By Matt Neglia 
​
Yorgos Lanthimos' film "The Favourite" is easily one of the most technically splendid films of 2018 with an abundance of riches from all departments. In this special behind the scenes look, myself and Kt Schaefer interview the sound designer (Johnnie Burn) and film editor (Yorgos Mavropsaridis) behind Lanthimos' latest on the Next Best Picture Podcast to give you a peek behind some of the post-production work. 

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 

​The 2018 awards season had its first three stops this week: the Gotham Awards (Monday night), the National Board Of Review (Tuesday) and the New York Film Critics Circle (Thursday). "Eighth Grade," "Roma," "Green Book" and "If Beale Street Could Talk" were among the winners, but one could argue no film had a better week than A24's "First Reformed." The psychological drama from industry veteran Paul Schrader won Best Screenplay prizes from all three groups and Ethan Hawke won Best Actor from the Gotham Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle. Schrader's victory in the screenplay categories was the only sweep of the week, and having worked for decades in the industry without ever receiving a single Oscar nomination - that's right, neither of his screenplays for "Taxi Driver" or "Raging Bull" was nominated at the Oscars - one has to wonder if his time for Oscar glory has finally come. These results indicate Schrader could be positioned for a win, not just a nomination.

By Matt Neglia

​The 2018 Detroit Film Critics Society Awards Nominations have been announced. The winners will be announced on Monday December 3rd 2018.

Click below to take a look at the film nominations.

By Matt Neglia 

The New York Film Critics Circle have unveiled their winners for the best in film for 2018.

Click below to see the full list of winners.

By Matt Neglia 

Yorgos Lanthimos' latest film "The Favourite" has been lighting up the festival circuit with its trio of winning performances from Emma Stone, Olivia Colman and Rachel Weisz, its technical aspects and more. It stands to reason that this will be the director's first full-blown Oscar film. But what did the Next Best Picture team think about it? Please take a listen as myself Josh Parham, Nicole Ackman & Dan Bayer give 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 Matt Neglia

​The nominations for the 23rd annual Satellite Awards have been announced by the International Press Academy (IPA).

​Click below to see the full list of film nominations.

By Matt Neglia 

​The lineup for the 2019 Sundance Film Festival has been officially announced. Myself, Will Mavity and DeAnn Knighton will be attending this year's festival as press after attending last year for the first time ever where we saw films such as "Eighth Grade," "Hereditary," Won't You Be My Neighbor?" and more!

According to the press release...

For the 2019 Festival, 112 feature-length films have been selected, representing 33 countries and 45 first-time filmmakers. 53% of the directors in this year’s U.S. Dramatic Competition are women; 41% are people of color; 18% identify as LGBTQIA+. 44% of the directors in this year’s U.S. Documentary Competition are women; 22% are people of color; 5% identify as LGBTQIA+. Of the 61 directors in all four competition categories, comprising 56 films, 42% are women, 39% are people of color, and 23% identify as LGBTQIA. 24 films announced today were supported by Sundance Institute in development, whether through direct granting or residency Labs. 102 of the Festival’s feature films, or 91% of the lineup announced today, will be world premieres.
40%, or 45, of all films announced today were directed by one or more women; 36%, or 40, were directed by one or more filmmaker of color; 13% or 15 by one or more people who identify as LGBTQIA. 

These films were selected from a record high of 14,259 submissions including 4,018 feature-length films. Of the feature film submissions, 1,767 were from the U.S. and 2,251 were international; 31% were directed by one or more women; 38% were directed by one or more filmmaker of color; 11% by one or more people who identify as LGBTQIA.
​
In 2018, the Festival drew 124,900 attendees from 49 U.S. states and 26 other countries, generated $191.6 million in economic activity for the state of Utah and supported 3,323 local jobs. The 2020 Sundance Film Festival will take place January 23 - February 2, 2020. 
​
More lineup announcements, including Shorts, Indie Episodic and New Frontier, are forthcoming; watch sundance.org/festival for more.

​Click below to see this year's lineup.

By Matt Neglia 

Fresh off its win from the National Board Of Review (NBR) yesterday, our additional film podcast review this week is the crowd pleasing yet divisive Oscar contender "Green Book" starring Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali. Joining me this week for this review is Kt Schaefer and Tom O'Brien. What did we all think? Listen 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 Matt Neglia 
​
The National Board Of Review have announced their winners for 2018. The over 100 year old New York based voting body are the first major critics group out of the gate this awards season. The winners for their Best Picture prize from the last two years "Manchester By The Sea" and "The Post" both went on to receive Best Picture nominations. What won this year? 

Click below to see which films they rewarded.

By Matt Neglia 

"The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs" represents the Coen Brothers first foray into the world of Netflix. One of the unsung elements of their latest western are the seamless visual effects overseen by Alex Lemke and Michael Huber. The duo were kind enough to sit down with us to talk about their work on the Coens' six stories and the visual effects contained within each one.

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 

The 28th Gotham Independent Film Awards have announced their full list of winners representing the best in independent film for 2018.

​Click below to see the full list of winners.

​By Nicole Ackman 

British queens have often served as subject material for films and television. Women from Katharine Hepburn to Helen Mirren have portrayed English and Scottish queens over the past decades. This winter season, two films about British queens are being released: “The Favourite” and “Mary Queen Of Scots."

While “Mary Queen Of Scots” follows the story of Mary Stuart (played by Saoirse Ronan) and her cousin Elizabeth I (Margot Robbie), “The Favourite” examines a lesser-known monarch, Queen Anne (Olivia Colman). With three fantastic actresses taking on these powerful women, it feels like a good time to look back on ten of the best portrayals of British female monarchs on film and in television. 

By Matt Neglia 

For Episode 118, myself, Michael Schwartz, Dan Bayer & Tom O'Brien give our predictions for the winners of the Gotham Awards, the National Board Of Review (NBR) and the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC), the polls, the trailer for "The Lion King," answer your questions and more!
​
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 Danilo Castro and together, we review the second installment in the new "Creed" franchise titled "Creed II" starring Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson and Sylvester Stallone. With Ryan Coogler not at the helm anymore as director, how does the second film stack up to the first? How are the tie-ins with Rocky II and IV? We discuss all of this and more on the review so please give a listen 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 Cody Dericks 

Thanksgiving is famously an underrepresented holiday as far as corresponding movies go. And the few movies that do exist that take place around this time of year revolve around either alcoholism ("Krisha"), depression ("The Ice Storm"), cancer ("Pieces Of April"), or romantic entanglements ("Hannah And Her Sisters"). Not exactly festive watches, especially with the family. So, I've compiled a small list of Thanksgiving movies that won't depress you or stress you out. Not all of them explicitly take place around Thanksgiving, but they're all good bets to please everybody at the dinner table, I promise!

By Ryan C. Showers ​

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article describing how the Best Supporting Actress race would take a different shape at each of the televised award shows, meaning each would have a unique combination of the usual suspect contenders based on the voting blocs and patterns of the awards institutions. There are only six, maybe seven, strong contenders for Best Supporting Actress, so it was easy to shuffle that group around and imagine which of them would be splintered off at which award show. Even now, the analysis in that article feels dated, seeing as “First Man” and Claire Foy’s buzz has lessened, while Nicole Kidman in “Boy Erased” and Amy Adams in “Vice,” have all emerged with a stronger sense of survival in the awards race.
 
While Best Supporting Actress has gotten simpler in the past month, Best Actress is quite the opposite, due to the abundant volume of contenders. Below is a list of all the actresses in serious competition for one of the five slots at the Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTA, SAG, and six slots at the Critics Choice awards. These performances aren’t just possibilities to fill categories; they are fierce competitors, many of which are cited as the best work of the respective actress’s career. They display overt and tangible acting styles, have rich and culturally important characters, and are being rigorously campaigned by the studios and actresses in Hollywood, at festivals, and beyond. Even in years like the last two, there were really only six or seven women seen legitimate enough to be taken seriously in this category. The portrayals given by actresses in leading roles this year will make for a tumultuous, bloodbath of a category.​

By Matt Neglia 

We have one more podcast review for you this week before the Thanksgiving Holiday kicks in and it is the latest film from the Coen Brothers titled "The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs." Myself, Beatrice Loayza, Cody Dericks & the returning DeAnn Knighton review each of the six stories contained within the Coen's latest western. It is streaming now on Netflix, so please watch it and come back and listen to what we thought.

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

​The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced today its 2019 Documentary Motion Pictures nominees that will advance in the final voting process for the 30th Annual Producers Guild Awards presented by General Motors. The remaining nominees for other categories at the Producers Guild will be announced on January 4, 2019. The ceremony itself for the 2019 Producers Guild Awards will take place on January 19, 2019 at The Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles where the final winners will be announced.

​Click below to see the nominees.

By Matt Neglia 

This week's additional film podcast review is the latest film from director Steve McQueen ("12 Years A Slave") and writer Gillian Flynn ("Gone Girl") titled "Widows." The heist thriller stars a large ensemble cast led by Viola Davis and for this review we have a large group here to discuss the film, its themes, characters and more including Celia Schlekewey​, Jacey Aldredge, Josh Williams and our guest for this week, Jazz Tangcay from Awards Daily. What did we all think? Listen 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 

​Imagine being at the 54th annual Academy Awards. It is the year of "Reds," "On Golden Pond," "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and the eventual Best Picture winner, "Chariots of Fire." But as exciting as the prospect of Henry Fonda winning his first Oscar might be, there’s something else that is perhaps even more exciting: A new category. For the first time ever, there will be an Oscar category for Best Makeup. It makes sense, as makeup is an essential element of any film. But prior to this year, makeup artists had only been honored with two “Special Achievement Oscars”, back in 1964 and 1968. But after an uproar that the fantastic makeup effects of "The Elephant Man" had gone unhonored in 1980, AMPAS in their infinite wisdom decided to create this new category.