … Continue reading West Side Story (2021)