Happy New Year everyone! We are kick starting 2017 with this episode of awards talk with the guild awards and our Golden Globes Predictions.

The second review of the week is Denzel Washington's adaptation of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize Winning play "Fences." Kristen Lopez joins me for this review and we dive deep into the themes, acting and filmmaking on display in this Oscar player.

For this week's main review on the Next Best Picture Podcast, we review Pablo Larrain's buzzed about biopic "Jackie" starring Natalie Portman.

It's a light week as far as Oscar news goes in the wake of the Holidays, so we take the opportunity to answer fan questions and see where that takes us as we wrap up 2016 and look forward to our End of Year Awards.

For this week's review of "Passengers," I am joined by a special guest from the UK, Sarah Buddery from sarahsawamovie.com, who joined us last time for our review of "The Girl On The Train."

Our second review for the week is the current Best Picture frontrunner "La La Land." Does it totally meet the hype which has surrounded this film since its premiere at Venice? Listen in as we find out.

This week on the main review for the Next Best Picture podcast, we are going to a galaxy far far away with a review of "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story." Kristen Lopez joins me for this one as we talk about all of the highs and lows of Gareth Edwards' latest.

In episode 16, we react to the SAG Award Nominations and how they impact the acting races moving forward. We respond to the Academy's many shortlists which were released for various categories.

This is a JAM PACKED episode that I wish I had gotten out yesterday but there was a lot of content to go through and discuss, so while part of the conversation may be a moot point after tomorrow (Discussing SAG Nomination Predictions) we hope you can enjoy this episode as much as we did recording it with our special guest for the first time on the Next Best Picture Podcast, from AwardsWatch.com Erik Anderson.

For this week our 2nd review is Jessica Chastain's now Golden Globe nominated (Best Actress Drama) starring film, "Miss Sloane." We have the entire gang on here to review this one and it's a great deal of fun.

This week we are taking a break from our standard Oscar fare and are turning our attention towards some good old fashion Holiday cheer. That cheer comes in the form of laughter from some of television's biggest comedy names in "Office Christmas Party." But is it any good?

For our final review of the week, we tackle Paul Verhoeven's contender for Best Foreign Language Film, "Elle."

This week on episode 14, we talk about the first critics awards out of the gate for the 2016 awards season. The National Board Of Review, New York Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association each handed out their awards to three different films making the beginning of the race very exciting.

On this week's main review we discuss Kenneth Lonergan's big Oscar player, "Manchester By The Sea."

And to wrap up this week in podcasts we bring you both our review and spoiler discussion of writer/director Tom Ford's followup to "A Single Man," "Nocturnal Animals."

I am joined for the first time by our newest member to the Next Best Picture Podcast, Kristen Lopez, for our review of Disney's "Moana."

The Oscar Race is finally entering into the critic's phase this week and we have added a new member to our show to not only help us with our discussions about the National Board of Review, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the Broadcast Film Critics Nominations but to be a part of all of our shows for the foreseeable future.

Myself and Michael review Jeff Nichol's latest "Loving."

On Episode 12 we go over reactions to both "Patriot's Day" and "Hidden Figures" as well as our thoughts on Best Supporting Actor, film news and trailer reactions to "Beauty And The Beast" and "The Zookeeper's Wife."

This week our main review is the new David Yates and J.K. Rowling collaboration "Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them." Cinema Throwdown also makes a return here not having been heard since our "Snowden" episode where we debate over which Harry Potter film is truly the best.

On this episode we review Barry Jenkins' much hyped about second film "Moonlight" and then afterwards I interview the composer for that film plus "The Big Short," "Free State Of Jones" and the upcoming "Oceans 8," Nicholas Britell.

On Episode 11 we discuss the reviews for "Rules Don't Apply," "Moana," "Allied" and others, film news and our reactions to the trailer for "Ghost In The Shell."

On this episode we review Denis Villeneuve's "Arrival" and list our top 3 favorite intellectual science fiction films.

We are very excited about this one. Not only do Will and I review Mel Gibson's latest film "Hacksaw Ridge" but afterwards, Will conducts an interview with the Sound Mixer on the film, 20 time Oscar nominee, Kevin O'Connell.

It's Episode 10 of the Next Best Picture Podcast and this time it's just Will and I as we discuss the first reactions to "Fences," other Oscar & film news along with trailer reactions to "Life," "Gifted," and "T2: Trainspotting."