Tag: Jurnee Smollett

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Smoke: Season 1

John Stark

Cast: Taron Egerton, Jurnee Smollett, Greg Kinnear, John Leguizamo, Rafe Spall, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, Hannah Emily Anderson, Anna Chlumsky Series Created By: Dennis Lehane Streaming Service: Apple TV + Length: 9 episodes Audio Description Provided By: Written By: Narrated By: Roy Samuelson What Is it?: An arson investigator (Egerton) is stuck in a town that seems to have two arsonists he can’t catch. he gets help from a detective (Smollett), who has been sent downstream for personal reasons, relegated to arson. She has a past with arson herself, having survived one as a child. Together, they must figure out … Continue reading Smoke: Season 1

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/19/25

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Smoke: S1E9 (Apple Plus) with audio description, The Institute: S1E6 (MGM Plus) with audio description, and The Rainmaker: S1E1 (Peacock) with audio description Smoke- Still very busy, but I did manage to wrap up Smoke. I’m planning on reviewing the series, as I did like it, and the little twist in the final moments of Episode 9 is just stunning. It puts the entire series in a new perspective, as you could go back and rewatch the series, and view it from that context. Yes, Smoke has some predictability woven in, but that creative little spin at … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/19/25

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/14/25

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Smoke: S1E8 (Apple Plus) with audio description, The buccaneers: S2E4 (Apple plus) with audio description, Ginny and Georgia: S2E8 (Netflix) with audio description, Butterfly: S1E1 (Amazon) with audio description, Washington Black: S1E5 (Hulu) with audio description, King of The Hill: S2E14 (Hulu) no audio description, Match Game: S?E5 (Hulu) with audio description, who Wants To Be A Millionaire: S4E5 (Hulu) with audio description Smoke- I was in Episode 8 when I realized… this can’t get a second season. Until this episode, I thought a Season 2 was still possible, but if it is, it will have a … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/14/25

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/06/25

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Wednesday: S2E1 (Netflix) with audio description, Platonic: S2E1 (Apple plus) with audio description, Tires: S2E10 (Netflix) with audio description, Smoke: S1E7 (Apple plus) with audio description, Ballard: S1E5 (Amazon) with audio description Wednesday- I’ve seen this getting a few not great reviews, and while the season premiere didn’t scare me away, it also is setting itself up to mess with the formula a bit. First, we seem to have completely written off Xavier, which is random, but they do give a reason. In his place, Pugsley is now being given WAY more screentime, and I really wish … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/06/25

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The Small Screen Diaries: 07/29/25

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Too Much: S1E10 (Netflix) with audio description, Smoke: S1E6 (Apple Plus) with audio description, The institute: S1E2 (MGM Plus) with audio description, Euphoria: S2E1 (HBo MAX) with audio description, Adaptive: S1E3 (Peacock) no audio description, Silicon Valley: S3E2 (HBO MAX) with audio description, The Daily Show: Monday (Paramount Plus) no audio description, and Ballard: S1E3 (Amazon) with audio description Too Much- full review coming shortly… Smoke- Now that the series has pulled at a thread, the show is unraveling a little bit before the finale. It might have been a little too early to push at Taron … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 07/29/25

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The Small Screen Diaries: 07/22/25

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Too Much: S1E5 and S1E6 (Netflix) with audio description, Building The Band: S1E7 (Netflix) with audio description, FUBAR: S2E6 (Netflix) with audio description, Smoke: S1E5 (Apple plus) with audio description, Untamed: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description, The Daily Show: Monday (Paramount Plus) no audio description Too Much- Now we’re getting into the meat and potatoes, and instead of just being a straight up raunchy comedy, the heart is being pulled in. Some truly terrific moments as we explore Jessica’s whole past asshole ex-boyfriend. We see this girl we’ve come to love, slowly be emotionally destroyed by her … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 07/22/25

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The Small Screen Diaries- 07/16/25

John Stark

A new theme for the blog. I’ve been told by the Happiness engineers that this is a theme with great accessibility, and the ability to easily add a search bar. Now I’m just waiting for the instructions on how to do that. but, i do believe, from what I can tell, a lot of the garbage from the previous theme is gone. TV Shows Watched: Smoke: S1E4 (Apple plus) with audio description, Building The Band: S1E4 (Netflix) with audio description, tires: S2E7 (Netflix) with audio description, the Pitt: S1E12 (HBo MAX) with audio description, and destination X: S1E8 (Peacock) with … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 07/16/25

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The Small Screen Diaries: 07/07/25

John Stark

Today was a great day. I hope to give more on that later. But for now, you came to find out whaat i watched. TV Shows Watched: The Waterfront: S1E5 (Netflix) with audio description, Smoke: S1E3 (Apple plus) with audio description, the bear: S4E10 (Hulu) with audio description, Bet: S1E10 (Netflix) with audio description, The Better Sister: S1E8 (Amazon) with audio description, A Different World: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description, Scrubs: S1E4 (Peacock) no audio description, King Of The Hill: S2E4 (Hulu) no audio description, Silicon Valley: S2E10 (MAX) wit audio description, The office: S3E16 (Peacock) no audio description, The … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 07/07/25

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The Small Screen Diaries: The Weekly Rankings

John Stark

Once again I’m running down the sixty shows on my broad watchlist. Joining the list this week, which was fairly slow for new shows, are The Sandman (Netflix), All Of Us Are Dead (Netflix), The Office (Peacock), Such Brave Girls (Hulu), Nautilus (AMC Plus), Dexter (Paramount Plus), and Prison Break (Netflix). I wrapped some shows, and anything that would rank outside the top 60 dies. WINNER: Squid Game (Netflix) with audio description- I knew I was going to lose my favorites. After the tragic uprising didn’t work last season, it meant playing out Squid Game till the end. I’m only … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: The Weekly Rankings

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The Order

John Stark

The Order- Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Marc Maron Quick Take: To be fair, I did ask if I could have an accessible screener. This movie has an available audio description track that I have not heard, so I’ll likely be reviewing this again at some point. The film was interesting enough that I would check it out, or recommend it if you can get the audio description track. Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Marc Maron, and Jurnee Smollett create a strong ensemble in a film about domestic terrorism. The thing I found the most striking, even without … Continue reading The Order

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The Burial

John Stark

Where I Watched it: Amazon English Audio Description? Yes Jamie Foxx has had a year. luckily for him, he seems to be coming out the other side, and he’s doing so with a strong performance in what should be Oscar bait. Oddly enough, it was his performance in They Cloned Tyrone that recently earned him a Gotham nomination, not the burial, adding to my idea that no one has watched this movie. Based on the true story of a small funeral home operator (Tommy Lee Jones), who gets the run around from a corporation looking to buy out funeral homes … Continue reading The Burial

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Lou

John Stark

Where I Watched It: Netflix English Audio Description Provided By: Descriptive Video Works Sometimes, I really enjoy the fact that I don’t watch trailers (since they rarely have audio description). That was I can be surprised by something like Lou, where I just launch Netflix and see “from producer JJ Abrams”, and that’s really all I needed to know. What I checked in for is one of those “particular set of skills” films that (Thank God) does not star Liam Neeson. Instead, for something completely different, we’ve got Allison Janney ready to kick someone’s face in. And if you aren’t … Continue reading Lou

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Spider Head

John Stark

Starring: Miles Teller, Chris Hemsworth, and Jurnee Smollett. Directed By: Joseph Kosinski Where I Watched it: Netflix English Audio Description Available?: Yes Description Provided By: Deluxe Description Written By: Rachel Koehler Narrated By: Leslie Siemen The Plot: Instead of going to jail, select convicts are given the opportunity to go to a remote Spider Head facility and be human test subjects for drugs that could change the world. Or, maybe something more nefarious? Of course, it’s something more nefarious. What Works: Not much. I thought the acting from miles Teller and Jurnee Smollett, while neither at their peak, was sufficient. … Continue reading Spider Head