The air is turning crisp and the coffees are getting pumpkin spiced, but before we head into Fall Festival (and Oscar!) season, we want to do a quick recap on Summer Blockbuster season. On this episode of The Long Take Review, host Jen Sopchockchai is joined by P.T. McNiff, Antonio Elefano, and Greg Cass to debrief the season that was, reliving the highs (biplanes!), the lows (mutant dinosaurs!), and the forgotten (What is an Elio?). Listen along as we reveal our superlatives, such as “most athletic” and “cutest couple.” For some, we needed to reopen previous discussions, and, for others, we shined a spotlight on some underrated finds.

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Is an author allowed to deny any interpretations of his film? That’s exactly what Director Zach Cregger (Barbarian 2022) has done on his press tour for Weapons, which is playing in theaters now. Most of his interviews emphasize a personal tragedy of his that inspired the movie, rather than the various political valences one might place upon a story about 17 kids who mysteriously disappear in the middle of the same night. On this episode of The Long Take Review, we debate how much the film is trying to say something vs. what it’s actually saying to us, as well as why the film is structured in the way it is and how scary it actually is.

Please note that we recorded this episode more than a week before the tragic events at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis. There is indeed a broader discussion of school shootings in the episode, but we do not reference this recent school shooting because at the time of recording it had not yet occurred. If our conversation helps you process this devastating news in some way, please reach out to us or share your thoughts in the comments.

We go into SPOILER MODE at the 21:28 minute mark. If you are not ready to investigate, you can listen safely until then.

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In more ways than one, The Fantastic Four: First Steps did not perform as expected. In spite of superhero fatigue, Matt Shakman’s retro futuristic adaptation of Marvel’s first family was well-received by many critics. Brandon Yu of the New York Times, for example, called it a “refreshingly new direction” and Amy Nicholson of the LA Times said she felt comforted by the film’s evocation of “classic sci-fi.” The box office, however, took a turn for the worst after opening weekend, with a 66% drop-off in sales. Currently, it ranks ninth in the worldwide box office for this year. That’s just before the other two MCU movies this year, Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*, both of which have been deemed financial disappointments.

But that doesn’t mean we at The Long Take Review were personally disappointed in the slickly styled summer blockbuster! In this episode, we share a range of reactions to the film, and then proceed to debate what works and what doesn’t work. Did we favor Reed Richards/Pedro Pascal, Sue Storm/Vanessa Kirby, Johnny Storm/Joseph Quinn, or Ben Grimm/Ebon Moss-Bacharach? How did we feel about the ethical dilemmas the film proposes? And what do we think this film indicates about the future of the MCU? We talk everything from stingers to the Silver Surfer!

We go into SPOILER MODE at the 28:25 minute mark. If you are not ready to launch into outer spoiler space, you can listen safely until then. (We WILL protect you.)

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Assuming you were all on the edges of your respective seats, waiting with bated breath to hear the rest of our Top 10 Best Films of the 21st Century lists, here is the long-awaited second half of our response to The New York Times’ list of “The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century.” Starting with our number six spots, we each take turns revealing our #1-6 picks of the best films made from 2000 to 2025. How did we do overall? Whose personal list do you like the best? What would you have put on your own list? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments below or by emailing us at [email protected].

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When The New York Times released its full list of “The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century,” we quickly realized that this cinephile’s feast deserved an entire episode. Then, once we recorded for a little over three hours, we realized that we needed to split up our conversation into two episodes. So in this episode you’ll find our general discussion of the NYT list, how we put our individual top 10 lists together, and the on-air reveal of picks #7-10. (Picks #1-6 will be revealed in next week’s episode, Part Two.) Can you predict what we each chose? And what would you put on your top ten?

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Who knew the most unexpectedly popular movie of the summer would be an animated feature about KPop stars who protect the world from demons with both their music and their deadly weapons? We at the Long Take Review (and most other critics, it seems), surely didn’t. The latest offering from Sony Pictures Animation (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) has not only topped Netflix’s charts but musical charts like Spotify and Billboard as well, besting many real-life KPop groups. On this episode, I bring in two of my own idols to discuss KPop Demon Hunters: returning listener-turned-co-host Hasib and our mutual friend Ann. We share why we were so impressed with what we saw, pick our favorite songs, break down the themes of the story, and Ann drops her extensive knowledge about the influence of Korean culture on the film. It’s a fit check for our Napalm era.

We go into SPOILER MODE around the 23:46 minute mark. If you’re not ready to slay spoilers, you can listen safely until then.

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It’s a bird…it’s a plane…it’s…the biggest movie of the summer? Superman is certainly the central focus of Director James Gunn, who left Marvel Studios to become the Co-Chairman & CEO of the shop across the street, DC Studios, in 2022. So did he do it? Did he do this iconic comic book character justice? Did he successfully launch the new DCU? On this episode of The Long Take Review, we debate this question among others. Greg and P.T. let hot takes fly, Jen gets in a fight with Greg, and we all do our best to discern the extent to which Gunn’s film meaningfully engages with world politics in 2025.

We go into SPOILER MODE around the 21:49 minute mark. If spoilers are your kryptonite, you can listen safely until then.

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Did you think The Shape of Water was romantic or just weird? In this Oscar Fairy Flashback episode, we look back at the 90th Academy Awards, which brought us one of the most polarizing Best Picture winners, Guillermo del Toro’s dark fantasy about a woman who falls in love with a fish man imprisoned in a government lab. Will we downsize some of its wins in favor of some other big nominees this year. Will anyone step forward to defend Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri? Will we do right by Jordan Peele’s Get Out, Greta Gerwig’s Ladybird, Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread? It’s a stacked year, so we had some tough choices to make.

If you’ve never listened to an Oscar Fairy Flashback episode before, P.T. designed a point spending system for us to revise a slate of Oscar nominees and winners for a chosen year. Each co-host receives 10 points for the round, and carry over any leftover points from the previous Oscar Fairy Flashback if they participated. To swap out a nominee in a below-the-line category (the technical and production crew categories as well as speciality film categories like International, Animated, Documentary), we have to spend 1 point; swapping out a nominee in an above-the-line category (screenplay, acting, or directing) requires 2 points; and swapping out a best picture nominee is 3 points. To change the winner within a given category costs double points: so 2 points to change the winner below-the-line, 4 points for above, and 6 points for best picture. How would you spend your points to change this very competitive year?

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Even if you yourself don’t follow Formula 1 racing, it’s hard to deny its global popularity, with an audience of 750 million, according to Nielsen Sports. But does that mean Director Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) can lap other movies at the box office this weekend with F1: The Movie? So far, news outlets like the New York Times have declared that the underdog sports action drama is a hit, with Deadline reporting a $57 million domestic and $89.3 million international opening weekend. That’s promising, and positions the film, which stars Brad Pitt as a washed up race car driver ready for a comeback, as the potential winner of the summer.

On this episode of The Long Take Review, Greg and I speculate about F1’s future success, both in terms of box office and awards. We try to articulate what makes this such a exceptional cinematic experience, debate the screenplay’s feelings towards its main character, and discuss the impact Tom Cruise, Apple, and corporate synergy might have on the film’s release. Plus, we have a bonus movie news update about a high profile director recently announced as taking on the Bond franchise. Buckle up because, as always, this Long Take is an endurance test.

We go into SPOILER MODE around the 28:30 minute mark. If you are not ready to make that turn, you can listen safely until then.

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If you were Dakota Johnson, would you choose Pedro Pascal or Chris Evans? (And no, both is not an option.) On the surface, The Materialists seems to pose this as a pleasurably difficult question, in glossy rom com fashion. That’s a considerable departure from Celine Song’s last film, the Oscar-nominated indie and LTR favorite, Past Lives. Is the marketing for the film creating a bait and switch situation, or is Song’s second film a genuinely more commercial play? Antonio, Greg, and I reveal our answers to this question as we delve into what Song has to say about dating, marriage, and market value.

We go into SPOILER MODE around the 17:59 minute mark. If you are not ready to go on a date with spoilers, you can listen safely until then.

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