The Tenth Annual Criterion Month Draft (Sort of)

Hello there, ladies and gents. We’re once again on the verge of celebrating that most highbrow of seasons here at Mildly Pleased, where we spend all of July beating the heat by staying indoors and watching films belonging to the Criterion Collection. No podcast this year, but personally, it always helps to have this post that outlines what everybody has picked for this year’s Criterion Month. So here’s a little sneak peek of what films may come in the coming weeks. Happy watching. Continue reading →

Colin’s Favorite Albums of Spring 2026

Traditionally, this is around the time of year that a plentiful bounty of worthwhile albums tend to come out, just in time for summer roadtrips, barbecues, and declarations of jam status. It’s hard to tell exactly if this will be true of the next few weeks, but there are certainly some promising releases from premier pop stars and veteran rockers alike coming out, including what looks to be a pretty great one that was just released today.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Before Spring turns to Summer, I thought it would be worth looking back at the last few months, which I’m not sure saw an amazing stretch of albums that really grabbed me. However, there were a few Spring standouts I found myself coming back to, even if there were probably more mildly pleasing albums than all-out stunners to come out during Spring 2026. Here are those albums that stuck out to me, even if they ultimately leave me eagerly looking to see what the rest of the warmer months bring.

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Ape-ril: Primate

Primate (2026)

A strong finish to this year’s Ape-ril. So strong it could rip your jaw off, play with it for a bit, and then politely try to put it back on like nothing happened. I sat down to watch Johannes Roberts’s tight 89-minute ape-fueled gore-a-rama the other night with a gummy and half a pint of Chunky Monkey, and let me tell ya, it was hittin’. Almost as hard as Ben the chimp. Apes are strong, in case you haven’t picked up on that by now.

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Ape-ril: Congo

Congo (1995)

Did you know right now there’s a chimp civil war happening in Uganda? The once-strong Ngogo chimpanzee community in Kibale National Park, one of the largest ever studied, with around 200 apes at its peak, has splintered over the past several years in a bloody power struggle for ape supremacy. It’s wild, because it sounds like a story ripped straight from a Michael Crichton novel.

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Ape-ril: Link

Link (1986)

Like Brian De Palma, Aussie director Richard Franklin was very much a disciple of Alfred Hitchcock. In fact, Franklin was such a devotee that, while attending USC, he was determined to get Hitchcock’s Rope (1948) screened on campus. This effort led to Hitchcock personally calling the school, and Franklin inviting him to give a lecture, which he did. The two struck up a friendship, and years later, in 1983, Franklin would go on to direct Psycho II.

A glance at Franklin’s filmography paints the picture of a true genre filmmaker. The guy loved horror and suspense, high-concept ideas that practically pitch themselves. Movies that feel Hitchcockian, but updated for modern audiences. Like in 1979, when Franklin landed on the idea: “What if someone made Jaws… but with chimps?”

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Ape-ril: APE

A*P*E (1976)

Not since the dawn of man (around 2014) have I dedicated an entire month to ape cinema, but I’m back, and this time it’s personal! After listening to every album by Gorillaz and finishing Donkey Kong Bananza a few months ago, my body is ready. *Starts beating chest. This month I’m gonna live like an Apeman. Hey, you gonna eat that nanner over there?

Last time, I reviewed the OG Planet of the Apes films, but this time I’m tackling KILLER ape movies. “Oh sweet, like Shakma and Monkey Shines?” NO! WRONG! Those are monkeys. I’m talking about apes, which turned out to be a lot harder than anticipated if the goal was to watch GOOD movies.

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Colin’s Favorite Albums of Winter 2026

Well, it’s a new year and I’m not getting any younger. It’s always hard to know when exactly the right time is to start digging into new albums and trying to make sense of what’s worth listening to. Especially when I often find myself listening to new albums just for the sake of turning the page on the previous year and trying to embrace the new sounds of the future. During a lot of my year-end music coverage of 2025, I talked about how it was a little harder to get as much joy out of music as I had in years past, but so far I’m not feeling quite that way about 2026, even if the world’s just as much of a mess as ever. Either way, I’ve already found plenty of albums to keep me chugging along through the frigidly cold months of this East Coast Winter. Luckily, it’s officially Spring and now we can all actually turn a new leaf, since turning a new leaf on a year doesn’t mean much when you’re stuck inside clinging to your proverbial radiator.

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