Tag: audio description

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Monstrous Me

John Stark

Obviously, if you’re here, you know I’m a blind film critic. Or maybe you don’t. Maybe you found this review, clicked on it thinking it was just another review of Monstrous Me, and just learned that a blind film critic exists. I’m also an advocate for audio description. So pretty much whenever somebody comes to me and says, “Hey, will you review my movie? It has audio description,” I go, “Sure.” I want to support films that bothered to snag an audio description track for people like me, since major studios are still releasing titles without them. It’s funny that … Continue reading Monstrous Me

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Don’t Say Good Luck

John Stark

I’m sure many critics don’t really know what to do right now. We’re in a little bit of a daze. It’s certainly an unfamiliar place. Had I known that this would be what it was, I would have tried to get an advanced screener so I could get my thoughts out on this film earlier. But instead, I watched it with the normies on Netflix. And color me surprised that Happy Madison produced a coming-of-age drama starring Sunny Sandler, which is both extremely on brand for them, given the actress, and extremely off brand for them, given the fact that … Continue reading Don’t Say Good Luck

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The Witness (2026): Series Review

John Stark

Well, at least it was only three episodes. I know that’s not necessarily the most reassuring way of convincing you to watch a show, but these days, sometimes reminding an audience that something is appropriately lengthed instead of being drawn out for ulterior motives is oddly refreshing. The Witness could have been some 10-episode limited series where every aspect and detail of the case was spread out and beleaguered, with additional material packed in for dramatic effect until the passage of time slowed considerably and we spent a lifetime in a story that is rather simple for what it is. … Continue reading The Witness (2026): Series Review

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/13/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Citadel: Season 2 (Amazon) with audio description, Stranger Things: Tales From 85 (Netflix) with audio description, Life Larry and the Pursuit Of Unhappyness: S1E6 (HBO MAX) and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: S5E3 (Disney Plus) with audio description Citadel- I did review this yesterday, so check it out. Also, if you were thinking about watching the second season of Citadel, and have pushed it down your watchlist, move it up before someone ruins that finale for you. Jaw dropped. I couldn’t go enough into it in my review, but the show takes a really big swing … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/13/26

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Wishing You Were Somehow Human Again: X-Men 97: Season 2

John Stark

I just want to take a second right up here at the top of my review to be grateful for this moment. To be living in a time where Marvel saw the value in their X-Men animated series from the ‘90s and brought it back to life, returned many of the original voice cast, and tried to keep the structure of the series intact. This was the show I grew up with. The Saturday morning cartoon I fell in love with, and the X-Men became my superheroes of choice. Other people elevate Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Hulk, or any number of … Continue reading Wishing You Were Somehow Human Again: X-Men 97: Season 2

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Citadel: Season 2

John Stark

Citadel is back, roaring onto the big stage at Prime Video and bringing its stellar cast back for another adventure. It feels like it’s been a long time since the first season of Citadel, to the point where I don’t remember the finer details of Season 1, but I remember the overall themes and plot. Callbacks to smaller moments would probably be lost on me. I know the series stars Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden as Nadia Sinh and Mason Kane, spies and former lovers who are trying to deal with loss of memory and identity amidst the chaos … Continue reading Citadel: Season 2

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/12/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: X-Men 97: S2E9 (Disney Plus) with audio description, Ted Lasso: S4E2 (Apple) with audio description, Nemesis: S1E6 (Netflix) with audio description, Sheriff Country: S1E18 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, The Comeback: S2E3 (HBO MAX) with audio description, and- S4E8 (Netflix) with audio description X-Men 97- What a bumpy ride this was. I do have every intention of doing a season review because I’m a big fan, but I’m deeply disappointed that Disney cut the budget on Deluxe, forcing them to use a synthetic narrator for one of their branded shows. It’s already entering pre-production on Season 4, … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/12/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/10/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: House Of The Dragon: S3E8 (HBO MAX) with audio description, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed: S1E8 (Apple) with audio description, Big Mistakes: S1E10 (Netflix) with audio description, The Bear: S5E8 (Disney Plus) with audio description, The Rise and Fall Of Reggie Dinkins: S1E10, Last Week Tonight: Most Recent (HBO MAX) no audio description yet, and American Classic: S1E5 (MGM Plus) with audio description House Of The Dragon- Full review dropped yesterday, but this is one hell of an AD track, and for every company that has told me that those big mean studios kept them from putting credits, let … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/10/26

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House Of The Dragon: Season 3

John Stark

House of the Dragon, in many ways, has an opportunity to actually end with its fans pleased. With only four seasons planned and the source material already locked in place, the series does not face the same future Game of Thrones did, where eventually they ran out of source material and had to go their own way, dividing fans on the things that happened along the way and ultimately leading to a final season that left people quite cold. There was even a petition with over a million signatures asking HBO to remake that final season. I don’t think that’s … Continue reading House Of The Dragon: Season 3

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/09/26

John Stark

Some shows coming up this week include Reacher (Amazon), Tires (Netflix), and a new Happy Madison film starring a Sandler child on Friday, along with the premiere of Girls like Girls on Peacock. It’s a slow week. TV Shows Watched: Walking Dead: Dead City: S3E3 (AMC Plus) still no audio description, Your Friends And Neighbors: S2e10 (Apple) with audio description, A Good Girls Guide To Murder: S2E3 (Netflix) with audio description,The Westies: S1E6 (MGM Plus) with audio description, Daemons Of The Shadow Realm: S1E11 (CrunchyRoll) with audio description, The Five Star Weekend: S1E1 (Peacock) with audio description Dead City- AMC … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/09/26

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The Agency: Season 2

John Stark

I vaguely remember season one of The Agency, and that only came after getting pretty deep into season two. I started getting little flashbacks to the first season. Listen, these are things that just happen when you watch as much content as I do. Hours upon hours of TV and film kind of molds and melts things together, and you end up really remembering the best of everything and the worst of everything. But that stuff in the middle can get kind of muddled. I think that’s where The Agency landed for me in its first season, somewhere in the … Continue reading The Agency: Season 2

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The Last House

John Stark

It’s only been a short period of time since The Last House dropped on Netflix, and I’ve already seen some really wild reactions to the film. The latest in Netflix’s continued onslaught of skipping theatrical brings recent Academy Award nominee Wagner Moura and Greta Lee to a pandemic-era-style film where it’s a limited location, trapped inside a house with seemingly no end in sight. The director bringing this masterpiece to life is Louis Leterrier, the man behind The Transporter, The Incredible Hulk, and Now You See Me, and unfortunately, most recently, Fast X, which was not a great film and … Continue reading The Last House

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EPIC: Elvis Presley In Concert

John Stark

In case you thought that year where Austin Butler walked around doing every interview pretending he was such a heavy method actor that he couldn’t shake his Elvis Presley voice was some sort of fever dream, it actually wasn’t. Baz Luhrmann really did direct an Elvis biopic, and it really was nominated for multiple Oscars. As a byproduct of making that film, Luhrmann clearly developed an even deeper fascination with Elvis Presley, and that eventually led him to dig through archival material, restore and assemble footage from different performances, and create one of the most exhilarating concert films I’ve ever … Continue reading EPIC: Elvis Presley In Concert

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The Highest Stakes

John Stark

Every once in a while I watch a movie where I can see that the elevator pitch is solid, and somewhere along the way it just got lost. Maybe there was a good treatment that slowly became muddled in the screenplay, or perhaps the director simply wasn’t sure how to translate the concept to the screen. Whatever happened, The Highest Stakes is built around an interesting premise that never quite works. It reminded me of those morality tales where some unseen force gathers a group of people together for reasons that aren’t immediately clear, with the audience slowly uncovering the … Continue reading The Highest Stakes

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/06/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched:The Agency: S2 E1-5 (Paramount) with audio description, Shelved: S1E3 (Peacock) no audio description, and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: S5E3 (Disney Plus) with audio description The Agency- Yup. Tried to knock out another show, but this one is another 10 episode behemoth, and I couldn’t pull it off, so I’ll tackle 6-10 likely on Saturday. I don’t remember much of Season 1, but this has so many different beats to it than a typical Taylor Sheridan production. The cast is stellar, and John Megarro has a lot to do in the first five episodes, where I … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/06/26

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Criminal Record: Season 2

John Stark

Apple has quietly assembled one of the most impressive television libraries in the business. HBO still has the advantage of decades of prestige programming, but considering Apple TV+ has only been around for a handful of years, the quality of its lineup is remarkable. Even beyond the awards magnets like Severance and Slow Horses, there are shows such as For All Mankind that have built fiercely loyal fan bases without the Emmys showering them with trophies every year. Then there’s Trying, which recently returned to my absolute delight. Somewhere in the middle of that lineup sits Criminal Record, a British … Continue reading Criminal Record: Season 2

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Running Point: Season 2

John Stark

Spoiler Warning: It’s possible to like something that is in the middle of an identity crisis, and that would be Running Point, Netflix’s sophomore comedy about Isla Gordon, played by Kate Hudson, who is continuing to run a professional basketball franchise against all odds. At the end of last season, her brother Cam, played by Justin Theroux, managed to get out of rehab. This season, he rejoins the family business, clearly with the intention of taking it over again, although he settles for a smaller position while the family slowly welcomes him back, believing that he’s sober when he is … Continue reading Running Point: Season 2

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Big Chicken: A Fast Food Conspiracy

John Stark

Probably one of the most prominent documentaries in my life remains Super Size Me. It’s one of only a handful of documentaries that I’ve watched more than once. It followed documentarian Morgan Spurlock as he attempted to survive on nothing but McDonald’s for an entire month, ordering breakfast, lunch, and dinner from the Golden Arches. Every meal came with an entrée, fries, and a drink, and back when McDonald’s still offered Super Size, he agreed to supersize only when the cashier asked if he wanted to. His health absolutely cratered over the course of the experiment. Spurlock has since passed … Continue reading Big Chicken: A Fast Food Conspiracy

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/05/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: X-Men 97: S2E8 (Disney Plus) with audio description,Ted Lasso: S4E1 (Apple) with audio description, Daemons Of The Shadow Realm: S1E10 (CrunchyRoll) with audio description, Strip Law: S1E9 (Netflix) with audio description, Tales Of The TMNT: S2E10 (Paramount) with audio description, Life Larry And The Pursuit Of Unhappyness: S1E5 (HBO MAX) with audio description, Breaking Bad: S4E7 (Netflix) with audio description X-Men 97- Still synthetic, but in terms of the written context, it was fine. Some of the X-Teams take a back seat, and aren’t mentioned anywhere, but they basically are all now in the same plot line. … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/05/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/04/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Devil May Cry: Season 2 (Netflix) with audio description, Off Campus: S1E8 (Amazon) with audio description, and Marshals: S1E11 (Paramount) with audio description Devil May Cry- I did watch and immediately review this. I have no idea what’s going on, conceptually, but the audio description is fantastic. It is part of my pull quote on RT. The only reason I went Fresh was because of the AD, but honestly the only reason I watched was because of AD. The series would be totally unintelligible without it. Kudos to DVW, David Chan, and Paula Hoffman. I wouldn’t have … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/04/26

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Hokum

John Stark

I have not seen all of Damian McCarthy’s filmography. My experience with him is still fairly limited, but after being so pleasantly surprised by Oddity, I was excited to see what he would do next. Oddity impressed me not simply because it featured a blind lead character, but because of the way McCarthy created genuine fear and sustained tension without relying on an endless barrage of cheap jump scares. I appreciate horror directors who aren’t dependent on excessive gore or loud stingers, but instead want to build a story, develop memorable characters, and slowly tighten the screws. That approach is … Continue reading Hokum

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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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Untitled Home Invasion Romance

John Stark

Warm apple pie. That’s what it feels like to direct your first feature. Or at least that’s what I imagine Jason Biggs would say, that directing his first feature was like warm apple pie. Yes, Jim from American Pie has grown up and is now directing Untitled Home Invasion Romance, which is, in fact, the title of the movie. It’s not like they forgot to name it. They’re trying to be clever, much like Scary Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie, or any of those other films that tell you exactly what they are while pretending they aren’t. Jason Biggs stars … Continue reading Untitled Home Invasion Romance

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Devil May Cry: Season 2

John Stark

I think I finally understand the argument for waiting until an entire series has finished before starting it. I know people who actually do that, somehow avoiding spoilers until every episode has dropped so they can binge the whole thing in one sitting. Personally, that would drive me insane because I like staying up to date on new releases. But with a show like Devil May Cry, I’m starting to understand why people do it. I’m not very familiar with the lore, so asking me to wait between seasons and then remember exactly what happened in season one or who … Continue reading Devil May Cry: Season 2

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/03/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: House Of The Dragon: S3E7 (HBO MAX) with audio description, Widows Bay: S1E9 (Apple) with audio description, Detective Hole: S1E? (Netflix) with audio description, Robin Hood: S1E5 (MGM Plus) with audio description, St Dennis Medical: S2E11 (Peacock) with audio description, Last Week Tonight: Current (HBO MAX) no audio description yet, and American Classic: S1E5 (MGM Plus) with audio description House Of The Dragon- I got cheated out of my Bring The Usurper To Me! But, the episode still featured an epic dragon battle, the most oedipal thing on HBO ever, and something presumed dead rises. There’s also … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/03/26

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Unchosen: Series Review

John Stark

Netflix’s six-episode limited series Unchosen is supposed to be about cults, but it really isn’t. It wants to be. It opens with a statement about how there are all these tiny little cults peppered throughout society that most of us never even realize exist. Right down the street, there could be a quiet little cul-de-sac where every family shares the same bizarre beliefs, and nobody outside of that neighborhood would ever know. That’s a genuinely fascinating premise. The idea that a cult can exist right in the middle of suburbia, living alongside everyone else while still remaining completely isolated from … Continue reading Unchosen: Series Review

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Dutton Ranch: Season 1

John Stark

Perhaps the unpopular opinion here is that, while I’ve read every single reason why Taylor Sheridan decided to part ways with Kevin Costner, the Yellowstone franchise has suffered without him. I know that probably sounds like a shock to the system, but the time Kevin Costner spent on the Yellowstone Ranch was some of the best television Sheridan has ever produced. It reminded people there was actually something called the Paramount Network, which I don’t think many people even knew existed at the time. There really wasn’t much of a reason to tune into Paramount Network other than Yellowstone, especially … Continue reading Dutton Ranch: Season 1

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/02/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: The Walking Dead: Dead City: S3E2 (AMC Plus) no audio description, Unconditional: S1E7 (Apple) with audio description, Ghosts: S5E11 (Paramount) with audio description, The Westies: S1E5 (MGM Plus) with audio description, Unchosen: S1E6 (Netflix) with audio description, Running Pointe: S2E10 (Netflix) with audio description, and The Rookie: S8E8 (Disney Plus) with audio description Dead City: OMFG. Second week in a row, where the show and episode are advertised as being audio described but are not. Fuck off, AMC. The show is still interesting as the new showrunner, who worked as a writer on the original series, is … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/02/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/01/26

John Stark

A very tiny diary. In case you missed it, I reviewed Cape Fear in its entirety yesterday. I did that after watching all ten episodes of it. In the same day. Needless to say, I didn’t do much else in terms of watching things. Still, the week ahead for you might include a few returning shows like Lioness (Paramount) on Sunday, Futurama (Hulu) on Monday, Ted Lasso (Apple) on Wednesday, or My Life With The Walter Boys (Netflix) on Thursday. Wizards Beyond Waverly Place exits this week, though I’m not sure that show ever gained audio description. Greta Lee and … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/01/26

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Over Your Dead Body

John Stark

Over Your Dead Body looked like it was tailor-made for me. You have Jason Segel starring in a film directed by Jorma Taccone, the man who gave us one of the most underrated comedies of my lifetime, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched that movie or listened to the soundtrack, but it’s one of the funniest films I’ve ever seen. So I was hoping Over Your Dead Body, which is billed as a horror comedy, would capture even a fraction of that energy. Alongside Segel is Samara Weaving as his wife, Lisa, an … Continue reading Over Your Dead Body

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Cape Fear: Season 1

John Stark

A tale as old as time. A film that’s been rewritten enough that it credits multiple original screenwriters. Cape Fear, the new Apple limited series, is adapted from two previous films, which were themselves adapted from John D. MacDonald’s novel The Executioners. It’s almost like playing a game of telephone, seeing what gets passed from version to version while recognizing that this is 2026. We have the internet, smartphones, and a very different world than the one these earlier adaptations existed in, giving the series opportunities to modernize the story in ways previous versions couldn’t. Of course, the last trip … Continue reading Cape Fear: Season 1

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The Small Screen Diaries: 07/31/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Silo: S3E5 (Apple) with audio description,Stuart Fails To Save The Universe: S1E2 (HBO MAX) with audio description,Mating Season: S1E? (Netflix) with audio description, Will Trent: S4E16 (Disney Plus) with audio description, Invincible: S4E8 (Amazon) with audio description, The Hawk: S1E4 (netflix) with audio description, and Little House On The Prairie: S1E5 (Netflix) with audio description Silo- Man, this is hard to describe now without spoilers. So, I’ll just say that it had solid audio description, especially regarding the person with the burns. However, I wish we had a better idea of the expansiveness or lack thereof of … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 07/31/26

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Star City: Season 1

John Stark

Star City is one of those series that I wanted to love almost by default because I love For All Mankind. Admittedly, I haven’t reviewed all five seasons of that show, but I’ve watched them, and even though I don’t think season five was the strongest of the bunch, I still think For All Mankind is one of the best television series Apple has ever produced. I have spent years wondering how on earth it has managed to fly so far under the radar with the Emmys. The work from that cast over multiple seasons has been outstanding, and the … Continue reading Star City: Season 1

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The Devil’s Mouth

John Stark

*Spoiler Warning* Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water. Or perhaps it never was. Ever since Steven Spielberg made it appealing to tell stories about sharks in the water, everybody has been chasing the same dream: one day standing on top of Shark Mountain and saying, “I did it. I beat Steven Spielberg. I made a film greater than Jaws.” It’s literally impossible, and the hundreds of shark movies we’ve gotten since have proven that. The best you can hope for is to stand on your own as a great shark movie that sits … Continue reading The Devil’s Mouth

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The Four Seasons: Season 2

John Stark

The Four Seasons returned for a second season on Netflix, and honestly, I’m not surprised. Netflix has been persevering with this one, likely because it has such an incredible cast behind it that how could they not? It also came back remarkably quickly. That’s becoming one of the biggest advantages a show can have these days. Netflix has run into a real problem with series that take forever to film and even longer to return. Shows like The Four Seasons, My Life with the Walter Boys, and The Diplomat all feel like safer bets for renewal because audiences can actually … Continue reading The Four Seasons: Season 2

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Nirvana The Band The Show The Movie

John Stark

Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie is definitely the most fun title to say in 2026. Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie. It feels like I’ve somehow successfully defeated a tongue twister, even though it’s not really a tongue twister. It’s just remembering to list everything in the right order. First they’re the band, then there was the show, and now there’s the movie. And if you’re thinking to yourself, “Wait, is this a Kurt Cobain thing?” No. It’s not that Nirvana. This is a completely different Nirvana the Band, and they are not famous at all. Well, … Continue reading Nirvana The Band The Show The Movie

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Avatar Ang: The Last Airbender

John Stark

There’s certainly been a lot of frustration surrounding the takeover of Paramount, CBS, Paramount+, and the rest of the company’s brands by David Ellison. Early on, I remember reading comments from one of the executives brought in to evaluate the studio’s future, talking about which brands were considered viable and which weren’t. That mindset didn’t exactly inspire confidence, especially when projects started disappearing. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series spun off from Mutant Mayhem was canceled despite already having episodes completed, and the most recent Dora series also had a large number of finished episodes left sitting on the shelf. … Continue reading Avatar Ang: The Last Airbender

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Every Year After: Season 1

John Stark

Stop me if you’ve heard this story before. A teenage girl vacations with her family and meets two brothers, forms a bond with their mother, and gets caught in a love triangle even though it’s pretty obvious from the start which brother the story actually wants you to root for. Then the brothers’ mother dies, her will complicates everyone’s lives, and the boys are left questioning why she made the decisions that she did. If that sounded familiar, you’ve probably watched The Summer I Turned Pretty. However, you might have also seen Every Year After, a show Amazon would really … Continue reading Every Year After: Season 1

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The Sheep Detectives

John Stark

I think in any other year, The Sheep Detectives would be in the Oscar conversation, which seems like a crazy thing to say because just hearing there’s a movie called The Sheep Detectives immediately makes you wonder how on earth. But hear me out. Babe was a Best Picture nominee because it was original, it had heart, and it really took advantage of the technology available at the time to tell this wonderfully charming story about a little pig. The Sheep Detectives feels like that kind of unexpected movie. It takes this absolutely bonkers premise about a shepherd, played by … Continue reading The Sheep Detectives

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the Dink

John Stark

If pickleball is invading our lives, eventually it was going to invade the cinemas, and Apple is just the studio to take advantage of it. The Dink is the latest comedy from Josh Greenbaum, the director of Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, and continues the plague upon our people that is pickleball. I say that jokingly. I’ve never played pickleball. I have no idea what it’s like. I don’t even conceptually understand the sport. But it seems to be one of those things where people either absolutely love it or absolutely hate it, and that’s exactly what … Continue reading the Dink

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Lee Cronin’s The mummy

John Stark

I would not consider myself an authority on the Evil Dead franchise, since I have not seen the entire thing. I have yet to find the first two films with audio description, so prior to Evil Dead Rise, I had only seen Army of Darkness and the 2013 Evil Dead remake. But I really liked Evil Dead Rise, so Lee Cronin found a fan in me. The way he balanced comedy and horror simultaneously was fascinating. He made a film that was funny and scary, incredibly gory and yet somehow completely captivating. So when Lee Cronin’s The Mummy came out, … Continue reading Lee Cronin’s The mummy

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Abbott Elementary: Season 5

John Stark

When Abbott Elementary first premiered, it felt like a breath of fresh air. At a time when streaming services were dominating the television conversation, Abbott Elementary reminded people that network TV could still produce an Emmy-worthy comedy. A lot of that comes down to creator Quinta Brunson, who also stars as Janine Teagues. Yes, this is a review of Season 5, but since I never reviewed the previous four seasons, it’s important to say up front that I’ve loved this show from the beginning. The early seasons deserved every bit of the awards attention they received, including Sheryl Lee Ralph’s … Continue reading Abbott Elementary: Season 5

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Margo’s Got Money Troubles: Season 1

John Stark

Apple TV has quite a few shows on its roster that somehow always seem to fly under the radar. Even during awards season, when they have critical praise and plenty of support, they never seem to get quite the attention they deserve. The math just never adds up. A show like Stick, which certainly had its fair share of awards potential, walked away empty-handed this year, along with series like Smoke, Criminal Record, Down Cemetery Road, For All Mankind, and the recently returned Trying, which has always eluded Emmy voters. Yet Margo’s Got Money Troubles, with the pedigree of David … Continue reading Margo’s Got Money Troubles: Season 1

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72 Hours

John Stark

Tim Story certainly has a diverse slate of films on his resume. He’s already crossed paths with 72 Hours star Kevin Hart in the Ride Along franchise, but Story has bounced around from Barbershop to Fantastic Four to Ride Along to Tom and Jerry to The Blackening and now this, along with sequels to several of those films. He certainly doesn’t have a niche, although I’m not really sure he has a strength either. He does seem to do his best work in films with predominantly Black casts, or at least Black leads, as most people would probably put Fantastic … Continue reading 72 Hours

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I Will Find You: Series Review

John Stark

I’m not a Harlan Coben fan. I think he’s highly overrated, or at least his television adaptations are. I’ve enjoyed very few of them. Previously, I would have said Shelter was the best adaptation of one of his books. However, this Sam Worthington-led limited series, running eight episodes, features a stacked cast, delivers a fairly thrilling ride, and even though I saw certain twists coming, it’s far better than I expected it to be. Sometimes Coben’s stories reach a little too far. They swing too wide, becoming increasingly nonsensical as they go. The adaptations I’ve liked the most are the … Continue reading I Will Find You: Series Review

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Mortal Kombat 2

John Stark

Instantly comparing sequel to sequel, Mortal Kombat 2 scores a flawless victory over Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, the original sequel to the 1995 film that launched this franchise onto the big screen. That movie is atrocious. I probably should review it at some point, but that would require me to actually sit down and watch Mortal Kombat: Annihilation again, which feels a bit like asking someone to intentionally contract food poisoning or drive their car into a lake. We all know those are terrible ideas, and no reasonable person should be expected to volunteer for them. Mortal Kombat 2 is also … Continue reading Mortal Kombat 2

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They Fight

John Stark

My first encounter with They Fight came during the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival. I had the opportunity to screen the film in advance, but it would have meant watching it without audio description. At the time, I already knew it was headed to Hulu in the near future, and the option to wait for the accessibility I need was more important to me than getting an early review. With all due respect to the wonderful cast and crew, it’s hard out here for a blind film critic. As I’m writing this review, I’m currently being ignored by another studio because … Continue reading They Fight

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Man On Fire: Season 1

John Stark

Perhaps I should give the Tony Scott-directed Denzel Washington film Man on Fire another look, because after watching Netflix’s adaptation starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, a recent Emmy nominee for Wonder Man, I’m reconsidering the entire concept. It’s possible there was something I missed more than 20 years ago when I watched the original film, which at the time didn’t resonate with me. I wasn’t much of a fan despite strong performances from both Denzel Washington and a very young Dakota Fanning. The Netflix series changes a number of things, mostly so that if they decide to continue Man on Fire … Continue reading Man On Fire: Season 1

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Vladimir: Season 1

John Stark

Vladimir is one of those shows where there’s something quirky and ambitious going on, and I’m not entirely sure it all works. For me at least, I actually think this limited series would have worked even better if it had been even more limited. Stay with me here, because I promise I’ll explain. The plot revolves around the Professor, played by Rachel Weisz, who is clearly sexually unfulfilled, even if she’d very much like not to be. When a younger professor named Vladimir, played by Leo Woodall, joins the faculty at her liberal arts college, she quickly becomes consumed by … Continue reading Vladimir: Season 1

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The Odyssey

John Stark

Christopher Nolan has done it again. I feel like you’re waiting to know what is the thing that he has done again. And since there are hundreds upon hundreds of people releasing their opinions about The Odyssey due to a staged backlash against the film ahead of its release, I will say that what he has done again is give me tinnitus. I have only ever gotten tinnitus twice in my lifetime, and both times have been because of Christopher Nolan movies. So I’m pledging right now that whatever Christopher Nolan makes next, I don’t care what it is, I’m … Continue reading The Odyssey