Tag: JK Simmons

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The Small Screen Diaries:08/23/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: The Walking dead: Deaad City: S3E5 (AMC Plus) no audio description, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed: S1E9 (Apple) with audio description, Tomb Raider King: S1E2 (CrunchyRoll) with audio description,The Westies: S1E8 (MGM Plus) with audio description,Life Larry and the Pursuit Of Unhappyness: S1E7 (HBO MAX) with audio description, Pop Culture Jeopardy: S2E17 (Netflix) with audio description, and Marshals: S1e13 (Paramount) with audio description Dead City- Back to not having audio description again. Good job guys. Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed- I love how invested I am in this woman getting to keep her daughter, more than the strange shit happening around … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries:08/23/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/16/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: The Walking Dead: Dead City: S3E4 (AMC Plus) WITH audio description, Unconditional: S1E8 (Apple) with audio description, The Westies: S1E7 (MGM Plus) with audio description, Avatar: The LAst Airbender: S2E6 (Netflix) with audio description, The Rookie: S8E10 (Disney Plus) with audio description, and The Five Star Weekend: S1E2 (Peacock) with audio description The Walking Dead: Dead City- I’ve suspected in the past that AMC Plus uses synthetic voice, and I’d still buy that here. They tipped their hat previously when the narrator couldn’t pronounce the name of a character, so I operate as if this was synthetic. … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/16/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/09/26

John Stark

Some shows coming up this week include Reacher (Amazon), Tires (Netflix), and a new Happy Madison film starring a Sandler child on Friday, along with the premiere of Girls like Girls on Peacock. It’s a slow week. TV Shows Watched: Walking Dead: Dead City: S3E3 (AMC Plus) still no audio description, Your Friends And Neighbors: S2e10 (Apple) with audio description, A Good Girls Guide To Murder: S2E3 (Netflix) with audio description,The Westies: S1E6 (MGM Plus) with audio description, Daemons Of The Shadow Realm: S1E11 (CrunchyRoll) with audio description, The Five Star Weekend: S1E1 (Peacock) with audio description Dead City- AMC … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/09/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/02/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: The Walking Dead: Dead City: S3E2 (AMC Plus) no audio description, Unconditional: S1E7 (Apple) with audio description, Ghosts: S5E11 (Paramount) with audio description, The Westies: S1E5 (MGM Plus) with audio description, Unchosen: S1E6 (Netflix) with audio description, Running Pointe: S2E10 (Netflix) with audio description, and The Rookie: S8E8 (Disney Plus) with audio description Dead City: OMFG. Second week in a row, where the show and episode are advertised as being audio described but are not. Fuck off, AMC. The show is still interesting as the new showrunner, who worked as a writer on the original series, is … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/02/26

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Red One

John Stark

Red One (Amazon)- Really Overcomplicates The Magic Behind Great Holiday Movies Quick Take: Talk about a film that made zero impact on me. My video was shot after having seen it, and just now catching up to this, I’ve almost entirely forgotten this film. I remember Chris Evans, and his character’s backstory. he had an accent. Dwayne Jonson was here. But, my brain has deleted this, because it was so average. I remember the films I loved or liked, and I remember the movies I didn’t like or hated, but put enough time between me and a movie I’m mostly … Continue reading Red One

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The Union (An Anti-Review)

John Stark

The Union is so bland it just feels like so many other mediocre films Netflix has vomited at us this year. Honestly, I think we all need this, because Netflix’s ratio at this point seems far more quantity over quality, and they don’t even really allow for the random missteps even a talented writer/director/actor can make. So, what is putting out more positivity today is to talk about ten great films that are on Netflix that aren’t The Union. 3) the little Prince Now, this was an acquisition. I remember this was supposed to be released by a larger studio … Continue reading The Union (An Anti-Review)

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The Small Screen Diaries- 01/12/24

John Stark

Apple better be continuing on with For All Mankind. That season finale was a beast, and did exactly what I thought it would. Because the show takes these leaps forward in time, original cast members have to keep being shaved off because there’s only just so much you can age a person. Just like how last season ended with a few original cast members exiting, it’s highly likely that the way certain characters are written, means the end for them on the show (at least as regulars). However, there was one prominent character whose future was not shown, and that … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 01/12/24

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The Small Screen Diaries- 01/02/2024

John Stark

Slowly moving into 2024, I’m getting closer and closer to finishing some series. One of those I’m close on is Fellow Travelers (Paramount Plus with Showtime), the excellent drama starring Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey as two men inexplicably forever linked through the passage of time. The latest episode I watched dealt with the murder of Harvey Milk, and that someone tried to blame their mental state on Twinkies. The jury actually had to deliberate for more than 5 minutes on that one, which highlights the absurdity of the period. But, Bomer was excellent as it turned out he was … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 01/02/2024

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The Too Much Tv Roundup- 12/26/23

John Stark

Apparently Percy Jackson is doing solid numbers for Disney. Over 13M in the first week. Maybe the series will survive. 1) Bodies (Netflix) English Audio Description?: Yes Status: Limited I may not always know what is going on, but as the series moves forward the series has intrigued me a lot. By episode 5, things are really starting to come together, and you can see characters understand what is going on. Episode Grade: B+ 2) Monarch (Apple Plus) English Audio Description?: Yes Narrated By: Jedidiah Barton Status: Unknown Our characters find themselves really trapped in the freezing tundra being chased … Continue reading The Too Much Tv Roundup- 12/26/23

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The Too Much TV Roundup- 12/19/23

John Stark

HUGE TV news that was like a stake to my heart. This upcoming season of What We do In The Shadows will be its last. However, My Life With The Walter Boys (which is so totally on brand for Netflix) has already been renewed for a second season. 1) Everything Now (Netflix) English Audio Description?: Yes Status: Unknown Another trigger warning, and this episode is great for expanding Mia’s brother. He has feelings too, and he’s barely had anything to do. Well, he’s greatly expanded after this episode. Sometimes, I forgot she had a brother. Episode Grade: B+ 2) Monarch … Continue reading The Too Much TV Roundup- 12/19/23

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The Too Much TV Roundup- 12/06/23

John Stark

Not a ton of new TV news, but I did see that MAX is slating Season 3 of And Just Like That for 2025. So, all you SATC fanatics have to find something else to do in 2024. 1) Bodies (Netflix) English Audio Description?: Yes Status: Limited Still a very complex series. I realized one of the timelines is in the future, and that wasn’t even the weirdest part. They think they might know whose body it is, so one of the detectives in one of the timelines drops a cool end to the episode. Honestly, it’s just a ton … Continue reading The Too Much TV Roundup- 12/06/23

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The Too Much TV Roundup- 11/26/23

John Stark

Had no idea this was happening, but apparently Baz Luhrmann recut his film Australia and released it on Hulu as a six part limited series. What an interesting concept. First, the Snyder Cut, now a new version of Australia. 1) Beckham (Netflix) English Audio Description?: Yes Status: Limited The first episode does a good job of explaining why David Beckham is famous. If you are at least familiar with the concept of who he is, you’ll be fine. It starts pretty much at the beginning of his football career, and the first episode takes him through his meteoric rise, and … Continue reading The Too Much TV Roundup- 11/26/23

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Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

John Stark

Where I Watched it: iTunes (it’s also on Netflix) English Audio Description Provided By The Media Access Group Narrated By Inger Tudor. What seems like a lifetime ago, I did go to the theatres to watch the first Miles Morales entry. I was pleasantly surprised. Then, they made a sequel, and I had the displeasure of watching it after everyone went absolutely nuts over this. It’s not that it’s bad, but the internet can really oversell a film. That’s not to say the movie is bad, it’s just as good as the first one. Now that we know about multiverses … Continue reading Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

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Contraband

John Stark

Where I watched it: Netflix English Audio Description Available?: Yes Netflix. The unofficial home of Mark Wahlberg. I’m keeping this short. I’ve seen Contraband, and based on when it was released, i fully acknowledge the likely presence of another review of Contraband on my site. However, that was when i could see, and now I can’t, so this was my first time through with audio description. The truth is, the audio description is fine. The movie itself is still totally forgettable. Part of the reason I randomly reviewed this film was due to the fact that i couldn’t remember anything … Continue reading Contraband

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The Too Much TV Roundup- August 8th

John Stark

The start of a new week, and Amazon is being mean and reminding me there was still one more episode of Night Sky, after I finished it last week and it temporarily disappeared from my queue. I now see that Undone is still there, after going away, which perplexes me because I it really do not know where that story would have gone after that ending. That was a true finale ending if there ever was one. What the hell, Amazon? Stop temporarily disappearing shit from my queue. This wasn’t a problem before the redesign. 1) Night Sky (Amazon) English … Continue reading The Too Much TV Roundup- August 8th

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The Too Much TV Roundup- August 1st

John Stark

I finished a show, though the knowledge that there won’t be a second season just made me frustrated with all those damn cliffhangers. Did it snag the top spot? 1) Breeders (FX/Hulu) English Audio Description?: No One of the few shows I ever actually make the exception for to top the list. Breeders chose to come out of left field and spend the day with Mark and his parents. As he tried to provide them with a happy day, a walk down memory lane, as their friend is in hospice, the whole thing went to shit when his mom revealed … Continue reading The Too Much TV Roundup- August 1st

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The Too Much tV Roundup- July 25th

John Stark

Normally, on a Monday, i would be praising Outer Range yet again. I finished that last week, so who made it to the top of this Monday’s chart? 1) Night Sky (Amazon) English Audio Description Available?: Yes Something interesting is finally happening to the secondary storyline, as it becomes more clear that for some reason our Latinx family is here to hunt down Jude. But what really made this show work had nothing to do with the science fiction,and everything to do with the quiet work JK Simmons has been building on all season. Some absolutely heartbreaking work from him … Continue reading The Too Much tV Roundup- July 25th

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John Stark

The Too Much TV Roundup- July 14th Well, for those who follow my roundups (which I know, is everybody, including Obama), you might notice that I rarely score shows as low as I do movies. That’s because, I don’t watch shows I don’t like. That’s dumb. But every once in a while, either a show gets worse and then it’s the last episode before I quit, or the pilot is terrible. This was one of those days. 1) Breeders (FX) English Audio Description Available?: No Breaking a personal rule of mine, i am putting a show without audio description on … Continue reading

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The Too Much TV Roundup- July 7th

John Stark

Kind of a short list today, but it is what it is. 1) Breeders (FX/Hulu) English Audio Description: No Pretty much, this show is at the top of my :I’m going to one day figure out how to force all Emmy voters to watch this program” list. Emmy voters are worse than the Academy, because they have fewer precursor awards letting them know what movies everyone is watching. So it’s up to the individual campaigns to convince people to watch their show. And, that doesn’t happen, which is why last year, most of the cast of Ted Lasso received nominations, … Continue reading The Too Much TV Roundup- July 7th

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The Too Much TV Roundup- June 26th

John Stark

A near perfect day of TV show watching. If only The Offer could nail those impressions. 1) Girls5Eva (Peacock) English Audio description Available?: Yes The Girls take on different challenges, but what gets served up most is now that Summer is single again, her parents are rolling back into town to protect her purity. But, when she learns her parents haven’t always been so… pure, will she keep her pledge? Episode Grade: A 2) Undone (Amazon) English Audio Description Available?: Yes I really enjoyed Season 1, and I just assumed I’d never see it again. Then Amazon stuck with this … Continue reading The Too Much TV Roundup- June 26th

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Chip N Dale’s Rescue rangers

John Stark

Featuring the Voices of: Andy Samberg, John Mulaney, Will Arnett, Keegan Michael Key, Seth Rogen, Eric Bana, Dennis Haysbert, Flula Borg, Tress MacNeille, Tim Robinson, Rachel Bloom, Jorma Taccone, and actual performances from Kiki Lane and JK Simmons. Directed By: Akiva Schaffer Where I Watched it: Disney Plus English Audio Description Available?: Technically, yes. Due to the nature of this review, which will be abundantly clear, I’ve chosen to not include the narration team behind this film. Read on, and discover why. It’s a personal choice, and I won’t be changing my mind. They should be allowed to Alan Smithee … Continue reading Chip N Dale’s Rescue rangers

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Marmaduke (2022)

John Stark

Featuring the voices of Pete Davidson, JK Simmons, and David Koechner. Directed By: Four People. FOUR. It took FOUR people to direct this. Where I Was Submitted To This Torture: Netflix Wass There At Least Audio Description?: Yes Who Made The Audio Description?: I believe “Post Trax Digital”. Narrated By: Rachelle Hagar Description Written By: Anna McClellan The Plot: Your child’s @#1 most recognizable and popular cartoon dog is in his first animated feature, where after Marmaduke is “bad”, he is locked in a room during a birthday party, but he breaks out, causes chaos and someone videos it and … Continue reading Marmaduke (2022)

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My Very Final Official Oscar Predictions

John Stark

So for those of you movie loving folk out there doing Oscar pools, let me be your guide. or not. Do your thing. Maybe your shaman already told you who will win. But these are my predictions for the Oscars that are being presented on Sunday. Yes, this Sunday. BEST PICTURE: The Power Of The Dog Despite the internet Oscar experts shitting bricks after Coda won the PGA award in this category, I know it is used as a barometer for predicting the winner in this category, and to be fair, i think Coda is in the #2 spot. It’s … Continue reading My Very Final Official Oscar Predictions

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Spider-Man: No Way home

John Stark

Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalan, Benedict Cumberbatch, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Marisa Tomei, Jon Faverau, Thomas Haden Church, Jamie Fox, Rhys Ifans, Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire, JK Simmons, Benedict Wong, Tony Revelori, and Charlie Cox. Directed By Jon Watts Where I Watched It: Apple VOD (Purchase!) English audio Description Available?: Yes The Plot: Picking up after the events of Far From home, the world knows Peter Parker (Holland) is Spider-Man, which complicates his life, as well as those of his friends and family. in an effort to restore some balance, Peter turns to Dr Strange (Cumberbatch) to cast a … Continue reading Spider-Man: No Way home

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Ghostbusters Afterlife

John Stark

Starring: Carrie Coon, McKenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Paul Rudd, Logan Kim, Celeste O’Connor, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Shoreh Agadashloo, JK Simmons, Bokeem Woodbine, Josh Gad, Annie Potts, and Sigourney Weaver. Directed By: Jason Reitman Where I Watched It: Apple VOD English Audio Description Available: Yes The Plot: A struggling mother (Coon) finds out her father, from whom she has been long estranged, has passed away and left her a creaky old house in a small sleepy town. So, she packs up her two kids (Wolfhard/Grace) and heads out to tie up loose ends. But, she really had no … Continue reading Ghostbusters Afterlife

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Being The Ricardos

John Stark

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, JK Simmons, Nina Arianda, Tony Hale, Jake Lacy, Clark Gregg, Alia Shankar, and Christopher Dunham. Directed By Aaron Sorkin Where I Watched It: Amazon English Audio Description Available/: Yes The Plot: Following primarily a tumultuous week on the set of I Love Lucy, the cast and crew attempt to put together an episode amidst claims that Lucy (Kidman) is a communist and Desi (Bardem) is a philanderer. The film also uses flashbacks and flash forwards to encapsulate us in the lives of one of America’s most famous and timeless on screen (and off screen) couples. … Continue reading Being The Ricardos

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Ride The Eagle

John Stark

Starring: Jake johnson, Susan Sarandon, JK Simmons, and Darcy Carden. Directed By: Trent O’Donnell Where I Watched it: Hulu English Audio Description Available?: No. Plot: Leaf (Johnson) is a transient musician living two shakes away from rock bottom when he discovers that his estranged mother (Sarandon) has died, and left him her cabin in the woods, provided he finish her bucket list. What Works: Full disclosure, as a blind critic, reviewing something without audio description, you can take this however you want. There is a good idea buried in this film that after multiple rewrites might have actually had some … Continue reading Ride The Eagle

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Will Jenna Elfman Be Your ‘Family Guide’?

John Stark

NBC is reportedly in talks to plug Jenna Elfman into the vacated female lead in the sitcom Family Guide, a role left vacant after Parker Posey exited the series just after it got a pick-up to series. The series features another 2012-2013 loser, JK Simmons, whose series Family Tools was unceremoniously launched in late April, and then cancelled a few weeks later. Will the teaming of both of them save the show? (Not likely). Continue reading Will Jenna Elfman Be Your ‘Family Guide’?