By Amanda Spears 

With Golden Globe voting currently underway, it is time for me to reveal my predictions for the upcoming Golden Globe nominations, which will be announced on February 3rd (You can listen to my television predictions in full on our latest episode of the Next Best Series Podcast here). This year, the story is all about Netflix, Netflix and Netflix. After the industry's COVID shutdown, it wouldn't be surprising to find the streamer dominating on both the film and television fronts. But the Golden Globes love to spread the wealth around, which could lead to some interesting snubs and surprises. ​

By Charlie McGivern 

Due to the on-going Coronavirus pandemic, cinemas have been forced to close for the past year. Many are still closed or have had to shut permanently. Most people thought that with cinemas shut down for many months, that there would not be an Oscars ceremony this year. Yet, as per the tradition in Hollywood, the show must go on. 

By Zach Gilbert 

With half of the critics' groups' awards in our rearview mirror and only two weeks to go until the first televised ceremonies start announcing their nominations, we're set to soon witness a massive shift in this awards season, likely upending many pundits' predictions entirely. Thus far, for most of the race, there's been a consistent trend in what film is winning the most accolades. Without a doubt, "Nomadland" has crushed its competition, earning 15 Best Picture awards in total (including notices from both the National Society of Film Critics and the Gotham Awards). Chloé Zhao has also outright obliterated her respective rivals, acquiring 21 Best Director wins over the last two months. If we were to go off of this information alone, it would seem safe to call the race for "Nomadland" here and now and wrap things up early.

By Eve O'Dea 

On January 8th, 2021, the trailer for Sam Levinson's highly anticipated film "Malcolm & Marie" dropped. Filmed on black & white 35 mm during the summer of 2020 while adhering to strict COVID-19 protocols, the film was bought for $30 million by Netflix and is set for release on February 5th. Per Netflix, the plot is as follows: "As a filmmaker (John David Washington) and his girlfriend (Zendaya) return home from his movie premiere, smoldering tensions and painful revelations push them toward a romantic reckoning."

By Robert Dougherty ​

"Promising Young Woman" has already been established as a film unlike any other this year, let alone most so-called vigilante movies through the decades. But to find a true companion piece to this movie, one only needs to go back four years ago, when "Get Out" became the kind of genre-shattering, socially relevant and Oscar-crashing film "Promising Young Woman" is in the process of becoming.

By Michael Schwartz 

As we continue to approach the delayed Golden Globe ceremony honoring film and television of 2020, I have always found it helpful to preview who the presumptive nominees may be. The musical/comedy category offers a mix of Emmy darlings and new breakouts on the television side. Given previous trends with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, below are a handful of series worth keeping an eye on for nominations.

By Amy Smith 

​On the 10th of February 2020, history was made at the Academy Awards when "Parasite," a South Korean black comedy thriller, won the prestigious Best Picture award. It became the first non-English language film to win the award, changing the perspective of what a Best Picture winner could be. This was generally well-received, with many film fans praising the Academy for awarding what was one of the most beloved films of the year and awarding an international film the big prize for the first time ever. The question now, heading into a new decade of awards season, is what impact will "Parasite's" win make in the near future?

By Robert Dougherty 

​"Promising Young Woman" is a film that goes against its "revenge movie" advertising and formula, well before the soon to be famous or infamous finale. By then, the viewer has plenty of time to decide whether this is the kind of "revenge movie" they are willing to get behind and whether they mind by then that it isn't what the trailer, or the revenge genre in general, promised them they were in for.

By Amanda Spears ​

​By combining two things he's known for, politics and courtroom drama, Aaron Sorkin delivers "The Trial of the Chicago 7." With a predominantly male cast, they've strategically all decided to campaign for Best Supporting Actor. Should three actors for "The Trial of the Chicago 7" receive a nomination, it would only be the sixth time in Oscar history that this has ever happened.

By Tom O'Brien 

​The final chapter of what is arguably the strangest behind-the-scenes film story of the 21st century is likely to conclude this month as HBO Max brings for the first time to a wide audience the 186-minute director's cut of writer-director Kenneth Lonergan's ("Manchester By The Sea") masterwork, "Margaret."

By Daniel Howat 

Best Original Song is always one of the most hit-or-miss categories at the Academy Awards. Some years, narrowing down a strong list of contenders is a tough task, with incredible songs eventually missing the cut. Other years, it's a little harder to imagine which five songs the Academy will even be passionate about. 2020 seems like it might be a weaker year for the category. That said, there are still some great songs and some solid contenders. Let's take a look at where Best Original Song stands now.​

By Robert Dougherty 

​For the first and hopefully last time in modern times, a New Year has come without bringing the Oscar submission deadline with it. As such, 2021 begins with a few mysteries left this season, chief among them "Judas and the Black Messiah" Suspicions are abound that this last-minute entry could seriously shake up the Best Picture race, along with the growing sense that this race really needs it to.

By Robert Dougherty 
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The Best Supporting Actress Oscar race is among the most confounding Oscar categories this year, for one reason or another. Even if pundits are convinced Glenn Close will steamroll to victory no matter what "Hillbilly Elegy's" Tomatometer is, they are scrambling to find enough names to fill out the field against her. But whether the field is too thin or just too wide open, the general consensus is there hasn't been a Supporting Actress race like this in a while. In truth, however, the field is perhaps far more familiar than that.

By Tom O'Brien 
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Where did all of our guideposts go?

As this past year has become a challenging one for people worldwide, Oscar prognostication would have to rank pretty low on any list of what's important to humanity at this time. Still, it provides one stabilizing bit of normalcy for many of us during an abnormal time. Yet, even the Oscar season has been affected by the worldwide shutdown. For example, the landscape for one Oscar category, Best International Feature, has been arguably the most altered for award prognosticators. By this time in any typical Oscar year, we would have gotten reactions to the year's crop of foreign-language films from festivals like Cannes, Telluride, Venice, Toronto and New York, among others and have a pretty good idea on where to place our money toward this category's nominations.

By Lauren LaMagna 

​​As we all know, storytelling comes in many different mediums. It is also what separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom. Ever since mankind existed, we have been telling stories. From cave paintings to film, we have always been passing ideas onto each other. So, with film and digital content being the most modern form of storytelling, it would be unwise to think that film only told new stories that were made just for the big screen.

By Robert Pius 

For some unknown reason in recent Oscar history, the judgment on how good or bad a performance an individual actor gave seems to be tied up in the film's reception as a whole. In the past, it was quite common for an actor (especially in the supporting categories) to give a standout performance in a film that critics found less than stellar and still be able to achieve a nomination based on their work and not the movie as a whole. One could almost say that these performers had more difficult tasks than their peers in highly regarded films. It is likely that when you are acting with a good script, adept direction and added help from all the other below-the-line workers on a strong production, it is probably easier to do your best work. But what about those people who found themselves with rotten material or in films that were ripped apart to no one's liking in the editing room, but yet one actor somehow managed to rise above the problem and do outstanding work? Now that's a real achievement when you have to hold it together while everything else is falling apart around you. 

By Michael Schwartz 
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​​Tom Hanks has long been considered one of the most beloved American icons. Right up there with the flag and apple pie, Hanks has carved out a place in history that allows him to be the rare celebrity beloved by just about everyone in these otherwise polarizing times. He is wise. He is comforting. He is America's dad. As Hanks' latest film, "News of the World," is set to open on Christmas Day, it is interesting to look at where both this film and role factor into his place in this tumultuous year.

By Ryan C. Showers 

​"Promising Young Woman" is the best film of the year. Unlike stories already told in the new genre of #MeToo-influenced features, Emerald Fennell's directorial debut is an entity made for this generation of moviegoers. The film colors a portrait of the millennial experience and is based in an ideology about sexuality, gender roles, and consent in ways we understand. All the while, the movie manages to entertain with euphoric cleverness and turn the audience on their heads in visceral pain. As social criticism, it's powerful. As a cinematic experience, it's piled full of love for "the movies" that you would expect from film styles best exhibited by directors like Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, and David O. Russell. Both harsh and heartbreaking, "Promising Young Woman" will go down in history for its achievements, and I hope the Academy chooses to go along for the ride. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that tears into your soul.

By Ryan C. Showers 

​The latest Oscar hopeful to be released and face the chorus of film critics and awards pundits is "News of the World" from director Paul Greengrass. "News of the World" is expected to be one of the core movies campaigned by Universal for this cycle of award season. As an epic adventure tale with technical gravitas and star power from Tom Hanks, it has the ingredients to be a Hollywood hit – despite skipping the film festivals that typically establish movies as legitimate contenders for the industry, press, and critics' prizes at the end of the year. Several of us at Next Best Picture who have seen the film have formed a small consensus on "News of the World": A solid feature with handsome aesthetics and qualified technical elements, even if the narrative feels especially familiar. ​

By Michael Schwartz 

When we think of performers that are overdue for Oscar love, none is as prominent as the masterful Glenn Close, an actress who has delivered consistent excellence for over 40 years on stage and screen. With seven Oscar nominations to her name, Close has been in the conversation for decades. Yet that win has long eluded her, even when it seemed imminent. This year, the veteran actress is back in the fold for her dynamic work in "Hillbilly Elegy." But what brought her to this moment? What does the trajectory of Glenn Close's remarkable career look like as she looks to add another nomination and potential win to her record? Let's take a look back at the performances and nominations of an acting legend.

By Robert Dougherty 

At this time last year, Joaquin Phoenix wasn't the clear favorite to win Best Actor for "Joker," though the signs were building for him to be. Yet when the dust settled, detractors could easily argue that if "Joker" wasn't connected to a superhero universe, didn't make a billion dollars, wasn't directed by a bankable male director and wasn't backed by a big studio, Phoenix would have had a much harder time winning or even factoring into the race at all. As it turns out, it looks like we'll find out if those theories were correct just one year later.

"Promising Young Woman" is a far different kind of story about a toxic society driving a traumatized person to revenge, with a far different point of view, a far different writer and director, and a far different lead in Carey Mulligan. Yet take all of that away, and the blueprint for Mulligan to take the same route as Phoenix did to Oscar glory is right there – which would make it all the more revealing if roadblocks aren't cleared for her like they were for Phoenix.

By Robert Dougherty 
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It took a few weeks later than usual, but the critic awards part of Oscar season is ready to launch in full force, starting with the Boston Society Of Film Critics awards this weekend on December 13th. When the rest of the critic organizations slowly weigh in over the next 2-3 months, we will have a slightly better idea of the pecking order in the major races and whom to defend when and if the industry awards circuit ignores it anyway. Nonetheless, when it comes to the Best Picture race, it seems easier than usual to make an educated guess on where the majority of critics will land.

By Agambir Bajwa 

As the initial shock of Warner Media's announcement from last week wears off, I think we can all agree that we are all surprised and that this situation is a mixed bag. I'm here to breakdown everything that is happening surrounding the decision made by Warner Media to move their 2021 movie slate to HBO Max. For your convenience, I've broken everything down into six sections, so you can read the piece as a whole or read what you're most curious about.​

By Jed Wells ​

In 2001, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences introduced an award to honor the Best Animated Feature of the year. The award would celebrate the best animated films each given year and the inaugural winner was "Shrek." Before this award, animated movies had been recognized by the Oscars in the form of Special Achievement Awards, given to films such as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves," "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Toy Story." However, as the rise of animation in the film industry continued, so too did pressure on the Academy to formally recognize these films. While the Academy eventually created this category, the 19 years since this first award has shown an undeniable truth: The Academy has a Pixar problem.

By Tom O'Brien ​

As the chosen ones are announced every year on Oscar nomination morning, there always seems to be one out of the blue nominee not taken seriously by award prognosticators that makes the cut. This year has been both challenging in general and unpredictable for the Oscar race that there even might be more than one above-the-line surprises that will cause our jaws to drop. Let's take a look at five that could possibly do just that.

Please note that I'm not predicting any of these as assured nominees, but each I believe could be a nomination surprise.