'A Walk Among the Tombstones' is a bright spot in the Liam Neeson thriller canon, and I'm glad it was the audience choice poll winner for this week's Awesome Movie Year 2014 episode. #filmsky #moviesky

Not a great week for VODepths, including disappointments from a couple of my B-movie favorites (Scott Adkins and Jem Garrard).

I can't count myself among the 'Showgirls' defenders, but I was still happy to revisit the iconic Vegas movie on its 30th anniversary for a discussion with @oyvegas.bsky.social on today's CityCast.

Update: The light is flickering ominously again, as is seasonally appropriate.

For Classic Corner at @crooked-marquee.bsky.social, I celebrated the 70th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick's often-overlooked early film 'Killer's Kiss.' #filmsky #moviesky

Jordan Peele's stamp of approval isn't worth much for the flashy but incoherent football horror movie 'Him,' now in theaters. My @tomsguide.com review: #filmsky #moviesky

Gay period drama 'The History of Sound' (opening tomorrow in Vegas at AMC Town Square and Regal Aliante) has a great first half and a frustrating second half, which adds up to a middling whole. My @inlander.com review: #filmsky #moviesky

I had a lot of fun revisiting 'Edge of Tomorrow' for this week's Awesome Movie Year 2014 episode: #filmsky #moviesky

Something satisfying about sitting alone in my living room and yelling "Booooo" at a new movie's dumb twist ending.

I've been a bit under the weather today and missed posting about Robert Redford, but I love that he's the rare actor whose late-career roles are among his best. His brilliant work in 'All Is Lost,' 'Pete's Dragon' and 'The Old Man & the Gun' is worthy of any other classics being praised today.

Netflix claims that two-part docu-series 'aka Charlie Sheen' (total running time: 181 minutes) is the number 1 "movie" on the service now, while three-part docu-series 'Beauty and the Bester' (total running time: 134 minutes) is the number 6 "TV show." What are these distinctions even for anymore?

Some quick thoughts on the brutal Stephen King adaptation 'The Long Walk' in this week's Highway Radio segment: highwayradio.com/josh-bell-ha...

Watching 'Spinal Tap II' made me think that we really need a new season of 'Documentary Now!' They'd know how to properly satirize these self-congratulatory bio-docs about aging musicians.

Not sure I've seen anything like this before: Driving past the Strip tonight and the trailer for Netflix's 'The Rip' is playing on Mandalay Bay's digital marquee.

"I'll watch that movie before I leave" --> "I'll watch half of that movie before I leave" --> "I'll watch the first 20 minutes of that movie before I leave" --> "I'll watch that movie when I get home"

As much as I've gotten tired of the overall John Wick franchise, the original is still a great action movie, as we discuss in this week's 2014 episode of Awesome Movie Year.

Some pretty good stuff in this week's VODepths, including a Lucinda Williams documentary, a Swedish drama about sexual assault, and a twisty Korean erotic thriller: #filmsky #moviesky

I write a biweekly column reviewing niche VOD releases, covering 120-plus movies a year, and have been told it's one of the site's best-performing features.

For @tomsguide.com, I wrote about my love for Samantha Stephens and 'Bewitched,' which now has every episode streaming on Hulu.

Some quick thoughts on the self-satisfied 'The Conjuring: Last Rites' in this week's Highway Radio segment: highwayradio.com/josh-bell-ha...

Very excited to have a few days free, so I can switch from watching work movies to watching recreational movies.

I never much cared for 'The Office,' and the quasi-spinoff 'The Paper' (now streaming on Peacock) doesn't offer much but a pale reflection of its predecessor. My @inlander.com review:

This season's Awesome Movie Year theme of "acclaimed movies I strongly dislike" continues with this week's episode on 2014 Best Picture winner 'Birdman.' #filmsky #moviesky

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's intriguing, confounding thriller 'Cloud' opens tomorrow in Las Vegas at @beverlytheater.bsky.social. My review: #filmsky #moviesky

I've been looking out for critics' coverage on this (as opposed to straight reporting), and I'm glad to see such a thoughtful take that doesn't pull punches but also engages seriously with what's actually presented. Much better than Variety's wishy-washy review with knee-jerk Vegas-bashing.

Love when a screener has an intermittent watermark that pops up just in time to obscure the subtitles in the handful of scenes in another language.

I got an email from a guy saying he was a college student who liked my reviews and wanted to follow me on Letterboxd, and my first thought was, "In what way could this be an attempted scam?"

With 'Burn After Reading' about to leave Netflix, I wrote about the comedic pleasures (and unfortunate continued political resonance) of one of the Coen brothers' most underrated movies: #filmsky #moviesky

Seeing Nirvana at one of their final U.S. shows in 1993, or seeing The Killers at some local Vegas bar with like 10 people in attendance in 2002 or 2003. In both cases with no idea of the significance of the experience.

Darren Aronofsky trades ambitious bombast for a low-key underworld caper in the moderately entertaining 'Caught Stealing,' in theaters tonight. My @inlander.com review: #filmsky #moviesky

For Inverse, I defended misfit superhero movie 'The New Mutants' on the fifth anniversary of its bungled release: #filmsky #moviesky

One theme for the 2014 season of Awesome Movie Year has been "highly acclaimed movies that I don't care for," and that continues with this week's episode on Damien Chazelle's 'Whiplash.' #filmsky #moviesky

"This movie is fine" is really the toughest type of review to write.

Some quick thoughts on Ethan Coen's scattered but kinda charming 'Honey Don't' in this week's Highway Radio segment: highwayradio.com/josh-bell-ha...

I almost went with 'Reign of Fire,' the first movie I reviewed professionally (& panned). But it's probably 'The Emperor's New Groove,' the one movie I reviewed for my college newspaper. I thought, "I have to tell people about how great this is," and that's still the best thing about being a critic.

For @tomsguide.com, I wrote about the greatness of Denzel Washington noir thriller 'Devil in a Blue Dress,' which is streaming now on Hulu (and comes to Tubi September 1): #filmsky #moviesky

'Eden' (in theaters tonight) is a puzzling but occasionally entertaining outlier from Ron Howard, with a great Ana de Armas performance. My @inlander.com review: #filmsky #moviesky

It seems like these accounts come up regularly now, and every one of them makes me glad I got away from working for Valnet when I did (and was never as entrenched as Daniel or others). Sobering read.

My co-host Jason Harris dug deep for his pick in this week's 2014 Awesome Movie Year episode on 1980s-set coming-of-age comedy 'Ping Pong Summer,' which maybe wasn't worth excavating. #filmsky #moviesky

Kind of a rough week for VODepths, with an awkward Russian approximation of bad American horror movies and a paycheck gig for Jeff Fahey and Judd Nelson, but the art-horror movie about amateur pornographers is at least intriguing. #filmsk #moviesky

Really taking this whole nepo thing to new heights here.

Even without the novelty factor, 'Nobody 2' (now in theaters) is still a fun, fast-paced action movie. My @tomsguide.com review: #moviesky #filmsky

I'm totally in the tank for the 'Alien' franchise (I even really like the later Ripley movies!), but 'Alien: Earth' tried every bit of my patience by the end of its eight episodes. My @inlander.com review of the FX series, now streaming its first two episodes on Hulu:

Hear me out: 'Caddyshark'

I may have spent a decent portion of this week's Awesome Movie Year 2014 episode on 'The Lego Movie' defending Will Ferrell's stuffy dad character. #filmsky #moviesky

Basic but enjoyable spy-thriller series 'Butterfly' (now streaming on Amazon Prime Video) has some great action and entertaining characters. My @tomsguide.com review:

Hyperbolic headline aside, I do think Eli Roth's 'Thanksgiving' is one of the best of the recent wave of self-aware slashers. I wrote about its strengths for @tomsguide.com as it's leaving Netflix this week: #filmsky #moviesky

Shitty, forgotten Gerard Butler movies are currently at number two and three on Netflix's top 10 movies chart, which seems like an omen of something.

*wakes up in a cold sweat* "I should bump up that movie's rating half a star on Letterboxd."

Some quick thoughts on Zach Cregger's twisty 'Weapons' in this week's Highway Radio segment: