TV & FilmFilm Reviews

The Long Take Review

Jen Sopchockchai Bankard

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

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Wednesday · 2 hr 21 min
You Can See Everything Review
From its secret surprise screening at the Telluride Film Festival to its successful $15 million opening weekend, You Can See Everything seems to have created an unprecedented amount of buzz that has gone past critics’ circles and penetrated the general culture. And, having seen the groundbreaking documentary in which comedian Nathan Fielder goes up close and toe to toe with disgraced (and now incarcerated) biotech entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes, we can confirm the hype is warranted. So much so that we just uploaded the raw audio of our conversation, recorded last night, without editing it just so we can get it into your earbuds faster. You really can hear everything and we apologize in advance for all the misspeaking, walking back, and digressions in response to the chat. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 25:32 minute mark. If you don’t want to hear everything just yet, you can listen safely until then. And we REALLY mean it with this one! You’ll want to protect your upcoming viewing experience; trust us. 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
October 15 · 2 hr 8 min
Digger Review
When Warner Bros. announced that four-time Oscar winner Alejandro González Iñárritu would be teaming up with legendary movie star Tom Cruise, Oscar pundits were abuzz with speculation about whether or not this could be Cruise’s chance to take home a competitive Oscar only a year after receiving an honorary one. Fast forward to the film Digger’s release a couple weeks ago and, there’s no way to put it delicately, the film bombed at $8 million its opening weekend. Has Cruise’s Oscar chances evaporated? In this episode of The Long Take Review, Greg and I not only discuss the state of Digger’s Oscar chances, we dive deep into the film’s satire, its big twists, and why it might be so polarizing (including between us!). Note: In the episode, I wasn’t sure if this story about Tom Cruise pressuring the makeup team into trying to reduce his time in the chair was true. This The Hollywood Reporter article confirms. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 19:05 minute mark. If you don’t want to pick up your spoiler shovel, you can listen safely until then. And we REALLY mean it with this one! There are huge spoilers we discuss. 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
October 6 · 1 hr 49 min
Primetime Review
Former Dateline NBC journalist Chris Hansen, of To Catch a Predator fame, claims that nothing in Lance Oppenheim’s new film, Primetime, actually happened. He has made a point to criticize A24 and Oppenheim for not consulting him during the making of the film and saying the film is overly dramatized. At the same time, he has taken out ads to play before screenings of the film in theaters. You know how this looks, right? In this episode of The Long Take Review, Greg and I share our thoughts on the film, historicize Oppenheim’s work as so representative of an early oughts cultural moment, discuss Robert Pattinson’s portrayal of Hansen, and share our top three Robert Pattinson performances! We go into SPOILER MODE at the 22:32 minute mark. If you don’t want to be a part of that jump scare, you can listen 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
September 28 · 1 hr 18 min
Vulture Movies Fantasy League Recruitment Episode (2026)
If you’re like us and you love movies but also want your cinephilia validated by points awarded in an online competition, then you’ve come to the right place! Every year we at The Long Take Review head on over to Vulture to participate in the MFL or Movies Fantasy League. We come up with pithy usernames and then proceed to unwisely spend 100 fake dollars on this year’s films to create a roster. Films on your roster can earn points for box office revenue, awards recognition, critical reception, and — new this year — Letterboxd scores. Greg, P.T., and I skip over explaining the rules and cut straight to sharing our picks, giving some unsolicited advice about how to balance your budget, take big swings, or, in some cases, spend big to play it safe. Note that when we recorded this on Tuesday September 15th, we did not yet know that La Bola Negra would go on to win the People’s Choice Award at TIFF (the Toronto International Film Festival). As you listen to the episode, try to hear the exact moment I get egg on my face because I had La Bola Negra in my lineup but took it out because it’s a Netflix movie. When you register for Vulture’s Movie Fantasy League, type ltrpod under “League Name (optional).” Subscribe to The Long Take on Substack to chat with our community about your picks and progress week to week! We’re hoping to get a regular subscriber chat going to invite trash talk and punditry galore. Image Credit: Vulture 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
September 22 · 1 hr 17 min
Summer Superlatives 2026
Summer’s coming to an end, and for those of us invested in the health of the box office, it was a great one. In fact, the U.S. box office broke an all-time record with 4.76 billion! This made our annual look back at summer movie season all the more celebratory as we shout out our favorites in a dozen superlative categories. We give credit to multiple films in each, and not just juggernauts like The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day; smaller movies you may have missed get their flowers too. Whose our class clown or cutest couple? And how many films from this past spring will P.T. try to smuggle in either intentionally or unintentionally? (He does both.) This is a spoiler-free episode! We did our best to avoid spoilers throughout the. entire episode. Occasionally we issue an ad hoc spoiler warning, but even then we were intentionally vague. Image Credit: Vanity Fair, New York Times, and 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
September 14 · 2 hr 19 min
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Review
On September 22nd, director George Lucas and business leader Melody Hobson will unveil their brainchild, The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, to the general public in Los Angeles. On September 5th, P.T., Greg (yes, Greg who lives across the country!), and I were lucky enough to visit the museum early, as a part of the Member Preview. And then, as if that weren’t enough, we ended the day with Maestro of the Movies: A Tribute to John Williams at the Hollywood Bowl. In this episode of The Long Take Review, we not only recount our joyful in-person reunion; we reflect on the layout and philosophy of the museum, our favorite pieces, the Star Wars of it all, and what Lucas and Hobson might be trying to say about art, narrative, pop culture, and privilege. Listen in to hear about early film history, critical theory, art and cultural capital, as well as the story behind the previously unaired Star Wars Detours animated series. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 30:20 minute mark. If you don’t want to hear about specific pieces in the museum or other details that may color your experience visiting for the first time, you may listen safely until then. Image Credit: The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art website 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
September 8 · 1 hr 52 min
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Review
Whether or not they are personally into the films of Jane Schoenbrun, critics largely agree that the director of We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021), I Saw the TV Glow (2024), and now Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026), is a singular auteur, making films that no one else would or could make. Their first two films were critical darlings of the Sundance Film Festival, and their latest work, a surreal meta-satirical slasher film, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Queer Palm. To parse the film’s complex story swirling around questions of genre, gender, sexual awakening, pop culture, and queer identity, we had to bring in our resident horror expert, Professor Sarah Hastings. She fills us in on the history of slasher films that inspired Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, nerds out with Jen about feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey, and helps us better understand what might be real or not real in the film. Greg and P.T. also say smart things in between making awkward yet witty jokes about sex, death, summer camp, and, of course, dipping sauce. Take a dip with us in a conversation that is as lofty and fun as the film itself. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 30:34 minute mark. If you don’t want to be a part of that jump scare, you can listen until then. Image Credit: NPR 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
August 28 · 1 hr 48 min
2019 Oscar Fairy Flashback
For many Oscar pundits and fans, the 91st Academy Awards, held on February 24, 2019, and honoring the films of 2018, became the most notorious when Green Book, a heartwarming odd couple comedy about a black pianist and his white driver, won Best Picture instead of presumed favorite, Alfonso Cuaron’s poignantly personal historical drama about a Mexico City family and their housekeeper, Roma. And so, of course, for our sixth Oscar Fairy Flashback episode, we wanted to confront this controversial year (and believe me when I say we deeply considered shying away from it and turning the clock back in a different direction). As with all Oscar Fairy Flashbacks, we share what we want to change about the winners and nominees, were we to be in the good graces of the all-powerful Oscar Fairy. We each have ten points plus whatever we had remaining from the last OFF episode to spend. How any Oscars will we take away from Green Book and its fellow Oscar villain, Bohemian Rhapsody? Image Credit: Screen Rant Here’s some more detailed context to show that this Oscar year has a mixed record to say the least. Four films won multiple awards: -Bohemian Rhapsody: 4 wins (Actor [Rami Malek], Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing) -Green Book: 3 wins (Picture, Supporting Actor [Mahershala Ali], Original Screenplay) -Roma: 3 wins (Director, Cinematography, Foreign Language Film) -Black Panther: 3 wins (Score, Production Design, Costume Design) -That is certainly a list of movies. Other films that won awards: The Favourite (Actress [Olivia Colman]), If Beale Street Could Talk (Supporting Actress [Regina King]), BlacKkKlansmen (Adapted Screenplay, finally getting Spike Lee a competitive Oscar), Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (Animated Feature), A Star Is Born (Song, netting Lady Gaga her first Oscar), Vice (Makeup & Hairstyling), and First Man (Visual Effects) -Other nominated movies include The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Cold War, First Reformed, Isle of Dogs, Mary Poppins Returns, Avengers: Infinity War, A Quiet Place, At Eternity’s Gate, The Wife, and Solo: A Star Wars Story -There were also some notorious snubs, including Paddington 2, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, Crazy Rich Asians, Hereditary, and Widows Buckle up, because we have a lot of work to do! 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
August 22 · 1 hr 44 min
Spider-Man: Brand New Day Review
Why is Spider-Man: Brand New Day spinning webs around the summer box office? How is it breaking all kinds of records? We keep returning to this question throughout this week’s episode, coming up with various theories about what might be behind the massive success of the fourth Tom Holland Spider-Man film. What does this mean for superhero movies? For the future of the MCU? For Tom Holland’s career? We speculate very broadly from every angle of this franchise, folding in discussion of the X-Men, casting announcements at D23, other iterations of Spidey, and more. Come to hear who our favorite supporting characters were and stay for the deep discussion of the political implications of this film as it reaches a hand out to mutantkind. At one point in this episode, Greg asks why there hasn’t been a solo Hulk movie. Jen explains that Universal still holds the rights to standalone Hulk movies, but not to movies in which Hulk appears alongside other Marvel characters. That’s only partially true. Apparently, Universal holds the distribution rights to standalone Hulk movies while Disney/Marvel hold the production rights to the character across the board. Universal has a right of first refusal for distribution of Hulk-focused films only. So we haven’t gotten one in so long because Disney/Marvel doesn’t want to pay Universal a cut of whatever Hulk-centric film that they might make. The nuance of production rights vs. distribution rights should have been a part of our on-air conversation. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 27:50 minute mark. If you don’t want your secret identity revealed yet, you can listen 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
August 14 · 2 hr 12 min
The Odyssey Review (Part Two!)
It’s been a month since Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey arrived in theaters and nearly three weeks since we put out our first episode reviewing it. We’re happy to report that it’s still going strong. It handily passed the $1 billion mark in global box office by the first week of August, in spite of Spider-Man: Brand New Day breaking all kinds of records (don’t worry, we’re reviewing that for next week!). And it seems to have weathered a cycle of discourse after the translator whose work inspired Nolan’s adaptation, Dr. Emily Wilson, wrote a scathing, nay brutalizing review. Will it be smooth sailing from here to the Oscars? P.T. returns from his own mini-odyssey to provide the Oscars Watch that Greg and I abstained from in our earlier episode. We also dig into Zeus’ Law, the sea people, Circe vs. Calypso, and a quick (at the very end) updated ranking of our top 3-5 Nolan films. [Please note that we recorded this episode before Emily Wilson’s review came out, so we do not discuss the review as we had no knowledge of it at the time.] We go into SPOILER MODE at the 21:00 minute mark. If you just want to get home without them, 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
August 9 · 1 hr 51 min
The Invite Review
You know, you have ONE troubled production that culminates in Harry Styles allegedly spitting on Chris Pine and that’s all critics want to remember you for. That may very well be a major frustration for Director Olivia Wilde as she tries to promote her newest film, a sex comedy drama called The Invite. Because over and over again I have seen headlines and reviews from critics framing their praise of the A24 film in relation to Wilde’s previous controversy-embroiled flop, Don’t Worry Darling. Never has a compliment been so back-handed. The praise is deserved just the same, as this comedy for adults has been deemed a box office success in spite of competing against The Odyssey. On this episode of The Long Take Review, we were lucky enough to have Antonio back on the show to pick apart The Invite’s screenplay, discuss each of the performances/characters that constitute the foursome at the center of the story, and speculate as to whether or not this film has any “little indie that could go all the way to the Oscars” energy. Join us for some jamón and flan! We go into SPOILER MODE at the 23:53 minute mark. If you wish to take a raincheck on 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
July 31 · 2 hr 17 min
Tom Holland's Spider-Man Retrospective
Happy Spider-Man weekend to all who celebrate! Our review of Spider-Man: Brand New Day may take a little while because I’m on vacation for the next couple of weeks, but, to tide listeners over, we wanted to record an episode in which we discuss Tom Holland’s portrayal of your friendly neighborhood Avenger up until Brand New Day. And who better to join us than our very own Marvel correspondent, Colby Mead of The ColbyCast? We begin by sharing our relationship with Spider-Man as a character/franchise and pinpointing what unique qualities Tom Holland brings to the role. Then we rank all six films in which Tom Holland has appeared as Spider-Man* in order to set up a larger discussion about how much the MCU has defined his version of the character and to what extent we can historicize each Spider-Man as a product of Hollywood and American culture at the time. *This number doesn’t include Venom: Let Their Be Carnage, which P.T. notes should technically be on the list. Guess how many times we mention this Sony Spider-Man Universe film before you listen. Note that we’re doing all spoilers for any Spider-Man or MCU-related content in this episode from the start. Image Credit: IndieWire You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Image Credit: original image from Meming Wiki, modified in Canva 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
July 27 · 1 hr 52 min
The Odyssey Review (Part One!)
Lightning does strike twice sometimes. Thank Zeus, Christopher Nolan has done it again with his epic sword and sandals adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey. After the enormous critical, awards, and box office success of his last film, Oppenheimer (2023), it’s hard to believe that Nolan could have immediately followed with an even bigger hit. But, with a $124 million domestic opening weekend and a worldwide total of $640 million to date, it appears that he has. With a new movie this big and all three of our regular co-hosts going on vacation at different times, we decided that not one but two episodes dedicated to The Odyssey were in order. In this first one, Greg and I focus on how Nolan has adapted and modernized Homer’s epic poem, with a deep dive on Odysseus as a character, the modern themes Nolan uses the ancient story to emphasize, our favorite scenes, the stacked cast, and everything else the film prompted us to consider. Greg specialized in the epic as a literary genre and is extremely familiar with Homer’s text, so he was an amazing resource throughout this episode. For more of his thoughts, check out his Substack for this great article he wrote for those who didn’t have time to read The Odyssey before seeing Nolan’s film. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 25:46 minute mark. If you wish to sail around 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
July 14 · 2 hr 25 min
Raiders of the Lost Ark 45th Anniversary Special
If you’ve listened to our show for any sustained amount of time, you’ve probably heard me play a tiny snippet of the Indiana Jones theme anytime Greg brings up our favorite archaeologist adventurer. It comes as no surprise, then, that we will take any excuse we can to talk about one of the five franchise installments. And this year marks the 45th anniversary of the first, Raiders of the Lost Ark. We go down memory lane for a bit, share our personal favorites (characters, scenes, etc.), and then discuss loftier notions such as nostalgia, genre, and Indy’s legacy in cinematic history. Unlike the Nazis, we’re digging in the right place. (Oh, and listen to find out the story behind the amazing artwork below.) Image Credit: the illustrious Steph Marcus, circa 1999 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
July 1 · 1 hr 38 min
Toy Story 5 Review
Pixar films, and especially those in the Toy Story franchise, have always excelled at pitching to both kids and adults. Toy Story 5 takes that feature to the next level by tackling issues on every parent’s mind: screen time, devices, and Internet safety. As both parents of grade school kids and teachers of college students, Greg and I really ran with this topic and the film’s treatment of in it in our discussion. We share our prior relationship to the franchise, compare this fifth installment to the previous ones, and share what moved us and what made us laugh. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 25:13 minute mark. If spoilers are not a part of your daily weather forecast, you can listen safely until then. Image Credit: NPR 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
June 22 · 2 hr 47 min
Disclosure Day Review
The truth is really out there! This week on the show we talk about Steven Spielberg’s latest cinematic statement on extraterrestrial life, Disclosure Day. In theaters now, the science fiction thriller is full of intense chase sequences, inexplicable phenomena, and an astonishing performance from Emily Blunt; all of that prompted us to over-analyze, over-interpret, under-critique (if we’re being honest), and parse the polarized response to the film. Before we get into our discussion of Disclosure Day, we check on our 2026 Movie Hype Draft rosters to see who has taken the lead or fallen behind in the wake of release announcements and the Cannes Film Festival. Also, check out Greg’s written review of Disclosure Day on his own Substack. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 45:43 minute mark. If spoilers are not a part of your daily weather forecast, 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
June 13 · 2 hr 53 min
The Steven Spielberg Draft
Here at The Long Take Review, we are incredibly excited to see master filmmaker Steven Spielberg return to the sci-fi thriller genre for the first time since War of the Worlds in 2005. But, as fans of his know, his filmography of over 60 years spans many other genres as well. So what better way to celebrate the architect of the modern summer blockbuster than to have a draft of all of his films to date? We invited Anthony King of Force Ghost Conversations to join us in a rumble across six categories: Oscar Nominee, Science Fiction, Historical Film, Collaborator, Produced By, and Wild Card. For more Spielberg-centric content from both The Long Take Review and Force Ghost Conversations, follow the links below: Masters of the Air (Force Ghost Conversations Saving Private Ryan (Force Ghost Conversations) Schindler’s List (Force Ghost Conversations) Jaws 50th Anniversary (Force Ghost Conversations) Jaws 50th Anniversary (The Long Take Review) This is a spoiler free episode. We do discuss some of the qualities of each film we draft, but our discussion contains no major spoilers. Image Credit: Reddit r/popculturechat (taken from the Disclosure Day press tour) 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
June 8 · 2 hr 9 min
Obsession Review
The box office is booming, but, weirdly, it’s not because there’s a new Star Wars film in theaters for the first time in seven years. Two low budget horror films that have ties to YouTube, Backrooms (which cost $10 million) and Obsession (which cost < $1 million), have raised eyebrows and questions about the future of theatrical moviemaking. This unexpected windfall caught our attention as well, so we called in our own in-house horror expert, Professor Sarah Hastings, to give us a rundown of the year in horror films so far and help us with a deep dive into Obsession. We talk about who the villains and victims of the film might be, share the moments that scared us the most, and collectively build a thesis for what the film says about relationships, dating, consent, Gen Z, and even A.I. We hope you stay with us and never leave. *grin* We go into SPOILER MODE at the 52:21 minute mark. If spoilers don’t set your heart ablaze, 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
May 27 · 2 hr 8 min
The Mandalorian and Grogu Review
The Internet can’t seem to decide if The Mandalorian and Grogu is actually doing well at the box office so far. Many news article frame the opening weekend as a failure, saying it is a “disappointment” that hits a “series low.” Meanwhile, other articles have crowned the action adventure film as the winner of the long weekend. According to box office analyst Scott Mendelson, the early performance of The Mandalorian and Grogu resembles Solo: A Star Wars Story, but, importantly, has a much smaller budget hurdle because it didn’t have all of the production turmoil that Solo did. Solo had to recoup a $275 million budget while Mando and Grogu needs to surpass $165 million to break even. This is all to say that while this film likely won’t compete with bigger hits from this year like Project Hail Mary, it’s still going to do “fine.” But will any of its moderate success be deserved? That’s the big question we debate on this episode of The Long Take Review. And to help us assess what many critics call a glorified television episode, Star Wars author and podcaster Dan Zehr joins us to discuss the questions of audience, story, character development, and Star Wars mythology that surround baby Yoda’s first movie. Dan also shares some insights he has gained from his experience attending the Hollywood premiere and interviewing the creators behind the film. You can find Dan and all his amazing work at coffeewithkenobi.com. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 33:52 minute mark. If spoilers are not party of your bounty hunter assignment, 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
May 20 · 2 hr 59 min
Star Wars Movie Rankings
Star Wars is about to return to cinemas with Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian and Grogu, which is just days away from its opening weekend. To celebrate Star Wars on the big screen, and, frankly, to calm our nerves as we restlessly await the new film, we recorded an extra long take in which we rank all twelve films from the franchise that were released in theaters. (In case your math is not mathing, we included the 2008 animated film The Clone Wars.) For an added challenge, we forced (no pun intended) ourselves to come to a consensus to build one ranked list together. Where will we agree? Where will we put up a fight? And how will our micro-generational differences manifest in our individual placement proposals? Listen to find out as we start at the bottom and work our way to the top. We’d also love to hear your rankings! So please feel free to drop those in the comments. Image Credit: Star Wars News Net 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

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