Mildly Pleased

Good storytelling does not rely on twists. It needs to be more than “what’s going to happen next?” If you’ve done it well, your story should stand up to a second viewing. Case in point: I’m desperate to see Avengers: Endgame again, but in no hurry to revisit Sunday’s genuinely thrilling, climactic episode of Game […] The post Some Kind of Movie – Ep. 10: America’s Ass appeared first on Mildly Pleased.

As we find ourselves in the midst of Avengers: Endgame and the NFL Draft – two celebrations of grown men pummeling each other – we thought we’d class things up a bit. On this podcast, we offer our very own draft pertaining to the films each of us will review during the Criterion Month of […] The post The Third Annual Mildly Pleased Criterion Draft appeared first on Mildly Pleased.

Do you believe in Rock and Roll? Well if you do and if you like the taste of cold gin, you’re gonna love this special episode of Rokk Talk. This week, John, Colin, and respected journalist/personal trainer/rock god Matt Carstens reflect on seeing KISS on their “End of the Road Tour”. Is the show worth […] The post Rokk Talk Ep. 18: I Love it Loud appeared first on Mildly Pleased.

Do you have any idea how many blockbusters are coming out this year? Do you even know? Disney alone is releasing three remakes of animated classics, two Marvel movies, sequels to Toy Story and Frozen, and a Star Wars. A STAR WARS! And that’s just Disney! Will this be the year the box office implodes […] The post Top Ten Anticipated Movies of 2019 appeared first on Mildly Pleased.

It’s no longer 2018. In fact, it’s almost no longer January 2019. But that didn’t stop us from recording a podcast looking back at the best of what last year had to offer in film. Also, it wasn’t a bad week to do so, considering the Oscar nominations came out and… ooh boy, not a […] The post Top Ten Movies of 2018 appeared first on Mildly Pleased.

2018 was once again a dizzying year for TV, with so many options that you’d think the efforts of three people watching a decent amount of TV shows would have our current television landscape covered. Yet, there are still plenty of critically acclaimed shows none of us caught up with, and you know what? That’s […] The post Top Ten TV Shows of 2018 appeared first on Mildly Pleased.

How do you summarize a year like 2018? I think at this point, the whole “it’s depressing” angle is getting kind of tired. And yet, what other perspective is there on stories like children in cages, increasing production of greenhouse gasses, and a rapist being appointed to the supreme court – tipping the balance toward […] The post The Seventh Annual Mildly Pleased Awards appeared first on Mildly Pleased.

We’re smack dab in the middle of Christmas season again, and you know what that means. Lots and lots of Christmas songs. Some of these songs are great, and some of them are ho-ho-horrible. So on this episode, John and Colin pick out their least favorite Christmas songs ever, and even rank them in a […] The post Rokk Talk Ep. 17: That Was The Worst Christmas Ever! appeared first on Mildly Pleased.

After a long Dave Matthews-induced hiatus, Rokk Talk is back! On this episode John and Colin talk about Led Zep– er, Greta Van Fleet. Which by extension devolves into a conversation about Led Zeppelin, “new” classic rock, self-awareness, and forging your own sound (or failing to). You’d think a band with so little originality wouldn’t […] The post Rokk Talk Ep. 16: The Song Remains The Same appeared first on Mildly Pleased.

It may be another year, another Shocktober. But this year we decided to do something different, by recording a draft of our picks for this year’s monthlong ode to horror movies. Granted, it’s not that new, since this is just the same thing we do to divvy out our Criterion month picks. But nonetheless, here’s a fun […] The post Shocktober 2018 Draft appeared first on Mildly Pleased.

Well, now the summer is over. It’s still warm out, but the kids are back in school and the smog has cleared (for the time being), so we’re calling it. Here’s a podcast where we briefly talk about some of our favorite summer media and also the main thing that happened, Criterion Month. I say […] The post 2018 Mildly Pleased Summercast appeared first on Mildly Pleased.

Before we jump headlong into Criterion month, here’s a look back at the best of pop culture from 2018 so far. Things move fast these days, so if you blink, you might miss a great album or movie or television show, or maybe even a quality video game. Here, John, Sean, and Colin try to […] The post The Best of 2018 So Far… appeared first on Mildly Pleased.

Hey everybody, there’s a Star Wars a-comin’! I don’t know if there’s as much excitement for the Solo: A Star Wars Story as there has been for the past few Star Wars movies. But well, I think Star Wars fatigue was somewhat inevitable. Still, from the TV promos I’ve seen, critics supposedly think Solo is […] The post Pitching Tents 19: Star Wars Spin-offs appeared first on Mildly Pleased.

Didn’t get enough of Colin, Sean, and John talking about snooty arthouse movies in the dead of blockbuster season last year? Well, have we got a treat for you! Once, again these three lads will embark on another July filled with nothing but reviews of movies that have been put out by the fine folks […] The post The Second Annual Mildly Pleased Criterion Draft appeared first on Mildly Pleased.

You can’t judge an album by its cover. But you can judge an album cover by its album cover. This episode, John and Colin count down some of their favorite rock album covers ever while posing the question of how well an album cover can stand on its own. As well as whether a great […] The post Rokk Talk Ep. 15: Cover Me appeared first on Mildly Pleased.

When the first trailer for Avengers: Infinity War came out, on top of my excitement I had one nagging thought: “This looks like the biggest movie ever… Until the next one.” Six years ago, when the first Avengers movie came out, it felt like a culmination of years of movies – all that lead-up was […] The post Some Kind of Movie – Ep. 9: Why is Gamora? appeared first on Mildly Pleased.

To quote former Presidential candidate Herman Cain “I wanna be the very best. Like no one ever was. …” And only the best–or greatest in this case–have what it takes to release a greatest hits album. This week, Colin and John discuss greatest hits albums. Are they a good way to introduce burgeoning music fans […] The post Rokk Talk Ep. 14: I’m the Greatest appeared first on Mildly Pleased.

Another year, another slate of movies to get your hopes up about and be inevitably disappointed by. Though, from looking at year’s past, Sean and John have had a pretty good track record of predicting movies that end up being pretty good (John called four movies that ended up on his top ten last year!) […] The post Top Ten Anticipated Movies of 2018 appeared first on Mildly Pleased.

2017 in film has come and gone, but here Sean, John, and Colin take a look back at it one last time. And also for the final time this year, we whip out the old Top Ten Thursdays format of talking about a long list of things in-depth, and then trying the listener’s patience debating whether […] The post Top Ten Movies of 2017 appeared first on Mildly Pleased.

There was a lot of television in 2017. There will probably be even more television in 2018. The point is, Colin, Sean, and John tried to watch a lot of it, but probably still didn’t watch as much as the supposed average American who watches more than 5 hours of television a day (are there […] The post Top Ten TV Shows of 2017 appeared first on Mildly Pleased.