​By Michael Schwartz 

​When used effectively, a film setting has the potential to feel like a character of its own. Think about the use of New York in films such as "When Harry Met Sally" and "Can You Ever Forgive Me?," to the role Los Angeles plays in "Chinatown" and "La La Land." A great city can play a big role in how we respond to particular movies. However, sometimes we tend to respond more when our own home is prominently featured. As a proud native and current resident of suburban Philadelphia, I am always thrilled to see my community on the big screen. Not just because I know the sights on display, but I believe that the best films that are set in Philadelphia truly highlight the warmth and community on display.

By Dan Bayer 

​The ballots are in, and all we can do is wait. Wait and see what movies get nominated for this year’s Oscars. There’s something that has been bugging me ever since the season started, though. Will "Black Panther" get a Best Picture nomination?

It’s seemed like a long shot ever since it was released way back on February 16, 2018, for a few reasons, most notably that a superhero/comic book movie has never broken into the Best Picture category before. The film rode the wave of stellar reviews and word-of-mouth to become the type of critical and popular hit that seems too big to ignore, and sure enough, it’s gotten nominated at nearly every guild it could have been.

​But even still, the question has been bugging me...Will AMPAS really vote for a movie that opened so early in the year?

​So I did some digging.​

By DeAnn Knighton 

One week from today, the NBP Team will be taking a break from the 2018 Awards Season and looking ahead, as we travel to Park City Utah for the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. On November 28th the Sundance Film Institute released the 2019 list of 112 Features that will play at the Park City-based Festival in January. Matt Neglia, Will Mavity and I will be covering the festival as press and providing regular updates and reviews from these never before seen films.

​By Cody Dericks 

​While the 2018 Oscar race is moving along in full gear, let’s pause our discussion of last year’s movies to look ahead to the upcoming film year! 2019 is looking to be an exceptionally exciting year for movies, with both well-established franchises and well-known directors adding more movies to their respective filmographies. I polled the staff here at Next Best Picture to see what we’re looking forward to the most in the upcoming year.

Presented below is our collectively ranked top 10!

By Josh Parham 

You have seen a lot of lists celebrating a lot of great movies which came out in 2018. However, for this list, I wanted to highlight some personal favorites of mine from the year which I felt were overlooked by most audiences and I don't see making a lot of people's end of year lists. While there are many films from 2018 that could be deemed "overlooked" such as "We The Animals," "Wildlife," "Madeline's Madeline," "Hearts Beat Loud" and more...all fine films, but they did not make the list here.

These are my favorite overlooked films of 2018.

By Matt Neglia

As 2018 comes to an end, it has given me a chance to reflect back on the 149 films I saw this year and think about the themes of the year, from Netflix's continuous rise through the industry, to what exactly is a "popular film" and why do some bold and daring stories told by filmmakers with vision and care get disregarded by mainstream audiences still? All that's left now are the films which I found were the most impactful to me, that resonated with my on a deeper level, that horrified me, that made me laugh, made me cry. For my final post of the year, these are my Top 10 films of 2018.

Some honorable mentions that just missed the list include "Assassination Nation," "Can You Ever Forgive Me?," "First Reformed," "Three Identical Strangers" & "Vice" (Yup...I'm not sorry).

By Nicole Ackman ​​

This year was a great one for period pieces with everything from medieval historical epics to indie biopics. There was the stunning foreign film “Cold War,” the movie musical with glorious 1970s flashbacks “Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again,” and horror movies like “Lizzie” and “Suspiria.”

In addition to the more typical period films, this year featured many women’s and LGBT+ stories. Often forgotten parts of history were brought to the screen. These are my picks for the best period pieces of 2018. This list focuses on design and storytelling, attempting to pick the best period pieces, rather than simply the best films that happen to be historically-based.

So with that said, here are my personal picks for the 10 best period pieces of 2018.

By Josh Williams ​

It's obvious that superhero films dominated a good portion of 2018. However, this year felt much different than the past several. Marvel has been dominating the circuit with DC quietly looming in the background. Whether it be live-action or animated, superhero films have been at their peak for the past decade. But it all seemed to culminate in 2018 with not only the box office smash hit but critical and award darling, "Black Panther," to the climax of everything Marvel has been working towards the past ten years with "Avengers: Infinity War," to the groundbreaking "Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse," there has been a little bit for everyone this year when it came to superhero films. So we here at Next Best Picture decided to narrow down an expansive list of greatness to the ten boldest, baddest, strongest and most powerful superhero films of the year.

So without further ado, here are the ten best superhero films of 2018!

By Cody Dericks 

​Every year, I hear the same refrain from both well-established critics and #FilmTwitter contributors alike: Was this a good year for horror films? I consider myself a bit of an expert in the genre (I have a weekly horror movie podcast which you can check out here), and having seen all of the major horror releases of the year, I feel I can definitively say that yes, 2018 was a good year for horror films, both in terms of quality and variety.

​Follow along with me as I go through what I believe to be the 5 most important horror movies of the year!

By Danilo Castro 

2018 has been a watershed year for Netflix when it comes to original content. What was once considered a hub for pre-existing films and TV has become one of the most exciting distributors in the medium, whether it be through cutting documentaries or delightful romantic comedies. 

Given the quality and range of entertainment that Netflix released this year in what is sure to go down as a banner year for them, we’ve decided to put together a list of the best feature-length films that you can currently check out from the comfort of your living room. 

Here are the ten best Netflix original films of 2018.

By Nicole Ackman 

Earlier this year, Josh Williams brought you the Next Best Picture team’s top 15 favorite horror movies of all time for Halloween and Cody Dericks put together a list of the best movies to watch on Thanksgiving. So of course, we had to put together our top Christmas films to share with you as well. We asked each member of Next Best Picture to rank their favorite Christmas movies of all time. We took everyone's list to bring you a definitive Top 15. We have a wide variety of favorites and some runner ups included classic Christmas movies like "The Santa Clause" and "The Polar Express" to less traditional ones such as "Meet Me in St. Louis" and "The Lion In Winter."

However, as great as those films are, we could only share 15 movies so here are the Next Best Picture team’s Top 15 Christmas movies of all time!

By Will Mavity 

​As the year comes to a close, I’m seeing dozens of “Top 10” lists, singling out things that people typically actually care about: Scores, Performances, Songs. I wanted to single out an area 2018 quietly excelled in: dramatic death scenes.

In a year that was as strong for horror as this one, there were bound to be a few. But the field of death expands far beyond horror. Some of the year’s most memorable moments in film revolve around death. 2018 as a whole was pretty depressing overall. So, amidst the other Top 10 lists, a list about death seems oddly appropriate.

Beware that obviously, this list is full of spoilers. Read at your own risk...

​By Nicole Ackman 

British queens have often served as subject material for films and television. Women from Katharine Hepburn to Helen Mirren have portrayed English and Scottish queens over the past decades. This winter season, two films about British queens are being released: “The Favourite” and “Mary Queen Of Scots."

While “Mary Queen Of Scots” follows the story of Mary Stuart (played by Saoirse Ronan) and her cousin Elizabeth I (Margot Robbie), “The Favourite” examines a lesser-known monarch, Queen Anne (Olivia Colman). With three fantastic actresses taking on these powerful women, it feels like a good time to look back on ten of the best portrayals of British female monarchs on film and in television. 

​By Cody Dericks 

Thanksgiving is famously an underrepresented holiday as far as corresponding movies go. And the few movies that do exist that take place around this time of year revolve around either alcoholism ("Krisha"), depression ("The Ice Storm"), cancer ("Pieces Of April"), or romantic entanglements ("Hannah And Her Sisters"). Not exactly festive watches, especially with the family. So, I've compiled a small list of Thanksgiving movies that won't depress you or stress you out. Not all of them explicitly take place around Thanksgiving, but they're all good bets to please everybody at the dinner table, I promise!

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.