Colin Wessman

Most Anticipated Movies of 2023

can you order gabapentin online After looking backing at 2022, we finally turn our eyes to the future. While the film industry is still in somewhat of a weird place, there is still plenty to be excited about for the coming year in film. Well, there’s also plenty to be a less excited about as well, since there is (as always) a least anticipated list to go along with Sean and John’s most anticipated movies of the year. With Indiana Jones, Ethan Hunt, and Optimus Prime returning to theaters, these familiar faces could either surprise or disappoint us, while less franchise-driven movies could equally do the same. That’s the beauty of a fresh slate of movies to moderate our expectations around. Continue reading →

Colin’s Top Ten Movies of 2022

I had a good time at the movies in 2022. Not sure if this was the first year since 2019 where I saw more new movies in theaters than I did at home, but it more or less felt like it. There was plenty of good stuff to see in the indie sphere, which I did a decent job of keeping on top of, but there were also a surprising amount of blockbusters that had me questioning why we can’t just try a little harder in crafting our big-budget entertainment. Also, I can’t speak for all parts of the country, but this year I was pleasantly surprised that for once, just about all the movies that I felt like I absolutely needed to see before list-making time were actually available in theaters or on streaming. Though that doesn’t mean I necessarily saw all of them. Continue reading →

The Eleventh Annual Mildly Pleased Awards

For the first time in what feels like a while, the year preceding our new one doesn’t feel like it would be entirely painful to revisit. In fact, it could be a mildly pleasing endeavor. That’s why we’re once again looking back at the year in things that were good but not great. Whether it was Don’t Worry Darling having a weirdly disastrous premiere, various things Taylor Swift did, or corn kids and British documentarians going viral, there was plenty to feel just fine about. Like most award shows, this episode is a long one. So feel to check out the nominees and winners below if you’re not prepared for nearly 3 hours of podcasting, since as you’ll hear, we certainly got tired of movies being that long in 2022. Continue reading →

Colin’s Top Ten TV Shows of 2022

In 2022, so many shows that I cared about came back with new seasons that it felt overwhelming. This resulted in some resignation toward the fact that I just wouldn’t get around to watching all of them, so I didn’t really try as hard as I could have. That said, I still managed (barely) to watch enough shows from last year that I felt good enough about including on a top ten list. However, I can’t help but feel that my list is especially incomplete because I never got around to watching the final season of Better Call Saul — both Sean and John’s number 1 show this year — despite having caught up with the first five seasons. Unfortunately, AMC just didn’t make it that easy to watch this final season if you don’t have a cable subscription and I’m guessing it won’t be on Netflix for another few months. Oh well. Continue reading →

Colin’s Top 10 Albums of 2022

So here we are again. Another year in the books and another batch of lists on Mildly Pleased to commemorate the year that was. I can’t speak for everybody on this blog, but I’m not sure I still have the same obsessiveness I used to have about compiling these lists each year. And yet, we have more media than ever to place on our lists and easier access to it than ever, so once again there was no shortage of great stuff to consume in 2022.

Music was no exception, as the year wasn’t quite exceptional, but it was exciting to see many established musicians coming out of the pandemic either feeling rejuvenated, fucked up, or a little bit of both. This all made for some really compelling albums to listen to during a year that wasn’t quite normal, but also wasn’t a complete disaster either. Continue reading →

The Pick: Avatar: The Way of Water

We just couldn’t close out this year on Mildly Pleased or The Pick without getting wet and wild while learning the way of water. It’s a super-sized episode for a super-sized film, which includes a journey through the life and career of James Cameron and how he ended up at such an award-winning and financially unprecedented position in Hollywood. Also, if you were at all aware that a Pandora flavor of Frosted Flakes existed, you probably already could’ve guessed that we’ll be talking about it as one of our Little Picks. Continue reading →

2022 Music Resolved: Gemini Rights

Steve Lacy – Gemini Rights

To talk about Gemini Rights by Steve Lacy is to admit to not being that cool. First off, I didn’t hear about the guy until he made multiple appearances on Vampire Weekend’s Father of The Bride, offering some vibrant guitar and vocal textures to “Sunflower” and “Flower Moon”. Though in my defense, I had given a few spins to his band The Internet’s 2018 album Hive Mind prior to FOTB coming out, even if it took me a little while to put these two things together. Also, while Lacy’s breakout single “Bad Habit” became one of the more beloved singles of the year and a sensation on TikTok (now one of our most reliable incubators of pop hits), I hadn’t really heard this song until the end of the year (because I’m old), not to mention the album it sits as the centerpiece of. Continue reading →