The Next Best Picture Podcast

"Blue Film" is a 2025 indie drama film written and directed by Elliot Tuttle, starring Kieron Moore as a camboy who agrees to spend the night with an anonymous client (Reed Birney), only to discover a shocking tie to his past. It had its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival last year and received positive reviews for Tuttle's screenplay and the performances from Moore and Bi...

"Wuthering Heights" is a 2026 romantic period drama film produced, written, and directed by Emerald Fennell. Loosely based on the 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, the film is a reinterpretation intended by Fennell to "recreate the feeling of a teenage girl reading this book for the first time." Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi respectively star as Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, alongside Hong Chau, S...

For Episode 490, with one week before we set off for Cannes, I am joined by Katie Johnson, Dan Bayer, Amy Kim, and Tom O'Brien as we discuss the new rules announced by the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for the 99th Oscars and Audiences. For this week's poll question, to tie into the announcement, we're asking everyone: "Which Film Festival Prize Winner From The Last Decade Would You Ha...

For this week's main podcast review, Josh Parham, Dan Bayer, and Cody Dericks join me to review and discuss "The Devil Wears Prada 2" starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Justin Theroux, Kenneth Branagh, and Stanley Tucci. A sequel to the 2006 film "The Devil Wears Prada," the film reunites the old cast and crew to tell the story of Runway Magazine fighting to survive in an era where...

"Two Pianos" (or in French, "Deux pianos") is a 2025 French romantic drama film directed by Arnaud Desplechin, starring François Civil as a virtuoso French pianist who returns from Asia to experience an impossible love story in his hometown of Lyon. The cast also includes Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Charlotte Rampling, and Hippolyte Girardot. The film had its world premiere in the Gala Presentations sect...

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 2008 retrospective continues with John Patrick Shanley's adaptation of his own Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony Award-winning 2004 stage play "Doubt: A Parable" with "Doubt" starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Am...

"Hokum" is a supernatural horror film written and directed by Damian McCarthy, starring Adam Scott, Peter Coonan, David Wilmot, Florence Ordesh, Michael Patric, Will O'Connell, Brendan Conroy, and Austin Amelio. Scott plays an author who travels to a remote part of Ireland to spread the ashes of his deceased parents, unaware that his rented accommodation could be haunted. The film premiered at the...

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, Nadia Dalimonte, Dan Bayer, Sara Clements, Larry Fried, and Brendan Hodges join me to discuss David Lowery's newest film, "Mother Mary," starring Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel, Hunter Scha...

"Omaha" is a 2025 American drama film directed by Cole Webley (making his feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by Robert Machoian ("The Killing Of Two Lovers" and "The Integrity Of Joseph Chambers"). The film stars John Magaro as a father who takes his two children on a cross-country trip after a family tragedy. It had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival as an entry in th...

For Episode 489, I am joined by Nadia Dalimonte, Megan Lachinski, and Larry Fried as we discuss the ongoing debate between Critics and Audiences, which has been given renewed attention this week with the release of "Michael." We also discuss the additions to the 2026 Cannes Film Festival across multiple sections, including James Gray's "Paper Tiger" and Zachary Wigon's "Victorian Psycho." For this...

For this week's main podcast review, Katie Johnson, Josh Parham, Giovanni Lago, and Daniel Howat join me to review and discuss "Michael" starring Jaafar Jackson, Nia Long, Juliano Valdi, KeiLyn Durrel Jones, Laura Harrier, Jessica Sula, Mike Myers, Miles Teller, and Colman Domingo. Directed by Antoine Fuqua and with direct involvement from the Jackson estate, the film tells the life story of mega-...

"Apex" is a 2026 survival action thriller film directed by Baltasar Kormákur, written by Jeremy Robbins, and starring Charlize Theron, Taron Egerton, and Eric Bana. It tells the story of a rock climber in the wild who is hunted by a hunter as she struggles to survive. Feature debut screenwriter Robbins was kind enough to spend some time talking with us about his work and experience making the film...

"Omaha" is a 2025 American drama film directed by Cole Webley and written by Robert Machoian. The film stars John Magaro as a father who takes his two children on a cross-country trip after a family tragedy. The independent film had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, where it received positive reviews for Magaro's performance. Magaro was kind en...

"Mother Mary" is a psychological drama-thriller film written and directed by David Lowery. It stars Anne Hathaway as the iconic pop star, Mother Mary, who reunites with her estranged best friend and former costume designer (played by Michaela Coel) on the eve of her comeback performance as long-buried wounds between the two rise to the surface and a more sinister presence emerges. The film also st...

"Fuze" is a 2025 British crime thriller heist film directed by David Mackenzie and written by Ben Hopkins, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Theo James, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Sam Worthington. Set in London, there is a citywide evacuation when an unexploded World War II bomb is unearthed at a busy construction site. Amid the escalating tension and chaos, a daring criminal operation is set in motion --...

"Over Your Dead Body" is an American action-comedy-thriller film directed by Jorma Taccone and written by Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney. It is an English-language remake of the 2021 film "The Trip" starring Jason Segel, Samara Weaving, Paul Guilfoyle, Keith Jardine, Timothy Olyphant, and Juliette Lewis. The film had its world premiere at the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival, where it receiv...

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 Next Best Series Podcast is back as Alyssa Christian and Giovanni Lago join me to discuss the latest series, shows, and awards season updates for all things television! On this new episode, we discuss our first Emmy nomi...

"I Swear" is a 2025 British biographical drama film directed, written, and produced by Kirk Jones. It is based on the true life story of John Davidson, a Scottish man with severe Tourette syndrome who was the subject of the 1989 television documentary "John's Not Mad." The film stars Robert Aramayo as Davidson, alongside Maxine Peake, Shirley Henderson, and Peter Mullan in supporting roles, with S...

"Amrum" is a 2025 German historical drama film directed by Fatih Akin and co-written by Akin with Hark Bohm, based on Bohm's childhood on the German island of Amrum during the last months of World War II. It stars Jasper Billerbeck, Kian Köppke, Laura Tonke, Diane Kruger, Detlev Buck and Matthias Schweighöfer. The film had its world premiere in the Cannes Premiere section of the 2025 Cannes Film F...

For Episode 488, I am joined by Aaron Isenstein, Daniel Howat, and Giovanni Lago as Howat recaps his experience at this year's CinemaCon and the films showcased. We also discuss the Cannes sidebar announcements, including Critics' Week, Acid, and Directors' Fortnight. For this week's poll question, we're asking everyone: "Which Upcoming Movies From CinemaCon 2026 Are You Most Excited To See?" and...

For this week's main podcast review, Katie Johnson, Josh Parham, and Cody Dericks join me to review and discuss "Lee Cronin's The Mummy," starring Jack Reynor, Laia Costa, May Calamawy, Verónica Falcón, and Natalie Grace. A reimagining of "The Mummy" franchise (Not THAT "Mummy" franchise starring Brendan Fraser), the film is produced by James Wan and Jason Blum and brings a much darker, more sinis...

"Wasteman" is a 2025 British prison film directed by Cal McMau from a screenplay by Hunter Andrews and Eoin Doran. The film stars David Jonsson and Tom Blyth as incarcerated cellmates who have to do what they need to do in order to survive the prison's brutal conditions. The film premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, where it received positive reviews for McMau's intense and g...

"Erupcja" is a 2025 drama film directed and produced by Pete Ohs, from a screenplay by Ohs, Jeremy O. Harris, Charli XCX, Lena Góra, and Will Madden. It stars XCX, Góra, O. Harris, and Madden. It had its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival in the Centerpiece section, and also played in New York at Film at Lincoln Center as part of the New Directors, New Films program. Th...

"The Christophers" is a 2025 black comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Ed Solomon. It stars Sir Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel, Jessica Gunning, and James Corden. The film premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, where it received positive reviews from critics for Ed Solomon's screenplay and the performances of Sir Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel, mostly in a cha...

"Mile End Kicks" is a 2025 Canadian romantic comedy film written and directed by Chandler Levack. Based in part on Levack's own young adulthood before becoming a professional music critic and filmmaker, the film stars Barbie Ferreira as Grace Pine, a young woman who moves to Montreal, Quebec, in 2011 to write a book about Alanis Morissette's album Jagged Little Pill but instead becomes romanticall...