The Long Take Review

• 2025 Movie Hype Draft

  Many critics, pundits, and podcasters have told us that the mantra for movie studios and theaters has been “survive until ‘25.” And now that 2025 is here and we know what movies are slated to come out for the rest of the year, our question is will we survive or thrive in 2025? In this episode of The Long Take Review, the whole crew gathers together to try to answer this very question. We take turns picking four of our most anticipated films in our annual Movie Hype Draft. Which films will go first? Will anyone steal another co-host’s top pick before they have a chance to choose? Who will end up with the summer’s biggest blockbusters? Whose picks will win the most Oscars? And who will pick the films that will make their little cinephile heart the happiest? Play along with us to find out. [EPISODE SPOILER WARNING BELOW: 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. If you would prefer to learn each of our picks by listening to the episode (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: The Hollywood Reporter, IGN, and VarietyP.T.’s PicksMission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (dir. Christopher McQuarrie)One Battle After Another (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)Materialists (dir. Celine Song)Highest 2 Lowest (dir. Spike Lee)Antonio’s Picks Wicked: For Good (dir. Jon M. Chu)Jay Kelly (dir. Noah Baumbach)The Life of Chuck (dir. Mike Flanagan)Hamnet (dir. Chloe Zhao)Greg’s PicksThe Phoenician Scheme (dir. Wes Anderson)Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (dir. Rian Johnson)The Mastermind (dir. Kelly Reichardt)The History of Sound (dir. Oliver Hermanus)Jen’s PicksFrankenstein (dir. Guillermo del Toro)After the Hunt (dir. Luca Guadanigno)Sentimental Value (dir. Joachim Trier)The Running Man (dir. Edgar Wright)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

  --------  

  2:01:49
• 2017 Oscar Fairy Flashback

  It’s been a minute, but we are so happy to be back with our Oscar Fairy Flashback project, in which we reexamine a slate of Oscar nominees and winners to “correct” them, as if we had the power of an all-powerful Oscar fairy. This time, we’re looking at the 89th Academy Awards — the infamous Moonlight vs. La La Land year, in which a card mix-up wreaked havoc when La La Land was announced as the winner of Best Picture when Moonlight had in fact won the award. Which film should have won Best Picture? Which song from La La Land should have won original song? How much did we agree overall? Have we even seen the same movies from this year? Tune in to find out.If you’ve never listened to an Oscar Fairy Flashback episode before, you should know that to spice up the discussion, P.T. designed a point spending system. Each co-host will receive 10 points for this round, and carry over any leftover points from the previous Oscar Fairy Flashback if we 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 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

  --------  

  1:25:41
• Electric State Review

  The Russo brothers became household names for many Marvel fans after directing four of the biggest films in the MCU: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). It’s no wonder, then, that Netflix was willing to give them a $320 million budget to create a science fiction action-adventure starring pop franchise superstars Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown and featuring a slew of high profile supporting actors. With unilaterally negative reviews from critics and a decent but far from record-breaking streaming numbers, is Electric State proof that the Russo brothers no longer have a golden touch? On this episode of The Long Take Review, Greg and I debate this very question, as we unpack why this film was not a hit. What worked and didn’t work for us? What other films does this one remind us of? And what do we think this film is trying to say about robots, our relationship with technology, or shaggy haircuts? It’s all here in the shortest episode we’ve ever recorded.We go into SPOILER MODE around the 16:22 minute mark. If you are still undecided as to whether or not you want to sneak into the Exclusion Zone with us, you can listen safely until then.Image Credit: New York TimesYou 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

  --------  

  55:45
• Captain America: Brave New World Review

  It’s never a good sign when the McDonalds toys for your movie come out long before the movie actually does, and it’s an even worse sign that not all of the characters represented in those toys made it into the final cut of the film. After delays and reshoots, the latest cinematic entry in the MCU, Captain America: Brave New World, released in theaters this past Valentine’s Day to mixed to poor reviews and a decent box office, holding as the second highest grossing film in 2025, but 28th out of all 35 films to date. On this episode of The Long Take Review, we have the added perspective of discussing what this film means in the context of the latest Avengers: Doomsday casting announcement, giving big clues about who will be involved in — and which films’ storylines will matter in — the upcoming phase of Marvel storytelling. Greg and I share what actually worked about us with this film, acknowledge its flaws, and speculate how it may or may not fit into the future of the MCU. We go into SPOILER MODE around the 16:34 minute mark. If you are still undecided as to whether or not you want to hulk out with us, you can listen safely until then.Image Credit: IndieWireYou 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

  --------  

  1:10:10
• Black Bag Review

  This time of year can be a little slow for awards junkies like us, but, every once in a while, a smaller film that has no chance at the Oscars surprises us. Clocking in at a crisp 1 hour 33 minutes, Steven Soderbergh’s latest film, a spy thriller mystery called Black Bag, is a smart and stylish genre exercise that was as fun to talk about as it was to watch. Acting titans Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender star as a couple whose marriage is tested by the agency for which they both work. We give shoutouts to our favorite cast members, share the suspicions we had at different points in the film, and try to pinpoint what makes the screenplay so clever.As an added bonus, we begin the episode with our reaction to the latest Avengers: Doomsday casting announcement. We go into SPOILER MODE around the 28 minute mark. If you are still undecided as to whether or not you want to go on this top secret mission with us, you can listen safely until then.Image Credit: VultureYou 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

  --------  

  1:13:23

Mais podcasts de TV e cinema

Podcasts em tendência em TV e cinema

Sobre The Long Take Review