The Long Take Review

What flavor of Yorgos are you? The director’s black comedy has taken many forms, from the absurdist futurism of The Lobster to the spicy costume drama of The Favourite or the Gothic coming of age story of Poor Things. In this episode of The Long Take Review, we try to place the acclaimed filmmaker’s latest work, Bugonia, on that continuum. After striking out with the anthology film Kinds of Kindness last awards season, can Lanthimos get back in the Oscar conversation and finally win a gold statue? What is Bugonia trying to say about rhetoric and power? What does the word bugonia mean in Greek? Listen to get answers to these questions and more. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 16:57 minute mark. If you don’t want to confirm or deny your conspiracy theory, you may 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

Guillermo del Toro has waited his whole life to adapt Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus. In many interviews to promote the 2 1/2 hour film, now on Netflix, the writer and director has said that he read Shelley’s novel at 11 years old and has been thinking about it ever since. It remains to be seen, however, if critics and audiences think the Gothic tale starring Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi was worth the wait, as the tide of public reception continually ebbs and flows throughout fall film festival season. Could the current surge in the film’s popularity, both on Netflix and at regional film festivals, foreshadow Oscar nominations? As we discussed in our Oscar Fairy Flashback episode for the 90th Academy Awards, Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water is one of the weirdest Best Picture winners, as its protagonist falls in love with a fish man trapped in a government lab. Could telling the story of Western Literature’s most iconic misunderstood monster repeat that success? On this episode of The Long Take Review, we tackle this question and many more. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 26:58 minute mark. If you don’t want to flip that switch with no turning back, 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

Welcome to a new subseries on The Long Take Review feed: LTR Quick Takes! In this inaugural episode, Co-host Greg flies solo to offer some SPOILER-FREE thoughts on the films he saw during the IFF Boston Fall Focus series. Join Greg for his Short Take, Recommendation Algorithm, and Oscars Watch on three highly anticipated films from this festival. First, Greg treads carefully reacting to Rian Johnson’s Wake up Dead Man, the third installment of the Knives Out franchise, featuring Daniel Craig as gentleman detective Benoit Blanc. Next, Greg stands up to share his thoughts on Is This Thing On?, the new comedy drama from perennially Oscar-hungry Bradley Cooper, starring Will Arnett and Laura Dern. Finally, Greg closes out the episode by bearing witness to The Testament of Ann Lee, a new historical drama from Mona Fastvold and starring Amanda Seyfried. Is a solo pod a good idea? Does Greg have a meltdown and start crying half way through? Only one way to find out... Wake Up Dead Man: 9:58 Is This Thing On?: 21:36 The Testament of Ann Lee: 35:42 Get full access to The Long Take at thelongtake.substack.com/subscribe

Oscar nerds most remember Kathryn Bigelow as the winner of an infamous Best Picture showdown between her film, The Hurt Locker, and her ex-husband James Cameron’s film, Avatar in 2010. And while a rematch could theoretically emerge between Bigelow and Cameron this year, Bigelow’s newest film, A House of Dynamite, has gotten much more notoriety for the political implications of her nuclear attack thriller, often from real-life politicians and government officials. Sen. Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts called the film a “wake-up call” for U.S. officials. Meanwhile, the Pentagon has criticized Bigelow for inaccuracies. Bigelow herself responded simply and directly: “I just state the truth.” The provocation of valuable debate aside, how does A House of Dynamite hold up as a movie? We at The Long Take Review had our own healthy debate about this question, discussing to what extent the unconventional structure of the film worked, what the film might be trying to say about nuclear proliferation, and which members of the deep bench ensemble stood out or were woefully underused. Can you guess which one of us was the most disappointed and which one of us ardently defended the film and its aims? A House of Dynamite is now available to stream on Netflix. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 13:40 minute mark. (That may be a record!) If you don’t want the missile codes, 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

Director Luca Guadagnino has had some success with the Academy, getting a Best Picture nomination for Call Me By Your Name (2017), but he has yet to have his big Oscar moment. That’s why many pundits predicted that his next film starring Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, and Ayo Edebiri, a seemingly more mainstream thriller about a college campus sexual assault case, could go all the way and mark his coronation by the Academy. Then people actually saw After the Hunt at the Venice Film Festival, and the response was polarizing to say the least. So what did we make of it at The Long Take Review? Hear our somewhat (but not completely) varied reactions as we try to unpack what is potentially the year’s most politically provocative yet narratively confusing film. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 19:36 minute mark. If you don’t want to apply for this position, you can listen safely until then. Image Credit: Variety 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

We’re in the end game of fall film festival season now! AFI, the last big festival of the year, is just wrapping up and, meanwhile, smaller regional film festivals get to show many of the films we’ve just been hearing about for months. P.T., Antonio, and I were lucky enough to attend the Korean Spotlight screening of Park Chan-wook’s dark satirical comedy, No Other Choice, at the Newport Beach Film Festival this week. We liked the film so much we couldn’t wait until its wide release in December to talk about it. In this episode of The Long Take Review, we unpack the anti-capitalist social commentary, try to decode the innovative camerawork, and generally share what we thought was clever and funny about the film. Can Park score a nomination in the Best International Feature category at the Oscars this year? Can it even push past that into other categories? Stick around until the end to hear our thoughts. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 31:06 minute mark. If you don’t want to apply for this position, 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

Casablanca, directed by Michael Curtiz, was filmed and premiered in 1942, then saw wide release in early 1943. This makes it easily the oldest movie we have covered on this show by more than three decades! The World War II set and filmed movie tells the story of a jaded American expat (Humphrey Bogart) wrestling with whether to help his former lover (Ingrid Bergman) and her Resistance-leader husband flee from the Nazis and get out of the titular North African city. With one of the most quoted screenplays of all time, it is a stone-cold classic and is consistently ranked as one of the best films ever made, including being in the top three of both versions of the American Film Institute’s “100 Years…100 Movies” list of the best American movies. We couldn’t have been happier when our friend, fellow podcaster, and Associate Director of Marketing, CCOM at Butler University, Ross Hollebon suggested that we discuss Casablanca with him on our next LTR Guest List episode. We share our favorite performances and, of course, iconic quotes, as well as unpack the themes and politics behind this timeless story. 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 Casablanca and do not want it spoiled, return to us after you’ve seen it. Casablanca is currently available to stream on HBO Max. 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: Turner Classic Movies 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

The Venice Film Festival went wild for Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine, based on the life and struggles of MMA/UFC Fighter Mark Kerr. When the film opened in theaters last weekend, however, the box office was a huge disappointment. What is the decision of The Long Take Review crew? Host Jen Sopchockchai is joined by Greg Cass and Antonio Elefano to discuss the Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson showcase. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 19:25 minute mark. If you can’t remember the password for 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

The superlatives that have already been bestowed upon the new PTA (Paul Thomas Anderson) movie that just hit theaters last weekend are, quite honestly, hard to believe: to many, it’s PTA’s best film, Leonardo DiCaprio’s career best performance, the best film of the year, and even the best film of the decade. How could the film, which chronicles an ex-freedom fighter’s frenzied chase away from a wing of the U.S. military and towards wherever his missing daughter might be, possibly live up to all that? On this episode of The Long Take Review, we each share the extent to which we felt One Battle After Another lived up to the extreme hype, unpack why the film feels both timely and timeless, give shoutouts to the MVPs of the cast (spoiler: there are several), dissect characters’ motivations, and speculate whether or not the film has what it takes to go all the way at the Oscars. It’s a wild ride; hop in. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 21:34 minute mark. If you can’t remember the password for spoilers, you can listen safely until then. Image Credit: Variety 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

With the major film festivals completed, we launch into award season with the kind of prestige drama that was designed for the fall: an adaptation of Ben Shattuck’s The History of Sound. Host Jen Sopchockchai is joined by Greg Cass and Antonio Elefano to talk about the decades-spanning drama about a singer, played by Paul Mescal, and a musicologist, played by Josh O’Connor, who meet by chance and forever change one another’s lives. This time, everyone on the episode has read the source material, so get ready for some serious book club time! We go into SPOILER MODE at the 21:43 minute mark. If you are not ready to sing spoilers with us, 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

The air is turning crisp and the coffees are getting pumpkin spiced, but before we head into Fall Festival (and Oscar!) season, we want to do a quick recap on Summer Blockbuster season. On this episode of The Long Take Review, host Jen Sopchockchai is joined by P.T. McNiff, Antonio Elefano, and Greg Cass to debrief the season that was, reliving the highs (biplanes!), the lows (mutant dinosaurs!), and the forgotten (What is an Elio?). Listen along as we reveal our superlatives, such as “most athletic” and “cutest couple.” For some, we needed to reopen previous discussions, and, for others, we shined a spotlight on some underrated finds. Image Credit: SlashFilm 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

In more ways than one, The Fantastic Four: First Steps did not perform as expected. In spite of superhero fatigue, Matt Shakman’s retro futuristic adaptation of Marvel’s first family was well-received by many critics. Brandon Yu of the New York Times, for example, called it a “refreshingly new direction” and Amy Nicholson of the LA Times said she felt comforted by the film’s evocation of “classic sci-fi.” The box office, however, took a turn for the worst after opening weekend, with a 66% drop-off in sales. Currently, it ranks ninth in the worldwide box office for this year. That’s just before the other two MCU movies this year, Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*, both of which have been deemed financial disappointments. But that doesn’t mean we at The Long Take Review were personally disappointed in the slickly styled summer blockbuster! In this episode, we share a range of reactions to the film, and then proceed to debate what works and what doesn’t work. Did we favor Reed Richards/Pedro Pascal, Sue Storm/Vanessa Kirby, Johnny Storm/Joseph Quinn, or Ben Grimm/Ebon Moss-Bacharach? How did we feel about the ethical dilemmas the film proposes? And what do we think this film indicates about the future of the MCU? We talk everything from stingers to the Silver Surfer! We go into SPOILER MODE at the 28:25 minute mark. If you are not ready to launch into outer spoiler space, you can listen safely until then. (We WILL protect you.) 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

It’s a bird…it’s a plane…it’s…the biggest movie of the summer? Superman is certainly the central focus of Director James Gunn, who left Marvel Studios to become the Co-Chairman & CEO of the shop across the street, DC Studios, in 2022. So did he do it? Did he do this iconic comic book character justice? Did he successfully launch the new DCU? On this episode of The Long Take Review, we debate this question among others. Greg and P.T. let hot takes fly, Jen gets in a fight with Greg, and we all do our best to discern the extent to which Gunn’s film meaningfully engages with world politics in 2025. We go into SPOILER MODE around the 21:49 minute mark. If spoilers are your kryptonite, you can listen safely until then. Image Credit: The Hollywood Reporter 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

Did you think The Shape of Water was romantic or just weird? In this Oscar Fairy Flashback episode, we look back at the 90th Academy Awards, which brought us one of the most polarizing Best Picture winners, Guillermo del Toro’s dark fantasy about a woman who falls in love with a fish man imprisoned in a government lab. Will we downsize some of its wins in favor of some other big nominees this year. Will anyone step forward to defend Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri? Will we do right by Jordan Peele’s Get Out, Greta Gerwig’s Ladybird, Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread? It’s a stacked year, so we had some tough choices to make. If you’ve never listened to an Oscar Fairy Flashback episode before, P.T. designed a point spending system for us to revise a slate of Oscar nominees and winners for a chosen year. Each co-host receives 10 points for the round, and carry over any leftover points from the previous Oscar Fairy Flashback if they participated. To swap out a nominee in a below-the-line category (the technical and production crew categories as well as speciality film categories like International, Animated, Documentary), we have to spend 1 point; swapping out a nominee in an above-the-line category (screenplay, acting, or directing) requires 2 points; and swapping out a best picture nominee is 3 points. To change the winner within a given category costs double points: so 2 points to change the winner below-the-line, 4 points for above, and 6 points for best picture. How would you spend your points to change this very competitive year? 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

If you were Dakota Johnson, would you choose Pedro Pascal or Chris Evans? (And no, both is not an option.) On the surface, The Materialists seems to pose this as a pleasurably difficult question, in glossy rom com fashion. That’s a considerable departure from Celine Song’s last film, the Oscar-nominated indie and LTR favorite, Past Lives. Is the marketing for the film creating a bait and switch situation, or is Song’s second film a genuinely more commercial play? Antonio, Greg, and I reveal our answers to this question as we delve into what Song has to say about dating, marriage, and market value. We go into SPOILER MODE around the 17:59 minute mark. If you are not ready to go on a date with spoilers, you can listen safely until then. Image Credit: Variety 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

Most film historians would say that when Steven Spielberg made Jaws in 1975, he changed Hollywood filmmaking forever. Not only would the shark tale launch his career into the stratosphere, making him a leading voice in American cinema, but it invented the summer blockbuster season and movie marketing that we easily take for granted now. This year (to the day, in fact!) marks Jaws’ 50th Anniversary, and we couldn’t be happier to celebrate it with our longtime friend and loyal listener, Sarah Hastings. As a huge horror fan and English professor who has taught courses on horror literature and film, Sarah was the perfect guest to help us celebrate this milestone anniversary. We pinpoint what makes this film hold up after 50 years, break down Spielberg’s use of genre, and Antonio shares his recent experience seeing Jaws for the very first time. Dive into the discussion with us! 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 Jaws and do not want it spoiled, return to us after you’ve seen it. Jaws is currently available to stream on Peacock, including a (brief) special message from Steven Spielberg in honor of the film’s 50th. In case you missed the first installment, 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: 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

Calling all girl dads! Wes Anderson has a new film for you. Starring Benicio del Toro as business tycoon Zsa Zsa Korda and Mia Threapleton as his estranged daughter Liesl, The Phoenician Scheme begins when Zsa Zsa calls upon Liesl to become the legal heir to his vast fortune as more and more of his rivals attempt to assassinate him. Hijinks ensue as the two face off against the customary starry ensemble. On this episode of The Long Take Review, we shoutout our favorite players from Anderson’s troupe, compare The Phoenician Scheme to his other films, and try to discern what the film might be saying about family, religion, global politics, and how to live your best life. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 22:54 minute mark. If you are not ready to scheme with 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

Stephen King contains multitudes. He may be more well known for classic horror stories like Carrie and The Shining, but he’s also responsible for equally successful emotional dramas like The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me. Whatever the genre or tone, his works almost always beg an adaptation to the big screen. That’s where Director Mike Flanagan comes in. Best known for Doctor Sleep (2019), Flanagan has an affinity for adapting King’s work. This year he brings us the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) audience award winner, The Life of Chuck, out in theaters this weekend. The genre-bending film is part science fiction, part coming of age musical, with plenty of surprises built in as it contemplates life, death, and the vast cosmos. Can Flanagan balance King’s different narrative flavors in this ambitious film? On this episode of The Long Take Review, we debate this very question, identifying the highlights of the film on the one hand and scratching our heads trying to figure out how it all hangs together on the other. It was a rich conversation in which we worked hard to figure this one out. Thanks, Chuck! We go into SPOILER MODE around the 20:00 minute mark. If you are not ready to dance with spoilers, you can listen safely until then. Image Credit: Vanity Fair 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

The Oscars recently announced that their 100th ceremony in 2027 will feature a brand new Best Stunt Design category, and the timing for Tom Cruise and his infamously death-defying Mission: Impossible series could not be worse, as Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, the eighth and potentially final installment released in theaters this past weekend. The marketing for the film heavily implies that this is the end for Cruise’s iconic portrayal of IMF agent Ethan Hunt, but is this actually his last mission? Even at the film’s world premiere, there were reports that he dodged questions about the franchise’s future. On this episode of The Long Take Review, we debate this question, but not before diving into what we thought of the film itself. What were our favorite callbacks to past films? Who was our MVP in the supporting cast? How were the themes different than the preceding film, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning? And what is our final rank(en)ing of all the M:I films? We go into SPOILER MODE around the 19:53 minute mark. If you are not ready to accept this mission, 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

It’s difficult to write an intro to a Marvel movie review without feeling like a broken record: Marvel has been in a slump, it’s no longer king of the Hollywood hill, fans are out, theatrical releases aren’t an event anymore, yada yada yada. To be honest, I’ve grown very tired of talking about how far Marvel has fallen, so it is an absolute delight to be able to review an MCU film that everyone else seems to like: Jake Schreier’s Thunderbolts*. In this episode of The Long Take Review, Greg and I rejoice in critics’ declaration that Marvel is back on track, unpack the darker themes of this anti-hero team-up story, and, because we can’t help ourselves, debate what this film tells us about the future of Marvel’s slate. We go into SPOILER MODE around the 17:43 minute mark. If you are still undecided as to whether or not you want to team-up with spoilers, you can listen safely until then. Please note that we did actually record this right after Thunderbolts’ opening weekend on Monday May 5th, but had to hold the episode to make way for our very topical Guest List episode about Conclave with Karl LaClair and our Star Wars Day celebration of the 20th Anniversary of Revenge of the Sith. 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