Colin Wessman

I love those oldies and hoagies, give me some beefcakes and cheesesteaks

Oscars Fortnight: Howards End

Howards End (1992)

The 65th Academy Awards (1993)
Nominations: 9
Wins: 3

For a brief period in the late ’80s and early ’90s, it seemed like the films produced by Ismael Merchant and directed by James Ivory were a bit of an Oscars juggernaut. Granted, none of these movies ever won Best Picture, and they only occasionally get talked about nowadays, usually as an obligatory example of a staid British period piece. But they seemed important at the time, even if they haven’t remained all that accessible. So I’ve had a vague interest in watching at least one of these movies, and the best place to start seemed to be Howards End, which is probably the most acclaimed of the Merchant-Ivory productions. Luckily it turned out to be pretty compelling and full of ideas that still ring true, even if it may appear a bit stuffy on the surface. Continue reading →

Oscars Fortnight: Airport

Airport (1970)

Whenever we do these weeks or months around a certain theme, it’s all about finding the different connections that pop up between disparate films. Today’s entry has a few of those, since for the second day in a row, we’re reviewing a Burt Lancaster movie where he’s part of a larger ensemble, but also like the last movie I reviewed, happens to feature a score by Alfred Newman. Considering the 31-year difference between Wuthering Heights and Airport, it’s not all that surprising to learn that this would be Newman’s final film score. The presence of Newman and Lancaster illuminates the fact that Airport is a movie very much catering to a 1970s audience, but also has its roots in old-fashioned Hollywood entertainment. Continue reading →

Oscars Fortnight: Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights (1939)

The 12th Academy Awards (1940)
Nominations: 8
Wins: 1

Welcome once again to Oscar season here at Mildly Pleased! This is the time of year when we spend a tasteful two weeks looking back at Oscar nominees of years past as we eagerly anticipate (and in some cases dread) what will bring home the gold on Hollywood’s Biggest Night.

This year, the approach I took was reviewing two movies that are stuffy period pieces and two that are decidedly not. The first of which is Wuthering Heights, a movie that I’ve been interested in after reading Emily Brontë’s novel last year. It’s a movie that seems to exist in that netherworld of being a classic, but not an unimpeachable classic, since it was on AFI’s original 100 Years…100 Movies list from 1998, but was bumped from the updated 2007 list. That feels fair for what this movie is, as it’s a well-made production from perhaps the studio system’s greatest year, but can’t help but pale in comparison to other sweeping romances of that era with a similar vibe. Continue reading →

Most Anticipated Movies of 2024

After a bizarre year for cinema, we set our sights on… possibly another bizarre year for cinema. That’s right, we’re doing our annual look ahead to our most anticipated (and least anticipated movies) of the new year. In 2024, superhero movies seem to be out (unless you’re talking about our least anticipated list) and what’s in is, well, who knows really. We’re just guessing here as to what will be good and what will not be good, but these are the movies that either piqued our interest or have us dreading their release date. Continue reading →

Colin’s Top 10 Movies of 2023

I didn’t really touch on this in my top ten albums or TV shows lists, but it didn’t feel like a particularly special year for either of those mediums. I would not say the same for movies, even if it was sometimes hard to tell where the state of film was heading, especially after actors and writers went on strike and we had that weirdly long gap of notable movies coming out in the wake of Barbenheimer. Though, once November rolled around, I felt like we got a bunch of really great, prestige-y movies, and it seems we’re still getting a bunch coming out in time for the Oscars.

This feels a bit like the way things used to be, and I could complain about this familiar feeling of having to cram in watching a bunch of movies in December and January in preparation for this list, but I won’t. Mainly because movies are in such a weird, uncertain state that I’m just glad talented filmmakers are able to get their work out at all, and if that comes with the price of seeing the best films of the year all at the same time, that’s the price I’m willing to pay. This is all a long-winded way of saying that I thought this turned out to be a pretty good year for movies, and hopefully one that saw Hollywood reflecting on how to reinvent itself instead of churning out the same old garbage. Continue reading →

Colin’s Top 10 Shows of 2023

There was plenty of good TV to be watched in 2023, but compiling my list did not make me all that excited for the future of the medium. Mostly because basically all of the shows appearing on this list are shows that I’d already been watching, and in fact, a lot of them were shows airing their final seasons. Now, it’s certainly on me to find new shows to watch, but this year, it just didn’t seem like there were as many new buzzworthy shows that everyone was talking about.

That, of course, could be for a few reasons, the most obvious one being that there was a writer’s strike this year that kept shows both new and old from airing seasons before the year’s end. Also, it seems like a lot of streaming services in the last year or two have indicated an emphasis on profits and producing less scripted entertainment, which has foreshadowed the possible end of “peak TV”. Which, honestly, felt like it was going to end sometime soon anyway. The amount of daring, off-beat shows that we got the past decade or so just never quite seemed sustainable, even though it was fun while it lasted. Well, with that somewhat depressing preamble out of the way, here are the shows that made 2023 memorable while it lasted. Continue reading →

Colin’s Top 10 Albums of 2023

We’re starting our top ten lists a little bit later than usual this year, which may affect my other lists, but not so much albums. It’s always the list I have the easiest time putting together at the end of the year, perhaps because I’m still fairly in tune with what’s going on in music these days, though the passage of time and the feeling of getting older never helps. But also, new music is just a lot easier to fit into the rhythms of your day-to-day than a new TV show or movie, and considering all of us have to fit our music listening habits into the constraints of our dayjobs, that certainly impacts what music we respond to.

For me, this was a year spent mostly listening to music while walking to work, riding the bus/subway, cooking, doing chores, or just enjoying a day off. Would I have responded to different albums in a year of different circumstances? Probably. But we’re dealt the year and the music we’re given, and these were the albums that intersected in just the right way with whatever was going on in my day-to-day. Continue reading →