The Next Best Picture Podcast

For Episode 485, I am joined by Josh Parham, Aaron Danielle, and Giovanni Lago as we look back on the first three months of 2026 to name our favorite, least favorite, most surprising, and disappointing film releases of the year so far. Tying into this week's poll question, we're asking everyone: "Which Has Been Your Favorite Film Of Q1 2026?" We also reveal the winner of last week's poll asking "Which 2026 Awards Season Contenders Are You Most Looking Forward To?," share our reactions to the trailers for "Moana," "Forgotten Island," "The Furious," "Rosebush Pruning," "Stop! That! Train!," answer your fan-submitted questions, and more! Thank you all for listening, subscribing, and supporting us. We hope you enjoy! Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture and listen to this podcast ad-free Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this week's main podcast review, Katie Johnson, Josh Parham, Aaron Isenstein, Dan Bayer, and Tom O'Brien join me to discuss "They Will Kill You," starring Zazie Beetz, Myha'la, Paterson Joseph, Tom Felton, Heather Graham & Patricia Arquette. Written and directed by Kirill Sokolov (co-written with Alex Litvak), the action-horror-comedy combines many genres into B-movie shlock to provide bloodthirsty audiences with as much entertainment as possible from its simple premise: a woman desperately searching for her sister encounters a satanic cult in a foreboding New York City high-rise. What did we think of it, though? Please tune in as we discuss the action, Zazie Beetz's performance, the wacky directions the story takes, whether the "eat the rich" trope is getting played out, whether we think there will be a sequel, and more in our SPOILER-FILLED review. Thank you for listening, and enjoy! Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture and listen to this podcast ad-free Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice" is an American science fiction action comedy film written and directed by BenDavid Grabinski and produced by Andrew Lazar and starring Vince Vaughn, James Marsden, Eiza González, Keith David, and Jimmy Tatro. It premiered at the 2026 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival, where it received positive reviews for its blending of different genres and dual performance from Vaughn. Grabinski was kind enough to spend some time talking with us about his work and experience making the film, which you can listen to below. Please be sure to check out the film, which is now available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu. Thank you, and enjoy! Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture and listen to this podcast ad-free Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The AI Doc: Or How I Became An Apocaloptimist" is a 2026 American documentary film directed by Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell. It is produced by the Academy Award-winning teams behind "Everything Everywhere All at Once" (Daniel Kwan and Jonathan Wang) and "Navalny" (Shane Boris and Diane Becker). The film premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and received positive reviews for the questions it asked (and answered) about the threat or uses for good in the world about AI, Roher's personal journey of becoming a father while developing the documentary, its editing, and handcrafted animation and artwork made by humans. Roher was kind enough to be our first fully produced in-studio interview and spent a good forty minutes talking with us about his work and experience making the film, which you can listen to below. Please be sure to check out the film, which is opening in theaters on March 27th from Focus Features. Thank you, and enjoy! Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture and listen to this podcast ad-free Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Yes!" is a drama film written and directed by Nadav Lapid. It stars Ariel Bronz, Efrat Dor, Naama Preis, Aleksei Serebryakov, and Sharon Alexander. The film had its world premiere in the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it received positive reviews for its audacious filmmaking, biting satire, and political commentary. Lapid was kind enough to spend some time talking with us about his work and experience making the film, which you can listen to below. Please be sure to check out the film, which is opening in New York theaters on March 27th from Kino Lorber. Thank you, and enjoy! Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture and listen to this podcast ad-free Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Pretty Lethal" is an action thriller film directed by Vicky Jewson and written by Kate Freund. It follows a dysfunctional ballet troupe that is forced to take shelter when their bus breaks down en route to a prestigious competition and must use their training to fight back when a gang of armed men targets them. It premiered at the 2026 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival and stars Iris Apatow, Lana Condor, Millicent Simmonds, Avantika, Maddie Ziegler, and Uma Thurman. Jewson was kind enough to spend some time talking with us about her work and experience making the film, which you can listen to below. Please be sure to check out the film, which is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video. Thank you, and enjoy! Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture and listen to this podcast ad-free Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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, Lauren LaMagna, Josh Parham, Dan Bayer, and Larry Fried join me to discuss "Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come" starring Samara Weaving, Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shawn Hatosy, David Cronenberg, and Elijah Wood. Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and written by Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy, the film serves as a direct sequel to "Ready or Not" (2019), with Grace trying to protect her estranged sister while being hunted by several elite families in a high-stakes ritual to claim a seat of ultimate power. The film premiered at the 2026 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival, where it received generally positive reviews. What did we think of it, though? Please tune in as we discuss the story, performances, humor, the large amounts of blood and other gory bits from the film's more shocking moments, the future of the franchise, and more in our SPOILER-FILLED review. Thank you for listening, and enjoy! Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture and listen to this podcast ad-free Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Late Shift" is a drama film written and directed by Petra Volpe, inspired by the book "Unser Beruf ist nicht das Problem: Es sind die Umstände" by Madeline Calvelage. Starring Leonie Benesch, the film centers on a young nurse, Floria, who works with unwavering dedication in an understaffed hospital ward, but on this day, her shift becomes a nerve-racking race against time. The film had its world premiere in the Berlinale Special Gala section of the 75th Berlin International Film Festival last year. It received positive reviews and was selected as the Swiss entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards, making the December shortlist. Volpe was kind enough to spend some time talking with us about her work and experience making the film, which you can listen to below. Please be sure to check out the film, which is now playing in New York at The Quad Cinema and Los Angeles at the Laemmle Royal, and will be followed by a nationwide rollout from Music Box Films. Thank you, and enjoy! Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture and listen to this podcast ad-free Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For Episode 484, I am joined by Katie Johnson, Dan Bayer, Lauren LaMagna, Amy Kim, and Will Mavity as we say goodbye to the 2025 film awards season and look ahead to what's to come in 2026. Part of that is recapping the best films that played at this year's SXSW, and part is asking this week's poll question: "Which 2026 Awards Season Contenders Are You Most Looking Forward To?" We also reveal the winner of last week's poll asking "Which Was Your Favorite Oscar Win From The 98th Academy Awards?," share our reactions to the trailers for "Dune: Part Three," "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," "Wild Horse Nine," "Outcome" (Seriously, what was going on with trailers this week?), answer your fan-submitted questions and more! Thank you all for listening, subscribing, and supporting us. We hope you enjoy! Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture and listen to this podcast ad-free Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this week's main podcast review, Sara Clements, Josh Parham, Cody Dericks, Brendan Hodges, and Tom O'Brien join me to discuss the latest film from Phil Lord and Chris Miller, "Project Hail Mary" starring Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, James Ortiz, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung, and Milana Vayntrub. Written by Drew Goddard, based on the 2021 novel of the same name by Andy Weir, the epic sci-fi/comedy film already has a built-in fan base and is a crowdpleaser designed to enthrall, entertain, and emotionally move newcomers. Whether you see it on IMAX or the big screen, there's no denying it's the film event of Q1 2026. What did we think of it, though? Please tune in as we discuss the story, Ryan Gosling's performance, the direction from Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the crafts, its awards potential, and more in our SPOILER-FILLED review. Thank you for listening, and enjoy! Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture and listen to this podcast ad-free Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices