By Rebecca Daniel 

Looking back on all of the movies, performances, and moments from 2019, it’s been a pretty phenomenal year. One of my favorite aspects of a film is when it incorporates the perfect song to accompany a scene. I’m not just talking about moments from musicals (although, I probably could have made a Top 10 list solely based on “A Star is Born” last year), I’m talking about any moment in a film that finds a way to incorporate music in an exciting way. Finding the perfect harmony between song and scene is a true art form and I want to highlight that.

These are my Top 10 Cinematic Musical Moments of 2019. 

By Ryan C. Showers 

What a year. Although 2019, for me, doesn't rise to the levels of achievement seen in 2013 and 2018 as a year in film, it's been a terrifically solid year of substantive releases and industry change. I was particularly satisfied with Netflix, its slate of films, and how they began to rewrite the rules of awards season and release schedules. I'm excited for more urgent awards-focused films being released on its platform, easily available to people such as myself who don’t live in a metropolitan area. As a structural alteration to previous years, I have appreciated the condensed awards season. As a pundit, the shortened calendar has made the process more fun; the steady pace has allowed the season to not grow stale (so far). Being a member of Film Independent has also been an especially worthwhile experience this year, allowing me to enjoy many more opportunities with screening smaller films that otherwise wouldn’t have been readily available.

I watched 97 films released in 2019, and in this piece, I will narrow down the top percentile based on my experience and taste. More than anything, my greatest pet peeve is when critics and pundits alter or cater their opinions to blend in with the consensus and pass some sort of cinephile purity test. The choices below reflect that integrity. I take pride in my taste always being reflective of who I am and how I feel about film without pretense. It was difficult to narrow down simply ten films in the list below. A few honorable mentions which didn’t crack my top ten are as follows: “One Child Nation,” “A Vigilante,” “The Lighthouse,” “Booksmart,” “Us,” “Les Miserables,” “Avengers: Endgame,” “Pain and Glory,” “Late Night,” and “For Sama.”​

By Josh Parham 

Looking back, 2019 will be defined as a year that delivered many great films after a slow buildup throughout its early months. There were definitely some highlights, but I personally thought the slate was sparring in truly magnificent titles until the latter half came through. Overall, there were some truly great films that I got to see that balanced the year as one that was quite strong. You’ve already seen other contributors deliver their Top Ten list, and now I present mine. A quick shout-out to films that just missed the list: “Marriage Story,” “Midsommar,” “I Lost My Body,” “The Irishman,” and “Giant Little Ones."

Now onto the list proper.​

By Matt Neglia 

​You already saw my top 10 films of 2019. You probably also heard me reveal my favorite films of the last decade on the podcast but I wanted to share it here as well for those that did not. The top 10 are my number 1 favorite films from each year of the decade, and the bottom forty are various other movies that held up for me on rewatches and can only be described as "my favorite." This is by no means, my attempt to put together what I think are objectively the best films of the last 10 years. Nope. To paraphrase a Stanley Kubrick film...This is my list. There are many others like it. But this one is mine.

By Daniel Howat 

A year full of stunning variety, surprising breakouts, and emotional honesty, 2019 ended this decade on a high note. Legendary directors delivered hits as expected and new voices burst on the scene with powerful, personal stories. Crafting a top ten list for this year was no easy task, with so many stunning films left out. You have heard Matt Neglia's top 10 of the year and now here is my top 10 list of my favorite films from 2019.

First, a few honorable mentions: “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood,” “The Peanut Butter Falcon,” “Bombshell” & “The Irishman."

​By Matt Neglia 

We have come to both the end of 2019 and the end of the 2010s. As I reflect back on the last 10 years and 2019, I am filled with immense joy and pride. This was the decade where my love for movies really took off as I finished up college, started Next Best Picture, became a Criterion Collection obsessive and more. I saw a total of 181 new film releases this year which is up from the 149 films I saw last year. For the sake of brevity, I am going to split up my Best of 2019 and Best of the 2010s lists. So, up first are the 10 films I saw in 2019 that had the largest impact on me, whether it was from a technical level, an emotional level, or from a pure entertainment standpoint. Not every film will be represented here and some of your favorites may be left off. This is in no way a "best of" list meant to represent a large group of people. This is my own personal list. For more context, you can listen to our latest episode of the podcast where I revealed my top 10 on the show.

Runners up include: "Avengers: Endgame," "The Farewell," "Booksmart," "Maiden," "Ford v Ferrari" and "I Lost My Body."

​With that out of the way, let's get into it!

By Danilo Castro 

​War has been a part of the movie-going experience since its inception. From silent epics like “Battleship Potemkin” (1925) and “Wings” (1927) to modern triumphs like “Saving Private Ryan” (1998) and “The Hurt Locker” (2008), war films have served as a microcosm for the various political and social upheavals of their given setting. As with all genres, however, the war film hinges on the human condition, and how combat can reinforce (or break) a soldier’s spirit.

The 2010s have seen the war film take on many different forms. There have been patriotic pastiches, harrowing true stories, and hybrids that fuse the chaos of war to the horror and thriller genres. So with the decade coming to a close, and the excellent “1917” now in theaters, we decided to pull out the dossiers and present our ranking for the 10 Best War Films of the 2010s.

By Lauren LaMagna ​

As the year and decade comes to a close, the NBP Film community has been choosing their favorite moments in film. In our recap of the decade so far we've conducted polls which resulted in lists for the best black and white, horror, biopic, animated and  documentary films. This week, the community voted which child performance was their favorite. Over the last ten years, cinema has been graced by phenomenal child performances that have struck a chord with audiences around the world. These ten performances truly prove that age is nothing but a number, and even if you're little, you can sure do a lot.

​Here are Next Best Picture's Top 10 Child Performances of the decade.

By Bianca Garner ​

Recently, Next Best Picture ran a poll to see what was the film community’s favorite documentary of the decade, and the shortlist consisted of some very good documentaries but not every documentary could make the top ten. The top ten list covers a range of topics and subjects from the pressures of celebrity stardom to the mistreatment of animals in captivity. Some documentaries were recognized and awarded by the Academy, and some were painfully ignored. In our recap of the decade we've also conducted polls with the NBP Film Community which resulted in lists for the best black and white, horror, biopic and animated films (Next up is best youth performance).

​So, without further ado, here’s our rundown of the top ten documentaries as chosen by you.

By Kt Schaefer 
​
As we say goodbye to the 2010's, we've been holding a number of polls recently to ask you all about various genres and films that made an impact on you over the last decade. We've looked at black and white films, horror films, biopic films and now we're highlighting animated films. These are the top 10 animated films of the 2010's as voted on by you, the NBP Film Community.

Click below to see which films made the fan voted top 10.

​By Danilo Castro 

​As the decade comes to a close, we’re compelled to look back at its stellar biopics. It seemed as though films based on true stories were released every other week, and save for a few bombs, these films did justice to their real-life counterparts. They also gave us some of the most indelible scenes and performances in recent memory. 

We’ve already done a list of the Top 10 Actors Playing Other Actors, but to commemorate our recent fan vote, we’ve decided to keep the biopic coverage going and list out the fan selections for the 10 Best Biopics of the Decade.

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 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 Josh Parham 
​
​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.

By Bianca Garner ​

After catching Robert Eggers’ stunning film “The Lighthouse” at this year’s LFF, I felt compelled to draw up a list of this decade’s greatest films shot in black and white (which is also our poll this week on Next Best Picture). And, while technicolor has been around for a lot longer than you probably realize (the first technicolor film was released in 1935 in the form of historical costume drama “Becky Sharp”), filmmakers are still drawn back to the black and white film format.

There’s a power that black and white films seem to possess, a magical quality to them which I can quite put my finger on. And, despite growing up in a world of color, I find myself drawn to black and white films especially ‘modern’ films such as Ben Wheatley’s surreal and haunting civil war film “A Field in England” (2013) and Noah Baumbach’s quirky, indie delight “Frances Ha” (2013). So, here’s a list of my personal favorite black and white films from this decade.

There are a few films that didn’t quite make my top 10 that I wish to mention quickly: Miguel Gomes's “Tabu” (2012), Tim Burton's “Frankenweenie” (2012), François Ozon “Frantz” (2016), Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez’s “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” (2014). Heck, I couldn’t even picture Tom Six’s gross and frightfully disturbing film “The Human Centipede 2” (2011) working in color, and despite being one of the most horrific films ever made, David Meadows’ cinematography is worth mentioning as the film’s only redeeming quality.

By Tom O'Brien 

With "Parasite," this year's Cannes winner of the Palme d'Or, now opening in American theaters, a significant number of U.S. moviegoers will be introduced for the first time to the great South Korean director Bong Joon Ho. Next Best Picture readers are, of course, familiar with Bong, but how many of his films have they actually seen? And what would be the best way to get up to speed?

​Luckily, I'm here to offer you Bong-101.

By Matt Neglia 

​​The 2019 New York Film Festival has now come and gone. There was a major premiere with Martin Scorsese's "The Irishman." There was the secret screening of the Safdie Brothers' "Uncut Gems." There were a number of foreign language film celebrating the best in world cinema including the Palme d'Or winner "Parasite." There was even a special screening and Q&A for "Joker" before its official release with heavy security from New York's finest. Suffice to say, it was a few weeks worthy of remembrance as always.

I saw 18 films in total this year at the festival which was a new record for me (crazy considering I thought this year would be my lowest output yet due to new day job commitments). Overall, I saw some films I loved, some films I enjoyed and some films that weren't for me. And that's the most important thing to remember with this ranking: even the lowest ranked film, might not have worked for me, but I have no doubt it worked for someone else. There is a degree of unpredictability with any film festival, of not know what it is you're going to walk into that is always exciting. This year's pleasant and unpleasant surprises were no different.

​Click below to see my ranking of the NYFF57 films I saw this year.

By Kt Schaefer 

With Halloween on the horizon and the fall weather starting up (for some of us anyway), it’s the traditional time for spooky movies and thankfully there is a wealth of options on the streaming services in October.

While there is Shudder, a well-curated streaming service devoted entirely to horror films, I tried to focus on the more general services in this list for those who may not be regular watchers of the scarier side of films. However, I did include a couple of gems only available on there for those who may be interested in seeing what they have to offer. Below you will find a wide selection of movies from classics to indie films and even a horror-comedy for those nights when you want to laugh and feel spooky.

By Danilo Castro 

Few Hollywood stars burned as bright as Judy Garland. She was a star from the moment she stepped on screen in 1936, and she continued to dazzle audiences with her singing and acting for decades. Her talents enabled her to become a musical mainstay, while occasional forays into drama proved that she could dominate a scene with little more than her presence. It’s no wonder she is referred to as the “World’s Greatest Entertainer.”

Garland is the focus of the new film “Judy,” where she is played by Oscar nominee Renee Zellweger. To commemorate the film’s release, we’ve decided to chart a path down the Yellow brick road, and rank Garland’s 10 Best Screen Performances.