​By Josh Williams 

Ah, October. One of the most wonderful times of the year. The weather starts to cool down before getting too cold, there are countless Halloween decorations that are awesome to look at, but another thing that makes the spooky season one of the best times of the year is the opportunity to celebrate and worship horror films. The feeling that Halloween gives off makes for a perfect time for us as film fans to appreciate all of the great horror films that have been made. Obviously, any time of the year is a great time to preach your love for the horror genre but the month of October definitely amplifies that. 

So we here at Next Best Picture thought that it would be fun to poll together our favorite horror films for you all to see. Runners up included "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "The Blair Witch Project," "The Sixth Sense" and "28 Days Later." Without any further delay, here are Next Best Picture's Top 15 Horror Films of all time!

By Matt Neglia 

Happy Halloween dear listeners!

As a surprise for you all, we recorded a review of John Carpenter's 1978 classic horror film "Halloween" for you all to enjoy. In this special throwback podcast review, I am joined by Kt Schaefer, Danilo Castro and Cody Dericks.

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 

The nominations for the 2018 British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) have been announced and Yorgos Lanthimos' film "The Favourite" leads with 13 nominations. The awards will be handed out to the winners on December 2nd 2018.

Click below to see the nominees.

By Matt Neglia 

For this month's Patreon review on the Next Best Picture Podcast, I am joined by Michael Schwartz, Dan Bayer and Patreon subscriber Andrew Puhr. Together, the four of us do something we have never done on the podcast before and that is give you a joint review of multiple films for both our Last Best Picture and Throwback Review, voted on by you, the dear listeners of our show. With the success of Bradley Cooper's 2018 version "A Star Is Born," we are taking a look back at the 1937, 1954 and 1976 versions that came before it.

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 episode along with other exclusive podcast content, so be sure to subscribe here.
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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 Edward Douglas 

For many years, Australian actor Joel Edgerton has been solidifying his reputation as an actor - appearing in films like “Warrior,” Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby” and “Zero Dark Thirty.” At the same time, he’s been quietly establishing himself behind the camera, first as a writer (working with brother Nash Edgerton), then as a director with 2015’s thriller “The Gift.”

Edgerton’s second film as a director, “Boy Erased,” is a very different beast, an adaptation of Garrard Conley’s memoir of the same name that recounts his time being put through religious conversion therapy to quell his homosexual desires. 

In Edgerton’s film, the renamed Jared is played by Oscar-nominated actor Lucas Hedges (“Manchester By The Sea”) who finds himself being put into conversion therapy under the tutelage of the charismatic Victor Sykes (played by Edgerton himself) and how that ends up doing more damage than good. 

To raise the caliber and pedigree of his film even further, Edgerton cast fellow Australians Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe as Jared’s religious parents - his father being a preacher who feels conversion therapy is the only solution. Not only that, but he also got fellow filmmaker Xavier Dolan to play a role. The results are astounding - a powerful and emotional drama that shows off that Hedges’ Oscar nomination was no fluke, and who knows? Maybe he and Kidman will be back in the Oscar race again this year for their performances. (Even having not read Conley’s book, I was equally impressed with Edgerton’s adaptation.) It’s an important film that should be seen by anyone that is part of or supports the LGBTQ+ community.

NextBestPicture.com had a chance to speak with Edgerton recently, and ironically, we spoke to him the day after the current government administration announced that they would be trying to cut back transgenders’ rights to deciding their own gender. The movie ends up being an ominous reminder that the current government could see conversion therapy as a way to further deny LGBTQ+ rights, something Edgerton realized as well.

By Matt Neglia 

​One more month left in 2018. Another round of Best Picture nominees and winners to choose from for our Last Best Picture Patreon Podcast Review. We're thinking we may change things up in 2019 but for now we appreciate you all making this one of the more fun additions to the Next Best Picture Community.

We have selected five movies tied to five new theatrical releases in December 2018. Those movies are "Destroyer," "Mary Poppins Returns," "Mary Queen Of Scots," "The Mule" & "Vice."

A huge thank you to our Patreon subscribers for keeping this series alive. Head on over to the polls page to vote and click below to see the new list of films for this month's poll.

By Michael Schwartz 

Due to the overwhelming positive response our episodes for "Avenue Q" and "Ragtime" garnered from our dear listeners, we are now going to be putting out more content from Next Best Theatre and making that content an exclusive to our Patreon Subscribers. The first episode with this new model is our review, discussion and celebration of "Wicked" which is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. We also discuss the possibility of a Hollywood adaptation for the big screen and much more. Joining me for this episode is Dan Bayer, Cody Derricks and Ryan C. Showers.

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 Matt Neglia 

For Episode 114, myself, Will Mavity, Ryan C. Showers, Josh Parham, Nicole Ackman & Cody Derricks go over the films we've caught up on and the Oscar race as October comes to an end, we go over the polls, answer fan questions and discuss the trailers for "Bird Box" and "Vox Lux."

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 review on the Next Best Picture Podcast, I am joined by two guests, Candice Frederick & Erik Anderson from Awards Watch. Together, the three of us do our best to disect, discuss and decipher Luca Guadagnino's remake of "Suspiria" also titled "Suspiria" and we quickly find out that this new version is very much Luca's own vision with its own distinctive qualities and themes.
​
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 Ryan C. Showers ​

It is quite common for an actor or two per year to waltz through award season as the uncontested victor, winning all the major televised awards, the Golden Globe, Critics Choice, SAG, BAFTA, and ultimately, Academy Award. Undeniable and overwhelming performances like Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight,” Anne Hathaway in “Les Miserables,” and Cate Blanchett in “Blue Jasmine” are good examples. Last year, Gary Oldman, Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, and Allison Janney won their respective acting category at all five major award shows. This was the first time in history there was no divergence and all four categories had the same winners among the five shows. It’s odd because each of the award shows has a different voting bloc with their own preferences, patterns of voting, and ideological views, therefore some variety makes more sense than categorical uniformity.

​By Josh Parham 

I have always made it an effort to attend the Chicago International Film Festival. As someone who rarely takes vacations, blocking the roughly two weeks off in October to frequent the city’s annual event has been an utter delight ever since I started attending six years ago. However, this is the first opportunity I’ve had to attend with press accreditation, and I have to thank Next Best Picture for allowing me this opportunity. While there, I managed to take in quite a good number of films to get ready for the upcoming Oscar season.

By Matt Neglia 

​The Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences has revealed the list of the films contending for a nomination in the Best Animated Feature category at this year's Oscars. 25 films in total have been submitted and some could still be disqualified before the official nominations are announced if they don't screen in time. But of these 25, five of them will be nominated this year for Best Animated Feature Film.

​Click below to see the list of films.

By Will Mavity 

In the midst of all of the usual complaints about “why is so and so campaigning in Supporting? That’s a lead performance! Supporting should be reserved for actual Supporting Actors,” there has been a curious trend of arguing “so and so shouldn’t be in the Oscar conversation because they don’t have enough screen time!”

Three actors who have received such criticism include Sam Elliott in “A Star Is Born,” Daniel Kaluuya in “Widows” and Brian Tyree Henry in “If Beale Street Could Talk.” All reportedly have fewer than 15 minutes of screen time, yet all make an impression. Additionally, according to reports from early screenings, Sam Rockwell only has between 10 and 15 minutes in “Vice.” This criticism is odd for two reasons…A) a good performance is a good performance no matter how long. Just because you don’t have forty-five minutes of screen time doesn’t mean you don’t belong in the Oscar conversation and B) The Academy has a long history of nominating under 15 minute performances in the supporting races.

By Matt Neglia 

Our additional review this week on the podcast is the adaptation of the life and crimes of writer Lee Israel in Marielle Heller's "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" starring Melissca McCarthy and Richard E. Grant. Joining me for this review is Tom O'Brien and our guest this week is Nathaniel Rogers from The Film Experience.

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 Michael Schwartz 

The last time we got together to talk about the 20th Anniversary of "Ragtime" we talked for over an hour about Act I of the famous musical. Now, we have the Next Best Theater team back together to finish what we started by delivering our thoughts on Act II. Beatrice Loayza sadly couldn't make it this time, but joining me are Dan Bayer, Nicole Ackman & Cody Derricks.

Thank you. You can subscribe to our show 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 support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month and you'll receive some exclusive podcast content.

By Ryan C. Showers 

Welcome to October, where for the next three months, there is going to be endless discussion of acting predictions and which actors are “in” and “out” and for what reasons. Pundits sometimes use the proximity of a performer’s film to Best Picture as a justification for predicting them in Best Actor and Best Actress. The logic is, having a Best Picture-contending film yields more advantageous results for lead actors and actresses from those films to be nominated independently for their work. For instance, one may have been more likely to predict Sally Hawkins to be nominated for “The Shape Of Water” at this time last year since that was a Best Picture frontrunner, rather than predicting Jessica Chastain for "Molly's Game" which was not getting as much Best Picture buzz. It is a stat that is used as a tool for constructing an argument.

By Matt Neglia 

For Episode 113, Ryan McQuade from InSession Film comes on the show for the first time as a guest to discuss the current state of the tech races at the Oscars, the 2018 IFP Gotham Award Nominations, Tilda Swinton's best performances (Which is this week's poll to get us ready for her transformative roles in "Suspiria"), the trailer for the Nicole Kidman led film "Destroyer" and more with myself, Ryan C. Showers, Kt Schaefer & Tom O'Brien.

Thank you. You can subscribe 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 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 review on the Next Best Picture Podcast, we are taking a look at David Gordon Green's 2018 sequel to John Carpenter's 1978 original "Halloween" film aptly titled "Halloween." Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle reprise their roles from the original film and are joined by Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton and more with Carpenter returning to score the film. But what are the final results? Myself, Ryan C. Showers, Kt Schaefer and Celia Schlekewey discuss all of this and more on this week's review.

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 Will Mavity 

Russell Hornsby is an actor who has had a short but impactful career so far recently making waves for his performance in 2016's "Fences" and now with his latest appearance in "The Hate U Give," Hornsby has provided us with some of his best work to date. With talk of a possible Oscar nomination for the 44 year-old-actor, we were very appreciative to receive the opportunity to talk with Russell about his experiences on the film. "The Hate U Give" is currently playing in theaters and we'll next see Hornsby on the big screen in "Creed II" later this year.

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 

The 28th Gotham Independent Film Awards have announced their full list of nominations for 2018 officially kicking off the 2018 awards season. The awards will be handed out in New York City on November 26th 2018.

​Click below to see the full list of nominations.