Happy Mother’s Day! There are a lot of great films with mothers in them, depending on your mood, and where you’re coming from. I’ve been thinking a lot this year about Catherine O’Hara’s performance in Home Alone, following her passing, and her against all odds determination to make sure she’s home in time for Christmas with Kevin. Even though what Kevin is doing is inherently why anyone watches the movie, there’s something so special about her journey, and the urgency O’Hara put into the role. Whether she’s riding with a polka band, or trying to pawn jewelry for a plane ticket, it’s still a big part of that film, and one they didn’t bother repeating the second time around for some reason. It’s why Home Alone and Catherine O’Hara will always have a special place in my heart.
TV Shows Watched: Witch Hat Atelier: S1E3 (CrunchyRoll)- With Audio Description The Bear: Gary (Disney Plus) with audio description, Beef: S2E8 (Netflix) with audio description, Half Man: S1E2 (HBO MAX) with audio description, Virgin River: S7E3 (Netflix) with audio description, Elzabeth: S3E12 (Paramount) with audio description
With Hat Atelier- In the third episode, while the headmaster of this school for Witches, which apparently has very low enrollment, is away, Coco is tricked into completing a necessary challenge that was initially deemed too dangerous. My hot take is that this is the kind of danger I’m warning AD performers about. The Ai voice used here is not bad, but the writing is really good, and really good writing can cover up a lot. Plus, there’s no ducking, so the audio mix never suffers. It is how CruncyRoll is getting AD on their shows. I think they learned that they don’t have the right voices yet to replace actors for the dubbing process, but if we want human actors doing AD, we need to embrace more performative, more emotive styles, because the AI has caught up to and either matched or surpassed some flat human narrators.
The Bear: Gary- Weird that they switched AD narrators, which makes me wonder who got the gig for Season 5. It isn’t bad AD, but if blind people are trying to binge, it does help to not have changes all the time. Every season of From is narrated by a different person. That isn’t to say we shouldn’t get rid of bad writers, narrators, or companies, but there should be a thought process behind the change. Gary is basically just two leads of The Bear, in a flashback episode, driving something in a truck to Gary, INdiana. The road trip highlights the interesting and at times toxic dynamic between Ritchie (Ebon Moss Bachrach) and Mikey (Jon Bernthal). Ritchie is still with Tiff, and looking forward to the birth of his child, and there is an urgency to getting home by a certain time. However, it is the sequence in the bar between the two, where things are said that can’t be unsaid, and the decision to maintain the uncomfortable silence after, that drives home the impact. If you’re looking to catch up on the one-off, it is about an hour long.
Beef- I need to do the full review now, but tables are turned in the finale as the resolution is reached, and someone has to take the fall. But who? Really. A fairly optimistic finale considering how bleak Beef: Season 1 got at the end. Trigger warning if you haven’t finished the series yet, but this episode starts with what resembles an attempted suicide, but is not, and doesn’t happen. But, for some people even a few seconds of it might disturb them. DVW and the writer I’m not as familiar with did lovely work, and I enjoy Andrew Thatcher’s narration. I feel like I don’t hear him enough.
Half Man- So by the end of the second episode, we realize why there’s so much contention, and it is revealed who our lead is getting married to, and perhaps why there’s beef between the not-quite-brothers. The younger counterparts are at college, where not everything goes according to plan, especially when Neil invites Ruben to college with him. This series has yet to fail in making me uncomfortable.
Virgin River- Doc is trying to lobby to the town that his practice is going strong because Mel can do 95% of what he can do, meanwhile the new hospital is trying to steal clients. Jack and Mel are worried about whether or not they’ll be chosen. Preacher gets inspired to offer Brady a job. Bri is worried aobut Charmaine. The audio description manages to capture all this hard hitting drama. It’s like watching The Wire, except not at all.
Elzabeth- Our intrepid lawyer/detective gets roped into a murder involving one of the five families. Not of the mafia, but of wig making. Get snatched! In an episode that should have starred a dozen people from drag race, Jeff Hiller was the main draw. Where was our RuPaul cameo? Come on now. The AD was fine. I know she’s always wearing crazy outfits, and sometimes I miss when they don’t ahve the space to describe what she’s wearing.
