By Matt Neglia 

For Episode 159, Michael Schwartz, Casey Lee Clark, Josh Parham, Tom O'Brien & myself discuss the second half of TIFF (hours before the audience award winner was announced to be "Jojo Rabbit," so forgive the poor predicting on our part there). We also announce the winners of the 2015 NBP Film Community Awards, discuss the trailers for "Radioactive," "Midway," the end of MoviePass, the polls, answer your 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 main podcast review, Kt Schaefer, Josh Parham, Dan Bayer, Daniel Howat and myself look at the film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel "The Goldfinch," directed by "Brooklyn" filmmaker John Crowley and shot by Academy Award winner (it feels so great to say that) Roger Deakins. With that level of prestige and a cast that features Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman, Jeffrey Wright and a few others, this has to have Oscar buzz right? Not so fast. Find out our full thoughts in this week's review.

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 Will Mavity

Almost every Oscar season, we can count on at least a few films that offer pundits near-endless opportunities for haggling over whether or no a film constitutes an “Original Screenplay” or an “Adapted Screenplay” as defined by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

AMPAS offers a loose definition of what constitutes an adapted screenplay. And it is a definition that often differs with the definitions of other writing awards, such as the WGA, the USC Scripter, and BAFTA. Years ago, the Best Original Screenplay category was named “ Best Story and Screenplay - Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced,” which would of course by extension mean that Adapted nominees were based on material that was in fact previously published or produced. Additionally, it left the door open for Screenwriters to argue (like "Spotlight") that though the film was based on extensive research into real-life facts, it was technically still an “Original Screenplay.” The specific title for Best Adapted Screenplay was previously “Based on Material from Another Medium.”

By Matt Neglia 

For this month's first Patreon Throwback review on the Next Best Picture Podcast, I am joined by Nicole Ackman, Dan Bayer, and Patreon contributor Ian Bulaclac. Together, the four of us travel back to 2015 one more time as a lead-in to "Ad Astra" to talk about another space movie starring a mjor Hollywood movie star "The Martian." Considered to be one of legendary director Ridley Scott's best films, with a charismatic performance from Matt Damon and a wonderfully entertaining script by Drew Goddard, this epic space movie captivated audiences in 2015, but does it still hold up now? Tune in to find out what we all think.
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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 Daniel Howat ​

With potential contenders “Jojo Rabbit” and “The Laundromat” getting decidedly mixed reviews out of Telluride and TIFF, are their Oscar hopes dead and buried? It may not be so simple. Reviews may be a strong indication of how well a film will last in awards season, while many films have overcome a tepid reception to score some Oscar attention. Let’s take a look at the recent history of mixed reviews at the Academy Awards.

By Matt Neglia 
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The 71st Primetime Emmy Awards will be held later this month on September 22nd with the Creative Arts Emmy Awards being handed out shortly before that on the 14th. Michael Schwartz, Tom O'Brien and myself felt it was appropriate to get our predictions in now before everything began. Will "Game Of Thrones" get a rich send-off after its record-setting 32 nominations for the final and divisive season? Or will there be a surprise? It's the Emmys, so surprises are part of the norm. Click below to hear our final predictions.

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 Dan Bayer 

My last day at the festival! I cannot believe it’s here. I am up early but am feeling good. Today is full of big movies, and it begins with two of the biggest: Taika Waititi’s "Jojo Rabbit" and Rian Johnson’s "Knives Out," back to back. I am nervous that I will not make it to "Knives Out," which screens second, as I have heard a lot of people stare their intention to go, but thankfully both films are being shown in two theaters at the same time, so hopefully, there won’t be an issue.

By Dan Bayer 

I’m definitely feeling the burn of the non-stop schedule of the past three days. I’ve seen so many movies that my head is starting to spin, and I’m worried that I don’t have an original thought left in my head to write any more reviews. I’m feeling a bit weighed down by it all, which makes me even more ready for my first screening, Marielle Heller’s “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” The reviews last night were ecstatic, so I get to the theater an hour early, coffee in hand. I’m not the only one, but they haven’t even started the line yet since they haven’t yet let in the big line of people here to see “Judy.” I’m glad that I will be more towards the front of the line and feel validated as twenty minutes later, with our line full, they let us into the theater. I feel a little less glad when a woman sits down next to me in the middle of a row and brings out her emotional support dog. I’m allergic and don’t want to spend half the movie sneezing. But she’s so sweet, and the dog is so well-behaved, that I can’t bring myself to say anything.

By Matt Neglia 

For Episode 158, Michael Schwartz, Casey Lee Clark, Josh Parham, Lauren LaMagna & myself are back! Three years and we never missed a podcast weekend until last week due to my time at the Telluride Film Festival. But now, we are here to give you two week's worth of content in one episode including a recap of Telluride, Venice (including the surprising Golden Lion winner), and part of TIFF (with a phone call from Dan Bayer who is currently at the festival). We also go over the trailers for "The Aeronauts," "Waves," "The Two Popes," "The Laundromat," "The King" and "Just Mercy" along with the polls, your fan submitted questions and more! We are so happy to be back and we hope you appreciate this jam packed episode of awards season content.

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 ​​

​Day three of this damn festival is over and I never thought I’d say this, but if I never see another film as long as I live, I might be okay with that. The sheer glut of movie-watching is definitely taking its toll, but this is also my busiest day of the fest. If I survived this, I can survive anything...hopefully.

By Matt Neglia 

The 76th Venice Film Festival has ended with its annual prizes handed out by the jury for the best of the festival. There were some very bizarre choices made this year which took the internet by storm, officially kicking off the 2019 awards season with quite a bang.

​Click below to see a partial list of the winners.

By Matt Neglia 

For this week's main podcast review, Kt Schaefer, Lauren LaMagna & Cody Dericks, and myself travel back to the Stephen King town of Derry and confront our fears and trauma in the second part to the terrifying story of "It," titled "It Chapter Two." Starring an all-star cast which includes Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader & Bill Skarsgård, along with the kid cast from the first film, this nearly three hour horror film has a lot to offer both good and bad. What did we 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 ​

​Over the past couple of weeks, my Inbox has been flooded with emails - press releases, inquiries about interviews, festival info, even a few party invites! There have been so many that I have barely had time to read them all! It’s been frustrating because it made me more aware of even more films that sound interesting that I simply won’t have time for during my five days at TIFF. Arriving Wednesday afternoon at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, a massive theater complex that includes a restaurant and a gift shop in addition to five screens, is like I’m entering Film Fantasyland, but it’s after I pick up my press pass and head to the Press & Industry Box Office at the hotel down the block that I feel like I’ve truly entered a different world. The Industry Centre is like my TIFF Inbox folder come to life, covered almost wall to wall in posters for films trying to get distribution, industry magazines out for anyone to take, food and drink… and lots of people milling about and chatting.

By Dan Bayer ​

​Over the past couple of weeks, my Inbox has been flooded with emails - press releases, inquiries about interviews, festival info, even a few party invites! There have been so many that I have barely had time to read them all! It’s been frustrating because it made me more aware of even more films that sound interesting that I simply won’t have time for during my five days at TIFF. Arriving Wednesday afternoon at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, a massive theater complex that includes a restaurant and a gift shop in addition to five screens, is like I’m entering Film Fantasyland, but it’s after I pick up my press pass and head to the Press & Industry Box Office at the hotel down the block that I feel like I’ve truly entered a different world. The Industry Centre is like my TIFF Inbox folder come to life, covered almost wall to wall in posters for films trying to get distribution, industry magazines out for anyone to take, food and drink… and lots of people milling about and chatting.

By Josh Parham 

Every lover of film has a particular entry point that kickstarted their passion for the art form. The gestures can be grand or small, but there is always some kind of origin point that can be traced back. For myself, old school horror and science-fiction films were a big part of my early cinema education. These classic films were a favorite of my parents, and as a child with a burgeoning interest in the world of movies, it became a regular bonding experience to connect with them. There are so many that I could not possibly name everyone that has meant so much to me, but there is one particular film that is celebrating its sixtieth anniversary, and I felt compelled to discuss a film that’s meant so much to me.

By Will Mavity 

After a good deal of anticipation (and controversy), Joaquin Phoenix’s standalone “Joker” film has premiered to primarily strong reviews. And for the most part, even reviews that do not praise the film itself praise Phoenix’s performance. There is a long way to go until Oscar Nomination morning, so it remains up in the air as to whether or not Phoenix will snag an Oscar nomination. Historically, the Academy has been cold towards superhero films in above the line categories ("Black Panther" notwithstanding). As such, there is an idea that awards season as a whole is unfriendly to superhero movie performances. What is interesting though, is that even if Phoenix does not make it all the way to the Oscars, history has shown that other awards season groups (especially regional critics groups) are much more friendly to superhero movie performances than AMPAS.  

Admittedly, superhero performances typically are relegated to obligatory mentions in the “best action movie performance” category at the critics choice awards (Robert Downey Jr. has like 5 of those). And of course, organizations like the Saturn awards, which specialize in sci-fi and horror films are friendly to them. But what we care about here, in regard to Phoenix, are which performances have gone beyond those areas to nominations in major categories from groups that we in the Awards world typically consider to be part of “awards season.”

By Dan Bayer ​

I have never really been one for film festivals. I have come to be wary of how films can build big buzz in the heat of a festival only to fizzle out completely when they get released, sometimes a year or more after they premiered. As a film lover and Oscar watcher, it has been frustrating to watch the conversation about a film go through an entire lifecycle before it’s even available for most of the public to see, at which point the very critics who strongly praised or disparaged a film have already moved on from the conversation.

So of course when Matt asked me if I was interested in covering this year’s Toronto International Film Festival for Next Best Picture, I said yes without hesitation.

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.