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The Life of Chuck

John Stark

Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillen, Mark Hamill, Mia Sara, Jacob Tremblay, Matthew Lillard, Benjamin Pajak, Cody Flanagan, Carl Lumbly, David Dastmalchian, Harvey Guillen, Michael Trucco, Q’Oorianka Kilcher, Violet McGraw, Kate Segal, Heather Langenkamp, Nick Offerman Written and Directed By: Mike Flanagan (based on the story by Stephen King) Original Score By: The Newton Brothers Release Year: 2025 Studio: Neon Runtime: 111 minutes Audio Description Produced By: Point 360 Written By: Narrated By: Tansy Alexander What Is it?: Told in reverse chronological order, the film tackles a seemingly average human, and breaks their life up into three parts. We … Continue reading The Life of Chuck

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Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning

John Stark

Cast: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Esai Morales, Angela Bassett, Pom Klementieff, Henry Czerny, Holt McCallany, Nick Offerman, Janet McTeer, Hannah Waddingham, Tremmell Tillman, Shea Wiggham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Cary Elwes, Katie O’Brien Written By: Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jenderesen, based on the TV series Mission: Impossible Directed By: Christopher McQuarrie Notable Producers: Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg Studio: Paramount pictures Release Year: 2025 Runtime: 169 minutes Audio Description Produced By: Icon Group Written By: Need Credit Narrated By: Anthony Hanson what is It?: It’s the final countdown. Your mission, should you choose to … Continue reading Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning

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East Of Wall

John Stark

Cast: Porschia Zimiga, Tabitha Zimiga, Jennifer Ehle, Scoot McNairy, Jesse Horson, Clay Pateneaude Written and Directed By: Kate Beaucroft original Score By: Lucas Frank and Daniel Meyer R’Keefe Studio: Sony Pictures Classics Release Yeaar: 2025 Runtime: 97 minutes Audio Description produced By: the Media Access Group as WGBH Studios Written By: Narrated By: Emily Hooks What Is it?: An experimental indie of sorts, which has the director using almost entirely a cast of local South Dakotans playing versions of themselves. A cast of nearly entirely green actors tell a story about a trio of women across generations trying to make … Continue reading East Of Wall

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Freakier Friday

John Stark

Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Julia Butters, Sophia Hammons, Manny Jacinto, Mark Harmon, Chad Michael Murray, Vanessa Bayer, Stephen Tobolowsky, Maitreyi Ramakrkrishnnan, Christina Vidal, Haley Hudson, June Diane Raphael Written By: Jordan Weiss, Elyse Hollander, based on characters created by Leslie Dixon and Heather Hach, and a book by Mary Roger’s Directed By: Nisha Ganatra Original Score By: Amy Daugherty Studio: Disney Release Year: 2025 *Note: Special shoutout to Regal, without whom I would not have been able to view this film without audio description. Your consistency for broken audio description equipment is unmatched. If Disney would like me … Continue reading Freakier Friday

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Friendship

John Stark

Cast: Tim Robinson, Paul Rudd, Kate Mara, Jack Dylan Grazer, Josh Segarra Directed By: Andrew DeYoung Studio: A24 Release Year: 2025 Runtime: 97 minutes Rated R Audio Description Produced By: Deluxe Written By: Narrated By: William Michael Redman What Is it?:An obnoxious human being (Robinson) meets his new neighbor (Rudd), and after a night of seemingly enjoyable shenanigans, ends up taking their friendship way too far. What Works: Paul Rudd is perfectly cast here, and helps balance out the film. he’s just so intensely genial that everyone can easily get along with him. He’s a weatherman in the film, who … Continue reading Friendship

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She Rides Shotgun

John Stark

Cast: Ana Sophia Heger as Polly, Taron Egerton as Nathan, Rob Yang as park, Odessa A’zion as Charlotte, John Carroll Lynch as Houser Written By: Ben Collin’s (The Night House), Jordan Harper (The Mentalist), Luke Piotrowski (The night House), Nick Roland, based on the book by Jordan Harper Directed By: Nick Roland Original Score By: Blank Mass Studio: Lionsgate Release year: 2025 Rated R Runtime: 122 minutes Audio Description Produced By: Alan Smithee, or through divine intervention. There were no credits at the end. What is it?: Polly (Heger) is a 9 year old girl who finds herself thrust into … Continue reading She Rides Shotgun

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The Fantastic Four: First Steps

John Stark

Cast: Pedro Pascal as Reed Richard’s, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Eben moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, Ralph Ineson as Galactus, Julia Garner as Silver Surfer, Natasha Lyonne as Rachel, Paul Walter Hauser as Mole Man, Sarah Nyles as Lynn, Written By:Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson,Jeff Kaplan, Ian springer, and Kat Wood, based on the Marvel comic created by Stan Lee Directed By: Matt Shakman (WandaVision) Notable Producers: Kevin Feige Original Score By: Michael Giacchino (The Batman) Studio: Disney/Marvel Release Year: 2025 Runtime:115 minutes Rated PG-13 Audio description does exist for this film. However, my regal did … Continue reading The Fantastic Four: First Steps

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Emilia Perez: A Second Look

John Stark

Emilia Perez: A Second Look- 13 Oscar Nominations Was Enough To Trigger English Audio Description! So, I originally made a pretty big fuss about the lack of audio description on the major Oscar contender from netflix. I did sit through the film, with only Spanish available at release, and reviewed the film as it was presented. I addressed the problems with the lack of inclusivity on a film touting nothing but, and how Netflix had previously ignored fellow Spanish-language Oscar nominees like El Conde, Brdo, and Roma, none of which got audio description in their respective years. But, as Timothee … Continue reading Emilia Perez: A Second Look

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Inheritance (2025)

John Stark

Inheritance (2025)- Phoebe Dynevor and Rhys Ifans In A Father/Daughter Twisty Treat Quick Take: releasing today in theaters, Inheritance is the first title from IFC Films to kick off hopefully another year with some gems. Last year, they paired with Shudder on a handful of my favorites, like Oddity and late Night With The Devil, but also were responsible for my favorite film of 2024, Ghostlight. Everyone else can fall all over the year end Oscar bait, but Ghostlight had me at “what light on yonder window breaks”. As with most screeners, I was not passed audio description. I’m fairly … Continue reading Inheritance (2025)

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Fly Me To The Moon

John Stark

Fly Me To The Moon (Apple Plus)- Scarlett Johansson Faked The Moon Landing! Quick Take: I’m one of the few, the proud, the rare people who didn’t hate myself after watching this. It isn’t the best film Apple put out in 2024, but it certainly isn’t the worst. The audio description is also pretty nice, really helping to sell the attempt to make Channing Tatum look more… like he’s intelligent. Scarlett Johansson plays an advertising guru who is recruited by a clandestine government official (Woody Harrelson) to help “sell NASA” so it can keep getting funding, ultimately leading to her … Continue reading Fly Me To The Moon

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The Wild Robot

John Stark

The Wild Robot- Dreamworks Beautiful Spin On What It Means To Be A Parent Quick Take: I’ve been waiting to catch up to this point. This is on my list of films to rewatch when I have free time. I caught this in the middle of my awards screener blitz, and it is the best thing Dreamworks has done since How To Train Your Dragon. Following the story of a robot created to help humans, who finds herself lost in the wild where there are none, the robot (voiced by lupita Nyong’o) has to adapt to her new surroundings. We … Continue reading The Wild Robot

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Quality Check: Back In Action

John Stark

I’m quite backed up in terms of reviews of 2024 titles. I wanted to shake things up a bit, so this is hopefully a first in a series for me. As of me writing this, I have not seen this movie. These thoughts are first impressions and immediate reactions to moments in the audio description track. I’m not sure, at the onset, who made this, who narrated, or who wrote it, so we’re in this cold. Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz star. Diaz hasn’t done a film in years, and you would think Netflix would give her a better slot … Continue reading Quality Check: Back In Action

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The Last Showgirl

John Stark

The Last Showgirl- Pamela Anderson Is Mind Blowing In This Dramatic Turn Quick Take: I’ve had the opportunity to debate this quite a bit since seeing this film, and I prefer to reward talent when i truly believe they are near or at the top of their game. So in a year where Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Kate Winslet, Soarise Ronan, and others delivered strong performances, none of them were definitively their best. In what is like watching a baby walk for the first time, that can’t be said of Pamela Anderson who was matched perfectly to the right role … Continue reading The Last Showgirl

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Blitz

John Stark

Blitz (Apple Plus)- It Could Have Been So Much Better Quick Take: Steve McQueen is a great director. 12 Years A Slave, Widows, and Mangrove are all excellent.This is not. He made a very mediocre war film that was Apple’s final hope, that Oscar prognosticators had thought might find a groundswell at BAFTA, and it just ended up being one of the lost films of the year. Honestly, I didn’t hate Blitz. The audio description is insufficient, but it isn’t bad. It is just disappointing. Sometimes, it is bad to be disappointing. Like, while I still need to fully review … Continue reading Blitz

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Sing Sing

John Stark

Sing Sing- Is This One Of The Very Best Of The Year? Quick Take: Last year, when critics were bouncing around festivals looking for 2023 Oscar contenders, the Toronto International Film Festival landed a buzzy indie that had everyone saying “just wait for 2024”. Coleman Domingo was already firmly in the race with Rustin, and the hope was this little gem would be given room to breathe by entering 2024 an early frontrunner. Then, A24 bought the film, and scheduled it for a summer release. last year, this helped the little indie Past Lives get noticed, but that ultimately led … Continue reading Sing Sing