The Next Best Picture Podcast

The Next Best Series Podcast is back with Megan Lachinski, Giovanni Lago, Nadia Dalimonte, Daniel Howat, and Alyssa Christian for Episode 55, where they discuss the latest television shows and, more importantly, reveal their final winner predictions for the 77th Annual Emmy Primetime Awards on Sunday, September 14th. The Creative Arts Emmy Award winners have already been announced, and this conver...

The 2025 Venice Film Festival has concluded. While most of us are in Toronto at the moment, Cody Dericks and Josh Parham took some time after they got home from Venice to discuss the international film festival. World premieres discussed include "Bugonia," "Jay Kelly," "Frankenstein," "The Testament of Ann Lee," "A House of Dynamite," "The Voice of Hind Rajab," "No Other Choice," "The Smashing Mac...

For this week's main podcast review, Josh Parham, Giovanni Lago, Daniel Howat, Brendan Hodges, and Tom O'Brien join me to review and discuss the latest Spike Lee joint, "Highest 2 Lowest," starring Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera & ASAP Rocky. It is an English-language remake and reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 Japanese film High and Low, itself based on the 1959 novel...

"Splitsville" is a comedy film directed by Michael Angelo Covino, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Kyle Marvin. The pair previously worked together on "The Climb," but this time around, they also looped in stars Dakota Johnson (who also serves as the film's producer), Adria Arjona, Nicholas Braun, David Castañeda, O-T Fagbenle, Charlie Gillespie, and Simon Webster to tell the story of two couple...

The 2025 Telluride Film Festival has concluded. Unfortunately, Will Mavity had to leave early, and J Don Birnam wasn't staying with us this year, so it was just Daniel Howat and me as we take you through all of the movies we saw over the Labor Day weekend. From world premieres such as "Hamnet," "Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere," "Ballad Of A Small Player," "Tuner," and "Hamlet," to Sundance a...

"Love, Brooklyn" is an American independent drama film, directed by Rachael Abigail Holder in her directorial debut, from a screenplay by Paul Zimmerman. It stars André Holland, Nicole Beharie, DeWanda Wise, Roy Wood Jr., Cassandra Freeman, and Cadence Reese, and tells the story of three Brooklynites who navigate love, loss, career, and friendship. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where...

For this week's main podcast review, Giovanni Lago, Joselyn Safadi, and guest Jonathan Fujii join me to review and discuss the latest film from Darren Aronofsky, "Caught Stealing" starring Austin Butler, Regina King, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D'Onofrio, Griffin Dunne, Benito A Martínez Ocasio, Action Bronson & Carol Kane. A lighter (by Aronofsky's standards) and fun effort f...

"The Toxic Avenger" is a 2023 American superhero black comedy splatter film written and directed by Macon Blair. It is the fifth installment, a reboot of the "The Toxic Avenger" film series, and a remake of the 1984 film. The film stars Peter Dinklage as the title character, alongside Jacob Tremblay, Taylour Paige, Julia Davis, Jonny Coyne, Elijah Wood, and Kevin Bacon. It premiered as the opening...

"The Roses" is a satirical black comedy film directed by Jay Roach from a screenplay by Tony McNamara that is based on the 1981 novel "The War of the Roses" by Warren Adler, and a remake of the 1989 Danny DeVito film starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. The new film stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Colman, Andy Samberg, and Kate McKinnon, delivering highly comedic performances backed by...

"Your Friends & Neighbors" is an American dark comedy crime drama television series from Jonathan Tropper for Apple TV+, starring Jon Hamm, Amanda Peet, Olivia Munn, Mark Tallman, Hoon Lee, Lena Hall, and Aimee Carrero. The series, released earlier this spring, received positive reviews. It has been renewed for a second season and is nominated for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music, compo...

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, Dan Bayer, and guest Rendy Jones join me to review and discuss the animated global phenomenon, "Kpop Demon Hunters," starring Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo-seop, May Hong, Ji-young Yo...

"Adolescence" is a British television psychological crime drama series created by Emmy nominees Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham and directed by Emmy nominee Philip Barantini. It centers on a 13-year-old schoolboy, Jamie Miller (Emmy nominee Owen Cooper), who is arrested after the murder of a girl in his school. Each of its episodes was shot in one continuous take. The limited series received critic...

For Episode 456, I am joined by Ema Sasic, Dan Bayer & Will Mavity to preview the 2025 Venice and Telluride Film Festivals. We reveal the winner of last week's poll, where we asked for all of the upcoming fall film festivals, "Which 2025 Fall Film Festival Films Are You Most Excited To See?" For this week's poll, for the Telluride Film Festival, we're asking, "Which Best Picture Nominee Screened A...

For this week's main podcast review, Nadia Dalimonte, Dan Bayer, Katie Johnson & Joseln Safadi join me to review and discuss the latest film from Ethan Coen, "Honey Don't!," starring Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza, Charlie Day, and Chris Evans. The second in a "lesbian B-movie trilogy" following Coen and co-writer/producer Tricia Cooke's "Drive-Away Dolls" (2024), the film premiered at the Cannes...

"Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story" is the second season of the American biographical crime drama anthology television series Monster, created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan for Netflix. The season centers on the 1989 parricides of José (Javier Bardem) and Kitty Menendez (Chloë Sevigny), who were killed by their sons, Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and Erik (Cooper Koch). It uses the Ra...

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 Our 2009 retrospective has come to an end with our final review, that year's Best Picture Oscar winner, Kathryn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Evangeline Lilly, Ralph Fienne...

"Lurker" is an independent psychological drama thriller film written and directed by Alex Russell and stars Théodore Pellerin, Archie Madekwe, Zack Fox, Havana Rose Liu, Wale Onayemi, Daniel Zolghadri, and Sunny Suljic. It premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, where it received strong reviews for its writing, direction, performances, and music. Russell, Pellerin, and Madekwe were all kind...

"Eden" is an American survival thriller film directed by Ron Howard and written by Noah Pink from a story by Pink and Howard. It stars Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby, Sydney Sweeney, Daniel Brühl, Felix Kammerer, Toby Wallace, and Richard Roxburgh. It is based on the true story of a few European settlers arriving at Floreana Island, in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. It premiered at the Tor...

"6:00 P.M." is the twelfth episode of the American medical drama television series "The Pitt." The episode was written by co-executive producer Joe Sachs and series creator R. Scott Gemmill, and directed by Amanda Marsalis. The series is set in Pittsburgh, following the staff of the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital ER (nicknamed "The Pitt") during a 15-hour emergency department shift. The series...

"Say Nothing" is a historical drama limited series created by Joshua Zetumer and produced by FX Productions, adapted from the 2018 book by Patrick Radden Keefe, and details four decades in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. The series premiered in late 2024 and garnered strong word of mouth, resulting in positive reviews, a Peabody Award, and now, an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for...

Since it premiered in 2009, "RuPaul's Drag Race" has steadily grown to become one of the most popular reality competition shows on television. It has won a total of 29 Primetime Emmys and spawned multiple spin-offs, including the ever-popular "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars," which just completed its 10th season, and numerous international competitions. For its 17th season, "RuPaul's Drag Race" rece...

"The White Lotus" returned for a third season this year, once again, with all eight episodes written and directed by Mike White. The season features an ensemble cast of Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Walton Goggins, Sarah Catherine Hook, Jason Isaacs, Lalisa Manobal, Michelle Monaghan, Sam Nivola, Lek Patravadi, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Tayme Thapthimthong, Aimee Lou Wood, Sam Rockwell, an...

The Next Best Series Podcast is back for Episode 54 to discuss the latest television shows, including Lena Dunham's "Too Much," Noah Hawley's "Alien: Earth," "The Hunting Wives," what is going on with "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," and the latest outrageous season of "South Park." We also advocate for who we believe Emmy Award voters should consider when casting their winner ballots for the...

For Episode 455, I am joined by Katie Johnson, Josh Parham & Tom O'Brien to discuss the 2025 New York Film Festival (NYFF) Spotlight announcement and the final additions to the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) lineup. We reveal the winner of last week's poll for NYFF63, where we asked, "Which Film From The 2025 New York Film Festival Main Slate Are You Most Looking Forward To Seeing...

For this week's main podcast review, Josh Parham, Dan Bayer, Giovanni Lago & Joseln Safadi join me to review the sequel to 2021's "Nobody," "Nobody 2" starring Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, John Ortiz, RZA, Colin Hanks, Christopher Lloyd, and Sharon Stone. With Indonesian action director Timo Tjahjanto stepping into the director's chair and returning screenwriter Derek Kolstad (along with Aaron Ra...