The Take-Up Podcast

Andrew and Josh marathon through their thoughts on the recent Stephen King adaptation, The Long Walk , going into discussions of King’s long history writing the novel, its connection to the Vietnam War/contemporary times, and its growing Conclave -esque fan reclamation. It turns out this small-scale thriller has more to offer than a depressing time. Then the duo continue their King talk with this...

Buckle up for guest ⁠Cliff Froehlich⁠ 's pick, Martin Scorsese's landmark 1976 film ⁠Taxi Driver⁠ , with a hall-of-fame performance from Robert DeNiro. The great St. Louis film-scene leader guides Andrew and Josh through his cinematic upbringing in St. Louis and the morally murky streets of Scorsese's scuzzy NYC. Despite all that, do Andrew and Josh think Taxi Driver belongs in the Take-Up's panth...

Gather your bolt pistols and money satchels, friend-os! Andrew’s pick for the film that made him a cinephile is the Coen Brothers’ violent noir/western No Country for Old Men . He and Joshua partake in a ramble about evil, age, philosophy, movie tattoos, and most importantly, which one of them lost the most out of a coin toss (spoiler: it was Andrew). And then stayed tuned as they bring up One Mor...

The Take-Up Podcast returns with a spiffy new coat of colors in Todd Haynes' 2002 Douglas Sirk homage Far From Heaven . It's Joshua's pick for building a Take-Up permanent cinema of what made them film-lovers. He and Andrew discuss the Haynes canon, the Sirk canon, and coming out of the "Criterion Closet" in 2002. Alert to fans of stars Julianne Moore, Dennis Haysbert, Dennis Quaid (you exist?), a...

On the eve of Academy Awards weekend (which is how we celebrate in this house) The Take-Up pod has its final say on the best films of 2024. Andrew and Joshua countdown(-ish) their favs with an epic two-hour episode (supplementing their website's annual written celebration). They talk some Oscar hopefuls ( The Brutalist, Nickel Boys, and, if I'm reading this correctly ... The Substance ?), festival...

Katherine takes Contemporary Costumes to the high seas with musical classic Follow the Fleet , starring Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. But before she, Joshua, and Andrew can let themselves go into the costumes and chemistry, the Take-Up brings out spooky season with what’s Now Showing: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice , The Front Room , Red Rooms , and acclaimed documentary The Mother of All Lies. Finally...

After a summer break, the Take-Up falls back into Contemporary Costumes with Andrew's pick, Sion Sono's Why Don't You Play in Hell ? Before trying to keep up with with the manic meta-movie, they'll catch up with some recent releases Now Showing: Alien: Romulus , Starve Acre , The Crow , Blink Twice , and Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person . Finally, they've all got One More Thing...

Critic and culture writer Brandon Streussnig glams up the pod with his pick Du Jour for the Contemporary Costumes program, 2001's "teen comedy" cult classic Josie and the Pussycats . Before he, Joshua, and Katharine break down all the fashions, all the pr🎯duct pl🎯cement, and all the Parker Posey, Andrew stops by with Now Showing reviews of Cuckoo and Handling the Undead . Finally, there's just O...

Joshua is dressed to kill with Ken Russell's 1984 Psycho -sexual thriller/satire/melodrama Crimes of Passion , his pick for the new Contemporary Costumes program. Before digging into the Big Performances of Kathleen Turner and Anthony Perkins in full drag(s), he, Katharine, and Andrew are Now Showing yet another crime of passion with Catherine Breillat's latest, Last Summer . Finally, they've all...

For the final episode in the Queer Classics program, Katharine picks the 1959 queer killers story Compulsion , based upon the real-life Leopold and Loeb case. Of course she, Joshua, and Andrew couldn't help but go into the other Leopold and Loeb-inspired films, Alfred Hitchcock's Rope and Tom Kalin's Swoon , also covered here. First up is a killer of a different kind in Osgood Perkins' Longlegs ....

Mother of Mercy, Katie Carter is back guns a-blazin' with her pick for the Queer Classics program, Little Caesar (1931), the landmark gangster picture featuring Edward G. Robinson's breakout performance. Before she schools Katharine and Joshua on queer depictions in the Pre-Code Hollywood era, Andrew appears to review MaXXXine , America , and A Quiet Place: Day One with everyone. Finally, they'll...

It's a matter of life and death when Andrew picks famed French Renaissance Man Jean Cocteau's Orpheus for his pick in the Queer Classics program. Joshua and Katharine roll on their rubber gloves, paint eyeballs on their eyelids, and join Andrew to jump backwards into the 1950 Orpheus redux. First, they go Inside Out (2) with Disney/Pixar's latest and Kill Your Lover , both of which are Now Showing...

Bang, bang! Joan Crawford shoots a whole town down in Nicholas Ray's 1954 cult/camp/queer/western/melodrama classic Johnny Guitar . It's Joshua's choice for the first episode in the Queer Classics program, celebrating our favorite queer-leaning films made before 1960. Before they figure out if its Cahiers du Cinéma stamp-of-approval is appropriate or not, he, Andrew, and new co-host Katharine Cold...

Joshua and Andrew time-travel alllll the way back to 2019 to discuss guest Alex McPherson 's favorite movie year! His pick from the not-so-distant past? Jim Jarmusch's star-studded zom-com The Dead Don't Die . First, Challengers , Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus , Hundreds of Beavers , and The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed are Now Showing. Finally, they've all got One More Thing wit...

Katharine Coldiron joins Joshua and Andrew for a showdown with Andrew Dominik's "Imagined West" in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford . Before discussing Andrew's Brad Pitt-starring pick for the My Favorite Movie Year program and the cinematic year that was 2007, Sasquatch Sunset and The People's Joker are Now Showing. Finally, they'll visit the Wisconsin Film Festival , Ma...

Shannon Weber , Managing Editor of Feast Magazine , returns to the podcast to take up her favorite movie year! She joins Joshua and Andrew to party like it's 1999 when they discuss her pick from that year, The Virgin Suicides . Before flashing back to Sofia Coppola's debut feature, the boys talk some films that are Now Showing: Radu Jude's (masterpiece) Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the W...

Things get hot in the cold as The Take-Up goes a little stir crazy with Stanley Kubrick's The Shining . It's Joshua's pick for the new My Favorite Movie Year series, and guest Katharine Coldiron joins to discuss the horror classic and the totally un-horrific, great movie year that is 1980 ( and 30-plus films that prove it so ). First, Late Night with the Devil , Stopmotion , Riddle of Fire, and, s...

Andrew picks the final film in the Critics Are Stupid program, Jonathan Glazer's misunderstood 2004 film Birth . Before he, Joshua, and returning guest Katharine Coldiron dive into the Nicole Kidman-starring "ghost story," Io Capitano , Here , and Behind the Haystacks are all Now Showing. Lastly, they all have One More Thing with Alamo Drafthouse's Time Capsule , the African Film Festival at Wash...

Katharine Coldiron joins Andrew and Joshua for the latter's pick for the Critics Are Stupid program, The Truth About Charlie . Before rushing the streets of Paris in Jonathan Demme's Charade remake, the film critics discuss Dune: Part Two , Drive-Away Dolls , and The Legionnaire . Finally, everyone has One More Thing with some Swans , some Terror , and more on The Zone of Interest . On Thursday, F...

Harmony Korine goes to Ohio in Gummo , guest Pete Timmermann's pick for the Critics Are Stupid program. Before diving into the iconoclast director's red flag-raising debut feature, the Webster University Film Series Director joins Joshua and Andrew to discuss Lisa Frankenstein , How to Have Sex , Under the Fig Trees , and Skin Deep , all of which are Now Showing. Finally, they'll round the episode...

The great Katharine Coldiron returns to the podcast with her pick for the new Critics Are Stupid program, celebrating critically reviled films we love. Before breaking down the 1991 porkchop/bulldozer Stone Cold , Andrew and Joshua are Now Showing True Detective: Night Country , Trunk: Locked In , Dario Argento Panico , and The Seeding . Finally, they'll have One More Thing featuring good bad movi...

On this special episode, Andrew and Joshua countdown their respective top ten films of 2023 . They talk some tentpole franchise entries marking the return of Ethan Hunt and Spider-Man , tasty docs like Frederick Wiseman's latest , not-so-tasty ones like De Humani Corporis Fabrica , critcs' darlings like Past Lives and The Zone of Interest , one-half of Barb enheimer , and a lot more . Before that,...

Joshy's with the maggots now! Calm down, he's just picked Lee Cronin's Evil Dead Rise for the final episode of the Gems of '23 program. He and Andrew spill all the gory tea (be warned!) about one of the year's better genre entries. After that, they're catching you up on 2023 with reviews of Saltburn , Infinity Pool , Silent Night , Bottoms , and Blackberry . Finally, they're Landscapers -ing and t...

It's your last chance for the Last Dance with Max Havey of St. Louis Magazine ! He joins Joshua and Andrew with his pick for the Gems of '23 program: Steven Soderbergh's latest (and last) Magic Mike. Before that, the two hosts have Now Showing blow-out bonanza with the final segment of the of the year covering Ferrari , The Color Purple , Wonka , Eileen , The Iron Claw , and The Zone of Interest ....

Past and future guest Billy Rock of Do You Like Apples returns to the Gems series for our 2023 edition with agitprop melo-thriller How to Blow Up a Pipeline in tow. Before that, Godzilla Minus One and Frederick Wiseman's Menus-Plaisirs - Les Troisgros are Now Showing. Later, they'll play a Pipeline edition of Known Four and recommend One More Thing each: real Christmas trees and two Criterion Chan...