Tag: audio description

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Dora And The Search For Sol Dorado

John Stark

Cast: Samantha Lorraine as Dora, Jacob Rodriguez as Diego, Mariana Garzon Toro as Naiya, Gabriel Iglesias as the voice of Boots , Daniella Pineada as Carmen Written By: JT Billings, Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh-Valdez, Eric Weiner Directed By: Alberto Belli ((The Naughty Nine) Original Score: Kenny Wood Studio: paramount/ Nickelodeon Release Year: 2025 96 minutes Audio Description Produced By: Written By: Narrated By: What is it? The second attempt to make a live action Dora The Explorer film has our intrepid young adventurer team up with Diego in search of the fabled lost city of Sol Dorado. Along the way, … Continue reading Dora And The Search For Sol Dorado

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The Small Screen Diaries: 07/06/25

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: From- S2E7 (MGM Plus) with audio description, Squid Game: S3E3 (Netflix) with audio description, The Bear: S4E9 (Hulu) with audio description, Drag Race All Stars: S10E9 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Invasion: S1E1 (Apple plus) with audio description, We Were Liars: S1E5 (Amazon) with audio description, Such Brave Girls: S1E2 (Hulu) with audio description, The Great North: S5E15 (Hulu) no audio description Best Episode: The Bear, Runner Up: Squid Game Best Audio Description: Squid Game, Runner Up: From Best Performance: Jamie lee Curtis (The Bear), runner Up: Jeremy Alan White (The Bear) Best Moment Of Audio Description: … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 07/06/25

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Heads of State

John Stark

Cast: Idris Elba as Prime Minister Sam Clark, John Cena as president Will derringer, Priyanka Chopra-Jonas as Noelle, Paddy Consadine as Victor, Carla Gugino as Vice President Kirk, Stephen Root as Arthur, Jack Quaid as Marty, Sarah Nyles as Simone, Richard Coyle as Quincy, Claire Foster as Kat, Sharlto Copley as Agent Coop, (From, Citadel), Andre Nemec (From, Wonder Park), Harrison Query Directed By: Ilya Naishuller (Hardcore Henry, Nobody) Notable Producers: Josh Applebaum, John cena, Idris Elba, Andre Nemec, Peter Saffron Original Score By: Steven Price (Academy Award Winner for Gravity) Studio/Streamer: Amazon/MGM Release Year: 2025 Runtime: 115 minutes Audio … Continue reading Heads of State

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The Small Screen Diaries: The Weekly Rankings

John Stark

Once again I’m running down the sixty shows on my broad watchlist. Joining the list this week, which was fairly slow for new shows, are The Sandman (Netflix), All Of Us Are Dead (Netflix), The Office (Peacock), Such Brave Girls (Hulu), Nautilus (AMC Plus), Dexter (Paramount Plus), and Prison Break (Netflix). I wrapped some shows, and anything that would rank outside the top 60 dies. WINNER: Squid Game (Netflix) with audio description- I knew I was going to lose my favorites. After the tragic uprising didn’t work last season, it meant playing out Squid Game till the end. I’m only … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: The Weekly Rankings

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The Small Screen Diaries: 07/04/25

John Stark

Hope you had a fun National Day To Watch The Film Independence Day. You know you did. We all did. TV Shows Watched: Duster: S1E8 (MAX) with audio description, Murderbot: S1E9 (Apple Plus) with audio description, tires: S2E5 (Netflix) with audio description, Adults: S1E5 (Hulu) with audio description, Lazarus: S1E13 (MAX) with audio description, Ginny and Georgia: S1E10 (Netflix) with audio description, Peaky Blinders: S1E6 (Netflix) All Of Us Are dead: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description, King Of The Hill: S2E1 (Hulu) no audio description, Breaking Bad: S1E7 (Netflix) with audio description, Yellowstone: S5E13 (Peacock) with audio description Best Episode: … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 07/04/25

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Echo Valley

John Stark

I know these streamers don’t think about patterns, but over the last couple of years, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed some June films dropping on Apple Plus. This was the window for Cha Cha Real Smooth, and also for Fancy Dance. If you haven’t seen either of those, I highly recommend. Echo Valley seems more in tune to the bumps along the way Apple struggled with last year, putting out the failed Oscar bait Blitz, the critically derided Argylle, and the forgettable The Instigators. they have a lot riding on their Brad Pitt/Joseph Kosinski collaboration F1, so echo Valley is more of … Continue reading Echo Valley

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Flight Risk

John Stark

This is kind of a terrible film. it just is, on so many levels, and none of them have to do with the politics around director Mel Gibson. it’s impossible, truly, to look at this film, and watch Braveheart, and somehow think that Mel Gibson is directing anywhere near the competency level he had. Even The passion Of The Christ and Apocalypto are better made films than this. Flight Risk feels like a film that Renny Harlin might have made to try and revive his career. This film definitely has audio description, and I’d recommend it for all the odd … Continue reading Flight Risk

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Kinda Pregnant

John Stark

Amy Schumer is a talented comic. i remember her from all the way back during her Last Comic Standing phase.She seems either deeply unable to match herself to meaningful projects, or no one knows how to write or direct for her. She had a really strong hit in Trainwreck, which made us all believe she could anchor her own films and become the next big female lead in comedy, but that goodwill has been squandered several times. Now, she’s trapped in a Happy Madison production, and is dragging Will Forte and Damon Wayans jr along for the ride. Amy Schumer … Continue reading Kinda Pregnant

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Paddington In Peru

John Stark

Paddington Bear, the cuddly marmalade powered manifestation of kindness returns for his third feature, this time exiting his home in the UK for a new locale in Paddington In Peru. Don’t worry, because even though his family, The browns, are also at a transitional point, they’ll be following him on his journey. Sadly, director Paul King is not returning as director for the third feature, so if you were expecting him to somehow top what he achieved in Paddington 2, he opted instead to direct Wonka. I don’t know if that puts us at a huge disadvantage, but the change … Continue reading Paddington In Peru

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One Of Them Days

John Stark

I’m sure there’s at least one person bemoaning how we keep recycling ideas or gender flipping, but often the problem isn’t either of those things. It is a lack of perspective that kills a movie. Whether you gender flip, remake, adapt, or straight up ripoff a film and slap a new name on it (Transmorphers), if you don’t know why you are doing it, there’s no point.One Of Them Days is one of those films that beats back against the odds. Not only is it fresh, but it clearly owes a lot to a very popular film, and this also … Continue reading One Of Them Days

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Bloat

John Stark

I always love when studios hype “from the producers of”, like having a past hit under your producing credit gives you the same credibility as writing or directing. I think because we’ve seen a couple of producers rise to the top through careful curation of the type of film they make this has bled into other producers. But am I really supposed to believe that the producer of Searching is going to only make films with that unique perspective? And, isn’t Searching more of a success based on the ingenuity of the concept and choices made initially in the screenplay, … Continue reading Bloat

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Going In blind: Presence

John Stark

First Person Audio description is so interesting. I loved how Nickel Boys navigated the complexities of the perspective being one of the characters in the film, with other characters interacting with you. Presence, directed by Steven Soderbergh, feels like a departure from his typical fare, and also serves as further exploration of first person audio description. Universal Studios, the theme park element, was built on the idea that you can “ride the movies”. Now, with the right VR headset and a good first person movie, you can live the movies. In Presence, you wouldn’t exactly be alive. What makes Presence … Continue reading Going In blind: Presence

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Dog Man

John Stark

Dreamworks Animation has laid quite a groundwork for itself. There are so many of their projects that have gravitated into my favorites list, including the entire How To Train Your Dragon trilogy, Shrek, Shrek 2, The Prince Of Egypt, Kung Fu Panda, Rise Of The Guardians, and even Mr. Peabody and Sherman. After adding one more last year with the excellent The Wild Robot, their next project could have built on the momentum. Well, their next project is Dog Man. I immediately need to admit I’m not familiar with the source material at all, so it felt a little like … Continue reading Dog Man

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O’Dessa

John Stark

Only the power of music can save your soul. I feel like we’ve seen this before. But, in Hulu’s exclusive premiere, O’dessa, the power of music compels you. What it compels you to do is a different question. it is possible that given time, O’dessa could be respected as a cult phenomenon. There are so many specific examples of movies that, for better or worse, popped into the zeitgeist even though by all accounts they shouldn’t have. Grease 2 has its own little following of fans, who either ironically or unironically watch the initial disappointment. when repo: the genetic Opera … Continue reading O’Dessa

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The Luckiest Man In America

John Stark

Imagine finding an old VHS tape of Press Your Luck from 1984, and being so inspired by this artifact that you decided to make it your American film debut. That’s exactly how Samir Oliveros got to gift us with The Luckiest Man In America. Based on the true story of Michael Larson (Paul Walter Hauser), a mild mannered ice cream truck driver who has a persistent dream of being on press Your Luck. he drives his truck all the way from Ohio to Los Angeles just to try and get on the show. He seems to the executive producer (David … Continue reading The Luckiest Man In America