Tag: audio description

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The Deliverance

John Stark

What lee Daniels did in Precious is truly nothing short of a miracle. In one film, he got one of the most remarkable and memorable performances out of a stand-up comedienne whose prior work suggested she had none of that range. Monique’s work in precious is astounding, for anyone who has had to sit through something like her cinematic masterpiece Phat Girlz. That is the director I’m always looking for,and why I follow him into something like The Butler. To be fair, he got good performances in that as well, but from actors far less surprising. Fast forward to 2024, … Continue reading The Deliverance

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The Watchers

John Stark

If I was the daughter of M. Night Shyamalan, I’m not sure I would want to tread in the same waters. I feel like the bar is so high, that even if you are able to out direct your father’s most incompetent directing for films like The Last Airbender and After Earth, you would still have a hard time beating his older works like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, or Signs, or even the more recent Split. Yet, that’s what we have here. We have someone trying to father in the closest footsteps possible. Dakota Fanning plays a young woman who … Continue reading The Watchers

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Daddio

John Stark

Films like this often fall under the radar in terms of “exceptional audio description”. It seems like we look at the complex, and think about how much is being thrown at the screen and how amazingly it all was seemingly translated to us through the power of audio description. But, what we don’t often recognize is the simplicity, and what a solid audio description team can do with that. What do you have to describe when your film has two characters, and they rarely change location, position, and certainly never clothing. How do you manage this around a script that … Continue reading Daddio

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His Three Daughters

John Stark

This is one of Netflix’s lower priority Oscar contenders. You can tell, because the release date for this is shit. Plus, they have the already anointed Emilia Perez, which is considered by basically everyone to be a lock for nominations, as well as Maria (with potential nominee Angelina Jolie), and The Piano lesson (with likely nominee Danielle Detweiler). Their strongest contender here is the biggest reason to see the film, and instead of running all of the daughters in supporting, they ran natasha Lyonne in lead. Dammit. This is just a depressing film from start to finish. It feels like … Continue reading His Three Daughters

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Babes

John Stark

When I think about what the funniest comedy of the year is, if I set apart Deadpool and wolverine for not technically being just a comedy, then Babes has the shot at being the best comedy of the year. There’s really no doubt in the how r why. Director Pamela Adlon had so much to say in her FX series Better Things that the idea that she would step behind the camera and have even more to say, seems like a no-brainer. Still, she has to rely on Ilana Glazer and Michelle Bhutto to do the heavy lifting. Luckily these … Continue reading Babes

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Spooky Season- 10 Peacock Titles To Rip Your Face off

John Stark

As audiences everywhere were dismayed to find out that Peacock was dropping Winnie The Pooh: Blood and honey 2 without audio description, it is not eligible for this list. These are the 10 scariest titles that are on Peacock and have audio description. I still refuse to tell you what this movie is about. If by some chance this movie has not been spoiled for you, see it before it is. All I’ll confirm is that, yes it does belong here. yes, there is gore. And Yes, this is still one of my favorite titles this year. i gave it … Continue reading Spooky Season- 10 Peacock Titles To Rip Your Face off

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Uglies

John Stark

What a God awful idea for a film. Following in the money grabbing young adult trend that was the era of Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Maze Runner, someone wrote a film about a future where everyone gets to have plastic surgery at 16 to make them perfect. Then, their problems are solved. Everyone under 16 is a child. Oh, sorry, I read that wrong. Everyone under 16 is one of the “Uglies”. You know, a regular person just living their life? Joey King is in this for some reason, despite being 25 years old. It’s almost like mcg made … Continue reading Uglies

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Rebel Ridge

John Stark

There are plenty of movies about outsiders visiting a small town and things not working out as expected.It is a pretty safe genre, as a lot of people assume small towns are somehow inherently shady after being gaslit by this trope for years. So, here comes Rebel Ridge, where Aaron Pierre (the new voice of Mufasa) heads to a small town to bail out his brother, only to find corrupt cops that steal his bail money.Along for the ride are Don Johnson as the sheriff, AnnaSophia Robb still looking for Winn Dixie, and James Cromwell playing someone still alive. The … Continue reading Rebel Ridge

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The Fabulous Four

John Stark

Hollywood. We need to talk. We have never had more content than we have right now. We have our major theatrical releases, we have indie films, we have streaming movies, we have fantastic limited series, we’ve got big name talent starring in TV shows, and yet we cannot find good films or television projects for women of a certain age. Jane Fonda and lily Tomlin at least had Grace and Frankie for a while, but the bulk of Diane Keaton’s work over the last few years is clinically depressing. One of the best actresses of her generation can’t get out … Continue reading The Fabulous Four

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The Boy and the Heron

John Stark

Without crushing the integrity of my review, and somehow not coming across as a believable fan of Hayao Miyazaki, I should mention that I’m not a completionist. There is at least one Miyazaki movie out there I still have not seen. There are also a few I own on physical media. My favorite headed into this is still Spirited Away, not because I’m a basic bitch, but because it is an excellent work of art. It wasn’t my first Miyazaki experience, but it has been really hard to beat. So, when he announces a new film, when everyone thinks he’s … Continue reading The Boy and the Heron

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Incoming

John Stark

And people say comedy is dead. Well, they haven’t seen Netflix’s latest teen comedy about some high school freshmen looking to par-tay. The hyphenated version is absolutely necessary by the way. In this latest high school romp, three pretty average dudes (because, we don’t really do nerds and geeks anymore), find themselves in the middle of a total rager. Not really, but, a 2024 version of a rager. It’s like if Project X had a version that was Pg-13. There’s nothing here you haven’t really seen before. Crude jokes, usual teen behavior, but all representative of this current Gen Alpha … Continue reading Incoming

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Double Jeopardy: 25th Anniversary

John Stark

I can’t wait till the day someone uses this film as a real world defense. Although, those circumstances are so specific. You’d have ton be convicted of murdering someone not dead, and then find that person who has been off the grid all those years, and then kill them to challenge the idea that this film is nonsense. But, I think that is what makes the film so damn entertaining, is that we can root for Ashley Judd. Very few films outside the horror genre have someone who you hope will succeed in their quest to kill. Often, there’s some … Continue reading Double Jeopardy: 25th Anniversary

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National Anthem

John Stark

What a rare opportunity. I remember when I joined GALECA this year, the LGBTQ+ critics organization, I mentioned that I rarely get to touch on representation in film from the gay perspective, because there is such a deficit in accessibility for blind and low vision movie watchers. I get lucky from time to time, and we have a character in a film worth mentioning, or an out actor, or even an LGBTQ film. In June, i specifically targeted certain films that also had audio description for pride month. but this? This is a queer rodeo movie. That is what it … Continue reading National Anthem

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Kinds Of Kindness

John Stark

I don’t know how many other critics consider themselves a work in progress, but I’m always trying to absorb stuff about film from everywhere. More recently, podcasts, and when i hear this title, it makes me wonder what the team at You Are Good would say about a film that suggest it might be about emotions and feelings, and is kind of adjacent to that, because we are always feeling or emoting, but the title isn’t the nail on the head you assume it is. Then again, was Poor Things? The Lobster? Do you even care what yorgos titles his … Continue reading Kinds Of Kindness

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Firebrand

John Stark

Divorced. Beheaded. Died. Divorced. Beheaded. Survived. The girls of Six have really made it easy (and catchy) to remember the fates of the wives of Henry VIII, and that comes in handy here as Alicia Vikander plays… one of them. now if i tell you, it’ll ruin it, because you’lll have the song stuck in your head. At least you know there are only four options. She’ll either get a divorce, die, get beheaded, or… survive? While Firebrand has a supporting cast, they just can’t match the performances of Vikander, or Jude Law as Henry the VIII. And, the audio … Continue reading Firebrand