The Ninth Annual Criterion Draft

As June turns to July, we once again set our eyes on reviewing various films that have entered the Criterion Collection over the course of what we like to refer to as Criterion Month. Call it our own little corner of the Criterion Closet filled with films we’ve never seen, some potentially aligning with our tastes and some that we’ve put off seeing since they inherently might not. Once again, some of us go for themes and some of us don’t, but the one constant is that while picking which movies to review, we only have a vague sense of what we’re in for. The fun begins in just one day! Continue reading →

The Pick: 27 Dresses

It’s wedding season at Mildly Pleased, so we took a look at one of the most wedding-fetishizing romantic comedies ever made. You won’t believe how many dresses Katherine Heigl wears! Or perhaps you will, because it’s right there in the title. Either way, the boys have fun discussing the rise and fall of Miss Heigl, the affable blandness of James Marsden, the annoying New York accent of Edward Burns, and Malin Akerman’s very brief run as a Hollywood It Girl. Yes, it’s not a great cast by any means, but it screams 2008 as much as this movie’s comfort food take on pre-recession wedding woes. Continue reading →

The Pick: Barbarella

After talking about Flash Gordon two episodes ago, it seemed only fitting that we review Barbarella, producer Dino De Laurentiis’s first foray into sci-fi comic book adaptation. Of course, this one has a much dirtier mind, stemming from director Roger Vadim’s eagerness to bring campy eroticism into the far reaches of space with the help of then-wife Jane Fonda. We delve a bit into the film’s deeply ’60s vibes as well as how the charismatic Fonda salvaged such a bizarre amalgam of counter-culture influences into something watchable. We also test our knowledge by trying to guess the highest-grossing sci-fi films that were released in that wild west of sci-fidom that predated Star Wars. Continue reading →

The Pick: The Legend of Bagger Vance

Why did we choose to cover the 2000 flop, The Legend of Bagger Vance on this episode of The Pick? Well, you’ll just have to listen to find out. Mostly, we were just hoping that it was secretly a charming little magic-tinged film that transcended its problematic title character, but perhaps that was too tall of an order. Regardless, it still gave us plenty of reasons to use funny Southern accents and bask in the film’s folksiness. Also, we end up talking about the movie The Family Man far more than you’d expect. Continue reading →

The Pick: Flash Gordon

We’re not saviors of the universe, but we will save every one of us from subpar movie fandom. That’s right, The Pick is back with a look at the 1980 revival of the legendary comic book character, Flash Gordon. We get a bit into the history of this ancient franchise as well as the various attempts to bring him to the big screen, which ultimately resulted in this Dino De Laurentiis-backed production. However, we fail to get to the bottom of why Queen was involved with the film’s delicious soundtrack, but instead are content to merely appreciate this clash of theatrical rock music and over-the-top sci-fi. Continue reading →

Most Anticipated Movies of 2025

We’re already a month and a half into 2025, but with the release of the year’s first blockbuster this weekend (Captain America: Brave New World), the year in movies is just getting started. As is tradition, we once again get together to talk about the movies we’re looking forward to the most in the coming year, as well as the movies we’re either dreading or will just plan on skipping entirely. In a year where it’ll be hard to find much to look forward to, hopefully there at least will be some bright spots at the cinema if some of these films manage to live up to our eager expectations. Continue reading →

The Thirteenth Annual Mildly Pleased Awards

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 →