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PODCAST

The Long Take Review

Jen Sopchockchai Bankard

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

tv & film film reviews

All Episodes

160:07

100th Episode Special!

The Long Take Review ·

2025/02/18

It’s hard to believe, but The Long Take Review podcast has made it to 100 episodes! To commemorate this milestone, P.T., Greg, Antonio, and I take a break from our Oscar season coverage to ask each other some probing questions, both about the films we have covered during the first 100 episodes and more generally about our filmgoing lives. What has been our most memorable theatrical experience? What unpopular film would we defend? What film have we covered that we most associate with the other

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77:13

2025 Sundance Film Festival Review

The Long Take Review ·

2025/02/12

Is it too early to talk about next year’s Oscars when this year’s hasn’t even happened yet? The Sundance Film Festival says no. In fact, a handful of films that premiere there go on to compete in the awards race the following year. And unlike most other film festivals, Sundance offers online screenings for us civilians, which means we can actually review some films! P.T., Antonio, and I share our thoughts on the films that we saw, and then we break down reactions to the titles we weren’t able to

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91:00

A Complete Unknown Review

The Long Take Review ·

2025/02/04

Find someone who looks at you the way everyone in A Complete Unknown looks at Timothee Chalamet playing Bob Dylan. For James Mangold’s film, covering Dylan’s four-year journey from first arriving in New York City through “going electric” in 1965, one debate amongst critics centers on the representation of Bob Dylan’s genius: does the film fall into the stereotypical biopic trap of putting its subject on a pedestal, unabashedly touting his generational talent and nothing more? Or does Mangold offer a

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102:58

2025 Oscar Nominations Reactions

The Long Take Review ·

2025/01/24

Everyone over at The Long Take Review got up bright and early Thursday morning to watch the live announcement of this year’s Oscar nominations. We share our thoughts on the broadcast, as well as the nominees. How many did Jen correctly predict? How many has Greg already seen? What is P.T.’s mastermind theory about which films have a path to winning Best Picture? And why did we spend so much time talking about monkeys? Listen to find out! Image Credit: New York Times, The New Yorker, Vogue, Mubi, and

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133:28

The Brutalist Review

The Long Take Review ·

2025/01/22

Director Brady Corbet gave not one but two acceptance speeches at The Golden Globes, as he won for Best Director and his film, The Brutalist, won Best Motion Picture Drama. Star Adrien Brody also won Best Actor Motion Picture Drama. There were two predominant themes amongst those three speeches: that immigrant stories matter, and that film studios should take more chances on filmmakers’ artistic visions (especially when their ideas don’t seem as commercially viable). Those who have seen the two-part

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146:46

The 2nd Annual Letter Awards

The Long Take Review ·

2025/01/13

Before we describe this episode of The Long Take Review, we would like to acknowledge and express our support for the victims of the Los Angeles wildfires. Here are some ways to help:The Entertainment Community Fund provides a safety net for performing arts and entertainment professionals, including those impacted by the wildfires.This GoFundMe supports a colleague of ours displaced by the Eaton Canyon fire in Altadena.The Red Cross works with local partners to provide shelter, food, emotional

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93:50

The 82nd Golden Globes Reactions

The Long Take Review ·

2025/01/06

After years of scandal, attempts to change, and a host who bombed last year, it seems like the Golden Globes has finally found its footing. Comedian Nikki Glaser, best known for her roast of Tom Brady, has received ubiquitous praise for her appropriately pitched jokes. And after expanding and diversifying their voting body last year, critics seems to be much less judgmental about the Golden Globes Foundation’s nominations.And yet, pundits were uncertain going into last night’s ceremony. Would a

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88:37

The LTR Pod Holiday Special

The Long Take Review ·

2024/12/24

Happy Holidays from the crew at The Long Take Review! In the spirit of the season, we spent this week’s episode celerating our holiday favorites. We each share two classics and (at least) one movie from any genre to watch over the holidays with your loved ones. Do television specials count as movies? Which actor played Scrooge the best? Which one of us will make the most hipster picks? Join us to find out. And if you have films that you love to watch during this time of you, please share in the

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85:57

Gladiator II Review

The Long Take Review ·

2024/12/21

We’re far enough away from “Glicked” weekend that we can declare a box office victor, and it wasn’t Gladiator II, Ridley Scott’s long-awaited follow-up to Best Picture-winning Gladiator (2000). Despite that, will the sword and sandals epic still get a thumbs up from the Academy? On this episode of The Long Take Review, P.T., Greg, and I deliberate this question (and celebrate Denzel Washington) after unpacking our diverse reactions to the film. Who had the best time? Who knows about the previous

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78:14

Golden Globes+ Reactions

The Long Take Review ·

2024/12/13

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…and here at The Long Take Review, we mean awards season when we make that declaration. We took this entire episode to check in on the Oscar race in the wake of the first big slew of precursor awards and nominations. From New York to LA, regional critics groups have been chiming in with their picks in the hope that they can have some sway or create the right conditions for a film or actor’s campaign to gain momentum. Bigger groups like The American Film

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91:26

Wicked Review

The Long Take Review ·

2024/12/12

Right now, it seems as though Wicked’s potential is unlimited. It’s on the verge of hitting $500 million in worldwide box office, with no signs of slowing down over the holidays. It’s garnered a slew of award nominations, including four Golden Globes, as well as wins, including Best Film by the National Board of Review. The question on every pundit’s mind now is: does Jon M. Chu’s fantasy musical spectacular have what it takes to win at the Oscars?On this episode of The Long Take Review, we too

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72:04

A Real Pain Review

The Long Take Review ·

2024/12/04

Most will recognize Jesse Eisenberg as an actor, if not for his iconic portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg in David Fincher’s The Social Network (2010), then for his turn as Lex Luthor in Zack Snyder’s DC films. Fewer will know him as a director, and yet his second film, A Real Pain, is currently in the Oscars conversation. The film follows two cousins, Benji (Kieran Culkin) and David (Jesse Eisenberg), who sign up for a Holocaust tour of Poland, in an attempt to honor the memory of their immigrant

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78:45

Emilia Pérez Review

The Long Take Review ·

2024/11/25

Based on popular discourse, critics often dub one movie a year the “Oscar villain.” That’s usually a film that is a major contender in the race that also has a lot of haters or people who deem it unworthy of all the potential accolades. Jacques Audiard’s crime thriller musical, Emilia Pérez, could very well be this year’s Oscar villain; one only need look to the strong reactions that have flooded the Internet since the film became wildly available for subscribers to watch at home on Netflix. Many

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68:11

Blitz Review

The Long Take Review ·

2024/11/20

Steve McQueen’s filmography has had an eclectic filmography: Hunger (2008) is about the 1981 Irish hunger strike, Shame (2011) is about sex addiction, Widows (2018) is a heist thriller, and Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave (2013) adapts the 1853 memoir of Solomon Northrup, a free-born Black man kidnapped and sold into slavery. McQueen’s newest film, Blitz, focuses on a mother and son separated during the bombing of London during WWII, and while this is a return to the historical drama genre for

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83:45

The Substance Review

The Long Take Review ·

2024/11/13

How far would you be willing to go to look younger and more beautiful? That is the question that Carolie Fargeat’s The Substance horrifically asks and answers. In what some are calling a career best performance, Demi Moore plays an iconiclfilm and television actress who discovers an alluring new drug called The Substance just as the men in control of her career want to show her the door. It seems many viewers are interested to see what happens next, as the film marks MUBI’s most successful release

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93:46

Anora Review

The Long Take Review ·

2024/11/08

The Palm d’Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, is a big deal. And it has become an even bigger Oscar bellwether in recent years, as the Academy has expanded, diversified, and, as a result, become more international. The winners have certainly been international, as American films have won only 13 times during the award’s 80+ year history. In fact, an American film has not won since 2011 when Terence Malick’s The Tree of Life took the prize (and, later, three Oscar nominations). That all

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122:35

Conclave Review

The Long Take Review ·

2024/11/03

With an especially close Presidential Election only three days away, it’s nearly impossible to watch Edward Berger’s papal thriller Concalve without drawing a parallel to the American political process. The pope has died, and a conclave has assembled to elect another. But with so many scandals and secrets, can they find a suitable candidate? Which candidates will cling to their ideals? How many must inevitably compromise theirs? And will ambition or a pursuit of the truth win the day?Oscar pundits

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70:05

We Live In Time Review

The Long Take Review ·

2024/10/29

Yes, this is the movie with the carousel horse. After enjoying/enduring viral Internet fame long before its release, John Crowley’s We Live in Time is now in theaters and we can finally see the derpy carousel horse in context. Meme lovers may be disappointed, though, as the non-linear love story is unambiguously sincere in its meditation on life, death, and love. Luckily, Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh are here with an onscreen chemistry that overshadows any meme humor. Garfield plays Tobias, a

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73:41

Oscar Race Updates and the LTR Pod goes to the...

The Long Take Review ·

2024/10/25

We did a thing! P.T., Antonio, and I were fortunate enough to attend three screenings as a part of the Newport Beach Film Festival: Steve McQueen’s Blitz, Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, and Malcolm Washington’s adaptation of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson. Meanwhile, Antonio and P.T. got to see an early screening of Edward Berger’s Conclave, hosted by USC’s School of Cinematic Arts in collaboration with Outside the Box [Office] and Focus Features. Great times were had by all; seeing so many films

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118:44

Saturday Night Review

The Long Take Review ·

2024/10/17

Next year, 2025, will mark the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live (SNL), and NBC is planning a big live special in February to celebrate. In the meantime, though, Director Jason Reitman, whose own father, Ivan, had a close connection to the sketch comedy series, has made Saturday Night, out in theaters now. The film careens in “real” time towards the moment the first episode of SNL aired in 1975, and stars Gabriel LaBelle (The Fabelmans) as Lorne Michaels, along with a vast ensemble of exciting

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