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The Long Take Review

Jen Sopchockchai Bankard

Four college professors talk film — providing insight, not assigning homework.

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  • 22 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 2 hr 7 min
  • English

Episodes 22

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  • Friday · 1 hr 48 min

    2019 Oscar Fairy Flashback

    For many Oscar pundits and fans, the 91st Academy Awards, held on February 24, 2019, and honoring the films of 2018, became the most notorious when Green Book, a heartwarming odd couple comedy about a black pianist and his white driver, won Best Picture instead of presumed favorite, Alfonso Cuaron’s poignantly personal historical drama about a Mexico City family and their housekeeper, Roma. And so, of course, for our sixth Oscar Fairy Flashback episode, we wanted to confront this controversial year (and believe me when I say we deeply considered shying away from it and turning the clock back in a different direction). As with all Oscar Fairy Flashbacks, we share what we want to change about the winners and nominees, were we to be in the good graces of the all-powerful Oscar Fairy. We each have ten points plus whatever we had remaining from the last OFF episode to spend. How any Oscars will we take away from Green Book and its fellow Oscar villain, Bohemian Rhapsody? Image Credit: Screen Rant Here’s some more detailed context to show that this Oscar year has a mixed record to say the least. Four films won multiple awards: -Bohemian Rhapsody: 4 wins (Actor [Rami Malek], Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing) -Green Book: 3 wins (Picture, Supporting Actor [Mahershala Ali], Original Screenplay) -Roma: 3 wins (Director, Cinematography, Foreign Language Film) -Black Panther: 3 wins (Score, Production Design, Costume Design) -That is certainly a list of movies. Other films that won awards: The Favourite (Actress [Olivia Colman]), If Beale Street Could Talk (Supporting Actress [Regina King]), BlacKkKlansmen (Adapted Screenplay, finally getting Spike Lee a competitive Oscar), Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (Animated Feature), A Star Is Born (Song, netting Lady Gaga her first Oscar), Vice (Makeup & Hairstyling), and First Man (Visual Effects) -Other nominated movies include The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Cold War, First Reformed, Isle of Dogs, Mary Poppins Returns, Avengers: Infinity War, A Quiet Place, At Eternity’s Gate, The Wife, and Solo: A Star Wars Story -There were also some notorious snubs, including Paddington 2, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, Crazy Rich Asians, Hereditary, and Widows Buckle up, because we have a lot of work to do! You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

  • August 22 · 1 hr 44 min

    Spider-Man: Brand New Day Review

    Why is Spider-Man: Brand New Day spinning webs around the summer box office? How is it breaking all kinds of records? We keep returning to this question throughout this week’s episode, coming up with various theories about what might be behind the massive success of the fourth Tom Holland Spider-Man film. What does this mean for superhero movies? For the future of the MCU? For Tom Holland’s career? We speculate very broadly from every angle of this franchise, folding in discussion of the X-Men, casting announcements at D23, other iterations of Spidey, and more. Come to hear who our favorite supporting characters were and stay for the deep discussion of the political implications of this film as it reaches a hand out to mutantkind. At one point in this episode, Greg asks why there hasn’t been a solo Hulk movie. Jen explains that Universal still holds the rights to standalone Hulk movies, but not to movies in which Hulk appears alongside other Marvel characters. That’s only partially true. Apparently, Universal holds the distribution rights to standalone Hulk movies while Disney/Marvel hold the production rights to the character across the board. Universal has a right of first refusal for distribution of Hulk-focused films only. So we haven’t gotten one in so long because Disney/Marvel doesn’t want to pay Universal a cut of whatever Hulk-centric film that they might make. The nuance of production rights vs. distribution rights should have been a part of our on-air conversation. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 27:50 minute mark. If you don’t want your secret identity revealed yet, you can listen until then. Image Credit: Deadline You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

  • August 14 · 2 hr 12 min

    The Odyssey Review (Part Two!)

    It’s been a month since Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey arrived in theaters and nearly three weeks since we put out our first episode reviewing it. We’re happy to report that it’s still going strong. It handily passed the $1 billion mark in global box office by the first week of August, in spite of Spider-Man: Brand New Day breaking all kinds of records (don’t worry, we’re reviewing that for next week!). And it seems to have weathered a cycle of discourse after the translator whose work inspired Nolan’s adaptation, Dr. Emily Wilson, wrote a scathing, nay brutalizing review. Will it be smooth sailing from here to the Oscars? P.T. returns from his own mini-odyssey to provide the Oscars Watch that Greg and I abstained from in our earlier episode. We also dig into Zeus’ Law, the sea people, Circe vs. Calypso, and a quick (at the very end) updated ranking of our top 3-5 Nolan films. [Please note that we recorded this episode before Emily Wilson’s review came out, so we do not discuss the review as we had no knowledge of it at the time.] We go into SPOILER MODE at the 21:00 minute mark. If you just want to get home without them, you can listen safely until then. Image Credit: New York Times You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

  • August 9 · 1 hr 51 min

    The Invite Review

    You know, you have ONE troubled production that culminates in Harry Styles allegedly spitting on Chris Pine and that’s all critics want to remember you for. That may very well be a major frustration for Director Olivia Wilde as she tries to promote her newest film, a sex comedy drama called The Invite. Because over and over again I have seen headlines and reviews from critics framing their praise of the A24 film in relation to Wilde’s previous controversy-embroiled flop, Don’t Worry Darling. Never has a compliment been so back-handed. The praise is deserved just the same, as this comedy for adults has been deemed a box office success in spite of competing against The Odyssey. On this episode of The Long Take Review, we were lucky enough to have Antonio back on the show to pick apart The Invite’s screenplay, discuss each of the performances/characters that constitute the foursome at the center of the story, and speculate as to whether or not this film has any “little indie that could go all the way to the Oscars” energy. Join us for some jamón and flan! We go into SPOILER MODE at the 23:53 minute mark. If you wish to take a raincheck on spoilers, you can listen safely until then. Image Credit: IndieWire You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

  • July 31 · 2 hr 17 min

    Tom Holland's Spider-Man Retrospective

    Happy Spider-Man weekend to all who celebrate! Our review of Spider-Man: Brand New Day may take a little while because I’m on vacation for the next couple of weeks, but, to tide listeners over, we wanted to record an episode in which we discuss Tom Holland’s portrayal of your friendly neighborhood Avenger up until Brand New Day. And who better to join us than our very own Marvel correspondent, Colby Mead of The ColbyCast? We begin by sharing our relationship with Spider-Man as a character/franchise and pinpointing what unique qualities Tom Holland brings to the role. Then we rank all six films in which Tom Holland has appeared as Spider-Man* in order to set up a larger discussion about how much the MCU has defined his version of the character and to what extent we can historicize each Spider-Man as a product of Hollywood and American culture at the time. *This number doesn’t include Venom: Let Their Be Carnage, which P.T. notes should technically be on the list. Guess how many times we mention this Sony Spider-Man Universe film before you listen. Note that we’re doing all spoilers for any Spider-Man or MCU-related content in this episode from the start. Image Credit: IndieWire You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Image Credit: original image from Meming Wiki, modified in Canva All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

  • July 27 · 1 hr 52 min

    The Odyssey Review (Part One!)

    Lightning does strike twice sometimes. Thank Zeus, Christopher Nolan has done it again with his epic sword and sandals adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey. After the enormous critical, awards, and box office success of his last film, Oppenheimer (2023), it’s hard to believe that Nolan could have immediately followed with an even bigger hit. But, with a $124 million domestic opening weekend and a worldwide total of $640 million to date, it appears that he has. With a new movie this big and all three of our regular co-hosts going on vacation at different times, we decided that not one but two episodes dedicated to The Odyssey were in order. In this first one, Greg and I focus on how Nolan has adapted and modernized Homer’s epic poem, with a deep dive on Odysseus as a character, the modern themes Nolan uses the ancient story to emphasize, our favorite scenes, the stacked cast, and everything else the film prompted us to consider. Greg specialized in the epic as a literary genre and is extremely familiar with Homer’s text, so he was an amazing resource throughout this episode. For more of his thoughts, check out his Substack for this great article he wrote for those who didn’t have time to read The Odyssey before seeing Nolan’s film. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 25:46 minute mark. If you wish to sail around spoilers, you can listen safely until then. Image Credit: IndieWire You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

  • July 14 · 2 hr 25 min

    Raiders of the Lost Ark 45th Anniversary Special

    If you’ve listened to our show for any sustained amount of time, you’ve probably heard me play a tiny snippet of the Indiana Jones theme anytime Greg brings up our favorite archaeologist adventurer. It comes as no surprise, then, that we will take any excuse we can to talk about one of the five franchise installments. And this year marks the 45th anniversary of the first, Raiders of the Lost Ark. We go down memory lane for a bit, share our personal favorites (characters, scenes, etc.), and then discuss loftier notions such as nostalgia, genre, and Indy’s legacy in cinematic history. Unlike the Nazis, we’re digging in the right place. (Oh, and listen to find out the story behind the amazing artwork below.) Image Credit: the illustrious Steph Marcus, circa 1999 You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

  • July 1 · 1 hr 38 min

    Toy Story 5 Review

    Pixar films, and especially those in the Toy Story franchise, have always excelled at pitching to both kids and adults. Toy Story 5 takes that feature to the next level by tackling issues on every parent’s mind: screen time, devices, and Internet safety. As both parents of grade school kids and teachers of college students, Greg and I really ran with this topic and the film’s treatment of in it in our discussion. We share our prior relationship to the franchise, compare this fifth installment to the previous ones, and share what moved us and what made us laugh. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 25:13 minute mark. If spoilers are not a part of your daily weather forecast, you can listen safely until then. Image Credit: NPR You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

  • June 22 · 2 hr 47 min

    Disclosure Day Review

    The truth is really out there! This week on the show we talk about Steven Spielberg’s latest cinematic statement on extraterrestrial life, Disclosure Day. In theaters now, the science fiction thriller is full of intense chase sequences, inexplicable phenomena, and an astonishing performance from Emily Blunt; all of that prompted us to over-analyze, over-interpret, under-critique (if we’re being honest), and parse the polarized response to the film. Before we get into our discussion of Disclosure Day, we check on our 2026 Movie Hype Draft rosters to see who has taken the lead or fallen behind in the wake of release announcements and the Cannes Film Festival. Also, check out Greg’s written review of Disclosure Day on his own Substack. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 45:43 minute mark. If spoilers are not a part of your daily weather forecast, you can listen safely until then. Image Credit: Deadline You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

  • June 13 · 2 hr 53 min

    The Steven Spielberg Draft

    Here at The Long Take Review, we are incredibly excited to see master filmmaker Steven Spielberg return to the sci-fi thriller genre for the first time since War of the Worlds in 2005. But, as fans of his know, his filmography of over 60 years spans many other genres as well. So what better way to celebrate the architect of the modern summer blockbuster than to have a draft of all of his films to date? We invited Anthony King of Force Ghost Conversations to join us in a rumble across six categories: Oscar Nominee, Science Fiction, Historical Film, Collaborator, Produced By, and Wild Card. For more Spielberg-centric content from both The Long Take Review and Force Ghost Conversations, follow the links below: Masters of the Air (Force Ghost Conversations Saving Private Ryan (Force Ghost Conversations) Schindler’s List (Force Ghost Conversations) Jaws 50th Anniversary (Force Ghost Conversations) Jaws 50th Anniversary (The Long Take Review) This is a spoiler free episode. We do discuss some of the qualities of each film we draft, but our discussion contains no major spoilers. Image Credit: Reddit r/popculturechat (taken from the Disclosure Day press tour) You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

  • June 8 · 2 hr 9 min

    Obsession Review

    The box office is booming, but, weirdly, it’s not because there’s a new Star Wars film in theaters for the first time in seven years. Two low budget horror films that have ties to YouTube, Backrooms (which cost $10 million) and Obsession (which cost < $1 million), have raised eyebrows and questions about the future of theatrical moviemaking. This unexpected windfall caught our attention as well, so we called in our own in-house horror expert, Professor Sarah Hastings, to give us a rundown of the year in horror films so far and help us with a deep dive into Obsession. We talk about who the villains and victims of the film might be, share the moments that scared us the most, and collectively build a thesis for what the film says about relationships, dating, consent, Gen Z, and even A.I. We hope you stay with us and never leave. *grin* We go into SPOILER MODE at the 52:21 minute mark. If spoilers don’t set your heart ablaze, you can listen safely until then. Image Credit: IndieWire You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

  • May 27 · 2 hr 8 min

    The Mandalorian and Grogu Review

    The Internet can’t seem to decide if The Mandalorian and Grogu is actually doing well at the box office so far. Many news article frame the opening weekend as a failure, saying it is a “disappointment” that hits a “series low.” Meanwhile, other articles have crowned the action adventure film as the winner of the long weekend. According to box office analyst Scott Mendelson, the early performance of The Mandalorian and Grogu resembles Solo: A Star Wars Story, but, importantly, has a much smaller budget hurdle because it didn’t have all of the production turmoil that Solo did. Solo had to recoup a $275 million budget while Mando and Grogu needs to surpass $165 million to break even. This is all to say that while this film likely won’t compete with bigger hits from this year like Project Hail Mary, it’s still going to do “fine.” But will any of its moderate success be deserved? That’s the big question we debate on this episode of The Long Take Review. And to help us assess what many critics call a glorified television episode, Star Wars author and podcaster Dan Zehr joins us to discuss the questions of audience, story, character development, and Star Wars mythology that surround baby Yoda’s first movie. Dan also shares some insights he has gained from his experience attending the Hollywood premiere and interviewing the creators behind the film. You can find Dan and all his amazing work at coffeewithkenobi.com. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 33:52 minute mark. If spoilers are not party of your bounty hunter assignment, you can listen safely until then. Image Credit: IndieWire You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

  • May 20 · 2 hr 59 min

    Star Wars Movie Rankings

    Star Wars is about to return to cinemas with Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian and Grogu, which is just days away from its opening weekend. To celebrate Star Wars on the big screen, and, frankly, to calm our nerves as we restlessly await the new film, we recorded an extra long take in which we rank all twelve films from the franchise that were released in theaters. (In case your math is not mathing, we included the 2008 animated film The Clone Wars.) For an added challenge, we forced (no pun intended) ourselves to come to a consensus to build one ranked list together. Where will we agree? Where will we put up a fight? And how will our micro-generational differences manifest in our individual placement proposals? Listen to find out as we start at the bottom and work our way to the top. We’d also love to hear your rankings! So please feel free to drop those in the comments. Image Credit: Star Wars News Net You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

  • May 11 · 1 hr 51 min

    The Devil Wears Prada 2 Review

    Strike a pose and prepare your finest fit montage because we’re reviewing The Devil Wears Prada 2! Having looked back at the original film last week, Greg, P.T., and I size up one of the most anticipated sequels of the summer movie season. What surprised us about this reunion 20 years later? What delighted us? And how might this film be the perfect encapsulation of life, media, and technology in 2026? Follow us down the runway to find out. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 27:30 minute mark. If spoilers are not your style, you can listen safely until then. Image Credit: LA Times You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

  • May 5 · 1 hr 42 min

    The Devil Wears Prada (2006) Review

    Gird your loins! The first movie of the summer movie season, The Devil Wears Prada 2, is in theaters now. To prepare for our review, we wanted to turn back the clock twenty years and revisit (or, for some of us, watch for the first time) the original film starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Blunt. What feels dated? What holds up? Is this the Meryl Streep show or an ensemble film? Does Miranda Priestly’s behavior make us smile or call HR? Join us for a fashionably long conversation. (We’re sorry, do you have some prior commitment? Some hideous skirt convention you have to go to?) Since The Devil Wears Prada is a vintage design, we get into spoilers pretty quickly. You can catch the film on Disney+ or Hulu and then come back in style with us after you’ve seen it. Image Credit: IndieWire You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

  • April 24 · 2 hr 14 min

    The Thin Red Line with Anthony King on the LTR Guest List

    When Oscar nerds think back to the 71st Academy Awards, they remember Shakespeare in Love, which won seven Oscars, Saving Private Ryan, which won five, and maybe Life is Beautiful, which won 3. (I still remember actor/director Roberto Benigni climbing on the seats to get to the stage when his film won in what is now the International Feature category.) Too often, though, people forget that the same year Spielberg’s film about WWII Normandy hit big at the box office, another epic war drama with a large, star-studded ensemble came out that year: Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line. Luckily, friend of the show and host of the Force Ghost Conversations podcast, Anthony King, joins us on this LTR Guest List episode to rescue Malick’s work from history. He shares his wealth of knowledge about WWII and behind the scenes stories of the film’s production as we dissect what can only described as a transcendental experience. How does Malick portray war differently than other filmmakers? Which young up and coming actor from the 90s did we enjoy best? And what’s going on with all the cutting to shots of nature or Miranda Otto? Army crawl with us as we traverse the many hills of this film. SPOILER WARNING: Unlike our regular reviews, LTR Guest List episodes will be in Spoiler Mode from the beginning so that our guests can feel as unencumbered as possible. So if you have not yet seen The Thin Red Line and do not want it spoiled, return to us after you’ve seen it. The Thin Red Line is currently available to rent or buy on platforms such as Apple TV, Amazon Prime, etc. The LTR Guest List is a special series in which we ask our friends to pick a movie – any movie – to discuss with us on air. If you’re a friend of the show and you have a movie you’d like to pitch, you can email us at thelongtakereview@gmail.com. Image Credit: RogerEbert.com You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

  • April 15 · 1 hr 41 min

    The Drama Review

    For once, a trailer didn’t spoil the movie! The marketing materials for Kristoffer Borgli’s The Drama, playing in theaters now, have kept one big reveal fundamental to the plot of the film a secret. And considering it made $14 million its opening weekend and is currently at over $46 million worldwide, it seems as though that decision has paid off. Was it purely the intrigue and mystery of the plot that drove people to theaters? Or were its megawatt stars, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, enough to draw them out of their homes? In this episode of The Long Take Review, Greg, P.T., and I try to dance around spoilers big and small while still helping those who have not yet seen it decide whether or not they would like it. Then we let loose and dive deep into an examination of what the film has to say about marriage, relationships, moral judgment, and memory. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 21:11 minute mark. If spoilers give you pre-wedding day jitters, pause your listening then. Image Credit: New York Times You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

  • April 12 · 1 hr 42 min

    Quick Takes Catching Up on 2026 Movies

    Now that Oscar season has ended, we finally have a chance to catch our breath and talk about new movies in 2026! Greg and P.T. give their SPOILER-FREE takes on eight movies that they’ve enjoyed. So if you’re in the market for recommendations, but you don’t want to go into a spoilery deep dive with them, this episode is for you. They also managed to mention nearly every other movie that has been released, giving us a comprehensive sense of the broader theatrical and streaming landscape. Countdown their ranked picks to see what they think has been the best movie of the year so far! (Not including Project Hail Mary, which we reviewed a couple weeks ago when it came out.) Image Credit: The New York Times You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

  • April 1 · 2 hr 16 min

    2026 Movie Hype Draft

    We might still be riding the high of Project Hail Mary’s massive success at the box office, but it really seems like 2026 might be a movie year defined by abundance. With multiple big, epic blockbusters from legendary directors and several actors putting out not one, but in some cases two or three movies in one year (Anne Hathaway has six!), it seems as though we will have nothing but choices. But what would we choose if we could only see five movies? That’s the premise of this episode of The Long Take Review: our annual Movie Hype Draft! Greg, P.T., and I take turns picking movies that we reasonably think will come out between now and the end of the year. What will we snatch up in the first round? What will we groan about when someone else gets something from our wish list? And what weird wild card picks will each of us make? Listen to find out, and then share what your roster would look like in the comments! [This episode is SPOILER FREE because we haven’t seen any of these movies yet, but if you keep scrolling after the thumbnail image in this post, you will see our complete rosters, which would spoil the episode. If you would prefer to learn each of our picks by listening first (and we highly recommend that!), wait until you’ve finished before you scroll down, review our draft picks, and then vote for your favorite line-up.] Image Credit: Entertainment Weekly, IMDB, LA Times, Reddit, and the Hollywood Reporter Jen’s Picks The Odyssey (Christopher Nolan) Behemoth! (Tony Gilroy) The Mandalorian and Grogu (Jon Favreau) All of a Sudden (Ryuske Hamaguchi) Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew (Greta Gerwig) P.T.’s Picks Dune: Part Three (Denis Villaneuve) Godzilla Minus Zero (Takashi Yamazaki) Wild Horse Nine (Martin McDonagh) Werwulf (Robert Eggers) Coyote vs. Acme (Dave Green) Greg’s Picks Disclosure Day (Steven Spielberg) The Adventures of Cliff Booth (David Fincher) Digger (Alejandro G. Iñárritu) Fjord (Cristian Mungiu) The Only Living Pickpocket In New York (Noah Segan) You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

  • March 27 · 1 hr 51 min

    Project Hail Mary Review

    With the Oscars just fading out of the rear view mirror, it’s a shock and a thrill to already have another hit in theaters. Within six days of its release, Project Hail Mary surpassed $100 million domestically, according to Deadline. That’s a box office performance second to only one other film that’s not a sequel and not part of a franchise: Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which won best picture in 2024. Will this space odyssey (pun only sort of not intended) directed by the team publicly fired by Lucasfilm become the earliest entry into next year’s Oscar race? Would we place it in the pantheon of other space epics like Close Encounters of the Third Kind or Apollo 13? We debate these very questions on this episode of The Long Take Review, but only after we’ve thoroughly celebrated what we loved about the film, gushed about our queen Sandra Hüller, and tried to unpack what this blockbuster might tell us about our own humanity. Put on your best science pun t-shirt, pull down those glasses, and join us for a fun conversation of galactic proportions. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 32:39 minute mark. If you’re not ready for launch, you may listen safely until then. We have determined that one particular reveal in the movie is not a spoiler because it has been shown in all of the trailers and promotional materials for the film. If you have managed to avoid all those references and wish to go into your viewing experience completely blind, then none of this episode is safe. Image Credit: Collider You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All music licensed through Epidemic Sound. Logo art: Illustration 73265080 © Worldofvector | Dreamstime.com Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

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