By Ryan C. Showers ​

​“Widows,” if any movie, is a recipe for cultural, commercial, and critical success in 2018, it's this one. The amount of talent in the equation will take you aback.

Steve McQueen is in the director’s seat for the first time since his “12 Years A Slave” won Best Picture five years ago. Gillian Flynn wrote the screenplay. Flynn won nearly every critics association for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2014 for “Gone Girl.” This past summer, the second adaptation of her literary work, “Sharp Objects,” found high-yielding life on HBO. The list of producers’ filmographies ranges from other recent Best Picture winners and nominees such as “The King’s Speech,” “Lion,” and “The Revenant.” The film’s editor, Joe Walker, is has a distinguished reputation having cut together powerhouse genre films like “Blade Runner 2049,” “Arrival,” and “Sicario.” The Christopher Nolan-go-to composer, Hans Zimmer, supplied the film’s musical score, following popular work in “Inception,” “Dunkirk,” “Interstellar” and “Gladiator.” And of course, the cast ensemble is made up of some of the most respected and well-known actors of the decade: Viola Davis, Liam Neeson, Elizabeth Debicki, Robert Duvall, Colin Farrell, Carrie Coon, Jacki Weaver, Daniel Kaluuya, Cynthia Erivo, and Brian Tyree Henry.

A lot will depend on how well it performs at the box office this weekend and in the weeks to come. Regardless though, one thing is for sure: "Widows" IS a movie worthy of Oscar consideration. Now, all that's left is to see how many nominations it can actually get.

By Matt Neglia 

For this month's Patreon throwback review on the Next Best Picture Podcast, I am joined by Michael Schwartz, Dan Bayer & Patreon guest Kristin Janssen. Together, the four of us review the film which the NBP Community voted on for this month's throwback review to help get us ready for "The Favourite" and that is 2011's hirlarious film "Bridesmaids." Starring Kristen Wiig (And written by her with Annie Mumolo), Melissa McCarthy (In her Oscar nominated breakout role), Rose Byrne, Maya Rudolph, Ellie Kemper, Chris O'Dowd & Jon Hamm, this female led comedy was one of the biggest hits of 2011 and went on to receive two Oscar nominations.

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.
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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 Matt Neglia 

Over the last decade, Joe Walker has emerged as one of the most exciting editors in Hollywood. Collaborating closely with directors Denis Villeneuve ("Sicario," "Arrival" & "Blade Runner 2049") and Steve McQueen ("Hunger," Shame" & "12 Years A Slave"), Walker has amassed three Academy Award nominations and now his latest work with Steve McQueen ("Widows") is opening this weekend to great critical acclaim and even more Oscar buzz attached to it. Joe Walker was kind enough to sit down with us here at Next Best Picture and discuss his work on Steven McQueen's latest, talking about his relationship with the director, the evolution of their work together from small independent features to big budget studio action films 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 Tom O'Brien 

For me, at least, there's always been something special about the Oscar category of Best Original Screenplay. Don't get me wrong -- I bow to no person in my admiration for writers of adapted screenplays. The ability to take a story that has proven successful in one medium and try to make it equally successful in the demanding world of film is a skill that would provide a challenge for any screenwriter.

But there's a very different challenge facing the writer of an original screenplay: the blinking cursor. Sitting down at the computer, a writer types the two words "FADE IN:" and then is faced with 120 pages of blank screen that he or she has to fill with something that can only come from their own imagination. Full disclosure:  in my past sordid life, I was a produced TV writer, and believe me, there's nothing as terrifying than facing that blank screen. Or as exciting.

And the Oscars always seem to get it right (at least as far as the nominees go). In just the last five years alone, the Writers Branch has nominated such great films in this category as "The Lobster," "Straight Outta Compton," "Inside Out,"  "Ex Machina," and "Nightcrawler," in some cases providing these worthy films with their sole nomination.

By Matt Neglia 

As Oscar season continues, we come to our additional podcast review this week for the "Honorary Award" show. It is the adaptation of Democratic Presidential nominee Gary Hart's story titled "The Front Runner" starring Hugh Jackman, J.K. Simmons, Vera Farmiga and more. It was the second film released this year by writer/director Jason Reitman after "Tully." How does it compare? How does "The Front Runner" hold up in today's political climate? And what is its Oscar potential? Joining me for this review is Beatrice Loayza, Nicole Ackman and our guest for this week is Jorge Birnam from Splash Report.

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 

Without a doubt, "A Star Is Born" is the film to beat this Oscar season. While the potential for backlash looms on the horizon, it's hard to deny that it has the potential to be the major driving force of this entire awards season. Best Picture seems like a very strong inevitability, Best Director is entirely possible, and at least one acting award is almost assured. But could it do even better? Does "A Star Is Born" have the power to be the first film in 42 years to win not one, not two, but three acting Oscars?

By Matt Neglia 

For Episode 116, myself, Ryan C. Showers, Josh Parham, Cody Dericks & Celia Schlekewey​ discuss "On The Basis Of Sex" opening the AFI Film Festival, the Animated, Documentary and Foreign Language Film races, the polls, other bits of news from the week, answer your fan questions and more!
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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. 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 

Last night were the 3rd annual Critics' Choice Documentary Awards. "Won’t You Be My Neighbor?" won the top prize with past winners including "OJ: Made In America" (2016) and "Jane" (2017).

​Click below to see the full list of winners.

By Matt Neglia 

For this week's review on the Next Best Picture Podcast, I am joined by Josh Parham and Josh Williams and together we take a break from the traditional Oscar fare and take a dive into the B-movie world with the J.J. Abrams produced, World War II/Zombie genre mashup "Overlord," starring Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell and Pilou Asbæk.

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 31st European Film Awards were announced today with Paweł Pawlikowski's film "Cold War" leading in nominations. The winners will be announced on December 15th.

Click below to see the nominations.

By Matt Neglia 

For this month's Patreon review on the Next Best Picture Podcast, I am joined by Kt Schaefer and Josh Parham. Together, the three of us review the film which the NBP Community voted on for this month's Last Best Picture review: 1984's "Amadeus." The Best Picture winner is often regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, winning 8 Academy Awards in 1984 including the before mentioned Best Picture, Best Director (The second for the late great Miloš Forman), Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay and four others.

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 Tom O'Brien 

​God, I love the Writer's Branch of the Academy. In years where almost every other Academy branch seemed to rubber stamp the anointed front-runners, the writers have always gone their own way in their selections for the year's Best Adapted Screenplay.  In just the last 10 years alone, the Writers Branch has nominated such great films in this category as "Logan," "Carol," "Inherent Vice," "Before Midnight," "Toy Story 3" and "In the Loop," in some cases providing these films with their sole nomination.

Based on the track records of the kind of films that writers tend to nominate in this category, I've collected 10 of the most likely candidates for the five nomination slots as the year's Best Adapted Screenplay. As always, there are front-runners included, as well as a few possibilities where the branch might choose to go its own way. The source materials for these ten vary greatly, from memoirs to novels, from biographies to magazine articles, and even a British television series.

By Matt Neglia 

Our additional podcast review this week (Or as we're now calling it this awards season, the "Honorary Award" show) is the adaptation of Garrad Conley's memoir by Joel Edgerton (Who writes, directs and stars in the film) titled "Boy Erased," starring Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe and Joel Edgerton. Joining me for this review is Nicole Ackman, Tom O'Brien and our guest this week is Ashley Menzel from We Live Entertainment.

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’s been over a year since the #MeToo movement began. For people who have followed award season for a decent amount of time, it was especially eerie for many of us to see actions of the puppet master of winning awards, Harvey Weinstein, front and center during the beginning of this movement. Everyone was appalled this time last year. Most were shocked. I was not especially surprised by these allegations, but rather I was shaken. My most cynical beliefs had materialized and an indignant anger struck me to my core. As a part-women’s studies major in college, I’m cognizant of the systematic sexism and misogyny that boxes women into cages and how specific industries operate under patriarchal rule. The extent to which Weinstein’s abuse of power reached is unnerving, but for people who had been paying attention to the way the circus is run shouldn’t have been surprised to see how the ringmaster despicably operated behind closed doors.

By Matt Neglia 

For Episode 115, myself, Will Mavity, Michael Schwartz, Kt Schaefer, Josh Parham & Jacey Aldredge discuss Netflix's big move to release some of their films theatrically before their Netflix launch, the Best Director race, the beginning of Phase 2 (The Critics Awards) the polls, answer fan 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 Josh Parham and Tom O'Brien. Together, the three of us review "Bohemian Rhapsody" starring Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, the frontman for the legendary rock band Queen.
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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. 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’s 2018. The prominence of women in the film industry and rewarding their representation has been made paramount in ways it was not in the past. Before the 2016 presidential election and the opening of the #MeToo floodgates, female representation, filmmakers, and feminist-centric films weren’t handled with the greatest respect by most people within the industry or who are in positions to hand out awards. But because of outside factors, gender equality has finally taken a step in the right direction, unlike in the past where, if there was an unfair underrepresentation of female projects, it was shrugged off. “American Sniper” coming up from behind and stealing nominations from “Gone Girl” and “Wild” at the Oscars in 2014 is the quintessential gender discrimination in film awards circles in my view. When people like me brought up systematic sexism in instances such as that, I was told "You are reading too much into it," and "Maybe those films aren’t as good or deserving as the male-oriented ones." We’re finally at a point where dismissive comments like that are not accepted as right or the norm.

By Matt Neglia & Will Mavity 

Goodbye October and hello November!

Phase 1 (The fall film festivals) is over and we have officially begun Phase 2 of the awards season...the critics and industry awards. This long roller coaster of a phase will run until the Oscar Nominations are announced on January 22 at which point we will officially enter the final phase of the awards season known as Phase 3. We will be tirelessly working to provide you updates on the precursors all season long so be sure to take note of which important dates are coming and follow us on all of the social media platforms for the latest.

The films have (mostly) been seen. The FYC page is up and running. And now comes the sprint.

Click below to see which important awards season dates need to be added to your calendar this November.