Tag: audio description

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Chum

John Stark

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to movies about going back into the water, Australia unleashes Chum upon the world. It’s a low-budget, schlocky attempt at a shark horror movie, notably being released by IFC without the cooperation of Shudder, the branch of the company that specifically handles this sort of thing. They didn’t even want it. Shudder probably heard this thing was coming down the pipeline and dodged it, which says a lot considering some of the highly questionable content they’ve already released. Even then, most of their catalog is better than this. Reasonably, most … Continue reading Chum

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No Other Choice

John Stark

Some films arrive at exactly the right moment, and No Other Choice benefits enormously from the period in which it was released. People are struggling to find meaningful employment. They’re struggling to keep up with rising costs. They’re struggling to maintain the basic financial stability that previous generations often took for granted. I recently read a BuzzFeed article collecting comments from shoppers, and one person joked that they knew someone was rich if they could afford to buy cherries at the grocery store. It’s a small observation, but it captures something real about the current moment. Everywhere you look, people … Continue reading No Other Choice

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Jigsaw

John Stark

Jigsaw marks a welcome change of pace for the Saw franchise. More importantly, thank God the tales of Hoffman are finally behind us. I know plenty of critics would argue there was never much value in any of the first seven Saw films, but it’s hard to deny the impact the original movie had when it arrived in 2004. If nothing else, it shocked audiences with one of the most memorable twist endings of its era. It also became the poster child for the crudely named “torture porn” subgenre, paving the way for films like Hostel and The Collector, movies … Continue reading Jigsaw

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Goat

John Stark

We deserve better. Kids deserve better. Animation has evolved to the point where audiences can reasonably expect more than films like Goat. This is essentially Zootopia by way of basketball, another entry in the ever-growing pile of animated movies built around anthropomorphic animals doing familiar things. It’s not an inherently bad concept, but it’s also not a particularly original one. And while Goat boasts a talented voice cast, that’s hardly a selling point these days. Most animated features have talented voice casts. What separates memorable animated films from disposable ones is what they leave behind once the credits roll. Goat … Continue reading Goat

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Movies With Pride: Boy Erased

John Stark

Watching Boy Erased during Pride Month feels a little ironic. This isn’t a film about celebrating LGBTQ identity so much as it is a film about the expectations society places upon people and the damage that can be done when someone is told they are not allowed to be who they are. Written and directed by Joel Edgerton, who also appears in a supporting role, Boy Erased focuses on the controversial practice of conversion therapy. What is most alarming about revisiting the film today is realizing how relevant it remains. When it was released in 2018, it felt like the … Continue reading Movies With Pride: Boy Erased

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Movies With Pride: Pillion

John Stark

I first watched this back in December as part of A24’s awards consideration package. While I did get a few screeners from A24 last year, Pillion sadly wasn’t one of them,and there was clearly a lot happening. I really wanted to wait to review it until I got the audio description, and now in time for Pride month, Pillion: Unrated is on HBO MAX with audio description! If any of this made it into the R rated cut, we’ve come a long way from This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Kirby Dick’s exploration of the MPAA and its bizarre ratings … Continue reading Movies With Pride: Pillion

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Miss You, Love You

John Stark

Jim Rash, best known for playing the Dean on Community,along with his years spent at the Groundlings, and that time he won an Oscar with Nat Faxon for writing the screenplay to The Descendants, is making his solo feature directorial debut. He and Faxon broke out and made the excellent The Way Way Back, and followed that up with the not so excellent Downhill.But, Rash proves he still has a lot to give in this film he wrote and directed, which is not adapted from anything. It does feel so much like a play, like Rash was trying tow rite … Continue reading Miss You, Love You

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Office Romance

John Stark

Little known fact. Lady Gaga was this close to titling her song Office Romance instead of Bad Romance. Don’t fact check me. But, the fairly generic title found its way into Jennifer Lopez’s pantheon of equally vague titles like The Back Up Plan, Marry Me, and Unstoppable (a title so generic Denzel also has a film called Unstoppable). Regardless of the premise, Jennifer Lopez remains a queen of romantic comedies, and her sex appeal at 56 has allowed her to be able to pull off being desirable enough to carry films like this. Jennifer Lopez is not the problem here. … Continue reading Office Romance

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Saw: The Final Chapter

John Stark

I don’t immediately want to kick off a review with a spoiler, but thank God, it’s over. I mean, it’s not, because they made three more after this, but Saw: The Final Chapter finally decided it was time to jettison Hoffman from the franchise, something they toyed with in the previous film and sadly chickened out on. So in the final installment of what had basically become Saw: Hoffman Boogaloo, we get our least interesting Jigsaw targeting Jill for revenge. Not that this series has ever cared much about anyone’s fate, or saving the good ones, but considering Jill actually … Continue reading Saw: The Final Chapter

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The Strangers: Chapter 3

John Stark

I never thought I’d be reviewing a film like The Strangers: Chapter 3, a film that exists only because a studio apparently had too much money and decided to fund an entire trilogy at the same time. They didn’t do it with the promise of a hot new horror filmmaker behind the camera either. They handed the keys to Renny Harlin. Now, has Harlin directed films I like? Absolutely. But not recently. The last film of his I genuinely enjoyed was Deep Blue Sea, and when you pair that with Cliffhanger and The Long Kiss Goodnight, you’ve got a small … Continue reading The Strangers: Chapter 3

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Saw 4

John Stark

As I continue working my way through the Saw franchise, we’ve officially arrived at what I like to call the Tales of Hoffman era. If there has ever been a less inspired replacement killer in horror history, I’m struggling to think of one. One thing the Saw sequels absolutely love doing is circling back to previous films and pretending there were major revelations hiding in plain sight the entire time. Every sequel seems determined to convince us that events from earlier movies were secretly much more important than we realized. Saw IV leans heavily into that approach, but it does … Continue reading Saw 4

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Send Help

John Stark

Sam Raimi certainly has a voice and a style, and even if he’s not fully embracing his gory Evil Dead beginnings these days, there’s still a campy charm to his films. He understands what his audience expects and what they want from a Sam Raimi movie. Too many people weren’t fans of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but I enjoyed it largely because Raimi brought so much of his own flavor to the film. It felt like Marvel was dabbling in horror, and that willingness to lean into the strange helped it stand out. Of course, it wasn’t … Continue reading Send Help

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Saw 3

John Stark

And now we’ve come to Saw III, which had so much promise to it, but also starts to show the cracks that would eventually split the Saw franchise wide open. Weirdly enough, this is the only one of the first seven films not done by Descriptive Video Works, so even the narrator changes. It’s strange how noticeable that is once you’ve settled into a rhythm with these movies. I’m not sure the writing itself suffered because of it, but the film definitely feels heavier. More cluttered. Like the franchise is starting to collapse under the weight of its own mythology. … Continue reading Saw 3

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The Testaments: Season 1

John Stark

When I first caught wind of The Testaments, it was a bag of mixed emotions. Part of me was excited that The Handmaid’s Tale would continue in some form, but the other part knew it couldn’t possibly hope to live up to the original. Then I got to the series finale of The Handmaid’s Tale, where they had the audacity not to reunite June with Hannah, and suddenly this sequel series became less of an option and more of a necessity. What a casting boon it turned out to be when someone picked Chase Infinity to play Agnes MacKenzie, aka … Continue reading The Testaments: Season 1

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Wake Up Dead Man

John Stark

Disclaimer: I’m a blind film critic. If you build it, he will come. In Rian Johnson’s third outing in what is called the Knives Out series (for no other reason than it being the title of the first Benoit Blanc outing), we are asked to have a little faith. or, perhaps it is better to have a lack thereof. Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man may center in a church, but this is no Murder In the Cathedral. If you dress it up with simplicity, it could be seen as a modern day version of that, but woven in Johnson’s narrative … Continue reading Wake Up Dead Man