After several failed attempts to convince my fellow Mildly Pleasers to do a Burt Reynolds-themed month (Novem-Burt could have been something beautiful) for our movie podcast, The Pick, I’ve made the difficult but necessary decision to go it alone and devote four Fridays this month to Hollywood’s top-grossing star from 1978 to 1982.
It’s only been a few days but it’s become abundantly clear that our disorienting four-year weird period is definitely over and we’re back in the shit. I don’t know how I’ll remember 2024 in the years to come, but right now it’s the little things I treasure. Thinking back to John and I laughing at the title card reveal at the end of the trailer for AfrAId. An undeserved accusing look from Nancy during Dune: Part 2 because I definitely was not asleep. Being called a fucking asshole by an old man for sneaking back into Cinerama to look for something my dad dropped after a screening of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Overdosing on the Babes-inspired Sour Patch Kids popcorn at Nosferatu with Colin. These are the experiences that make life worth living.
All I know is that no one can take those memories away from me. And if you’re feeling down, at times like these, I am reminded of the immortal words of Stacker Pentecost:
Today. Today, at the edge of our hope, at the end of our time, we have chosen not only to believe in ourselves, but in each other. Today there is not a man nor woman in here that shall stand alone. Not today. Today we face the monsters that are at our door and bring the fight to them! Today we are cancelling the apocalypse!
In conclusion, I guess I have to pick an audience to represent? Because John said he fights for the freaks and perverts and then Colin wrote he’s here for the thoughtful misfits. Does that leave for me the normies? The good-time Charlies? The kind of person M. Emmet Walsh would call a “typical bastard”? Maybe, except those nut jobs loved Deadpool 3 and that shit gives me a migraine just thinkin’ about it.
2024 was a year where I really wanted to have some transcendent moments at the movies and unfortunately, I didn’t quite get what I wanted, but at the very least got what I needed. I probably went to the theater about as much as I have since the pandemic, as I probably watched about 5 of the 30+ movies I saw last year on streaming. Which is a very silly thing to congratulate myself for, but sometimes you just gotta get out there and rip yourself away from the other screens in your life. Even if you’re seeing a director’s less-remembered 2024 film like Luco Guadignino’s Queer or slightly disappointing holiday fare like Nosferatu or Babygirl. Really my only regret is that I basically saw no foreign films, but that’s always a problem that can be rectified by Criterion Month.
Anyway, my list is more for the thoughtful misfits than the freaks and perverts, but as was apparent in 2024 cinema, they’re certainly welcome. Continue reading
Every year we ask ourselves “Was BLANK a good year for movies?” But I don’t care about that. All I care about is whether BLANK was a good movie year for the FREAKS and PERVERTS. If you’re wondering what the hell I’m talking about, it’s whether or not it was a good year for horror and was it a good year for horny movies.
For horror we had; Abigail, The First Omen, Late Night with the Devil, Longlegs, Oddity, and Strange Darling to name a few critical hits.
For horny we had; Anora, Babygirl, Challengers, Hit Man, Love Lies Bleeding, and Queer. I’d name more but my hands are getting sweaty.
That leaves everything else. Which was good too. I wish I’d seen Nickel Boys and A Real Pain but decided on Strange Darling at the last minute because it felt like more of a John movie. Except it only made my honorable mentions so I probably should have gone the other way. I’m sure Colin will cover those other two.
Here’s a list for the freaks and perverts:
Perhaps it’s fitting to take this depressing inauguration day (and unfortunate MLK Jr. Day) to reflect on what an ill-fated year 2024 was. However, we here at Mildly Pleased sat down once again, like we do every year, to reflect on the things that were pretty good but not great from the past year. Sure, there was plenty to be disappointed with, but there were also things that somehow managed to not be as disappointing as they should have been (remember Beetlejuice’s return to the big screen?). So fret not. Even when the world feels like it’s lost its way, remember, there’s mild pleasure all around. You just have to know where to find it. Continue reading
In 2024, TV really got away from me. A lot of it was for reasons my colleagues have already mentioned — the 2023 strikes in the entertainment industry, the further erosion of television feeling distinct from other online content we consume, living in the post-peak TV era, etc. TV also just doesn’t serve as vital of a service to me in my day-to-day at the moment. Music is something I listen to at various times throughout the day in a way that feels very personal and full of limitless discovery. Movies are something I tend to watch in a theater, so they’re a bit of an event that I get to build my day around. TV has become… just something to put on to pass the time.
That said, there were a few TV shows that I watched this year that felt like a bit more than that, so I’m more than willing to recognize their ability to stand out from the content swill, even if it felt like there wasn’t quite as much of that as in years past. Continue reading
So many shows, so little time. Sorry Shogun and The Penguin and Da Bear. I’m very movie focused in my day-to-day media consumption so unless a show has an insane premise or more buzz than the beehive that killed Macaulay Culkin in My Girl, it’s gonna end up in the “To Do” pile.
I want to note that I did start The Penguin and The Sympathizer but I don’t have that binge me in anymore. Purge? Yes. Binge? No. Here are all the shows that escaped the purge.
