Exhibiting Forgiveness- Another screener from awards season that didn’t have audio description. Andre Holland and Andra Day star in a film that can best be described as coming to terms with the proverbial sins of the father, and how generational trauma is passed from one to another. Holland is always an engaging screen presence, and I’d love to see him get an Oscar nomination someday, but without audio description, this often meditative feature couldn’t engage me the way I hoped it would, and have heard from others that it does.
Unwatchable Due To Lack Of Audio description
The Fire Inside- I’m surprised Nickel Boys is streaming before The Fire Inside. i didn’t get audio description with my screener, so I have plans to watch this again. Audio description exists. While I’m just going through my list, I wanted to at least pause and recognize that this is a strong sports drama that features a breakout performance from Ryan Destiny, who should have earned a few more accolades for her work. Not necessarily an Oscar nomination, but every single Breakthrough category should have tagged her performance. This film was previously named Flint Strong, which makes way more sense, and you’ll even notice it after watching the film. Brian Tyree Henry was also really good in a supporting role.
No Grade Due To Lack Of Audio Description
Armand: Another international entry. This one made the Oscar shortlist, but fell shy of the nomination. Obviously, I just ventured in to see if there was any thing I could pull out from the film. I have read what the film is about, and that didn’t even match tonally with what I thought I was hearing. So, absolutely unwatchable for us in the blind community, unless perhaps you speak the language, and somehow find the native audio description track.
Unwatchable Due To Lack Of Audio Description
The Killer’s Game- Dave Bautista, who really seems to want to break away from films like this and explore his dramatic side, got saddled with a semi-entertaining high concept action comedy that has a trained assassin (Bautista) who is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Not wanting to suffer, or have his girlfriend watch him deteriorate, he does what any responsible hit man would do. He puts a hit out on himself, with a high bounty to attract a number of talented assassins. The problem is, his doctor is an idiot, and now that contract can’t be cancelled. No longer terminally ill, he has to fight to stay alive. It is occasionally stylish, backed by audio description that supports some of those choices, and full of some fun action scenes. Sure, you can feel the ending of the film from a mile away, but for films in the “things go bang bang” category, I have seen much worse this year. This was fairly entertaining, and around the same quality as his sequel to My Spy. it’s OK to have films you can watch once or twice, to fill in the gaps. i need dumb action in my life as much as anyone else, and this film gave me exactly what I thought it would.
fresh: Final Grade: B-, Audio description: A-
Kill- One of the few international entries last year to receive audio description, this entry from India is a non-stop brutal and bloody action set piece that is relentless. the track was narrated by William Michael Redman, and since the film needed an overhaul of dubbing languages and describing an onslaught of fight sequences, it certainly was one of the better tracks of 2024. there’s just so much to describe about a film where it looks like our gang of bad guys are wrecking havoc, until they realize perhaps this was the wrong train to hijack. Brutal, bloody, and fun. there were better international films, but considering we never got audio description for RRR, I’m pleasantly surprised to find it on Kill.
Fresh: Final Grade: B+, Audio Description: A
Laroy, Texas- John Megarro and Steve Zahn star in this film that I checked out around my consideration period because a few other critics had mentioned it. It didn’t have audio description, and bears a striking resemblance to the much better Hitman. In this film, Megarro is down in the dumps, when he becomes mistaken for an assassin, and then just rolls with it. I suppose, when you are thinking about ending things anyway, you might as well do something bonkers. Megarro is choosing all the right projects for himself and I think could get a nomination one day, but if you want to see a better movie with Texas in the title, see if Happy Texas (also featuring Steve Zahn) has audio description. this was OK, but due to lack of audio description, it isn’t getting a grade.
Unwatchable due To Lack Of Audio description
Girl Interrupted- I love this film. it is haunting at times. The whole Brittany Murphy role has stayed with me for 25 years. I found this with audio description and checked it out for its 25th Anniversary, and James mangold (who was nominated this year for A complete Unknown) took a fantastic ensemble, led by Winona Ryder, and adapted this book into an essay on women’s mental health, and the varying levels of when a person truly needs help, or when it is just that they don’t fit in to traditional societal norms. Angelina Jolie is a burning fire in a memorable supporting turn, for which she won an Oscar, but really Brittany Murphy steals the heart of the film with a devastating portrayal of a young woman with a very particular way, who lives to please her father, in any way that could possibly mean. It isn’t until a confrontation with Jolie’s character in the final act that she realizes how not OK she is, and perhaps how not OK, and maybe doesn’t even know what that looks like.
Fresh: Final Grade: A, Audio Description: A-
