There are 1,847 posts tagged Review (this is page 16 of 264).
The 26th Academy Awards (1954)
Nominations: 13
Wins: 8
Is there a more romantic scene in cinema than Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr making out on the beach in From Here to Eternity? I can’t count how many times I’ve seen this scene parodied, from Airplane, to The Nutty Professor, to multiple times on The Simpsons. Little did I know the scene in question is depicting two adults committing adultery. Is From Here to Eternity an edgier movie than I thought?
28th Academy Awards (1956)
Nominations: 8
Wins: 4
Well, I’m sorry to report that none of this year’s best picture nominees are remakes of previous Oscar-winning best pictures, which means I needed a new gimmick for the 2024 Oscars Fortnight. The one I settled on were best picture nominees that were made by first-time directors, since there are actually two of them up for the award this year, American Fiction and Past Lives (I’ll be writing about both). Now, you may be wondering, how often does someone’s first feature get nominated for film’s most prestigious award? I don’t know! I didn’t find a comprehensive list anywhere, but I know some of the movies we’ve already covered, like Citizen Kane and Dances with Wolves, were directorial debuts so it can’t be insanely rare. Who cares? All that really matters is I got the perfect movie to watch around the Valentines season, so let’s get into Marty!
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
I did not share by Apple Music year-end wrap-up thing with anyone this year, since my listening habits are never quite as interesting or eclectic as I want them to be. Also, does anyone really care what indie-famous artist I listened to the most? Anyways, That! Feels Good! by Jessie Ware was my most listened-to album of 2023, which isn’t all that surprising considering just how punchy and deliciously well-crafted the album is. It is quite simply the type of album that begs to be played over and over again, so I made a habit of it back when it came out in late Spring and served as a nice segue into the feel-good vibes of the Summer. Continue reading
One of the fonder music memories I have from 2023 was finally sitting in on one of KEXP’s in-studio sessions when I was in Seattle for the summer. The session I managed to see was for The Mountain Goats, a band that I had a lot more enthusiasm toward hearing than the group of friends I was with.
This seems to speak to the fact that The Mountain Goats appeal to a very particular type of obsessive fan, which I apparently am, having heard probably at least a dozen of their albums. However, the band kind of lost me in the course of their last few releases. They were always a very prolific band, but freed from an equally active touring life, it seems like the pandemic compelled John Darnielle to write even more songs than usual, many of which failed to hook me all that much. This is why I barely recognized any of the songs The Mountain Goats played during their KEXP session, since they were mostly from recent albums that I’d probably give a listen or two at most. Continue reading
Ah, relationships and heartache. Two topics that never seem to grow old in the realm of pop music, and the topics that seem to be most abundant on Jamila Woods’ latest album Water Made Us. To call Water Made Us a concept album feels like a bit of a stretch, but its depictions of break-ups, moving on, and finding yourself lend it to a thematic cohesion at the very least. This was also an attribute of Woods’ last album Legacy! Legacy!, whose songs were inspired by iconic Black cultural figures in varying ways. Though here, she’s turned her gaze inward, and in the process creates something more personal while retaining her inscrutable cool. Continue reading
Well, we’ve once again reached the point in the year that feels like a long slow march toward posting our Top Tens of the year in January. However, as far as December goes each year, I usually take this time to look back at a bunch of albums I haven’t really talked about in reviews or Little Picks on our podcast. Because I’ve been taking a more leisurely approach to reviewing albums, usually in one long monthly or seasonal post, it’s been pretty easy to keep up with talking about the albums that have impressed me this year. However, there have been a few from the last few months that I’ve been enjoying that I haven’t written about yet, and who knows, maybe there’ll be some albums from earlier in the year that I end up checking out and enjoying as various publications’ end-of-the-year lists start to trickle in. Continue reading
