Tag: International Digital Center

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The Whisper Man

John Stark

Do you know the Whisper Man? He’s nothing like the Muffin Man, so if you do know the Whisper Man, you might want to stay away. Maybe not from this film, though. The Whisper Man has sort of its own identity in that it’s not as terrible as a slew of other Netflix original titles, but it’s also not going to launch into the upper echelon of the few, the proud, the Netflix originals that make the subscription worthwhile. It’s basically a one-time-watch type of film, especially given how much it hinges upon a twist ending. Directed by James Ashcroft, … Continue reading The Whisper Man

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/24/26

John Stark

Yesterday… was nuts. I’m amazed I watched anything. TV Shows Watched: Lanterns: S1E2 (HBO MAX) with audio description, Black Clover: S1E2 (CrunchyRoll) with audio description, Solar Opposites: S6E9 (Disney Plus) with audio description, Strip Law: S1E10 (Netflix) with audio description Lanterns- Did we just learn in this episode that Zoey is black? Probably could have gotten that piece of info earlier. I don’t think her intro at the bar in Episode 1 described her, so it forced me into defaulting her into redneck white lady, which she apparently is not. If studios don’t want ethnic description in the AD track, … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/24/26

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Stranger Things: Tales From 85: Season 1

John Stark

How quickly a good thing can become a bad thing is not one of the specific tales from ’85, but it is more or less the overall theme of Stranger Things: Tales from ’85. That applies both to the story connecting these ten episodes and to the general feeling I had when it was all over. Our young cast is in between mysteries in 1985, now fully aware of Eleven’s powers, the Upside Down, and everything that happened to Will. With nothing particularly strange happening at the moment, the kids are bored enough to consider expanding their detective talents. Luckily … Continue reading Stranger Things: Tales From 85: Season 1

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/21/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Silo: S3E8 (Apple) with audio description, Stuart Fails: S1E4 (HBO MAX) with audio description, Mating Season: S1E6 (Netflix) with audio description, Robin Hood: S1E6 (MGM Plus) with audio description, The Miniature Wife: S1E10 (Peacock) with audio description Silo- The episode is titled Grey Goo, and when you get to the end, that’s all you really need. It’s like Silo’s version of Olaf’s Frozen quote “some people are worth melting for”. Jedediah Barton and Pixel Logic do more wonderful AD as they cram a lot into this episode. Not only do we check on the past, but we … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/21/26

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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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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 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: 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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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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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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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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Wake Up Dead Man

John Stark

Disclaimer: I’m a blind film critic. If you build it, he will come. In Rian Johnson’s third outing in what is called the Knives Out series (for no other reason than it being the title of the first Benoit Blanc outing), we are asked to have a little faith. or, perhaps it is better to have a lack thereof. Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man may center in a church, but this is no Murder In the Cathedral. If you dress it up with simplicity, it could be seen as a modern day version of that, but woven in Johnson’s narrative … Continue reading Wake Up Dead Man

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Frankenstein (2025)

John Stark

Sometimes the interesting thing about film is watching the growth of an auteur. Depending on when you were born, you might have gotten to see the rise of certain artists honing their craft, but the exciting part is that first film, and feeling like you just witnessed the birth of something. I’d consider myself a big fan of Del toro, who even when he doesn’t top himself as a director, certainly is never boring. he has such a love for film, and for the celebration of monsters, that it really does carry through all the themes. Even his stop-motion animated … Continue reading Frankenstein (2025)

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In Your Dreams

John Stark

2025 has not really been a banner year for animation, which perhaps has worked in favor for Netflix, who went to the bank with a certain group of singing demon hunters earlier this year. The largest opening weekend for an animated feature went to CrunchyRoll, for their continuation of Demon Slayer. I’ve been waiting for a film to really pull some emotion from me. I like my animation to have a bit of heart with it. Not that it can’t make me laugh myself silly, but my favorite animated movies have a punch to them. An emotional gut punch. We … Continue reading In Your Dreams

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/23/25

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: High Potential: S2E1 (Hulu) with audio description,Platonic: S2E8 (Apple Plus) with audio description,The Runarounds: S1E4 (Amazon) with audio description, Red Fish Blue Fish: S1E5 (Netflix) with audio description, Black Mirror: S4E6 (Netflix) with audio description, Next Gen Chef: S1E3 (Netflix) with audio description,Last Week tonight: most Recent (HBO MAX) no audio description High Potential- With Jimmy Kimmel back, so is Hulu/Disney content. So, I caught up with the Season Premiere of High Potential, which I was disappointed to find out was using the same AD team as last year. Although, I’ve heard worse, from this narrator and … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/23/25