From A24 through Warner Bros, we go studio by film studio and discuss their known film slates and focus on the undated films that could vie for Film Festival love.

A24: Eddington, Highest 2 Lowest, The Entertainment System Is Down, etc - 2:21 
Amazon/MGM: After the Hunt, Madden, Hedda - 16:12 
Apple Original Films: The Lost Bus, F1 - 18:11 
Bleecker Street & Briarcliff: The Wedding Banquet, Sneaks, etc - 20:26  
Disney: Deliver Me From Nowhere, The Roses, Is This Thing On? Etc - 21:38 
Greenwich Entertainment & Janus: Diane Warren: Relentless, Peter Hujar’s Day, etc - 32:18 
IFC, Lionsgate, Magnolia: The Luckiest Man In America, Good Fortune, 40 Acres - 33:45 
MUBI: Father Mother Sister Brother from Jim Jarmusch - 36:28 
Neon: Sentimental Value from Joachim Trier, Alpha from Julia Ducournau, etc - 38:25 

Netflix: Wake Up Dead Man, GDT’s Frankenstein, Baumbach’s Jay Kelly, Edward Berger’s The Ballad of a Small Player, Train Dreams, etc - 41:02

Paramount: What’s their top priority? Plus, some recent history - 53:34 
Sony: Blue Moon, Eleanor the Great, East of Wall, etc - 56:07 
Universal: The Phoenician Scheme details, Hamnet, Anemone, etc - 1:02:09
WB: The Bride! + Sinners first reax and Superman Cinemacon reactions - 1:08:17 

NO DISTRIBUTION YET: Sundance Hits like Kiss of the Spider Woman, SXSW hits like The Rivals of Amziah King, Rosemead w/ Lucy Liu, At The Sea w/ Amy Adams, Sydney Sweeny as Christie Martin, The History of Sound + Greta Lee, Willem Dafoe, & Brendan Fraser vehicles - 1:11:34

OUTRO: We’ll end our Year In Preview Series with the Cannes Lineup reactions and then our 100% Accurate Predictions coming up next! https://linktr.ee/mikemikeandoscar

Studio by Studio Film Slates From A24 To WB, Chloe, Denzel & Sandler in play -  YIP3, ORC 4/8/2025

Christina Jeurling Birro of the outstanding podcast, Pop Culture Confidential joins us to discuss the Cannes Film Festival and the films announced in the lineup for its 78th edition. Plus, we happily begin with some talk about the new Oscars Category… 

Stunts! Finally, we are getting a Stunts Design Academy Award - 2:09

CANNES FILM FESTIVAL COVERAGE
Christina’s history attending & covering the Cannes Film Festival - 4:13
Eating on the run & the tight festival schedule - 6:51 
What’s the deal with all the clapping? - 10:03 
The Recent Oscar Streak & Last Year’s Incredible Cannes Slate - 13:51 

IN COMPETITION LINEUP HIGHLIGHTS FOR CANNES 2025:
Julia Ducournau’s Alpha, a 1980’s Aids Crisis Drama from Neon - 17:44
Ari Aster’s Eddington w/ Joaquin vs Pedro + Austin Butler & Emma Stone - 19:55
The History of Sound from Oliver Hermanus, Josh O’Connor & Paul Mescal - 21:23
Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, a Vietnam War art heist story - 22:44 
Richard Linklater’s New Wave on the making of Godard’s Breathless - 24:30 
Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme featuring Kate Winslet’s daughter - 25:58 
Sentimental Value from Neon, Joachim Trier & Renate Reinsve - 29:01 
Other Targets & Potential Discoveries In Competition for Christina - 30:44 

Palme D’or Statistics and Our Way Too Early Palme Predictions - 33:19 
Female Filmmaker Stats Improve, But Still Need More Improvement - 35:13 

Un Certain Regard Recent Oscars Crossover History, Debuts from Scarlett Johansson & Harris Dickinson + Pillion & Other Films we are targeting in this year’s section - 36:16 

OUT OF COMPETITION LINEUP HIGHLIGHTS: 
Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest is the most recent big name to enter Out of Competition following Marty & Baz films in recent years - 39:16 

Jodie Foster in a Murder Mystery & Other Special Screenings of interest - 41:26 
Tom Cruise returns with Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning - 43:28 
Our Reactions to the Star Studded Cannes Premieres Section - 44:20 

What films are NOT here that we thought would be? What films could be added later? And which films might be opting for a Fall Festival launch instead? - 46:02 

What Christina is most looking forward to showing first time Cannes festival goer, Ryan McQuade at this year’s festival - 50:07 

OUTRO: 51:48 - Our words of Wisdom today are to follow Christina Juerling Birro on her socials and to enjoy her work on the internet, (see the links below). Plus, we talk about her upcoming coverage of Cannes and what’s coming next for both our podcasts, Pop Culture Confidential and Mike, Mike and Oscar. So do please support our shows with positive ratings & reviews, and we thank you for doing so. 

Pop Culture Confidential: Pop culture conversations with today's innovators, entertainers and newsmakers - podcast hosted by Christina Jeurling Birro 
https://www.popcultureconfidential.com/

Where To Follow Christina Jeurling Birro on Social Media: 

Instagram 
https://www.instagram.com/christinabirro/
Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/christina.jeurling
Threads 
https://www.threads.net/@christinabirro
Twitter 
https://x.com/ChristinaBirro

MMO https://linktr.ee/mikemikeandoscar

The Cannes Lineup with Christina Jeurling Birro: An Oscars Year In Preview Part 4 - ORC 4/12/25

It’s Part One of our Way Too Early 2025-26 Oscars Predictions Special, or Guarantees Special as we should have called it. Screenplays, VFX, Sound, Score, Song, the Shorts, yes - The Shorts, Make-up & Hairstyling, plus Lead Actor and Actress are all discussed.

Original Screenplay reveals films where we’re heavy + where Vegas leans - 3:07 
Adapted Screenplay includes former winners, noms + a UFC champ - 11:37 
VFX w/ Avatar & F1 + sentimental favorites & trailers that look good to us - 18:00 
Sound Design w/ F1 as the favorite + other blockbusters - 23:00 
Original Score has a murderers row of legendary contenders - 25:22 
Original Song includes multiples by two films + the Diane Warren rule - 28:48 
Documentary Short included the most research ever - 31:48 
Animated Short included the least research ever - 35:09 
Live Action Short is as clear a vision into the future as we’ve ever had - 36:44 
Make-up & Hairstyling where we share 4 noms, but talk honorable mentions more - 39:26 
Lead Actor has huge stars and irrational confidence levels from us in our picks - 41:05 
Lead Actress - 47:07

OUTRO - 55:00 - Make sure to go back to the rest of our Oscars Year In Preview Series. We have specials to preview each section of the calendar, plus a Sundance review and a Cannes preview. Also stay locked on our feed for Part Two, where we’ll predict the Supportings, Director, Casting, Best Picture and the rest of the 24 Oscar categories. And as always, let us know your thoughts, comments, questions, concerns, and your predictions via our socials. https://linktr.ee/mikemikeandoscar



100% Accurate Oscar Predictions Part 1 for 2025/26 - Guarantees Really - YIP 5, ORC 5/10/25

For Episode 441, on Mother's Day and the night of our departure to Cannes, I am joined by Dan Bayer & Giovanni Lago as we deliver our final preview of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and which films we're most excited to see, which is also the theme of this week's poll as we ask, "Which Films From The 2025 Cannes Film Festival Are You Most Excited To See?" We also reveal the winner of last week's poll asking, "Which 2025 Summer Movie Are You Most Looking Forward To Seeing?" We also give our reactions to the trailers for "Highest 2 Lowest," "Honey Don't," "The Long Walk," and "The Conjuring: Last Rites," answer your fan-submitted questions and more! Thank you all for listening, supporting, and subscribing. We hope you enjoy this episode. We will see you all next week on the Croisette. Au revoir!

Check out more on NextBestPicture.com

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Episode 441 - Our Final Preview Of The 2025 Cannes Film Festival, "Highest 2 Lowest," "Honey Don't" & "The Long Walk" Trailers

For Episode 443, Dan Bayer and I are back from the south of France to give you Part 2 of our 2025 Cannes Film Festival recap, including our reactions to the award winners. Tune in as we touch on many of the movies which premiered in the second week of the festival including the Palme d'Or winner "It Was Just An Accident," "Sentimental Value," "Resurrection," "Alpha," "Pillion," "Highest 2 Lowest," "Splitsville," "Eleanor The Great," "A Private Life," "The History Of Sound," "The Mastermind," "Honey Don't!" and more! For this week's poll, as the festival ends, we ask, "Which Film From The 2025 Cannes Film Festival Are You Most Looking Forward To Seeing?" We also reveal the winner of last week's poll for the release of "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning," asking, "Which Is Your Favorite "Mission: Impossible" Film?" give our reactions to the trailer for Darren Aronofsky's "Caught Stealing," answer your fan-submitted questions and more! Thank you all for following us on this incredible journey by listening, supporting, and subscribing. We hope you enjoy this episode, and we'll see you next week.

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

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Episode 443 - Final 2025 Cannes Film Festival Recap, Award Winners & "Caught Stealing" Trailer

It’s our 3rd episode on the 2025 Cannes Film Festival as we discuss award winners like It Was Just An Accident and Sentimental Value. Plus, we enjoy awards talk on Highest 2 Lowest, The History of Sound, etc. 

CANNES FILM FESTIVAL COVERAGE PART III: 
Palme D’or Winner - It Was Just An Accident - 1:47 
Sentimental Value gets a 19? Minute Standing Ovation - 8:06 
Recapping other winners like The Secret Agent - 16:30 
The Young Mother’s Home wins Best Screenplay for the Dardenne Bros - 18:15
Resurrection from Bi Gan - 19:23 
The Little Sister wins best Actress - 20:21 
Highest 2 Lowest Oscars Talk - 22:55 
A Private Life and Splitsville are comedies getting strong reviews - 29:58 
The Mastermind from Kelly Reichardt - 33:48 
Alpha from Julia Ducournau - 36:55 
The History of Sound from Oliver Hermanus - 39:35 
Eleanor The Great from Scarlett Johansson & June Squibb - 42:10 
Un Certain Regard Winner - The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo - 44:32 
Pillion + Urchin wins several + this year’s Palme Dog section - 45:35 
A Cannes Acquisitions Summary makes the Neon/Mubi rivalry a real thing - 47:31 
The Standing Ovations Tally from MMO - 50:20 
Best International Films Possibilities - 51:35 

OUTRO - What’s coming next from us includes more Oscar Race Checkpoints and Oscar Profile Reviews. Plus, we’ll be sending out the Bat Signal soon to a returning guest. Otherwise… and as always, we want to hear your thoughts on which films you’re most excited to see from Cannes. https://linktr.ee/mikemikeandoscar

Cannes Awards '25, Emerging Oscar Contenders & The New Goulet - ORC 5/26/25

We discuss the new AMPAS President before reacting to the full NYFF63 lineup, the TIFF additions and tributes, and by deduction, we work out some of the Telluride slate. Plus we review Cloud, Sorry Baby & Together while also discussing new trailers for Rental Family, One Battle After Another, etc. 

ACADEMY NEWS:
Lynette Howell Taylor is our new President - 1:29 
Will the Oscars remain on ABC after Disney makes moves? - 3:52 

FILM FESTIVAL NEWS:
The NYFF Closes with Bradley Cooper’s latest + a Jim Jarmusch Centerpiece - 8:50 
NYFF63 Main Slate is loaded + That Jay Kelly Trailer - 11:26 
NY Spotlights The Boss, DDL & double Linklater + Blue Moon Trailer - 17:15 
TIFF Tributes are discussed + that Rental Family trailer is working well, maybe too well - 29:30 
TIFF Lineup Additions + that Left-Handed Girl Trailer - 34:05
Deducing Likely Telluride Lineup - 41:02  

MORE TRAILER BREAKDOWNS:
One Battle After Another, starring Leonardo DiCaprio & Tom Cruise jokes - 43:24 
Highest 2 Lowest, starring Denzel Washington & Jeffrey Wright - 48:45 
Ella McCay is one Mike’s dream and another Mike’s nightmare - 52:15 
Train Dreams, starring Joel Edgerton is another huge schism betwixt us - 54:49 
The Choral, starring Ralph Fiennes would win every Oscar in 1994 - 57:53 
Shelby Oaks from Chris Stuckman could be just our speed - 1:0015 

NON-SPOILER REVIEWS:
Cloud & Folktales at IFC Center + AlsoMike’s Burger Day in NYC - 1:02:29 
M1 reviews Sorry, Baby, The General’s Daughter + Quickies on Together & Oh, Hi! - 1:08:01 

OUTRO: We try to avoid jinxing Mike1’s health and fail. But if he survives, you can enjoy more Oscar Race Checkpoints in the future. As always, we appreciate all your support. Please follow us on social media, like & subscribe, rate & review - all that good stuff… and you can find a tree of all our links here. https://linktr.ee/mikemikeandoscar

NYFF63 is STACKED, Brendan Fraser's Doing It Again & In Lynette We Trust - ORC 8/12/25

On this episode, Brendan and JD discuss Spike Lee and Denzel Washington's latest collaboration in HIGHEST 2 LOWEST!

Visit https://insessionfilm.com for merch and more!

Thanks for listening and be sure to subscribe! Become an ISF VIP today to get exclusive bonus content!

Follow us on X/Twitter! @InSessionFilm | @RealJDDuran | @BrendanJCassidy

Review: Highest 2 Lowest

What if YouTube bought the broadcast rights to the Academy Awards? We discuss the latest rumors via Bloomberg. Otherwise, we also break down trailers for Marty Supreme, It Was Just An Accident, Ballad of a Small Player, Keeper, etc. We discuss the Lineup for Fantastic Fest & other movie news before reviewing / revisiting some new releases from Highest 2 Lowest & Freakier Friday to Superman & Weapons. 

OSCAR NEWS:
Bloomberg report on YouTube vying for the rights to broadcast the Oscars - 1:46 
Best International Feature Selection Announcements begin - 10:36 

TRAILER REVIEWS: 
Marty Supreme enters the race with our allegiance - 13:33 
It Was Just An Accident seems like an tense thriller - 19:08 
Ballad of a Small Player from Mr. Burger & starring Colin Farrell - 23:23 
Peter Hujar’s Day featuring the beautiful words of Owen Gleiberman - 27:38 
The History of Sound from Oliver Hermanus + Paul Mescal & Josh O’Connor - 30:22 
Steve stars Cillian Murphy ala Half Nelson & Stand and Deliver - 32:55 
Keeper proves we love Osgood Perkins & Neon’s trailers for Oz Perkins films - 35:11 
Good Boy deserves all the Oscars because he is such a good boy!!! - 37:36 

FILM FESTIVAL NEWS: 
Wicked 2 buzz as Cynthia Erivo set for the Santa Barbara Kirk Douglas Award - 40:11 
Fantastic Fest Lineup Highlights - 44:25 

FUTURE MOVIE NEWS:
Frankenstein, Fairyland & Urchin Release Date Updates - 49:00 
Sandra Huller to star in Pawel Pawlikowski’s 1949 - 52:32 
Guy Pearce may play Rupert Murdoch for Danny Boyle - 53:50 

BOX OFFICE UPDATE & WHAT WE’RE WATCHING:
Weapons Rewatch & 2nd Week atop the Box Office - 55:02 
A positive Freakier Friday Review - 57:33 
Nobody 2 disappoints - 58:35 
The Rest of the Top 10 include a Fantastic Four disappointment - 1:00:30 
M1’s catches up with Superman - 1:02:23 
Sydney Sweeney’s Jeans controversy & Americana bomb - 1:05:18 
AM reviews East of Wall - 1:07:31 
The brothers’ road trip to see Highest 2 Lowest - 1:09:22 
Alien: Earth early review - 1:14:22 

OUTRO: Hopefully you heed these words of wisdom as we head into film festival season. Plus, we refuse to jinx ourselves. Please sprinkle some salt. Also, if you enjoy our work, do please feel free to join us in our movie conversations this fall via our social media, and you can also help us by spreading the good word about our podcasts with positive ratings, reviews, likes, and subscribes. Here’s a linktree: https://linktr.ee/mikemikeandoscar 

Marty Supreme Enters The Race + YouTube's Oscar Play - ORC 8/20/25

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 "King's Ransom" by Ed McBain. It marks the first collaboration between Lee and Washington since "Inside Man" in 2006. The film premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival to positive reviews, but what did we think of it? Please tune in as we discuss the direction, themes, performances, music, its awards season chances, 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

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"Highest 2 Lowest"

A podcast by NextBestPicture.com that reviews the latest film releases and discusses various topics within the world of film and the awards race.

MMO is talk radio for movie fans with weekly news shows, reviews, previews, and special guests. We celebrate the Oscars by making awards season year round, without the stuffiness. If you love cinema, if you love showbiz, welcome home.

The best movie reviews, news, and podcast out there! Two guys that know movies and love talking about them!

New tracks tagged #Highest 2 Lowest