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Going In Blind: First They Came For My College

John Stark

As a Floridian, I was acutely aware of what had happened to New College of Florida. It became part of the larger battle over education in this state, stretching from elementary schools all the way through our public universities. New College was a particularly strange target. This is a small public honors college in Sarasota, with a campus that incorporates part of the former estate of Charles and Edith Ringling. It wasn’t known for athletics. It was known for taking a different approach to higher education, giving high-achieving students considerable freedom in structuring their studies and encouraging unusually close interaction … Continue reading Going In Blind: First They Came For My College

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Mayday

John Stark

I really didn’t know what to expect from Apple’s new film Mayday, which skipped a theatrical release despite the star presence of Ryan Reynolds and was slotted into early September. The late August and early September period around Labor Day used to be considered the doldrums of theatrical releases. Every once in a while, a film would challenge that idea, obviously, but this isn’t necessarily when people release their best films. So, with Apple dropping Mayday here, I was definitely a little worried. However, I was encouraged by the directorial team of John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who previously … Continue reading Mayday

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The Runner (2026)

John Stark

I got to The Runner slightly later than a handful of other critics, so I had already watched its Rotten Tomatoes score rapidly plummet and seen most of the ire targeted specifically at Gal Gadot. She seems to be a fairly easy target nowadays. Her choice of films, her limitations as an actress, her thoughts on various topics—pick one. I’m sure there’s a reason why you or someone you know doesn’t like her. However, she is not the reason this movie fails. She is merely one piece in a catastrophic puzzle that Amazon has decided to thrust upon the world … Continue reading The Runner (2026)

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Buddy (2026)

John Stark

In every generation, there is a kids TV show that absolutely confounds parents, annoys the heck out of them, but also makes them incredibly glad their children have found something that will keep them quiet long enough that they can use the bathroom in peace. Let’s be honest, screen time can be useful. I have no idea what the little kids of today are watching. Probably Gabby’s Dollhouse. Paw Patrol seems like a strong possibility. Buddy, however, feels very much targeted at the Barney generation, even including a song with different lyrics that sounds suspiciously close to something Barney would … Continue reading Buddy (2026)

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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 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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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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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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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

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Power Ballad

John Stark

I can’t believe it’s been as long as it has since we learned to fall slowly, but John Carney has since made a career out of films using music as their core. The director of Once transitioned from that Academy Award-winning film into the popular Sing Street, my personal favorite Begin Again, the complicated Flora and Son, and now Power Ballad, the newest music-centric film starring Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas. This one centers around Rick, an older musician who gave up his rock star years when he met a girl, settled down, and became a dad. Now he works … Continue reading Power Ballad

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Toy Story 5

John Stark

I can’t believe we’ve been making Toy Story movies for 31 years. I remember being in a theater as a kid in 1995, watching Toy Story for the first time. I was at that age where I was starting to segue away from playing with toys and into life, or video games, or whatever else you start doing when you get into your teens. But, admittedly, I had a robust childhood. I watched a lot of kids programming, loved my daily intake of cartoons, and yes, I had a bunch of toys and action figures. So, I remember going home … Continue reading Toy Story 5

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In The Hand of Dante

John Stark

I’d heard about In the Hand of Dante coming out of the Venice Film Festival and knew it hadn’t been especially well received. At the time, though, a lot of the conversation seemed to revolve around the cast and the controversy surrounding their positions on the Israel-Palestine conflict rather than the movie itself. Now that it’s on Netflix, complete with an excellent audio description track from International Digital Center written by Stephen Christopher and narrated by Jamie Lemchek, I finally had the chance to check out Julian Schnabel’s latest film. On paper, this thing should be incredible. It’s produced by … Continue reading In The Hand of Dante

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Voicemails For Isabelle

John Stark

I’ve always had a soft spot for a good melodrama. Not necessarily a feel-good movie, but the kind that mixes romance, grief, humor, and heartbreak into a story that asks audiences to spend a couple of hours with characters navigating extraordinary circumstances. Netflix’s Voicemails for Isabel absolutely fits that mold, and more importantly, it understands something that a lot of modern romance dramas seem to have forgotten. In recent years, we’ve seen a wave of adaptations from authors like Colleen Hoover. Films like It Ends With Us, Regretting You, and Reminders of Him often begin with tragedy and then build … Continue reading Voicemails For Isabelle

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Saccharine

John Stark

I’m a blind film critic. Generally, the focus is from that viewpoint, though I am other things. I’m also gay, male, 40-something, white, American, Floridian, and also… fat. And, by all means, exchange that word with what you feel comfortable. Plump, fluffy, plus sized, overweight, thick, dealer’s choice. Fat is quick, cuts to the point, though it’s one of those words that other people shouldn’t use toward you.It’s funny how we have such odd conversations about weight, and we’ve become such a health centric, diet deranged, quick solution culture. Do I count calories? Is it the south beach diet or … Continue reading Saccharine

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Tuner

John Stark

Opening this Friday before going wider next weekend is Daniel Roher’s Tuner, which made an unexpected but pleasant splash at the 2025 Telluride International Film Festival, before going on to play Toronto, London, Sundance, and Florida Film Festivals. Black Bear, a mensch, is releasing. They get an individual shoutout for actually giving me an accessible screener with audio description. It’s not their first time doing it, and while I beg, scrape, and claw my way through a sea of films unaware that blind film critics are a thing (naturally, because blind people exist, theretofore, we exist in the same spaces … Continue reading Tuner