The Take-Up

A FILM! TWO CRITICS! A THOUGHT! A TALK! TO BREAK THE DISCOURSE OF NOLAN!

After a decades-long journey of seeing Christopher Nolan’s hot new Odyssey on the biggest available IMAX screen they could find, Joshicus and Andrewussy return to give their blessing over his take on the millennia-old tale. Tackling such a dense beast of a film, they get into Nolan’s method of modernizing his adaptation, applying the biggest scope a 70mm IMAX camera could bring, and a lecture on Greek mythology and history by Professor Andrew. 

Follow Zeus’s Law as our hosts decide if The Odyssey is a worthy step-up for Nolan or a rocky improvement in comparison to the rest of his films (Thankfully, it’s not as horny as Oppenheimer). Next, they have One More Thing, recommending Parisian film tour Ciné-Balade (that's "ciné-walk," for the record, Josh) and customizable keyboard brand Lemokey.

Next week, Josh and Andrew travel up the border to Canada and take a look at Sophy Romvari’s acclaimed directorial debut Blue Heron. Until then, read on at the thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Samantha Morton’s Pet Pig Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

Before giving their take on Christopher Nolan’s buzzy new Odyssey adaptation next week, Josh and Andrew go on their own epic journey back twenty years to look at one of his early hits among the cluster of 2006 magician thrillers, The Prestige! Diving headfirst into a tale of doubles, obsession, unsubtle foreshadowing, magic tricks, sacrifice, and David Bowie’s attempt at a Serbian accent, they come out with varying degrees of appreciation. 

Watch closely as our hosts assess their thoughts around a filmmaker that has been extremely loved or hated through the years. Then, they have One More Thing, revealing Clive Barker’s occult magician horror film Lord of Illusions alongside Leon Neyfakh and Gracie Canaan’s investigative sex-work podcast OnlyFantasy.

Next Week, see if our hosts think if Nolan’s The Odyssey is a worthy gift or desecration of the Gods. Until then, read on at the thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Contributor Ethan Tarantella’s Twin Brother. Theme music by AMP.

Artist and film scholar Isabelle Roig has been hacking into super secret Neil Breen-related databases, discovering more than any hacker ever has ever! Bravely disclosing it to twisted pair Josh and Andrew, what she has found will shock them. Taking a more fair reading on the “so-bad-it’s-good” filmmaker, the trio try to make sense of his cult film Fateful Findings, unraveling all the genre-mashing, carpeted McMansion hospitals, vague conspiracies, and Breen’s uncanny ability to force his young female co-stars into being attracted to him. 

Grab your magic rock and look into this cinematic funhouse mirror that gave our hosts something that can only be described as neo-Lynchian. Then, they have One More Thing, recommending film critic Alisha Mughal’s It Can’t Rain All the Time, a Pop Classics analysis on The Crow, and Burt Reynolds’ action-packed “moonshine melodrama” White Lightning.

Next week, in preparation for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, Josh and Andrew go back to one of his early works, the twisty and beloved magician thriller The Prestige (or was it The Illusionist?).

Until then, read on at thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and President of the Bank Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

Just before the premiere of his film For Those at the Golden Apricot Film Festival this week, filmmaker Emile Parseghian nominates one of his favorite French films for the Take-Up canon, Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows. He schools Joshua and Andrew on the film's history, French history, and Melville's WWII French Resistance story (on- and off-screen).

After that, Joshua and Andrew have One More Thing celebrating yet another French thing and... owning things?

Next week, artist and film academic Isabelle Roig dares the boys to watch (and think seriously about) Neil Breen's "so-bad-it's-good" Fateful Findings.

Until then, read on at thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Editor Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

This week, Andrew and Josh take a trip down to 70s Watts to talk about Charles Burnett’s slice-of-life masterpiece Killer of Sheep! Going into a film all about "This Bitter Earth", they analyze the down-to-earth quality and humor Burnett brings into his potentially woeful premise, the hidden impact Killer of Sheep had over the decades, its scattered release history, and if it's the most definitively American film ever made (New York Times recently seems to think so). Then, they go into One More Thing, recommending AppleTV’s hit horror-comedy show Widow’s Bay, and a new Vulture interview with Odyssey translator Emily Wilson, “No One Has Dealt With More Angry Odyssey Bros Than Emily Wilson”. 

Next week, our hosts bring out guest/filmmaker Emile Parseghian to talk about WWII thriller Army of Shadows. Until then, read on at thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Contributor Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

After a night of cat-burgling across Paris, Joshua strips off his latex catsuit and to luxuriate in the world of Irma Vep. He and Andrew peel away the meta-textual layers of French director Olivier Assayas' 1996 tribute to French film history and culture and the cinematic force that is Maggie Cheung.

Before that, they have a promised (mini-)discussion about David Lowery's Mother Mary, and after, One More Thing with Christian Petzold and Candy Darling.

On the next episode, an Andrew favorite is up for The Take-Up canon: Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep. Read on at thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Contributor Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

After a spring break of sorts, Andrew and Joshua are back in the Backrooms, Kane Parsons' (née Pixels) breakout liminal-space horror. Lose yourself in the endless corridors of the YouTube-to-Hollywood pipeline while the critics break down The Discourse around the new filmmaker ("He's 20") and his box office smash and find out whether the two consider it sensational enough to enter the Take-Up's canon. After that, Andrew and Joshua have One More Thing with the Backrooms-y Demonlover and Secret Mall Apartment.

To celebrate (or explicate) Joshua's transatlantic move to France, the next episode will celebrate Olivier Assayas' 1996 ode to being a stranger in a strange land (and ode to his future wife and all-time great actor Maggie Cheung) Irma Vep.

Read on at thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Contributor Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

Josh and Andrew venture into Soviet Russia to discuss the iconic Dziga Vertov film shown in film history classes, Man with a Movie Camera. Make sure to pay attention and take notes as our hosts go through their thoughts on this essential building block of pure cinema, including a reading of Josh’s undergrad essay, commentary on self-awareness, Eisensteinian montage (or not), the nature of “propaganda”, and a look into a time Communist Russia was sliding into Stalinism. 

Subverting expectations, they go into One More Thing recommending anything but movies, endorsing the all-encompassing "true crime" podcast Criminal (hosted by the honey-voiced Phoebe Judges) and artemistimeline.com, a photo gallery and catalogue showing everything involving the Artemis II mission. 

Read on at thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Contributor Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

Starting off their dare of including silent films into the Take-Up canon, Josh and Andrew watch F.W Murnau’s class-conscious drama The Last Laugh. Tackling the miserablist story of status, our hosts discuss the film’s political connections with Weimar Germany, its place in film history, the immense talent of Emil Jannings, and a mixed response to the "studio-note" ending.

Then, they have One More Thing, bringing up the Tippi Hedren “ferocious comedy” Roar (yes, that Roar) and the 70s adaptations of the fictional Japanese murder mystery detective Kosuke Kindaichi, including The Inugami Family. 

Next week, Josh and Andrew continue their journey with Dziga Vertov’s Soviet documentary Man with a Movie Camera. Until then, read on at thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Contributor Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

Joining Josh and Andrew this week, Washington University PhD Candidate Victor Putinier takes them down to post-Summer-of-Love California for 70s cult horror classic Messiah of Evil. Giddily getting into Gloria Katz and William Huyck’s “California gothic”, the trio voice their admiration for a film that refuses to draw a clear line in the sand, from its unfinished production, subversion of zombie horror, and somehow doing its own thing while learning from the seemingly disparate works of Italian masters Mario Bava and Michelango Antonioni. 

Then, they have One More Thing, recommending the new album The Spiritual Sound from death metal band Agriculture, as well as continuing their talk of California Gothic with the 1970 adaptation of The Dunwich Horror.

On the next episode, our hosts decide to give themselves a challenge. Venturing further back in film history, Josh and Andrew will pick out movies from the silent era, starting things off with F.W Murnau’s The Last Laugh. Until then, read on at thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Contributor Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.