I've been somewhat neglectful of this feature in the last couple of years, but it remains a highlight of the hectic year-end list-making period, especially because it offers the chance to reflect on a much broader range of movies than just the best of the particular year. (Plus it's pretty much the only thing I post on this dormant blog anymore.) It's also become a widespread practice, which I think is fantastic, and it's often more interesting to read and discuss than the traditional lists. ...| Signal Bleed
Commentary on movies, TV and comic books by critic Josh Bell.| signalbleed.blogspot.com
So, uh, this one kind of got away from me. I usually do these lists around the end of the year, and it's one of my favorite traditions, rounding up the best movies I saw for the first time in a particular year that were initially released in previous years. This has become a popular online activity in the years since I started doing it in 2008, and I've also started appearing on the Piecing It Together podcast to talk about my picks, as I did for 2022. I got so behind on writing them up that ...| Signal Bleed
Although I still review TV shows pretty steadily, it's been a while since I put together a full yearly top 10 list, in part because I tend to get behind on keeping up with shows I'm not writing about. But even though I missed many of 2021's most acclaimed shows (Succession, The White Lotus, Squid Game), and fell behind on some others that I previously enjoyed (Insecure, Star Trek: Discovery), I saw plenty of great TV series this year, more than enough to write up this (belated) list of shows ...| Signal Bleed
When I started making these lists in 2008, I was inspired by a random commenter on an AV Club post. Letterboxd didn't exist yet, and I hadn't seen anyone else regularly recap their year of watching movies from previous years. Now, I see lists of "first-time watches" all over social media, sometimes monthly, and I think it's an awesome development, highlighting people's explorations of cinema's past (even if it's just a year or two in the past). Maybe that makes me less special for posting thi...| Signal Bleed
Slightly behind schedule, here's one of my favorite traditions of the year (which has become an increasingly common practice for others as well, since the rise of Letterboxd), my list of my favorite movies from earlier years that I saw for the first time in 2020.| Signal Bleed
As has been the case for the last few years, although I wrote a lot of articles and reviews about a lot of movies in 2020, I didn't have an outlet for a traditional top 10 list. So here are my favorite movies (plus some favorite performances) of a very strange year for cinema, in which theaters were mostly closed but I probably saw more new releases than I ever have before.| Signal Bleed
I'm not sure I should even bother including the 1959 biopic John Paul Jones in my Bette Davis series, since Davis' appearance in it is so brief that in the intro to the TCM showing I recorded, Ben Mankiewicz referred to her role as a cameo. Davis gets a splashy "special appearance" title card all to herself in the opening credits, but she only shows up for about four minutes near the end of the movie. The rest of the two-hour-plus movie belongs to Robert Stack as the title character, a hothea...| Signal Bleed
Bette Davis' final film in her 18-year career at Warner Bros., Beyond the Forest is mostly known for its extraneous qualities, from the behind-the-scenes battles that led to Davis' departure from Warners, to her later comments about its low quality, to the bad reviews (including a designation from the founder of the Razzies as one of "the most enjoyably bad movies ever made"), to the iconic Davis line ("What a dump!") that's generally used as a clip without any context. Although it's still mo...| Signal Bleed
On the 13th of each month, I write about a movie whose title contains the number 13.| Signal Bleed
After 10-plus years, this is still one of my favorite things to write, a look at the best movies from previous years that I saw for the first time in 2019.| Signal Bleed
On the 13th of each month, I write about a movie whose title contains the number 13.| Signal Bleed
On the 13th of each month, I write about a movie whose title contains the number 13.| Signal Bleed
On the 13th of each month, I write about a movie whose title contains the number 13.| Signal Bleed
Once again, I'm looking back at previous installments of some of this summer's big returning franchises.| Signal Bleed
Once again, I'm looking back at previous installments of some of this summer's big returning franchises.| Signal Bleed
Once again, I'm looking back at previous installments of some of this summer's big returning franchises.| Signal Bleed
Once again, I'm looking back at previous installments of some of this summer's big returning franchises.| Signal Bleed
On the 13th of each month, I write about a movie whose title contains the number 13.| Signal Bleed
Once again, I'm looking back at previous installments of some of this summer's big returning franchises.| Signal Bleed
Once again, I'm looking back at previous installments of some of this summer's big returning franchises.| Signal Bleed
On the 13th of each month, I write about a movie whose title contains the number 13.| Signal Bleed
On the 13th of each month, I write about a movie whose title contains the number 13.| Signal Bleed
Once again, I'm looking back at previous installments of some of this summer's big returning franchises.| Signal Bleed
Once again, I'm looking back at previous installments of some of this summer's big returning franchises.| Signal Bleed