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 period drama know that these themes also manifest in the epic story of fictional architect, László Tóth.

In a year with no clear Best Picture frontrunner, however, it remains to be seen how much The Brutalist’s success will repeat at the Oscars. Antonio, Greg, P.T., and I do debate how well the film famously shot in VistaVision on an astoundingly small $10 million budget will fare on Hollywood’s biggest night. But before we do, we carefully unpack all of the film’s complicated themes and narrative choices.

Oscar Nom Wishes 3:25-25:24

Spoiler Free Takes: 25:25-44:04

SPOILER MODE: 44:05-1:45:52

Oscar Watch: 1:45:53 - the end

Image Credit: Vanity Fair

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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 support and health services for victims.

According to another colleague who regularly fosters dogs, the Pasadena Humane Center and the Agoura Animal Care Center are overburdened with animals affected by the fires.

This LA Times article lists many more organizations that are providing aid.

In this episode of The Long Take Review, we host, for the second time, our own awards ceremony, The LTRs or “Letters.” While we don’t have any delusions about our influence in the awards race, we tried to think of performances, screenplays, filmmakers, and films that we want to spotlight before Oscar voting closes on January 17th. (Those who campaign during awards season call this an FYC or “For Your Consideration” event.) We begin with our individual lists of nominees, form a shared list of nominees through consensus picks (nominees that appeared on more than one of our lists) and non-consensus shout-outs (nominees that appeared on only one list but we decide should be nominated anyway). After we have a set of shared nominees, we engage in a spirited yet collaborative debate to decide on a winner and honorable mention, live during the show.

Get ready to take some notes and make some Letterboxd watchlists! In a later post on The Long Take Substack, Jen will share each of our full lists of nominees for reference.

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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 frontrunner finally emerge? Would the Globes fall back onto their celebrity-pandering ways? Will they serve as more of an Oscar bellwether than ever before? Recording minutes after the broadcast ended, Antonio, P.T., and I try our best to answer these questions as we wade through the often surprising winners and glaring misses.

Image Credit: The Hollywood Reporter

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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 comments!

Image Credit: BBC

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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 pitches that never got green-lit? And who is the biggest (OG) Gladiator super fan? Lend us your ears to find out.

We go into SPOILER MODE at the 22:50 minute mark. If you are still undecided as to whether or not you want to enter the Colosseum for a second time, you can listen safely until then.

Image Credit: IndieWire

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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 Institute (AFI) and the National Board of Review (NBR) put out their top ten lists, which have some but not 100% crossover with the Best Picture lineup at the Oscars. And, most recently, the Golden Globes announced their nominations the day we recorded, this past Monday December 9th. Who’s feeling good after all that, and whose campaigns might be ending? What surprised and delighted us? We talk about all that and more on this special movies news episode.

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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 debate this very question. We share what we thought about the film in the context of our prior relationship with the source material, try to trace its literary and musical lineage, discuss the revisionist prequel of it all, and, of course, comment on the who, what, when, where, and why of the film’s massive popularity. Who’s a Glinda? Who’s an Elphaba? And how many of us will sing during the episode? Listen to find out!

We go into SPOILER MODE at the 30:21 minute mark. If you are still undecided as to whether or not you want to fly with Wicked, you can listen safely until then.

Image Credit: New York Times

Show Notes:

Jen referenced this iconic dance sequence by Fred Astaire in Dancing Through Life set inspired by Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding (1951). She then later found this IndieWire piece that confirmed that Dancing Through Life is in fact inspired by that number.

One of many videos showing the reaction when Michelle Yeoh brought the Oscar she had just won back to the set of Wicked.

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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 grandmother. Their personalities clash as they confront both the pain of their past and the collective pain of their tour group.

In this episode of The Long Take Review, Greg, P.T., Antonio, and I try to explain why this film works as both a character study and a vehicle for bigger ideas. Greg then launches our discussion into the stratosphere by applying Nietzsche’s notion of The Rational Man to Eisenberg’s philosophical meditation on pain. We close out, as usual, with a debate about how far A Real Pain can go at the Oscars.

We go into SPOILER MODE at the 18:01 minute mark. If you are still undecided as to whether or not you want to book a tour with A Real Pain, you can listen safely until then.

Image Credit: IndieWire

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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 critics and viewers have identified potential problems with the representation of certain groups (to specify might be a spoiler). At the same time, the film stars four strong female actors who have been charming the press on the campaign trail; it doesn’t hurt that two of them, Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez, are beloved pop culture powerhouses.

This episode of The Long Take Review can serve as a microcosm of this polarized discourse, as some of us loved it and some of us (very respectfully) hated it. We debate whether or not the songs facilitate the storytelling, whether or not the film’s themes and plot make sense in the end, and try to determine a floor and ceiling for the film’s nominations and wins.

We go into SPOILER MODE at the 27:47 minute mark. If you are still undecided about whether or not you want to fire up Netflix for Emilia Pérez, you can listen safely until then.

Image Credit: LA Times

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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 McQueen, Blitz has not been unilaterally embraced by critics as 12 Years a Slave was. Despite the more muted reception, could McQueen still enter the Oscar race? On this episode of The Long Take Review, we try to answer this question through our own mixed and varied reactions to the film. Come for the debate about the film’s quality and stay for Greg’s hot takes on mushy peas.

We go into SPOILER MODE at the 22:58 minute mark. If you are still undecided about whether or not you want to give Blitz a go, you can listen safely until then.

Image Credit: New York Times

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