Criterion Month Day 4: Summer with Monika

Summer with Monika (1953)

From Terence Malick’s Badlands to Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, one of the most beloved sub-genres cinema’s great auteurs inevitably explore is a story about young lovers on the run. Ingmar Bergman went there when he was 35, years before all the big titles in his filmography, but nonetheless Summer with Monika did achieve its own unique sort of infamy: two years after its Swedish release, a Time magazine article about “Sin & Sweden” inspired an edited-down version of the movie to be released in the US, where it was renamed “Monika: The Story of a Bad Girl.” Is this an early erotic masterpiece? Can a movie from 73 years ago still titillate audiences in 2026?

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Criterion Month Day 3: Night and the City

Night and the City (1950)

There are plenty of directors that are closely associated with the film noir genre, from John Huston to Billy Wilder to Edward Dmytryk. However, there was really only one great noir director who found themself completely severed from the country that produced the majority of the great noirs. Jules Dassin first made a name for himself in the genre in Hollywood with fellow Criterion Collection entries 1947’s Brute Force and 1948’s The Naked City, but was blacklisted due to being a former member of several American communist party associations in his younger years. This is how Dassin ended up directing his later films in Europe, such as heist classic Rififi. While Dassin was in the midst of being ousted from Hollywood, he made a sojourn to Britain to direct Night and the City, a film fittingly about a desperate man with more than a few walls closing in on him.

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Criterion Month Day 2: All That Money Can Buy

All That Money Can Buy (1941)

I first learned about “All That Money Can Buy” aka “The Devil and Daniel Webster” from the same place I learn all of my pop culture tidbits: The Simpsons.

“The Devil and Homer Simpson” was the first story in The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror IV, which first aired on October 28, 1993. In the segment, Homer sells his soul to the Devil (Ned Flanders) for a donut. Lisa pleads with the Devil for a trial, but only on the conditions that Homer spend a day in Hell, and that the Devil gets to pick the jury, a jury he refers to as the “Jury of the Damned,” which includes infamous historical figures such as Blackbeard, John Wilkes Booth, Benedict Arnold, and the starting lineup of the 1976 Philadelphia Flyers.

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Criterion Month Day 1: Hell’s Angels

Hell’s Angels (1930)

There is not much value in getting nostalgic for how the ultrarich used to live. Yes, they seemed to have better taste, with their ornate mansions that still stand today and often serve as museums or tourist destinations, as well as their patronage to the arts. But at the same time, a billionaire is still a billionaire. And if we’re adjusting for inflation while talking about the ultra-wealthy of the early 20th century, a millionaire is still a millionaire.

That said, there is something about the image of maverick aviation pioneer Howard Hughes risking his life against the wishes of his stunt coordinator to film one of the marvelous plane combat scenes in 1930’s Hell’s Angels. It was a stunt so dangerous that Hughes crashed his plane and had to have facial surgery, which was immortalized in the 2004 film The Aviator. It’s the type of thing you’d be hard-pressed to imagine one of today’s billionaire tech turds attempting, let alone having the attention span to craft a piece of long-form storytelling, even one that mostly aims to thrill and amaze you. So with that all said, I have to give Mr. Hughes begrudging respect for pulling off one of the more entertaining movies of the early sound era I can remember seeing.

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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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