Tag: Deluxe

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Imaginary

John Stark

This feels like the film that should have been the first release of 2024. We always seem to need to sacrifice and suffer through a mediocre or terrible horror film to start every year, like a ritual sacrifice. I also sat through a barrage of reviews trashing this film, so when I finally got around to Imaginary, I was ready to believe that this would be battling my eventual thoughts on a Winnie The Pooh: Blood and honey sequel for worst picture. But, no. It’s not good, but there are worse films this year. there are films that have made … Continue reading Imaginary

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One Life

John Stark

When I heard the title of the new Anthony Hopkins film, it reminded me of all those Hacksaw Ridge trailers where Andrew Garfield would say “…just one more”. Sadly, One Life, is an abandoned Oscar bait film. This happened to a few films released at the end of the year, when the distributor behind the film already had their primary contenders. This is like the “in case of emergency, break glass”, except that for a random recognition from the BAFTA’s, One life went largely without being lauded. Neon did the same thing with origin, A24 had The iron Claw, Amazon … Continue reading One Life

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Dune: Part II

John Stark

in preparation for this masterpiece of a film, I felt compelled to warm up my Dune knowledge by rewatching the first film. I have to say,as someone with no prior knowledge of anything Due before watching the first Denis Villeneuve entry, I wasn’t jumping all over it like a lot of people. I think about the aspect of my blindness, and how that affects my watching and enjoyment,and there is a possibility that the spectacle just doesn’t translate, and I’m left with a script that is difficult to follow. I’m careful not to complain too much, because I hate data … Continue reading Dune: Part II

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Turtles All The Way Down

John Stark

The further we go through John green’s catalogue of novels into film adaptations, I’m realizing this guy wrote one really great book, and some just OK books that keep getting adapted anyway. Probably the second best adaptation I’ve seen of his work was looking For Alaska, which had the benefit of being a limited series and expanding upon the material and really getting everything in there. Turtles All The Way Down is emotionally manipulative, with a few strong performances, and also has parts that just don’t work. the meat of the story revolves around a teenager (Isabela Merced) who is … Continue reading Turtles All The Way Down

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Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes

John Stark

I definitely felt the trepidation about returning to this franchise, especially after the strength of the Caesar trilogy. Matt Reeves was passing the buck to Wes Ball, who made one good Maze Runner film, and some mediocre sequels, so I wasn’t sure what to think. Honestly, this film isn’t even running on star power here. The biggest featured actor not doing motion capture work is Frea Allen, and Owen Teague is taking the very tall order left behind by Andy Serkis as the main motion capture actor. Caesar is gone, 300 years have passed, and our Apes are in a … Continue reading Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes

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Rise, Dawn, and War For The Planet Of The Apes

John Stark

In preparation for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, I rewatched one of my favorite trilogies of all time. I’m elated that all three films have available audio description… somewhere. For me, I bought the trilogy in the Apple Store, to make sure I have all three. I have VlueRays of all three as well. I’ve seen Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes probably 4 times prior to this, Dawn probably twice, and admittedly I think I had only seen War once. Rise of the Planet Of The Apes has audio description provided by Deluxe, written and narrated … Continue reading Rise, Dawn, and War For The Planet Of The Apes

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Ordinary Angels

John Stark

When this film first dropped, it seemed like it was just another faith based film. Those always depend on the budget, and often can vary widely in quality. Last year I saw a few faith based films that weren’t terrible. This really isn’t faith based. It just happens to have a guy who attends church, and later in the film a church parking lot is used. Otherwise, this feels less like Miracles From Heaven and more about a redemption story mixed in with a perpetually tragic family drama. American Idol alumni, and current Jack reacher, Alan Ritchson stars as a … Continue reading Ordinary Angels

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Madame Webb

John Stark

the internet certainly has an opinion on this film. It’s like a grand offense that occurred, the cinematic equivalent of slapping someone’s mother. But is it really? If you want to comb back through, you’ll see that I didn’t quite buy the doom and gloom of Morbius, if for no other reason than it was the most normal performance Jared Leto has ever given. But, Madame Webb also has moments where it clearly could have been at least a decent film. So, let’s break down the hate, and see if it’s warranted. but first, the audio description. Laura post and … Continue reading Madame Webb

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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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Schindler’s List

John Stark

Not that the internet needs one more review of Schindler’s List. Let’s be honest and say that all these years later, and this is as engrained in the finality of cinema as Citizen Kane, The Wizard of oz, or Casablanca. 30 more years could pass, and nothing will change in regard to Steven Spielberg’s historic accomplishment. I somehow missed the official 30th anniversary of this film last year, and was reminded of it earlier this year when The Zone Of Interest caused many to reference this classic. It had been years since I saw this, and what I saw was … Continue reading Schindler’s List

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The Beekeeper

John Stark

There are different types of movies in the world. there’s the kind that attracts critics and film snobs, and they debate the merits of a lot of films no one will ever watch again. too many of those people don’t understand the appeal of something like The Beekeeper, which is one of the dumbest movies I’ve seen in terms of plot, but it was also oddly a blast to watch. Jason Statham clearly wanted his own John Wick style franchise, and David Ayer was happy to oblige. The upside is that this movie has audio description by Jedidiah Barton and … Continue reading The Beekeeper

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The Mummy (25th Anniversary)

John Stark

So one of the cool things happening with the lack of releases is that we are getting more and more anniversary rereleases, like Brendan Fraser’s underrated The mummy. This Stephen Sommers flick is something I already own on DVD, but without audio description. The rerelease allowed me to experience the audio description, and encouraged me to explore the sequells, also with audio description. Fraser’s first foray is one of those random moviegoing experiences I still remember. I was actually out of town and my mom dropped me off at the movie theatre, knowing I would be good to go. I … Continue reading The Mummy (25th Anniversary)

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Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom

John Stark

There was a little conversation around making a film in a studio system with influence, and how Madame Webb likely had a solid creative team but Sony interfered and made shit. That conversation, for some reason, did not happen for Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, a film do inconsequential, Warner Bros opened it the same weekend as two other Warner Bros titles (Wonka and The color Purple). Had they believed this sequel had gas in the tank, doing so for three recognizable franchise films over Christmas is insane. Even in a slower market affected by the strike, you are still … Continue reading Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom

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The Creator

John Stark

I first tried watching this on Hulu shortly after it released, but not right away. it did not have audio description, nor did it through Hulu on Disney Plus. Months later, I finally was able to watch this film with the wonderful description done by Deluxe and William Michael Redmond. I avoided really reviewing the film the first time, because I had a feeling I was enjoying the film, I just couldn’t understand it. Man, I was missing a lot. the creator stars John David Washington as a man caught in a futuristic war where countries look very different, AI … Continue reading The Creator

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Next Goal Wins

John Stark

Back when we were predicting the 2022 Oscars, this film was rumored to be hitting that block, until it got pushed. Now, it wasn’t the only film to get pushed, and some films did end up benefitting from moving, like Killers Of The Flower Moon. However, after seeing next Goal Wins, I’m not sure why it was ever “in contention”. Not that I didn’t like the film, it is just your basic inspirational sports drama. I caught this on Disney Plus with audio description by Deluxe, with narration by Mary Song. The narration is fine, since this is a grown … Continue reading Next Goal Wins