By Ryan C. Showers 

Nearly every year, this decade has had a crowded field of Best Actress contenders, where worthy performances were elbowed out of the Oscar lineup due to a high degree of competition. As each year passed, roles for women kept getting better and better, until this year, where the field read as noticeably thin. In fact, many pundits have found themselves scrambling to fill the final spots in their predictions because it seemed like the best choices all had some definitive weakness.

By Rebecca Daniel 

It’s been six months since “Rocketman” flew into theaters impressing both critics and audiences alike. The fantastical account of Elton John’s life shows viewers that the musical biopic is alive and thriving. It was Taron Egerton’s performance in particular that really caught people’s attention. His impressive vocals, stage presence, and overall star power make it feel like we are watching Elton John’s life unfold before our very eyes. Immediately after viewing the film, I knew that I had seen something special in his performance. The “Rocketman” scene alone is one of the most memorable sequences of the year showcasing Elton John at the depths of depression struggling to cope with the world around him. Yet, he turns it all around when the neon glow of the stage lights beckon him to perform. Egerton gives the scene a level of emotional gravitas that is wrapped up in vulnerability and pain, but quickly soars to new heights when the show demands. It’s not just the musical numbers that make his performance stand out, but the transformative journey Egerton brings us on from Reginald Dwight to Elton John.

By Bianca Garner ​​

This week sees the UK release of a film known as “Le Mans ‘66,” the film features Christian Bale and Matt Damon as Ken Miles and Caroll Shelby and follows their mission to build the Ford GT40, a new racing car which could beat Ferrari during the 24-hour Le Mans race of 1966. If this plot sounds strangely familiar to “Ford v Ferrari” then that’s because “Le Mans ‘66” is the exact same film but with a different name for European audiences. With the world so open to communication via social media networks such as Twitter, it seems odd to me that the studio would make the decision to rename the film for the audience across the pond, and I suspect that I’m not the only one who’s been left slightly puzzled.

By Ryan C. Showers 
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It’s difficult for a film to grow a high profile without a coordinated effort to build a name for itself. Going to film festivals is an easy way for a movie aiming for awards season to gain great prestige and notoriety, but there are always a few stragglers who bypass the festival opportunities, or films that are simply not ready to be screened so early in the season. The best way for a non-festival late release to find success at the Oscars is by making a big splash upon release. I would argue that leaving an impression on one cohort of the Academy, in particular, is key to Oscar success for films that skip the festival circuit: the acting branch. The two examples of this that jump to mind are “American Hustle” and “Vice,” both released late in December of their respective years without festival exposure. The former received four acting nominations (one in each category) and the latter was awarded three. There were nominations across the board for “American Hustle” and “Vice,” but actors were the beating hearts of these films and the indisputable aspect that people who disliked the two could appreciate.

By Casey Lee Clark 

We open on voiceover narration; a couple reading what they have written about one another. What I love about Nicole: her bravery as a performer, her playfulness as a mother, her little quirks that may be annoying but that you love anyway, her competitiveness. What I love about Charlie: his brilliance as a director, his love for the mundaneness of fatherhood, his effortless style, his competitiveness. We come to reality to see these are exercises with a couples counselor facilitated to mediate the couple in their impending separation and divorce. What follows is a complex and moving tale that looks at the struggle between breaking up as a couple but staying together as a family, and all the pain and drama that come along with that. This is Noah Baumbach’s latest film “Marriage Story.”

By Tom O'Brien 

The first shot fired on November 1: The debut of AppleTV+. It introduced four new streaming series, with the promise of many more as the week's progress. Accessible in about 100 countries, Apple streaming launches with a worldwide reach that will likely dwarf even the mighty Disney+, which has finally flipped the switch on its streaming service.

​According to the Financial Times, AppleTV+ has poured more than $6 billion into original programming for the service, and their plan appears to be rolling out new shows gradually, effectively ensuring that there will be a steady stream of products to keep subscribers happy. On paper, the rollout of only four series, all remarkably different, appeared to be a wise one so that the public can more easily evaluate the quality of their shows.

But are they any good? And more importantly, should you subscribe? I watched the first three episodes of each series and based on viewing those, I have a few thoughts on all four.

By Matt Neglia 

We're all heading for the grave. The infinite darkness that we all fear, hoping there will be something else instead. Another life? Possibly the afterlife? No matter how we live our lives, one way or another, we're going. As I continue to get older, the finality of death is something that I've continued to obsess over from a psychological standpoint, as I seek to understand how everyone approaches it. We deal with grief in our unique ways and I believe our own death carries its own foreboding grief that we all eventually need to come to terms with. Martin Scorsese's latest film "The Irishman" is a reckoning for its lead character, Frank Sheeran, as we watch him live a life of crime, loyalty, and betrayal. By the time he comes to the end of that life, he is filled with regret despite his own survival through the cold and vicious world of organized crime.  Scorsese's storytelling, through the final act of "The Irishman" and his haunting final shot, has lingered with me long after I saw it at its world premiere at this year's New York Film Festival. You've probably read my written review of the film and you've also probably heard our podcast review, but now I want to hone in on the thing that I think makes this particular gangster film, not just a great film in Scorsese's filmography but a great film for all time that could resonate strongly enough to win Best Picture.

By Cody Dericks 

​As a huge horror fan, I consider Mike Flanagan to be the most exciting director working in the genre today. He has delivered a level of consistency across the past decade that is undeniably impressive, firmly establishing a style and visual language all his own. Aside from the aesthetic qualities of his filmmaking, he has proven to be extremely adept at crafting scary stories that serve as metaphors for some of the horrors we face in the real world. The most apparent of these is his penchant for exploring the lingering effects of trauma, especially stemming from a difficult childhood. It’s a theme that can be found in many of his works, and as such, the horror elements of his films and TV shows can often be considered symbols for the trauma caused by addiction, PTSD, and mental illness. As I explore his works that tackle these themes, please note that a full spoiler warning is in effect.

By Ryan C. Showers 
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The way the Academy votes for Best Picture has dominated the awards season pundit discourse since the 2015 and, more prominently, 2016 Best Picture races. When the Academy expanded the Best Picture lineup from five to ten nominees, it implemented a preferential ballot, where voters rank the Best Picture nominees from their favorite to least favorite, and a process goes underway to find a “consensus” movie ranked highly enough by all the voters on their ballots. The Academy has since reversed course, allowing a range between five to ten possible Best Picture nominees from 2011 through the present day. The pundit community didn't think about the preferential ballot back then in the same way we do now. “The Hurt Locker,” “The King’s Speech,” “The Artist,” “Argo,” “12 Years a Slave,” and “Birdman” would have probably won just as easily if not more easily had the Academy voted with a plural ballot, where whichever film receives the most votes would be the winner.

By Michael Schwartz 
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As the Best Picture race continues to heat up, we must consider what categories will be swept along with top tier contenders. One such category that often aligns with Best Picture is Best Director. The Academy’s director’s branch is notoriously fickle and prefers to reward so-called “members of the club.” Yet when they manage to surprise, the results are often sensational.

​Let’s take a look at what filmmakers will be in the mix this season.

By Dan Bayer 

When the call went around for someone to write up the NBP Community’s list of the Best Horror Films of the Decade, I didn’t speak up at first. I’ve never been much of a horror guy. I’ve always had trouble sleeping as it is, plus I get really queasy around blood and gore, so I grew up with the impression that horror was just not my thing. That started to change in the early ‘00s, when in the wake of “The Sixth Sense” and “The Blair Witch Project” there was a moment when non-gory horror films like “The Others” and “The Ring” were big hits. But then along came the torture porn of the “Saw” franchise and its ilk, and I went back to hiding under my covers.

But in this most recent decade, horror has had something of an artful resurgence, and my interest in the genre has been rekindled. I became more fascinated with the genre and started watching old horror movies to fill in lots of cinematic blind spots that I had quite purposefully avoided. And then I thought, who better than me, a latent horror-phobe, to write up these films? Some of them are among my very favorite films of the decade, after all. So let’s take a look at those films you voted on as your favorites, shall we?

By Ryan C. Showers 

​Best Supporting Actress has shifted as a horserace in the few months into phase one (the film festivals) of the year. Though now that late-breaking December releases are helping to fill out this category a bit more than before, Best Supporting Actress is still very much up in the air. It’s exciting to have such unpredictability just a month out before phase two (the precursor awards) begins. This category will materialize based on how other related factors shake out. For example, depending on how intensely the Academy decides to support “The Farewell,” “Jojo Rabbit,” and “Bombshell” could dictate certain spots being filled quickly. Similarly, if voters remember to take seriously certain films, like “The Laundromat” and “Downton Abbey,” the trajectory of the category could be very fluid

By Will Mavity 
 
The tendency of the Academy “design” voters to primarily single out fantasy and period films has long been a source of frustration among film fans. The costume design category, for example, has only nominated five non-fantasy or period films this century (and one of those was "101 Dalmatians," which teeters on the edge of fantasy). The production design category has only nominated three such films, which is to say, even though contemporary films often require enormous amounts of creative production and costume design, voters often ignore them for “flashier” fantasy and/or period works. Still, there are exceptions. Sometimes, a contemporary film is striking enough to catch voters’ fancy and show up. And who knows, maybe this year, “Parasite,” is that contemporary film.

By Matt Neglia 

​​As I said last week, I'm going to be devoting more time towards commenting on this year's awards race here rather than just on the podcast. The hope is that many of you will be able to get a more clear picture as to where my head is at as I continue to make my predictions this awards season. One such category that I've been thinking about a lot over these past few weeks since Telluride has been Best Actress. As of today, I have seen all of the Best Actress contenders with the exception of Saoirse Ronan in "Little Women." Knowing what I know and looking into my crystal ball, it is my belief that the path is beginning to clear for Scarlett Johansson to emerge as the winner on February 9th 2020 for her performance in "Marriage Story."

How did I come to this conclusion? Why do I feel so confident about it and what could possibly change my mind? We all want races for the Oscar to be competitive and this one very well could be. However, there are a few factors that have contributed towards my decision to settle on Johansson as the front-runner...

By Nicole Ackman ​​​

I recently had the opportunity to go to my first film festival as a member of the press, and it was practically here in my own backyard. I left New York City and moved home to my native Raleigh, North Carolina and was thrilled to get the chance to attend Film Fest 919 in Chapel Hill, only a short drive away. The festival took place at Silverspot Cinema from October 9-13. While at the festival, I got to meet some amazing people (from my In Their Own League co-contributor, Paola Harvey, to screenwriter Anthony McCarten) and see ten great films.

By Josh Parham 
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The first part of my piece on the Chicago International Film Festival, that looks at the films submitted for the Best International Feature Oscar, was recently published here on Next Best Picture. The films examined are by no means the only films that this festival had to offer. A great, wide selection of films that speak to a plethora of different perspectives around the world were on display, and it's also a pleasure to catch many of these films with an eager crowd. Here are my thoughts on some of the other films I ended up seeing during my time at the festival.​

By Cody Dericks 

I'm a spooky guy. Anyone who knows me knows that this time of year is when I'm usually thriving the most. When there's an autumnal feeling in the air, I'm truly at my happiest, and my love of horror movies is a year-round obsession (I even host a podcast called Halloweeners: A Horror Movie Podcast, check us out!). But the funny thing is, not a lot of movies scare me anymore. It might be because I've seen so many of them or maybe it's just the person I've become, but I've found that even horror movies I enjoy a lot are more fun than truly frightening; however, there are a select number of films that truly terrified me, whether it was only from the first viewing as a child or something about the film that gets me every time. I now present to you a list of the movies that have scared me the most in my life. "Scariest" is not the same as "best" when it comes to horror movies, and some perennial favorites of mine are missing here while some movies that I think are just okay still manage to really affect me.

By Matt Neglia 

​​Over the past few years, I've devoted a lot of my time and energy to the Next Best Picture Podcast, to provide you with my explanations and thought process behind the Oscar race. One thing I want to try this year (if time allows), is to put that into writing as best as I possibly can for those who may not listen to the show (which you totally should by the way). So here we are, post-Gotham Nominations, less than a month away from Phase Two officially kicking off (the critics' awards) and I am here to survey the Oscar field.

By Josh Parham 
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​Every year, all of us cinephiles take so much pleasure in the many film festivals that happen around this time. It’s the opportunity to see so many highly anticipated movies, or at the very least, hear the reactions to them. Especially as awards season approaches fast, it’s a great opportunity for high profile contenders to finally have real exposure in the race. Many festivals receive this attention, but the Chicago International Film Festival is always the pilgrimage I make.
 
The festival continues to have a diverse lineup of films in their programming, ranging from different backgrounds from around the world. Their selection offers films that highlight local talent, black perspectives, LGBTQ content, Latin American cinema and so much more. Something the festival is also abundant in is the array of submissions for the Best International Feature Oscar. Over a dozen such films were playing at the festival this year, and this is a brief rundown of a few titles that I saw that will no doubt be in that conversation.

By Danilo Castro 

In the world of acting, few things are more daunting than playing another actor. Not only are these actors real-life people, which brings into question things like appearance and vocal cadence, but they’re people who have an intimate connection with moviegoers. Taking on the role of an actor means taking on the expectations of their die-hard fans, as well as historians and those who knew them personally.

2019 has seen a wide array of actors do just that. Margot Robbie dazzled as Sharon Tate in “Once Upon a Time In Hollywood”, Renee Zellweger wowed us as Judy Garland in "Judy," while Eddie Murphy delighted as Rudy Ray Moore in “My Name Is Dolemite.” In honor of the latter, which hits Netflix on October 25th, we’ve decided to countdown the 10 Best Performances By Actors Playing Other Actors. We are sticking to theatrical releases only, so great performances given in TV films will not be counted.