Tag: Netflix

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/04/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Devil May Cry: Season 2 (Netflix) with audio description, Off Campus: S1E8 (Amazon) with audio description, and Marshals: S1E11 (Paramount) with audio description Devil May Cry- I did watch and immediately review this. I have no idea what’s going on, conceptually, but the audio description is fantastic. It is part of my pull quote on RT. The only reason I went Fresh was because of the AD, but honestly the only reason I watched was because of AD. The series would be totally unintelligible without it. Kudos to DVW, David Chan, and Paula Hoffman. I wouldn’t have … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/04/26

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Devil May Cry: Season 2

John Stark

I think I finally understand the argument for waiting until an entire series has finished before starting it. I know people who actually do that, somehow avoiding spoilers until every episode has dropped so they can binge the whole thing in one sitting. Personally, that would drive me insane because I like staying up to date on new releases. But with a show like Devil May Cry, I’m starting to understand why people do it. I’m not very familiar with the lore, so asking me to wait between seasons and then remember exactly what happened in season one or who … Continue reading Devil May Cry: Season 2

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/03/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: House Of The Dragon: S3E7 (HBO MAX) with audio description, Widows Bay: S1E9 (Apple) with audio description, Detective Hole: S1E? (Netflix) with audio description, Robin Hood: S1E5 (MGM Plus) with audio description, St Dennis Medical: S2E11 (Peacock) with audio description, Last Week Tonight: Current (HBO MAX) no audio description yet, and American Classic: S1E5 (MGM Plus) with audio description House Of The Dragon- I got cheated out of my Bring The Usurper To Me! But, the episode still featured an epic dragon battle, the most oedipal thing on HBO ever, and something presumed dead rises. There’s also … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/03/26

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Unchosen: Series Review

John Stark

Netflix’s six-episode limited series Unchosen is supposed to be about cults, but it really isn’t. It wants to be. It opens with a statement about how there are all these tiny little cults peppered throughout society that most of us never even realize exist. Right down the street, there could be a quiet little cul-de-sac where every family shares the same bizarre beliefs, and nobody outside of that neighborhood would ever know. That’s a genuinely fascinating premise. The idea that a cult can exist right in the middle of suburbia, living alongside everyone else while still remaining completely isolated from … Continue reading Unchosen: Series Review

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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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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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The Four Seasons: Season 2

John Stark

The Four Seasons returned for a second season on Netflix, and honestly, I’m not surprised. Netflix has been persevering with this one, likely because it has such an incredible cast behind it that how could they not? It also came back remarkably quickly. That’s becoming one of the biggest advantages a show can have these days. Netflix has run into a real problem with series that take forever to film and even longer to return. Shows like The Four Seasons, My Life with the Walter Boys, and The Diplomat all feel like safer bets for renewal because audiences can actually … Continue reading The Four Seasons: Season 2

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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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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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The Lincoln Lawyer: Season 4

John Stark

I’m more than happy to finally jump in and add my thoughts on The Lincoln Lawyer now that I’m on the Tomatometer. It’s a show I’ve enjoyed watching for four seasons now, and even though it’s heading into its fifth and final season, it’s remained one of Netflix’s most consistently entertaining dramas. Season 4 picks up immediately after the cliffhanger ending of Season 3, with Mickey Haller becoming the prime suspect in a murder after a body is found in the trunk of his Lincoln. That storyline dominates the entire season, forcing Mickey to defend himself against all odds, first … Continue reading The Lincoln Lawyer: Season 4

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Little Brother

John Stark

Dysfunctional family comedies have always had an anchor in cinema. They’re practically comfort food because almost everyone has some kind of dysfunction somewhere in the family tree. Maybe it’s an eccentric uncle, an odd cousin, or a grandparent who makes every holiday unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. Those little pockets of chaos make these movies relatable because, at the end of the day, we’re all at least a little kooky. This is why we love revisiting the Griswolds and Fockers, why the road trip in Little Miss Sunshine works, or why we’d even entertain the possibility that it is … Continue reading Little Brother

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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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Office Romance

John Stark

Little known fact. Lady Gaga was this close to titling her song Office Romance instead of Bad Romance. Don’t fact check me. But, the fairly generic title found its way into Jennifer Lopez’s pantheon of equally vague titles like The Back Up Plan, Marry Me, and Unstoppable (a title so generic Denzel also has a film called Unstoppable). Regardless of the premise, Jennifer Lopez remains a queen of romantic comedies, and her sex appeal at 56 has allowed her to be able to pull off being desirable enough to carry films like this. Jennifer Lopez is not the problem here. … Continue reading Office Romance