By Matt Neglia 

The 46th annual Telluride Film Festival, which serves as another Oscar launching pad from the fall film festivals, has revealed its official lineup for 2019. Never officially known until the day before the festival starts, the lineup includes some movies we expected and some we certainly did not.

Click below to see the films coming to this year's festival.

By Matt Neglia 

For this year's Oscar off-season, we are taking a look back on the 2015 film year which was right before Next Best Picture launched. We asked the NBP Film Community to vote on 5 films nominated for Best Picture and 5 films nominated for Oscars other than Best Picture from that year to be reviewed on the podcast, exclusively for our Patreon subscribers. We already reviewed "Brooklyn," "Sicario," "Ex Machina," "Room," "Spotlight," "Inside Out," "The Revenant," "The Hateful Eight," "The Big Short," and now we have come to the end of the series with our final review: Todd Haynes' 2015 masterpiece "Carol." Special thank you to the NBP Community for all of these 2015 retrospectives. We had a blast doing all of them and we hope you enjoyed them as well.

Wrongfully snubbed of a Best Picture nomination in 2015, "Carol" is a timeless love story between two women in late 1950's New York with absolutely stellar performances from its cast, beautiful writing from Phyllis Nagy and exquisite craftsmanship from Todd Haynes. There's so much to talk about with this one and here to help me do it I have Nicole Ackman, Dan Bayer, Casey Lee Clark, Lauren LaMagna and joining us as a guest for the first time ever is Sara Clements. 

This is a preview of the podcast, the full version of which is only available to those who subscribe to us on Patreon. For the small price of $1 a month, you can receive this review along with other exclusive podcast content, so be sure to subscribe here.
​
Thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to the Next Best Picture Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, PlayerFM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. ​

By Matt Neglia 

​I've been following the Oscars since 2004. I officially became hooked when my favorite film of all-time ("The Lord of the Rings") was awarded the Best Picture prize for "The Return of the King" along with 10 other Oscars, tying the all-time win record. It took me awhile to realize that it's not about my favorite films winning but enjoying the intricacies of the race itself. That race officially kicks off tomorrow (well, technically today if you include the Venice Film Festival) with the launch of the Telluride Film Festival. It's a festival I've dreamed about attending for 15 years and now, finally in 2019 that dream will become a reality.

​By Daniel Howat ​

​Can you feel it in the air? Awards season is kicking off! Telluride Film Festival kicks off this Friday. Toronto International Film Festival starts in a week. In all likelihood, our next Best Picture winner premieres in the next two weeks. Now, with almost no contenders seen yet, the season is full of possibilities. This time last year, few had “Green Book” on their radar (it was a simpler time). Anything could be a winner. We’ve got plenty of wild guesses at what films will or won’t make it through awards season, but for me, one movie makes the most sense as our winner: “Just Mercy.”

By Edward Douglas 

Jillian Bell has been an amazing comedic actor for quite a few years now, but her work in Paul Downs Colaizzo’s “Brittany Runs A Marathon” is above and beyond her previous work, as it’s a movie that allows her to really create a full character and give her a true story arc.

Brittany is a New Yorker in her late 20-somethings who just hasn’t been able to get the whole idea of “adulting” together, so she works a lot of dead-end jobs, goes partying with her roommate (Alice Lee) and doesn’t worry too much about her physical health and well-being. When a doctor warns Brittany that she has to lose weight to avoid having serious health issues, Brittany is dubious but her upstairs neighbor (Michaela Watkins) convinces her to join a running group. Brittany soon learns that she enjoys running, and while she’s still trying to get the rest of her life together, running ends up becoming her life.

​By Casey Lee Clark 

This past week saw the trailer releases for “The Report” (Scott Z. Burns’ political drama that premiered at Sundance earlier this year) and “Marriage Story” (the upcoming Noah Baumbach divorce film for Netflix). What both these films have in common are their major awards buzz and their lead actor: Adam Driver. With other films this year in addition to these two, Driver appears to be having a great year. However, when you look at the number of great films he has been in and directors he has worked with this entire decade, not to mention his work outside of film, it is clear that Driver has had an incredible decade and there’s only one way to end that kind of decade, with an Oscar win. ​

By Matt Neglia 

For this week's second podcast review, Dan Bayer and myself discuss the delightful independent feel-good comedy "Brittany Runs A Marathon" starring Jillian Bell. Dan and I are both not runners but we must admit this film made us want to take up running around the streets of New York and maybe it will do the same for you as well. Tune in below to hear our thoughts.

Thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to the Next Best Picture Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, PlayerFM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous and you enjoy what you hear and want more, please help to support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Bianca Garner 

​There’s one thing that I find really frustrating as a film critic. It’s not the long hours, the deadlines or having to watch yet another Michael Bay film. It’s the staggered release dates. Being based in the U.K. films from across the pond take their jolly old time getting to us. In this modern-day and age of the internet and social media, it seems odd that films take so long to travel across the globe. With Disney announcing it’s line-up of exciting shows and films with Disney Plus this week, the excitement was buzzing online. However, there is still no confirmation on a date when the U.K. will be getting Disney Plus. 

By Nicole Ackman ​​

With autumn comes back to school season for students of all ages. While many of us are no longer in school, I’m sure I’m not the only one who still associates the end of summer with the start of a new school year. Thus, August seems to be the perfect time to take a look at an interesting subset of the coming-of-age genre: the high school film. For the past several decades, movies about high school students have been popular from John Hughes’s films like “16 Candles” to this year’s “Booksmart.” 

High school movies are a particularly female-focused genre and the more recent ones often tell the stories of social outsiders on the high school scene: the geeks, the nerds, the overachievers. These films span many genres from superhero movies like “Spider-Man: Homecoming” to modern adaptations of classic works of literature like “10 Things I Hate About You.” Many musical adaptations have been made of these films from the popular Broadway hit “Mean Girls” to the cult classic “Heathers,” which Next Best Theatre covered earlier this year.

These high school movies have often provided breakout roles to young actors, such as Anne Hathaway in “The Princess Diaries” and Emma Stone in “Easy A.” Netflix has recently announced that in addition to their sequel coming out next year, a third movie is being made for “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” starring Lana Condor. 

Here is a compilation of the Next Best Picture team’s favorite movies set during high school, presented in the order that they were released. 

By Danilo Castro 

There’s a fine line between laughter and fear. Both elicit strong reactions, and both rely on the unexpected to keep viewers on their toes. A good laugh can turn into a scream, just as a bloodcurdling scream can devolve into laughter. This overlap is best exemplified through the sub-genre known as horror-comedy. A seemingly incongruous blend, the horror-comedy has proven to be one of the most durable in cinema, with the ability to reflect societal changes through a heady (often self-aware) brew of violence and satire.

“Ready Or Not,” the new film from directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, is the latest horror-comedy gem, and a breath of fresh air for an otherwise stuffy year (at least, so far). In honor of “Ready Or Not,” we’ve decided to suit up, light a candle, and run screaming through the top 1o best horror-comedies of all time.​

By Matt Neglia 

For Episode 157, Michael Schwartz, Casey Lee Clark, Cody Dericks, Dan Bayer & myself have come to the point you have all been waiting for...Phase One (The Fall Film Festivals). The 76th Venice Film Festival starts August 28th, Telluride begins on the 30th and we're off to the races from there with TIFF and NYFF following in the coming days afterward. We discuss where things stand now, where we think things are heading, what surprises are in store and we also discuss the trailers for some of the films which will be making their premieres over the next couple of days including "Marriage Story," "Motherless Brooklyn," "The Report" (Which premiered at Sundance) and "Bombshell" (which remains an unknown at this time). We also answer your fan questions, go over the polls and more! Strap yourselves in...it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to the Next Best Picture Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, PlayerFM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous and you enjoy what you hear and want more, please help to support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Matt Neglia 

For this week's main podcast review, Josh Parham, Dan Bayer and myself discuss the horror-comedy "Ready Or Not" starring Samara Weaving, Adam Brody, Mark O'Brien, Henry Czerny & Andie MacDowell. Filled with suspense, gore, humor and a demented premise, what did the NBP team think? Tune in below to find out.

Thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to the Next Best Picture Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, PlayerFM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous and you enjoy what you hear and want more, please help to support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Dan Bayer 

I wasn’t expecting to see Jennifer Kent’s “The Nightingale” and Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” on consecutive days and then deal with "Ready Or Not" right before I was about to publish this. I also wasn’t expecting to be thinking about them a lot in relation to each other in the weeks to follow. But here we are, as the summer comes to a close, I can’t get either film out of my head. There are many reasons for this - cinematography, performances, runtimes that verge on being over-indulgent - but the main one is violence. In a world as violent as ours, it can sometimes be difficult for films to make violence impactful, but both Kent and Tarantino succeed spectacularly on that front. But each uses violence to very different ends, and I’m not sure they both justify the means.

By Tom O'Brien 

​The Emmy's are almost here. We're now in the home stretch of the Emmy voting period, as final ballots went out to voters like myself on Thursday, August 15. After nominations were announced on July 16, politicking has been furiously going on behind the scenes (from what I've been told). Meantime, I've been scrambling to see all the nominees before the ballot arrives so that I can cast a responsible vote.

There was, of course, a lot of commentary around the time the nominations were announced, and much of it was extremely incisive. But as the talk died down and the pundits have moved on, Emmy voters were left with "What do we do now?"

By Josh Parham 

​A few days ago, Bond fans across the world were greeted with some good news as the announcement of the new title for the 25th Bond film finally came. The specifics had been guarded for quite some time, but it was eventually revealed that “No Time To Die” would be the official title. The timing of this is also fortuitous because it coincides around the 89th birthday of Sir Sean Connery (three days from now), most known as the originator of the role of James Bond. Connery played the character through seven films (six official entries, and one unofficial) and for many, like me, has been the defining image of this character’s representation in the culture. 
 
In honor of his birthday and the news related to the new film, I have provided my own personal rankings of all the 007 films in which he appeared in. The most interesting element to the Bond fandom is that, while there are trends one can point to, many people carry their own unique perspectives on this series, so I certainly do not mean this to be a definitive ranking. However, as a bigger fan of this series than most others you will likely meet, I do have my own passionate opinions about what some of the best and weakest entries in this series.

By Matt Neglia 

For this week's second podcast review, I am joined by Casey Lee Clark & Josh Parham. The three of us review the Bruce Springsteen inspired indie musical coming-of-age story from "Bend It Like Beckham" director Gurinder Chadha titled "Blinded By The Light." Featuring a contagious positive vibe, family drama and of course, the music of the Boss, this tiny but delightful film is sure to make your heart sing. What did we all think of it? Tune in to find out.

Thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to the Next Best Picture Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, PlayerFM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous and you enjoy what you hear and want more, please help to support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Cody Dericks 

The entire Next Best Theatre team is back to look back on the Pulitzer and Tony Winning Musical "Sunday In The Park With George" by Stephen Sondheim. We take a look at the history of the show, what it means to us, individual songs and different revivals most recently with Jake Gyllenhaal playing the role of George. Joining me for this one we have Nicole Ackman, Dan Bayer, Michael Schwartz & Casey Lee Clark.

This is a preview of the podcast, the full version of which is only available to those who subscribe to us on Patreon. For the small price of $1 a month, you can receive this review along with other exclusive podcast content, so be sure to subscribe here.

Thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to the Next Best Theatre Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, PlayerFM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous and you enjoy what you hear and want more, please help to support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Lauren LaMagna 

​​​Up until recently, the coming-of-age film has remained constant since the 1970s. It usually features teenagers of all cliques that range from the jock all the way down to socially awkward as they navigate those stressful years. A coming-of-age tale can work in any genre which makes the trope one of the most versatile in all of modern-day cinema. It can be seen in comedies, dramas, and even action movies (spider-man, I’m looking at you). The underlying theme is that these characters realize that they are all going through something similar to another character in the film. This realization causes the character to experience a type of growth that will catapult them into the next stage of their lives; typically, from teenager to young adult.

By Matt Neglia 

For Episode 156, Michael Schwartz, Casey Lee Clark, Bianca Garner, Lauren LaMagna, Dan Bayer & myself talk from beginning to end about trailers. We have seven we are covering this week and they are: "Parasite," "Pain And Glory," "Portrait Of A Lady On Fire," "A Hidden Life," "Dolemite Is My Name," "Last Christmas" & "Little Women." We sprinkle in some fan questions, go over the polls and other talking points as well, as we get closer to the start of Venice/Telluride/Toronto.

Thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to the Next Best Picture Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, PlayerFM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous and you enjoy what you hear and want more, please help to support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Matt Neglia

For this week's main podcast review, I am joined by Josh Williams & Danilo Castro and together we review the latest Richard Linklater film "Where'd You Go, Bernadette" starring Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Kristen Wiig and a few others. Plagued by a long delayed release history, the film has finally made its way to theaters and is receiving mixed reviews. Where does the NBP team ultimately fall on it though? Tune in below to find out.

Thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to the Next Best Picture Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify,Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, PlayerFM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you're feeling generous and you enjoy what you hear and want more, please help to support us onPatreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Matt Neglia 

​Next Best Picture has partnered with Allied Global Marketing and Lionsgate to give away free passes to see "Angel Has Fallen" starring Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Jada Pinkett Smith and more in New York City on Monday, August 19th 2019 a few days before its actual release in theaters on August 23rd 2019.

​Click below for a chance to get passes while supplies last.

​By Cody Dericks 

​The new documentary “Honeyland” is a feat of narrative structure being captured in a non-narrative motion picture. For that reason alone it is worth seeing. But perhaps the true miracle of the movie is its ability to provide lessons that truly any audience member can learn from, an impressively universal achievement for such a specific story. That might seem unlikely coming from a documentary about a Macedonian beekeeper (who, according to the film, is the last female beekeeper in Europe), but once you see it, it’s impossible to not take away something of value. The film picked up three awards at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and is currently in a very limited release, but I would encourage anyone reading this to seek this extraordinary film out whenever it becomes available for home viewing. In honor of the film, I thought it would be enlightening to do a profile exploring some of the topics and lessons the film subtly imparts. So take a seat students, and let’s take a visit to Honeyland! Minor spoilers are ahead, but even knowing the plot beats of the film it is worth seeing for the joy of its structure and narrative pay-offs.

By Hannah Lorence 

With a combined runtime of nearly 210 hours, watching every single movie on the American Film Institute’s Top 100 list is a commitment. Each film on the list has its own merit in the cultural context in which it was created and contributes in some meaningful way to the conversations that were happening at that time, but as I watched each film, I had to ask myself: “If this film were removed from the list, would it really matter in the grand scheme of cinema history?”  

We don’t need multiple retellings of the horrors of the Vietnam war. Between "Apocalypse Now," "Platoon," "Taxi Driver" and "The Deer Hunter," is it really necessary to drive the point home that the war was awful? Why not make room on the list for women filmmakers or directors of color? There are so many diverse artists who make up this country’s history and have important stories to tell.

Even though not all of the movies justify their existence on the list, many made a big impression on me. Some of them are indelibly ingrained in my memory. They are absolutely worth your time, so even if you don’t want to tackle the whole list you can at least seek out these titles. Even if you’ve seen every film on this list there’s never a bad time to revisit a timeless classic!

Here are 10 movies from the AFI Top 100 list you should definitely watch…

By Matt Neglia 

For this year's Oscar off-season, we are taking a look back on the 2015 film year which was right before Next Best Picture launched. We asked the NBP Film Community to vote on 5 films nominated for Best Picture and 5 films nominated for Oscars other than Best Picture from that year to be reviewed on the podcast, exclusively for our Patreon subscribers. We already reviewed "Brooklyn," "Sicario," "Ex Machina," "Room," "Spotlight," "Inside Out," "The Revenant," "The Hateful Eight," and now we are looking at a film which "almost" won Best Picture, Adam McKay's career redefining "The Big Short."

Tackling the financial crisis of 2008 with an all-star cast which includes Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt, coupled with scathing humor and wit, McKay's urgent and messy film has polarized, entertained and educated audience. There's a lot to talk about with this one and here to help me do it I have Nicole Ackman and Dan Bayer.

This is a preview of the podcast, the full version of which is only available to those who subscribe to us on Patreon. For the small price of $1 a month, you can receive this review along with other exclusive podcast content, so be sure to subscribe here.
​
Thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to the Next Best Picture Podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, GooglePlay, Tunein, PlayerFM, Acast & Castbox or you can listen down below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. ​

By Ryan C. Showers ​​​

Happy August, Next Best Picture readers. And it is a happy time because we have yet to enter phase one of award season this year. Before the festivals begin and the films that go on to become big dogs in the awards conversation are actually screened for critics and audiences, everything is speculation. We’re all speculating right now. While some find this process annoying, others find it invigorating. Anything can happen at this point. And despite however the individual facts and trends develop once we really get started, sometimes you can sense larger trends in the structure of the season based on the information available at this point. There’s one grim trend about which that we all deserve a forewarning.