your confidence level in the Cubs bullpen<\/a>, newly rebuilt for 2026. You were mostly pessimistic (but not unreasonably so) as 39 percent of you put your confidence as a \u201c2\u201d on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being no confidence at all. Only two percent of you put your confidence level at a one, however. Another 37 percent put your confidence level at a three.<\/p>\nHere\u2019s the part where we talk movies and listen to music. I\u2019m giving you some bonus movie content for a Tuesday evening in honor of the end of the year. But you\u2019re free to skip ahead if you want. You won\u2019t hurt my feelings.<\/p>\n
Tonight we are joined by the SFJazz Collective in Tokyo earlier this month. The performers are Chris Potter on sax, David S\u00e1nchez also on sax, Mike Rodriguez on trumpet, Warren Wolf plays the vibraphone, Matt Brewer is the bassist and the drummer is Kendrick Scott.<\/p>\n
This is \u201cUnknow Know With What Is.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve seen a lot of people putting out their \u201cYear-end best\u201d lists and as a guy who apparently writes about movies now, I thought I owed it to you give you my ten-best films of the year. So here\u2019s the ten films that I liked best from the year.<\/p>\n
Notice I did not mention which year. That\u2019s because my film tastes run towards classic movies and I\u2019m pretty sure I haven\u2019t seen ten film made in 2025. I did watch some movies from 2025, just not enough to make a year-end list.<\/p>\n
So instead, I\u2019m giving you my top ten films of 1945. Yeah, I\u2019m about eighty years late, but cut me some slack. It\u2019s not like I was around back then. So enjoy my countdown of my best films of 1945.<\/p>\n
10. Spellbound. Even second-rate Hitchcock is better than most of the stuff out there and nothing with Ingrid Bergman can be completely bad. It would have been better had David O. Selznick allowed Hitchcock to go nuts with the Salvador Dali dream sequence.<\/p>\n
9. The Clock. If you\u2019re familiar with Before Sunrise, this is basically the same concept done fifty years earlier. Robert Walker is a soldier on 48-hour leave in New York before he gets shipped overseas to fight Nazis. That\u2019s how long they have for him and Judy Garland to fall in love.<\/p>\n
8. My Name is Julia Ross. Yep. Hitchcock didn\u2019t make the best Hitchcock thriller of the year. Nina Foch plays a woman who is kidnapped and gaslighted into believing she\u2019s had a mental breakdown and is really the wife of a rich country landowner. Foch should have been a bigger star. I guess she had a big career as a film and acting professor at USC.<\/p>\n
7. Christmas in Connecticut. This one has become a Christmas staple in recent years. Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan star in a pretty funny rom-com farce about a newspaper columnist who\u2019s a fraud. Morgan is the war hero she\u2019s supposed to host for Christmas dinner with her family at her farmhouse in Connecticut, despite her not being able to cook, not being married, not having kids and not having a farmhouse in Connecticut.<\/p>\n
6. The Story of G.I. Joe. Burgess Meredith stars as Ernie Pyle, and much of the events and dialogue is taken directly from the famous war correspondent\u2019s own words. It\u2019s the story of World War II through the eyes of common soldiers. It\u2019s also Robert Mitchum\u2019s breakout role as one of the soldiers.<\/p>\n
5. Detour. I\u2019ve mentioned my love of this classic low-budget noir before. The aptly-named Ann Savage plays perhaps the most terrifying femme fatale of all time. Tom Neal is the unfortunate sad sack who comes across her.<\/p>\n
4. Leave Her to Heaven. The only color film in this list and the Technicolor is put to good use showing the beauty of Bass Lake and the Sierra Nevada, standing in for Bar Harbor, Maine. Gene Tierney stars as the OG jealous, possessive, psychotic and ultimately homicidal newlywed.<\/p>\n
3. The Lost Weekend. Billy Wilder made this film about a raging alcoholic after working with Raymond Chandler on Double Indemnity. The Lost Weekend took home the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor for Ray Milland.<\/p>\n
2. Mildred Pierce. Joan Crawford\u2019s masterpiece. Mildred Pierce is an overwrought crime melodrama and Joan leaves no piece of scenery unchewed. But its over-the-top nature is a wild ride and you should just go with the flow. You\u2019ll be rewarded. Also one of The Carol Burnett Show\u2019s best movie parodies.<\/p>\n
1. Rome, Open City. An easy number one for me. A story of the Italian resistance during Nazi occupation, its very existence was a miracle as it was shot on stolen and discarded film stock just weeks after the Germans abandoned Rome. Using mostly amateur actors, Roberto Rossellini basically created Italian neorealism, which revolutionized filmmaking throughout the world. One of the few professional actors in the cast was the great Anna Magnani, who turns in a performance you\u2019ll never forget.<\/p>\n
Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.<\/p>\n
Japanese right-hander Tatsuya Imai must sign with an MLB team by 5 pm Eastern on Friday or return to NPB for the 2026 season. Because he\u2019ll need a physical exam before any signing becomes official, I expect that he\u2019ll make his choice on Wednesday or Thursday. So it\u2019s entirely possible that the word of which team he\u2019ll sign with will leak by the time you read this.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve read way too much about Imai and I\u2019ve come to the conclusion that he\u2019s no sure thing. He could end up being an ace, but there are enough red flags in his profile that has been giving teams pause. His fastball velocity is above average, but some are concerned that it\u2019s too \u201cflat\u201d and doesn\u2019t generate enough swings and misses in NPB, let alone what it might do in MLB. There\u2019s worry that he walks too many batters, although his control is better the past two years, it\u2019s still pretty high for a potential ace. He\u2019s short by MLB right-handed starter standards. There are a few other nits to pick as well.<\/p>\n
However, there are also a lot to like about Imai. His fastball velocity is good and the pitch does generate weak contact. His \u201cwrong way\u201d slider may be elite. There\u2019s also a lot of feelings that working with a major league pitching department could fix a lot of those \u201cnits\u201d and make Imai a number-two starter in the majors.<\/p>\n
Few teams have been connected to Imai more than the Cubs this winter. (Although the White Sox name popped up today<\/a>.) The Cubs have been looking for another starting pitcher all winter and Imai would not cost either a draft pick or prospects in a trade. The Yankees have been rumored to be interested in Imai, although there are other reporters who cover the team who have thrown cold water on that idea. The Phillies, who are losing Ranger Su\u00e1rez, are another possibility. The Giants have not had a Japanese player of note since Masanori Murakami in 1965 and could be involved here, although one would think the Giants have other priorities. The White Sox, as noted, have emerged as a surprise contender and there could be another \u201cmystery team\u201d out there.<\/p>\nSo do you think the Cubs will be welcoming Imai to Chicago on Friday? Can Jed Hoyer seal the deal? Does he even want to seal the deal?<\/p>\n
Thanks for stopping by tonight. Stay warm out there. Don\u2019t forget your coat. Get home safely. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow night as we ring out 2025 in a special New Year\u2019s Eve edition of BCB After Dark. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Tuesday night here at BCB After Dark: the coolest club for night owls, early risers, new parents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[161642,49,48,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-379076","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-bcb-after-dark","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}