The Long Take Review

Andrew Haigh’s romantic fantasy, All of Us Strangers, got shut out of the Oscars, with zero nominations. And that’s a shame. A strong ensemble cast — Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Claire Foy, and Jamie Bell — delivers subtle yet heartbreaking performances. The screenplay adapts its source material with a series of bold choices. And it shows us things we think we know in completely unexpected and fres...

The Chiefs may be on their way to Disneyland, but we’re going to the movies. The Super Bowl is, of course, famous for its high-powered ads, and this year was no exception, with several new movie trailers airing during the live broadcast. Can Deadpool save the MCU? Are we entering the era of unsolicited 90s reboots? And should Jen binge all of the Planet of the Apes movies? In this episode of The L...

It may seem premature to speculate about next awards season when we haven’t even made it to the Oscars, but that’s never stopped us before! The Sundance Film Festival wrapped last week at Park City, Utah and online. It’s the first big film festival of the new year and, in recent years, has premiered several Oscar-winning films, such as Navalny (2022), Coda (2021), Judas and the Black Messiah (2021...

While Internet fires continue to rage after Barbie visionaries Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie did not get nominated for Best Director and Best Actress respectively, Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut, American Fiction , quietly over-performed with five Oscar nominations. Supporting Actor was a little unexpected, and Score was a total surprise, indicating broader strength and support for the film....

Oscar nominations are finally here! On Tuesday January 23rd, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — the Oscars — announced their nominations in all 23 categories during a live broadcast on ABC. A full house of bleary-eyed Angelenos cheered when hosts Jack Quaid and Zazie Beetz named welcome surprises like America Ferrera. Current frontrunner Oppenheimer was the big winner of the day wit...

Oscar nominations will be announced on Tuesday morning , and in anticipation of that fast-approaching mile marker in awards season, most Oscars podcasts have been releasing episodes with their full set of predictions. We went in the opposite direction, and awarded our personal favorites for the year, before we become unduly influenced by the Academy’s lineup. In this episode of The Long Take Revie...

The Golden Globes have long had the reputation of being Hollywood’s biggest party, but the recent exposure of corruption and scandal plaguing their voting body, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, shut that party down. Celebrities boycotted them. NBC dropped them. It looked as if the Golden Globes would be no more. Last June, however, the HFPA disbanded , Dick Clark Productions bought the sho...

While everyone else bakes their gingerbread, spins their dreidels, and cozies up next to their fires, we’re debating which films and artists have gained and — in some cases — lost momentum in the Oscar race. Critics’ groups have begun handing out awards, and, most notably, the newly reconstituted Golden Globe Awards have announced their nominations. A lot is still in flux, but some clear frontrunn...

Legendary director Hayao Miyzaki was set to retire after The Wind Rises in 2013. He later decided that he had at least one more film in him: The Boy and the Heron , which is playing in theaters now. At a later date, it will presumably stream on Max, where most other Studio Ghibli films reside. Is this Miyazaki’s last film, for real this time? There are already rumors from studio executives that he...

We love going to the movies, but that doesn’t stop us from cozying up at home with Netflix too. In this episode of The Long Take Review, we discuss three films currently available on Netflix: Todd Haynes’ May December, David Fincher’s The Killer, and Nyad , the first narrative feature directed by Oscar-winning documentary filmmakers Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin. To many critics’ surprise, May De...

Ridley Scott, the director who brought us game-changing blockbusters like Alien , Bladerunner , and Gladiator , takes on one of history’s most notorious figures in his new film, Napoleon . The 2-hour and 38-minute historical epic follows not only his military career but his relationship with his wife and empress, Josephine. The film stars Academy Award winner Joaquin Phoenix ( Joker , The Master )...

A little more than a year after the release of Elvis, Baz Luhrmann’s bombastic and glitzy biopic, Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla provides an alternative view by adapting Priscilla Presley’s memoir, Elvis and Me . In stark contrast to Elvis , Priscilla is a quiet, sobering look at the relationship between Elvis and Priscilla Presley, who was 14 when they met. Coppola’s film stars Cailee Spaeny as Prisci...

Whether you’re hosting or traveling for Thanksgiving, watching movies can be a great way to spend time with your loved ones. To help guide you through that tryptophan-assisted down time, P.T., Greg, and I put together a series of recommendations in four different categories: 1.) movies playing in theaters, 2.) family films to stream at home, 3.) films for grownups to stream at home, and 4.) movies...

With new “state of the MCU” articles coming out every day, The Marvels enters a precarious discursive climate. And, unfortunately, Nia DaCosta’s superhero team-up space comedy now has the distinction of the lowest grossing opening weekend of any Marvel movie. How much does that reflect the quality of the film, though? On this episode of The Long Take Review, Greg and I explain why we still had a g...

Alexander Payne — the director behind Sideways , The Descendants , Election , Nebraska , and About Schmidt — has a new film out in theaters: The Holdovers . The title refers to a group of boarding school students stuck on campus for the holidays, along with their begrudging chaperone, a hard-nosed history teacher, played by Paul Giamatti. Hilarious and heartfelt shenanigans ensue. Comedian Da’vine...

Did she do it? Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall pushes the boundaries of what a movie about a murder can do. This fresh take, executed with precision storytelling, won the biggest prize at the Cannes Film Festival this past May, launching it into the Oscars conversation. It is now out in theaters and will likely stream on Hulu after its theatrical run. In this episode of The Long Take Review, P.T...

Legendary director and champion of cinema Martin Scorsese adapted David Grann’s 2017 non-fiction book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, with some significant shifts that have sparked debate amongst a variety of film critics. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, and Robert De Niro, who all give indelible performances. It is currently playing in the...

Wes Anderson, the director behind The Grand Budapest Hotel and, more recently, Asteroid City , adapted four short stories by Roald Dahl for Netflix: “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” “The Swan,” “The Rat Catcher,” and “Poison.” These films feature a troupe of famous faces, including Benedict Cumberbatch, Sir Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel, Rupert Friend, and Richard Ayoade. In this epi...

P.T., Greg, and I love Star Wars as much as we love movies, so we’re dipping a toe into television waters with a review of the first season of Ahsoka , the new Star Wars series that recently concluded on Disney+. We discuss the extent to which Star Wars animation is a prerequisite, how the series moves forward in light of the tragic loss of actor Ray Stevenson, what this series tells us about the...

This week, Gareth Edwards, the director behind Rogue One: A Star Wars Story , debuted his original science fiction epic, The Creator . P.T., Greg, and I break down what makes the film worth seeing — even dazzling in some respects — while also acknowledging the flaws in the story. The wide-ranging conversation includes AI, the Vietnam War, and a slew of other science fiction films. You can listen t...

Before we become engrossed in all the Oscar bait that awaits this fall, Greg, P.T. and I thought it would be fun to give a series of “awards” to movies we watched over the summer. Greg finds every opportunity to talk about Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny , P.T. tries to backdoor reviews of Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and TMNT:Mutant Mayhem , and Jen just wants to give Rocket Ra...

P.T. and I are back to finish up our “way too early” Oscar predictions. Since we last recorded, a lot has happened — reviews from some of the fall film festivals have come in and a few Oscar hopefuls have been pushed to next year. Which films have emerged as early frontrunners? Which might be too weird to appeal to Oscar voters? Which have a better chance during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes (whic...

Is it still too early to make Oscar predictions? Yes. Will that stop P.T. and me from making them? Not a chance. After a rundown of what’s slated for all the major film festivals this year and a discussion of their role in the Oscar race, we speculate about nominations in 8 categories: animated feature, international feature, documentary feature, original score, original song, production design, m...

Theater Camp, a loving send-up of “theater kid” culture, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to high praise from critics. Months later, Searchlight Picture’s sincere comedy starring Molly Gordon ( The Bear ) and Ben Platt ( Pitch Perfect ) quietly released in theaters, overshadowed by Barbenheimer fever. That’s why P.T., Antonio, and I wanted to give this heavily improvised indie film a starri...

The simultaneous release of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer , now known as “Barbenheimer,” has quickly become the movie event of the year, sweeping pop culture and breaking all kinds of box office records. We share our takes on each film, put them in conversation with one another, and posit their cultural, political, and film industry significance. Rather than reviewing t...