The Pick: Willard (2003)

If for some reason you’re looking for real sickos content, then look no further than our discussion of the 2003 remake of the furry horror flick Willard. It’s perhaps the most divided response the three of us have had to a movie reviewed on The Pick, since one of us liked the movie quite a bit, and one of us did not at all. We get into both how this Willard relates to the 1971 original and its apparently musical sequel, as well as how the later Willard managed to pull off so many grotesque rat sequences with very little CG. So have a listen, you dirty rats! Continue reading →

The Pick: Three Thousand Years of Longing

Your wish is our command! Assuming your wish was for us to record a somewhat delayed review of an 8-month-old movie that not enough people saw in theaters. This week we’re talking about George Miller’s strange and sultry follow-up to Mad Max: Fury Road while also providing a brief history of djinns as well as our own answers to what our three wishes would be. We also follow up our last episode on the 90s Super Mario Bros. movie by talking about the new Super Mario Bros. Movie, which seems to be just a hair better than that prior notorious adaptation. Continue reading →

The Pick: Super Mario Bros.

After our usual end-of-the-year and Oscar-induced break, we’re back with another season of The Pick! On the eve of a new Mario movie coming out this week, we take a look back at the first time Hollywood attempted to bring this massively popular but hard-to-adapt property to the big screen. So far, reviews of the new Mario Bros. movie seem to be mixed, but will it still end up being as derided as 1993’s Super Mario Bros.? It’s a little hard to imagine, since in this episode we get into how bad of a representation of the video games this movie is, though there are plenty of things to enjoy about its distinct production value and casting, even if a lot of it ends up being a big goopy mess. Continue reading →

Most Anticipated Movies of 2023

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 →

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 →

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 →

The Pick: Reindeer Games

We three kings bring curiosity for Ben Affleck’s early stardom on this holiday installment of The Pick. The episode is a dive into the year 2000’s somewhat forgotten Reindeer Games, the last film directed by John Frankenheimer and the first to ask what would happen if a bunch of incompetent criminals robbed a casino while dressed in Santa outfits. It’s a movie that has some questionable twists and turns while also bringing very little that’s new to the crime or action genre, but it’s still hard to complain when you’re surrounded by friends (or at least talking to them through a microphone) as that merriest of holidays fast approaches. Continue reading →