Thank you so much for listening. The Next Best Picture Podcast is proud to be a part of the Evergreen Podcasts Network. You can subscribe to us anywhere you listen to podcasts or listen in the embedded player below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you’re feeling generous, you enjoy what you hear, and you want to hear more, please help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month, and you’ll receive some exclusive podcast content from us, including this review ad-free.

You can follow Matt, Katie, Cody, Lauren & Will and hear more of their thoughts on the Oscars and Film on X at @NextBestPicture, @Katiereads1878, @codymonster91, @laurenlamango & @mavericksmovies

The post The Next Best Picture Podcast – “Clayface” appeared first on Next Best Picture.

Thank you so much for listening. The Next Best Picture Podcast is proud to be a part of the Evergreen Podcasts Network. You can subscribe to us anywhere you listen to podcasts or listen in the embedded player below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you’re feeling generous, you enjoy what you hear, and you want to hear more, please help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month, and you’ll receive some exclusive podcast content from us.

The post The Next Best Picture Podcast – Interview With “The Only Living Pickpocket In New York” Filmmaker Noah Segan appeared first on Next Best Picture.

THE CAST – Deborah Ann Woll, Jeffrey Donovan, Gretchen Corbett, Phillip Andre Botello & Will Hochman

THE TEAM – Jordan Downey (Director/Writer) & Kevin Stewart (Writer)

THE RUNNING TIME – 111 Minutes

Jordan Downey’s “The Cycle,” coming to Shudder, offers one of the stranger father-daughter dynamics put to film. A daughter who hasn’t seen her father since she was four is tasked with determining his cause of death when his corpse turns up at the scene of a brutal double murder. As a forensic anthropologist, Meg (Deborah Ann Woll) works with the dead for a living and now must untangle the mysteries of a man without being sure she wants the answers. This creates a macabre horror atmosphere born of family wreckage, beginning as a forensic procedural and ending as something like a classic creature feature. While the latter is weaker in execution than the investigative drama pieces, it’s still one of the year’s stronger genre releases, with Stephen King even saying to “put it on your calendar.”

The film opens with crime-scene photos of a skeleton, then flips through image after image while the credits roll, with the click of a camera on the soundtrack standing in for the past. A woman works through them late one night at a diner, and the owner doesn’t mind her staying after closing. Meg is helping a university with a cold case from its archives. She dictates into a tape recorder, trying to identify a young man from his bones. The diner owner spots the skeleton’s clothing as an early-70s service uniform, and she confirms: 1973. Then comes daylight and something worse: a home where the victims have been torn down to bone, and a young cop on a bed staring at a huge blood spatter. The tone is grim from the onset.

A month after the killings, Meg is at a body farm showing officers how decomposition looks at every stage so they can solve cases faster. She’s clearly the best in her field, has identified remains from fragments most wouldn’t recognize as bone, and approaches her job with enthusiasm. Her description – understanding someone’s life in reverse – becomes the film’s thesis.

The previous month’s case lands on her desk: a mother and her six-year-old daughter, torn apart, plus a third body that doesn’t belong. Its DNA comes back as Meg’s father’s. He left when she was four, took the life savings, and left her and her mother with nothing. She never knew if he was alive. Now he’s back as evidence. The cop who comes to her for help is Ian (Will Hochman), a young officer out of his depth who needs her expertise. She’d rather avoid the reunion but agrees; perhaps dissecting her father’s wounds will help her work through her own.

Woll is fantastic in the role. Meg could have been a standard brilliant-investigator type, but she’s quick, a little odd, and happy to spin out theories while Ian sits in awe. Her panic attack, as troubling images of her father flood back, is the best moment of the performance, capturing all the upset she has kept buried. Solving this case is profoundly personal.

The investigation moves to an overcast seaside town, a setting that, as “Widow’s Bay” recently showed, does much of the storytelling on its own. Meg’s examination of her father’s body raises stranger questions about how he ended up in a field near a murder scene, and the more she looks, the less adds up. Her findings clash with the original autopsy, and she pushes to be officially attached to the case.

“The Cycle” deserves praise for its script. Downey and co-writer Kevin Stewart have crafted characters that mostly defy stereotypes with real emotional depth. This shows best in scenes like the one where Ian describes the strained relationship between his father and grandfather and says some things get heavier the longer we carry them. The line fits Meg’s years of carrying her father’s absence, and Ian’s understanding of Meg keeps him from being a one-note young cop. In another scene, Meg’s mother (Gretchen Corbett) recalls the husband who disappeared, adding more depth to the story. Parallels, like Ian’s issues with his own father, Marks (Jeffrey Donovan), also a cop, are touched on without being fully explored. Through these conversations, Meg reveals observations about her fractured relationship with her father and her profession: she chases what’s lost on the wind by studying what decays right in front of her.

The case widens: the double murder and the dead father resemble other cases, all involving something that rips flesh apart. Another body turns up. The film handles this expansion well, never losing sight of its center: Meg’s father. When the links are revealed, they deepen the case in a shocking way.

Co-writer Kevin Stewart also shot the film, and the visuals do as much storytelling as the script. The cut from the diner at night to the daytime murder scene makes the house look darker than the diner, even though the sun is up. The investigation plays in cold blue-gray tones, with the camera spending real time on forensic work, recalling films like Fincher’s “Seven” and “Zodiac“. Lighting does much of the work creating the film’s atmosphere, and Nick Soole’s score stays moody throughout. The score and editing build a sustained sense of waiting for something bad to happen, while the sound design makes everything spooky even when horrors are unseen.

After a long stretch as a grounded investigative drama, it commits to being a creature feature, and the change can feel like a different movie has started. A classic Universal monster, ghouls-and-ghosts-type vibe is something you rarely see anymore, and it works, especially with its use of practical effects. But the action scenes slip. The camera gets too close and shaky to let you follow what’s happening, which is a shame given how controlled the rest of the film looks.

“The Cycle” is full of spook and intrigue. It ends with emotional closure for Meg, who faces down the monster she believed her father to be and learns how wrong she was about almost everything. Woll anchors it, the writing gives its supporting cast weight, and the practical creature work is something the genre could use more of. Stephen King was right…put it on your calendar!

The post “THE CYCLE” appeared first on Next Best Picture.

THE CAST – Michael Hsu Rosen, Cole Doman, Nico Greetham, Jared Reinfeldt & Robin de Jesus

THE TEAM – Gary Jaffe (Director/Writer)

THE RUNNING TIME – 87 Minutes

Alex (Michael Hsu Rosen) thought he was over his ex, John Michael (Cole Doman), but then the bastard had to go and rescue him from a toxic relationship with a music producer. John Michael was so worried about Alex that he flew from the East CoastEast Coast to California not long before his own wedding. Now, the old feelings are back, making Alex’s role as John Michael’s best man pretty awkward. Joining them for a bachelor-party weekend in the woods, their college besties Simon (Jared Reinfeldt) and Luis (Robin de Jesus) can’t wait for sparks to fly. Into this charged mix drops Kit (Nico Greetham), John Michael’s best friend since childhood, who just so happens to have recently come out as bisexual. Just how many sparks will fly this weekend? And will any of them set fire to the rain?

When you assemble an ensemble as strong as Gary Jaffe has for his debut feature “Before I Do,” you don’t need much else. Each of the five cast members are strong individually, but their chemistry together elevates Jaffe’s alternately intimate and hilarious screenplay. Each character gets at least one big moment, giving everyone a chance to dig deep and show plenty of personality. The characters appear as stereotypes at first, Simon’s the sex-forward himbo, Luis the sassy elder, etc., but gain depth the longer we spend with them, much like making new friends, which is appropriate, since between the warm, closely observed screenplay and the vibrant performances, watching “Before I Do” really does feel like being welcomed into a new friend group.

And what a group they are! Each one is unique and lovable in their way. The focus is on the will-they/wont-they of Alex and John Michael, and even though their characters don’t pop as much as the others, Doman and Hsu Rosen make for a pretty dreamy pairing. Each brings out such sweetness in the other, and they both make it clear that while they aren’t exactly performing in front of the others, they feel more comfortable with just each other. De Jesus, as always, steals the film whenever he’s onscreen, with line readings sharpened to a fine point. Reinfeldt’s disarming innocence makes him a fantastic foil for everyone in the group, bringing a unique take on a familiar character type. As the group outsider, Greetham has an appealing affability that makes his faux pas as a newly-out bisexual even funnier. Together, they’re a charming group, and their endearing antics make them relatable to any adult gay man; suffice it to say that from now on, gay culture is identifying as the Meryl Streep character you are closest to, then doing karaoke in drag as that character.

It’s not all camp and quirk, though. Jaffe’s screenplay captures the rhythms of life: how different people bring out different sides of you, how certain people will always have a hold on you, and how group dynamics change both in the short and long term, not to mention how friendship can turn sexual or romantic. This makes the film feel true to life even in its more obviously scripted moments. Thankfully, those moments have an appealing simplicity to them, never reaching for clever words even when the situation stretches credulity. The autumnal cinematography and covetable clothes contribute to the film’s enjoyably low-key vibes, creating a warm and cozy hangout movie that only gets better the more friends you watch it with. For gay men, “Before I Do” offers a perfect (if idealized) vision of ourselves and our friend groups; for everyone else, it’s a highly enjoyable, low-stakes dramedy with some swoony romance sprinkled on top. Much like Alex’s earworm original pop song, “Can’t Stop Dancing With You,” it’s too simply pleasurable to watch to not keep hitting repeat.

The post “BEFORE I DO” appeared first on Next Best Picture.

THE CAST – Nicholas Galitzine, Bill Skarsgård, Ray Nicholson, Tom Francis, Brent Comer, Jack Ingram, Dominic Bogart & Pat McAfee

THE TEAM – Peter Berg (Director/Writer) & Mark L. Smith (Writer)

THE RUNNING TIME – 127 Minutes

Peter Berg’s latest film “The Mosquito Bowl” brings together two subjects that he’s been revered for in the past with otherfilms: football (“Friday Night Lights”) and war (“Lone Survivor“). Based on Buzz Bissinger’s book of the same name, Berg’s latest follows four celebrated college players who enlist after the attack on Pearl Harbor and find themselves swept from the world of cheering stadiums, intense competition, and adulation into the Pacific at a crucial point during WWII.Berg frames their story as a clash between youthful confidence and the brutal realities of combat that culminates in a real football game played by Marines in the shadow of the Okinawa campaign. It’s an interesting look back on a time when local town heroes and borderline celebrities would put themselves on the line for something they believed was bigger than them (practically unheard of today), but does it live up to Peter Berg’s best films?

John McLaughry (Nicholas Galitzine), Bob Bauman (Bill Skarsgård), Tony Butkovich (Ray Nicholson), and David Schreiner (Tom Francis) begin the story as standout college athletes with bright futures and reputations built on the gridiron. After the United States enters World War II, each leaves their football dreams and their families behind to serve in the Marines. Their path takes them through boot camp and into a war that bears little resemblance to the contests they once understood and were fairly confident they could conquer. As the men confront the Pacific campaign and its devastating losses, the bonds formed through football and military service become central to their survival and their grip on reality as the brutal effects of war rip through their once hardened psyches. The film also recounts the unusual but necessary game that gives the film its title. It was a moment of play and camaraderie amid a series of excruciating, bloody battles that changed the young men who took the field, giving them hope and strength to press on.

Peter Berg takes two things that he has done really well before, football and war, and brings them together in his latest film, but with mixed results. It’s a very bleak film, and I’m not just saying that because of the monochrome-looking cinematography. It shows the ugly side of war, with that old, often-used saying: “war is hell.” To that end, there is not much new here that you haven’t seen in a dozen other war action dramas, but in some ways it feels like a welcome return to form for Berg, whose previous best works all included some form of spectacle, with characters placed in dangerous situations they had to overcome. And “The Mosquito Bowl” definitely has its fair share of thrilling and pulverizing set pieces. The sound work, especially, is notable as bullets whisk across the screen, tearing through flesh with chaotic randomness. Explosions ring in the background, and screams of horror from the use of flamethrowers can be heard even after the credits stop rolling. Berg also uses slow motion quite frequently to allow his sound designers to play with thevolume levels, accentuating certain sounds while lowering others to create an almost suffocating feeling that effectively places you in the headspace of these four young men.

It’s all very harrowing stuff and impressive on a technical level, but the biggest issue with the film is that, aside from very surface-level introductions to its four main characters, it spends little time developing them. It feels like the movie justwants to move from one set piece to the next once everyone ships off to Japan. In some ways, “The Mosquito Bowl” football match feels more like the movie’s climax, simply because it feels different from everything else in the film and it allows more personality from the main four characters to shine through. It is uplifting and stands in nice contrast to the war and violence we’ve seen in other movies. But here we’re just seeing Peter Berg put his own stamp on it.

In many ways, it’s similar to “Lone Survivor” in that “The Mosquito Bowl” is following a small group of characters facing overwhelming odds they didn’t expect, as the Japanese soldiers prove to be a far different level of soldier than the American Marine. They will not surrender under any circumstances and would rather take their own life than admit defeat. Such horrific acts and displays of carnage shake these once unshakable young men to their core, rendering them almost as little boys again, who shudder in fear at the thought of having to face combat again. As the old saying goes, it’s all fun and games until, in this case, the bullets start flying. Each of the four characters approaches the war either with an innate sense of patriotic duty to defend and fight for their country, to return home to their families, or, in some cases, start new ones (all these young men were 24 at the time of this story), or with the belief that they can take their big-shot college football swagger from the field and onto the battlefield. Obviously, this is not the case. And even with their impressive physical gifts, which perhaps give them a certain level of endurance and strength over some of their fallen brothers, the randomness with which people can get killed in war does not care how strong, fast, or determined to survive you are.

Three of the four main characters deliver highly engaging performances you want to see more of, because the actors have fantastic screen presence that digs into the essence of what each man represented. However, the movie is most interested in the least interesting of them all: Nicholas Galitzine. It’s not his fault entirely; the movie just doesn’t give He-Man anything to do other than hope that he will make it back home to his girlfriend, which just doesn’t make for the mostcompelling of characters. Pat McAfee is a highly distracting presence as the unit’s drill instructor, who only shows up for a brief section of the movie to turn these young recruits into killing machines. But despite his flushed face, yelling, and incessant cursing, it feels like stunt casting meant to draw football fans, and perhaps professional wrestling fans, into what is ultimately an extremely macho and patriotic war film.

The film is most effective when the two pieces of its premise, the physical sport of football and the physical terror of battle, converge. Berg gives the action a forceful, immediate quality, emphasizing the scale and confusion of the violence that surrounds the men almost to a dizzying sense of confusion and overwhelming exhaustion. That approach suits the story’s focus on young people thrust into events they could neither control nor fully understand or prepare for. Yet the scale with which Berg stages the action scenes can also crowd out the individual lives that might’ve given those battles more emotional weight. A semblance of that emotion is found towards the end of the film, but that’s mostly thanks to the titular football game that takes place before the film’s true climax. It stands out specifically because it briefly restores a familiar set of rules that these young men are familiar with, where competitors don’t have to be enemies, and strength can be measured without deciding who lives or dies. Its warmth (deliberately shot to be much warmer than the rest of this very dark film) makes the surrounding destruction feel even more punishing as the youth are sent to fight wars started by older generations and throw away the promise their lives once held.

“The Mosquito Bowl” is a muscular war film from a strong director who just needs a good script to bring his tendency for action and spectacle to the screen with heart rather than just technical proficiency. Berg stages the combat with conviction, and the cast brings a believable presence and relatability to a true story of four young athletes forced to confront what their physical abilities cannot protect them from, no matter how hard they try. But the film’s relentless movement from one battle to the next leaves its central characters less fully drawn than their circumstances deserve. When it returns to the football field, the movie briefly finds a more affecting note that reminds us of the lives and shared pleasures that war interrupts. Told with respect for those who gave their lives for this country, it can’t help but feel derivative of greater works that have come before it despite engaging performances from Skarsgård, Nicholson, and Francis.

The post “THE MOSQUITO BOWL” appeared first on Next Best Picture.

THE CAST – Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet, Greg Wise & Hugh Grant

THE TEAM – Ang Lee (Director) & Emma Thompson (Writer)

THE RUNNING TIME – 136 Minutes

The exquisite 1995 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility” set a golden bar for reimagining literary classics from page to screen. Austen wrote the novel over 200 years ago, and while a lot has changed since then, Austen touched on notes of human behavior that have remained evergreen. Among them, how do we navigate between listening to our heads and our hearts? “Sense and Sensibility” has a remarkable universality in how astutely Austen wrote about people, and the 1995 film draws out her intricate characterizations to gorgeous effect. With the creative involvement of Ang Lee and Emma Thompson, this adaptation was destined for greatness and has lived up to it, becoming one of the greatest films ever made.

Standing out in a sea of ’90s period pieces, “Sense and Sensibility” caught lightning in a bottle. Ang Lee’s approach to social comedy and family relationship dynamics, as shown in his previous films “Eat Drink Man Woman” and “The Wedding Banquet,” lent itself perfectly to Austen’s world. Emma Thompson was hot off the heels of her Oscar-winning performance in “Howards End,” plus two additional Oscar nominations for “The Remains of the Day” and “In the Name of the Father.” Kate Winslet had burst onto the scene with her feature film debut, “Heavenly Creatures,” where her lively portrayal of Juliet Hulme became a source of casting inspiration for Marianne Dashwood’s intense emotionality and fierce passion. Hugh Grant popped up just before the full bloom of his charming rom-com era (circa “Notting Hill” and beyond). And it was a treat to see Alan Rickman play in a more romantic register, following his iconic work as the villainous Hans Gruber in “Die Hard.” “Sense and Sensibility” assembled phenomenal, once-in-a-generation talent to tell a timeless story.

Mr. Dashwood’s death (Tom Wilkinson) has left Mrs. Dashwood (Gemma Jones) and their daughters Elinor (Emma Thompson), Marianne (Kate Winslet), and Margaret (Emilie Francois) nearly penniless. Going against his father’s dying wish, John Dashwood (James Fleet) decides to keep most of the family inheritance for himself and his wife, Fanny (Harriet Walter). John and Fanny’s greed ultimately leaves the Dashwood women no choice but to leave the family’s Norland Park estate and find a new home. Thanks to the generosity of relatives Sir John Middleton (Robert Hardy) and Mrs. Jennings (Elizabeth Spriggs), a quaint Barton cottage in Devonshire becomes a safe haven. Once in the countryside, Marianne is drawn to the dreamy yet elusive John Willoughby (Greg Wise) and the perceptive older Colonel Brandon (Alan Rickman). As Brandon yearns from afar, Marianne falls deeply in love with Willoughby. Keeping composure as the eldest sister, Elinor guards her love for Fanny’s brother, Edward Ferrars (Hugh Grant), who has gone quiet since their romantic sparks at Norland. Mrs. Jennings, who fills her days by marrying everyone off, invites the Dashwood sisters to London and sets a domino effect of broken hearts and happily ever afters.

Within the first twenty minutes of the film, Lee and Thompson masterfully set up layered characterizations and pressing narrative stakes. The sublime heart of this adaptation starts on the page with Thompson’s screenplay, a remarkable balance between channeling and imagining Austen. Thompson makes subtle shifts that retain the novel’s essence while highlighting distinctive observations on romantic commitment. At the core, Elinor and Marianne’s sisterhood gives way to engaging tension between acting on logic and on impulse. Through their care for each other, they learn to balance sense and sensibility, leading both toward a deeper understanding of love. Two of the most gorgeous scenes, a melancholic Marianne reciting poetry in the rain and a joyously emotional Elinor reacting to news of Edward’s engagement, excel at showing us two integral experiences for these characters, as they come to know the true nature of their suitors.

Ang Lee’s direction complements the dialogue with delicate intentionality. Longing gazes and small gestures between characters are often where the magic happens. This is where the relationships find shape, and Lee brings a calm focus to convey several dynamics unfolding at once. He has an excellent handle on when a close-up of a character feels most significant, and when to paint a broader picture for establishing a landscape or how characters inhabit space. In a standout sequence, the simple act of Elinor and Edward walking through part of the Norland estate together catches everyone’s attention. Marianne looks up from her piano. Mrs. Dashwood passes by in the hallway with a satisfied grin. Then the camera cuts to a snobbish Fanny, looking down on everyone from one floor above. It’s brilliant direction that shows how Lee creates gentle anticipation through character observation.

The film radiates wit and a sparkling sense of humor you’d expect from Thompson’s sensibilities. She anchors the film with an extraordinary performance as Elinor, the eldest sister who leads her family by example. She personifies honor and duty while underplaying her romantic feelings for Edward, bottling them up into soulful, yearning stares. The weight of his absence and potentially unrequited love presses on Elinor for weeks, and however composed she may be on the surface, Thompson subtly reminds you of the agony bubbling underneath. She excels at pretending to be fine when her heart is anything but, and her chemistry with Kate Winslet radiates comforting sisterhood.

From the moment we first meet Marianne, playing a mournful tune at her piano, Winslet is a transfixing presence. She captivates the screen with passion and wears her heart on her sleeve. Her work carries a compelling innocence, as she does not yet know the ways of the world. When Marianne experiences heartbreak and sees through Willoughby’s elusiveness, Winslet excels at taking us on the character’s journey toward a more mature, introspective version of herself, without diminishing her spirit. In a standout scene of Colonel Brandon reciting poetry to Marianne, Winslet makes clear that as much as Marianne wants the fiery spark of romantic devotion, it’s also important to her to be loved and understood.

The film shines with an excellent ensemble across the board, a real treasure trove of British talent, brilliant at irony and wit. Alan Rickman’s hypnotic voice and physicality lend to Colonel Brandon’s quiet disposition. He brings understated charm and anticipation to a character of few words. Greg Wise is utterly charming as Willoughby and dashes into the film like a fairytale character, sweeping Marianne off her feet. Wise also excels at gradually drawing out Willoughby’s hidden motivations. In more contemporary terms, he embodies the all-too-relatable modern romance qualities of love bombing and ghosting.

As the loyal Edward, Hugh Grant stumbles into frame with an endearing awkwardness. While not a particularly interesting character on the page, Grant has enough star power to keep you engaged in Edward, building anticipation for his standout “My heart is and always will be yours” romantic declaration to Elinor. In the London-set scenes, Hugh Laurie and Imelda Staunton pop in as the amusing Mr. and Mrs. Palmer, dear acquaintances of Mrs. Jennings. It’s a treat to watch Laurie’s dry humor paired with the much more effusive personality of Staunton’s character. Harriet Walter steals every scene as Fanny and relishes every line of dialogue. Gemma Jones as Mrs. Dashwood often goes unnoticed in this all-star cast. She is stellar at bringing out the character’s romantic sensibilities, and her telltale reactions to pivotal conversations propel the story forward.

The crafts of “Sense and Sensibility” paint a gorgeous picture of romantic yearning and societal restraint. From the decorated Norland estate and the serene Devonshire countryside to the bustling London ballroom, each setting comes to life with Michael Coulter’s stunning cinematography. The period-accurate costume design by John Bright and Jenny Beavan (who herself went on to win two Oscars since) is a detailed extension of the characters’ personalities and social status. Patrick Doyle’s phenomenal score soothes you into the film’s opening credits, then sweeps in with more dramatic flair to heighten the emotional stakes. It’s one of the gentlest and most joyous pieces of music, fitting for the film’s tone.

“Sense and Sensibility” has stood the test of time, becoming one of the most revered literary adaptations. Ang Lee’s direction and Emma Thompson’s screenplay are a dream pairing, as both engage with the story so earnestly. Most impressively, the film shines as a standalone narrative and resonates profoundly, whether or not you’re well-versed in Jane Austen’s work. Thompson and Winslet bring out the comforting, complementary sisterhood between Elinor and Marianne, and their relationship is endlessly compelling. The film radiates hope amid economic and social disparity, as you root for the Dashwoods to thrive and feel independent and loved. It’s an astonishing film you can revisit at different stages of life and still feel inspired each time.

The post “SENSE AND SENSIBILITY” (1995) appeared first on Next Best Picture.

The Audience Choice Prize Longlist and selection of Unforgettables Honorees can be key harbingers of future awards. Last year, the eventual Oscar and BAFTA winner, “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” was on the Audience Choice Longlist, and Pavel Talankin was an Unforgettable Honoree.

This year’s Unforgettable Honorees, the on-camera collaborators who are the first announced winners for 2027, come from six films: Dr. Thaer Ahmad, Dr. Mark Perlmutter, and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa from “American Doctor,” E. Jean Carroll from “Ask E. Jean,” Soraya Akhlaghi from “A Fox Under a Pink Moon,” Billie Jean King from “Give Me the Ball,” Israa from “One in a Million,” and Amy Goodman from “Steal This Story, Please!”

Four of those films—“American Doctor,,” “Ask E. Jean,” “Give Me the Ball,” and “Steal This Story, Please!”—are also on the Audience Choice Prize Longlist, along with thirteen of the year’s most talked-about and acclaimed feature documentaries: “The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist,” “The Bend in the River,” “Cookie Queens,” “The Cycle of Love,” “Everest: The Other Side,” “Everybody to Kenmure Street,” “The History of Concrete,” “NAZA,” “The Oldest Person in the World,” “Once Upon a Time in Harlem,” “Time and Water,” “Wild Inside,” and “You Can See Everything.”

The eventual Oscar winner for Best Documentary Feature has been on the Audience Choice Longlist for each of the past eight years. Public voting to determine the ten films that will be nominated in the category will open on Monday, October 26th.

HBO Max led this year’s Broadcast announcement with ten nominations across five categories, including two apiece for “Bang My Box: The Robin Byrd Story,” “Earth, Wind & Fire: To Be Celestial or That’s the Weight of the World,” and “The Yogurt Shop Murders.”

Also receiving two nominations in the Broadcast categories were “Katrina: Come Hell and High Water” and “Songs from the Hole” from Netflix, “High Horse: The Black Cowboy” from Peacock, “Mr. Scorsese” from Apple TV, and “Tucci in Italy” (Season Two) from National Geographic.

Three previous Cinema Eye winners were among the filmmakers on this year’s ten-film Shorts List, Cinema Eye’s annual list of semifinalists for its Nonfiction Short Film Honor: Bill Morrison (“Sawyer Avenue, Sunday Afternoon”), Laura Poitras (“They’re Here”), and Nathan Truesdell (“A Derailment”). From those ten semifinalists, six films will be announced in December as the official nominees. For the fourth year in a row, Cinema Eye will screen all of the Shorts List films in both Los Angeles and New York, with a series of screenings in New York at DCTV on Wednesday, December 2nd, and at Vidiots in Los Angeles on Saturday, December 5th.

In each of the past two years, four of the nominees—and the eventual winner—for the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Film were part of the Cinema Eye Shorts List.

Steve James’ documentary masterpiece, “Hoop Dreams,” will receive the Legacy Award, which is presented to a classic nonfiction film that continues to inspire today’s working filmmakers. James will accept the award on behalf of his team members Peter Gilbert (Producer and DP), Frederick Marx (Producer and Editor), Adam Singer (Sound Recordist), Gordon Quinn (Executive Producer and founder of Kartemquin Films), Bill Haugse (Editor), Marcie McCall (Kartemquin), and Ben Sidran (Composer).

Cinema Eye will celebrate its 20th annual Awards Ceremony on Monday, January 11th, 2027.

Today’s announcements were made on the organization’s “All These Wonderful Things” podcast, which was posted just prior to the 9th Annual Cinema Eye Honors Fall Lunch in Downtown Los Angeles. The event was co-hosted by Amazon MGM Studios, Apple Original Films, Hulu, National Geographic Documentary Films, and Netflix.

Key Dates for the 2027 Cinema Eye Honors

Monday, October 26th: Voting Opens for Audience Choice First Round Voting
Monday, November 2nd: Voting Closes for Audience Choice First Round Voting
Thursday, November 12th: Cinema Eye Honors Feature Film Nominations Announced
Wednesday, December 2nd: Shorts List Screenings, DCTV, New York
Saturday, December 5th: Shorts List Screenings, Vidiots, Los Angeles
Monday, December 14th: Shorts Nominees Announced and Final Audience Choice Voting Opens
Friday, January 8th, 2027: Cinema Eye Weekend begins in New York City
Mond, January 11thy 11th, 2027: 20th Annual Cinema Eye Honors Awards Ceremony

What do you think of the honorees and these announcements? Please let us know your thoughts on our X account. Click here for the most recent tally of awards season winners for the current year.

The post The Cinema Eye Honors Reveals First Awards Announcements For 2027 appeared first on Next Best Picture.

The post Breaking Down The Competitive 2026 Oscar Race For Best Animated Feature appeared first on Next Best Picture.

Thank you so much for listening. The Next Best Picture Podcast is proud to be a part of the Evergreen Podcasts Network. You can subscribe to us anywhere you listen to podcasts or listen in the embedded player below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you’re feeling generous, you enjoy what you hear, and you want to hear more, please help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month, and you’ll receive some exclusive podcast content from us.

The post The Next Best Picture Podcast – Interviews With “Wildwood” Cast & Creators appeared first on Next Best Picture.

Earlier in the year, Hüller seemed like a sure bet in Best Supporting Actress for her turn as Eva Stratt in “Project Hail Mary,” the feel-good sci-fi blockbuster from directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. That film has remained a firm part of the Oscar conversation since it became a box-office sensation in March. As the film progresses, Hüller reveals deeper layers beneath Eva’s cold exterior, especially during the emotional karaoke scene where she sings “Sign of the Times” by Harry Styles. That certainly feels like Hüller’s Oscar clip, and it instantly became the film’s anthem. (There’s also that viral story Hüller told the press about how Ryan Gosling had to convince her to sing.) But as the season has gone on, pundits have lost faith that Hüller will land a nomination in a crowded category for this role, and the same goes for Gosling in Best Actor.

Out of Hüller’s four performances, it’s safe to say her least likely chance at a nomination is for her work in “Digger,” directed by Oscar-winner Alejandro González Iñárritu. Her screen time in the film is incredibly brief as Emma, the sister of Tom Cruise’s Digger Rockwell, and critics have pointed out that Iñárritu underuses her talents. Even if “Digger” were to somehow land a Best Picture nomination at the end of the day (which, given the industry coming to the film’s defense, isn’t completely out of the question), it seems unlikely that Hüller would make the cut, especially given how much airtime the film lends to its male characters played by Cruise, Riz Ahmed, and John Goodman.

The lead actress category, which feels more open than usual outside of Julianne Moore’s likely win for “The Debut,” may be where Hüller stands the best chance. Paweł Pawlikowski, who nabbed a Best Director nomination in 2019 for “Cold War,” closes out his unofficial trilogy of black-and-white historical dramas with “Fatherland,” which won Best Director at Cannes. In the film, Hüller stars as Erika, the daughter of famous German author Thomas Mann. “Fatherland” gives her a wide range of emotions to play as she not only reckons with returning to her war-ridden country, but grieves the loss of her brother, Klaus (August Diehl), who dies by suicide. The film has a real shot at landing nominations for Best International Feature and Best Cinematography, which could boost Hüller’s profile. But she is often in the background and not centered in the frame, in line with Pawlikowski’s observational approach to filmmaking. However, another strong International Feature contender gives Hüller plenty of close-ups, and it may just be her best shot at Oscar gold.

In “Rose,” Hüller plays a woman who disguises herself as a man in 17th-century Germany, claims a plot of land that isn’t hers, and begins to arouse suspicion among the local villagers. It’s easily the most transformative performance Hüller has given to date, and the entire film is centered around her psychological journey. She has slowly climbed the Best Actress odds over the past several months and recently landed in the Top 5 on Award Expert for “Rose.” While Markus Schleinzer’s film hasn’t quite caught steam in other categories, it has strong reviews (88 on Metacritic), and Hüller’s work will likely appeal to the Academy’s international voters. It also helps that a potential Best Actress nomination would pair well with a Best Makeup & Hairstyling nomination. It’s often hard to believe you’re watching Hüller in this role, and Academy voters love a good transformation (even if she isn’t necessarily playing a real-life figure here).

Overall, “Rose” feels like Hüller’s best bet, and people will keep discovering this performance in the months leading up to the film’s December release. But there’s also a case to be made that her work in “Project Hail Mary” is being widely underestimated, especially now that Amazon MGM is ramping up its awards campaign. And if Gosling does find himself in the best Actor category, seeing Hüller come along would pair well.

No matter where Hüller lands on Oscar nomination morning, 2026 has been an embarrassment of riches for her, and it’s not hard to imagine the “Anatomy of a Fall” star back in the Oscar conversation soon.

Which of Sandra Hüller’s 2026 performances do you think is most likely to get nominated? Which is your personal favorite? Please let us know in the comments section below and on Next Best Picture’s X account, and check out Next Best Picture’s latest Oscar predictions here.

The post Which 2026 Sandra Hüller Performance Will Bring Her Another Oscar Nomination? appeared first on Next Best Picture.