The Pick: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Well, we’ve just about reached the end of Shocktober, which also means we’ve reached the end of our string of Halloween-themed picks. With Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, we go out with a movie that’s… memorable, at the very least. Much like last week’s look at Bram Stoker’s Dracula, we dive a bit into the fact that this is thought to be one of the more faithful adaptations of a highly influential horror novel, and yet still manages to have a lot of weird stuff in it. Also, John manages to plug Steakout, a movie we were all involved with and you might as well check out on Amazon Prime. It’s not like you’ve got any elaborate Halloween plans this year. Continue reading →

The Pick: Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Good evening! Or morning or afternoon or whenever you choose to read this. This week we dive into the sensual exploration of imagination that is Bram Stoker’s Dracula. John also gives us a bit of background on Bram Stoker, author of the vampire novel that’s inspired countless films and books about history’s favorite bloodsuckers. We also get an unexpected look back at another ’90s resurrection of the Universal Monsters, and who knows, we might just get another one coming up. Continue reading →

The Pick: Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?

You may have been stuck inside the past 8 months with your roommate, family, or significant other, but chances are that it hasn’t been as bad as being stuck in a house with Baby Jane Hudson. This week we tackle the 1962 psycho-biddy classic Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? while delving into the famous feud between its two co-stars, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. Sean also makes a shocking discovery about the origins of Pepsi in an episode that’s sadistic fun for the whole family. Continue reading →

The Pick: The Dead Zone

The ice is gonna break on this episode of The Pick! As this episode makes clear, we’d really like it if this line from the 1983 adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dead Zone became a classic movie line. So what better way for that to happen than more people being aware of this movie? It may not be the flashiest movie in David Cronenberg’s filmography, but it’s certainly a solid one that we have a pretty good time talking about. Much like this film’s brand of horror, we try to keep our Christopher Walken impressions restrained, but sometimes the ice just has to break.

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The Pick: The Lost Boys

There’s absolutely nothing interesting going on in the news right now, so why don’t you treat your ears to a couple of friends talking about sexy teen vampires? In addition to the vampires, the boys spend a lot of time talking about the sweaty sax man that you can never unsee after watching The Lost Boys. Additionally, we discuss how this film was one of the first movies to bring vampires into the modern age and we also spend a lot more time talking about McDonald’s than you’d expect.

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The Pick: Back To School

The Pick is back with Back To School! After an extended summer break, the boys return to Mildly Pleased’s flagship podcast to talk about movies. Unfortunately, this summer was not exactly the greatest summer for movies (did anyone actually end up seeing Tenet?), but at least there are always plenty of films from the past to dive into. This wasn’t exactly the newest or freshest film for all of us (due to many airings of it on Comedy Central), but it was still just fun to talk about the enduring appeal of Rodney Dangerfield as well as the Triple Lindy. Continue reading →

The 4th Annual Criterion Draft

Just as John wraps up talking about his favorite horror movies of the 2010s, we take a trip to the more distant past by making our Criterion Picks. As you may or may not know, each July we at Mildly Pleased review 30-ish movies from the Criterion Collection on the blog, and while many things may be different about this Summer in the world at large, this tradition remains essentially the same. This year, Colin and John stick to past themes of spreading their picks throughout the decades of films, while Sean commits himself to reviewing nothing but black and African-American filmmakers this year.

Unlike in years past, we recorded our draft just a week before Criterion Month starts, so look forward to some reviews already comin’ at ya tomorrow! Continue reading →