The Next Best Picture Podcast

For Episode 460, Josh Parham, Dan Bayer, Megan Lachinski, and I are here to talk about how the 2025 New York Film Festival (NYFF63) is going so far including, the Centerpiece North American Premiere of "Father Mother Sister Brother," the announcement of a "Secret Screening" tomorrow night, and more. We also talk about the AFI FEST lineup and other recent announcements in the world of awards season...

For this week's main podcast review, Josh Parham, Joselyn Safadi, Dan Bayer, and Giovanni Lago join me to review and discuss the latest film from Benny Safdie (his first solo directorial credit after working with his brother, Josh, throughout his career), "The Smashing Machine," starring Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten, and Oleksandr Usyk. Based on the 2002 documentary "The Sma...

"The Alabama Solution" is an independent American documentary film about the prison system in Alabama from the perspective of incarcerated inmates, from footage they recorded with contraband phones. The documentary, directed by Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman, premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews. Jarecki and Kaufman were kind enough to spend some time speaking with us...

"Orwell: 2+2=5" is a documentary film, directed and produced by Raoul Peck. It follows the life and career of George Orwell, examining how his political observations remain relevant in the present day, particularly the lessons from his novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four." Damian Lewis narrates the film as Orwell. The film premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in the Cannes Premiere section, where it...

"Black Rabbit" is an American crime thriller television miniseries created by Zach Baylin and Kate Susman for Netflix, starring Jude Law and Jason Bateman. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released on Netflix on September 18th. It tells the story of the owner of a New York City hotspot (Law) who allows his chaotic brother (Bateman) back in his life, opening the door...

"Bone Lake" is an American independent horror thriller film directed by Mercedes Bryce Morgan and written by Joshua Friedlander. It stars Maddie Hasson, Alex Roe, Andra Nechita, and Marco Pigossi. It tells the story of a couple whose romantic getaway to the secluded Bone Lake takes an unexpected turn when they are forced to share a mansion with a mysterious and alluring couple. As tensions escalat...

"Anemone" is a psychological drama film directed by Ronan Day-Lewis in his feature directorial debut, from a screenplay he co-wrote with his father, three-time Academy Award winner Daniel Day-Lewis, who also stars in the lead role. It features the latter's return to acting for the first time since "Phantom Thread" in 2017, alongside Sean Bean and Samantha Morton. The film had its world premiere at...

"Zootopia 2" is the highly anticipated upcoming animated sequel to the Academy Award-winning "Zootopia" (2016). Actors Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, and Shakira reprise their roles from the first film, joined by newcomers Ke Huy Quan, Fortune Feimster, Andy Samberg, David Strathairn, Patrick Warburton, and Quinta Brunson. The film follows Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde as they pursue Zoo...

For Episode 459, Nadia Dalimonte, Dan Bayer, Megan Lachinski, Lauren LaMagna, Tom O'Brien, and I are here to talk about the start of the 2025 New York Film Festival (NYFF63), including the Opening Night North American Premiere of "After The Hunt," the world premiere of "Anemone," and more. For this week's poll, for the return to the big screen for three-time Academy Award winner Daniel Day-Lewis,...

For this week's main podcast review, Josh Parham, Cody Dericks, Giovanni Lago, Brendan Hodges, and Will Mavity join me to review and discuss the latest film from Paul Thomas Anderson, "One Battle After Another," starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti. Inspired by the 1990 novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon, the film follows an ex-revol...

"Eleanor The Great" is a drama film directed by Scarlett Johansson (making her feature directorial debut) and written by Tory Kamen, which had its world premiere at the Un Certain Regard section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival where it received positive reviews for June Squibb's lead performance. It stars Squibb, Erin Kellyman, Jessica Hecht, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Squibb and Kellyman were kind en...

"In Your Dreams" is an upcoming American animated adventure fantasy comedy film directed by Alex Woo, and co-directed by Erik Benson from a script by Woo and Benson and a story by Woo, Benson, and Stanley Moore. The film stars Craig Robinson, Simu Liu, Cristin Milioti, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, Elias Janssen, Gia Carides, Omid Djalili, SungWon Cho, and Zachary Noah Piser. Produced by Netflix Animatio...

"All of You" is a science fiction romantic drama film directed and co-written by William Bridges. It stars Brett Goldstein, Imogen Poots, Zawe Ashton, Steven Cree, and Jenna Coleman. It premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival and received positive reviews for its premise, performances, and chemistry from Goldstein and Poots, as well as its writing. Bridges was kind enough to spen...

THIS IS A PREVIEW PODCAST. NOT THE FULL REVIEW. Please check out the full podcast review on our Patreon Page by subscribing over at - https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture For this week's second podcast review, Sara Clements, Giovanni Lago, and Alyssa Christian join me to review and discuss the latest film from Academy Award-nominated director Paul Greengrass, "The Lost Bus," starring Matthew Mc...

For Episode 458, Nadia Dalimonte, Dan Bayer, Alyssa Christian, Tom O'Brien, and I are here to preview the 2025 New York Film Festival (NYFF63). To tie into that, for this week's poll, we're asking, "Which Films From NYFF63 Are You Most Looking Forward To Seeing?" We also reveal the winner of last week's poll, where we asked "Which Films Are You Most Excited To See From The 2025 Toronto Internation...

For this week's main podcast review, Ema Sasic, Katie Johnson and Joselyn Safadi join me to review and discuss the latest film from Kogonada, "A Big Bold Beautiful Journey," starring Colin Farrell, Margot Robbie, Kevin Kline, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Lily Rabe, Jodie Turner-Smith, Billy Magnussen, and Sarah Gadon. Written by Seth Reiss, the fantasy romance film tells the story of a pair of strangers...

"Plainclothes" is an independent romantic thriller drama film directed by Carmen Emmi and starring Russell Tovey, Tom Blyth, Maria Dizzia, Christian Cooke, Gabe Fazio, Amy Forsyth, and John Bedford Lloyd. It premiered earlier this year at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, where it received positive reviews for its performances, '90s aesthetic, and direction from Emmi. It went on to win the Special...

"A Big Bold Beautiful Journey" is the latest film from Kogonada, a romantic fantasy starring Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell, Kevin Kline, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, that tells the story of a pair of strangers (Robbie and Farrell) and the unimaginable journey that ties them together. Kogonada was kind enough to spend time speaking with us about his work and experience making the film, which you can li...

THIS IS A PREVIEW PODCAST. NOT THE FULL EPISODE. Please check out the full podcast episode on our Patreon Page by subscribing over at - https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture The 77th annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held last night! Daniel Howat and Giovanni Lago initially joined me to recap the show on Sunday night, but unfortunately, we forgot to hit record. As a result, Giovanni Lago and I w...

"Lost In The Jungle" is a documentary film about four siblings who survived 40 days in the Colombian jungle after a plane crash, directed by Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, and Juan Camilo Cruz. It premiered at the Telluride Film Festival to positive reviews and is now available to stream online. Chai Vasarhelyi and Camilo Cruz were kind enough during the Telluride Film Festival to spend ti...

For Episode 457, Ema Sasic, Dan Bayer, Giovanni Lago and I are back from the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival to deliver our super-sized recap of all the films we saw and what impact they will have on the Oscar race, including this year's People's Choice Award Winners (You can also listen to our previous podcasts recapping the Venice and Telluride Film Festivals). We reveal the winner of l...

For this week's main podcast review, Dan Bayer and Giovanni Lago join me to review and discuss "The Long Walk," starring Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Roman Griffin Davis, Jordan Gonzalez, Josh Hamilton, Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill. It is an adaptation of Stephen King's 1979 novel of the same name, written by "Strange Darling" filmmaker JT Mo...

"Twinless" is an American indie black comedy psychological drama film written, directed, co-produced, and co-starring James Sweeney alongside Dylan O'Brien. It had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, where it received critical acclaim for its direction, writing, and performances and won the Audience Award. Sweeney and O'Brien were kind enough to...

"The Threesome" is an American romantic comedy drama film starring Zoey Deutch, Jonah Hauer-King, and Ruby Cruz, directed by Chad Hartigan, and written by Ethan Ogilby. The film had its world premiere at the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival, where it received positive reviews for its screenplay, three main performances, humor, and nuance in such a precarious situation. Deutch, Hauer-King, and...

"The Baltimorons" is an independent American comedy film directed by Jay Duplass, who co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Strassner. Strassner, Liz Larsen, and Olivia Luccardi star in the movie. It premiered at the 2025 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival and received positive reviews for its writing, chemistry between Strassner and Larsen, and Duplass's understated but effective direction, mak...