The Take-Up Podcast

The Lens is now The Take-Up, a new place to gather when the film is over. The format is still the same, only a little refocused. Each episode, film critics Joshua Ray and Andrew Wyatt review new releases, talk pop culture, play absurd film trivia games, and process one film in their special programs. Special guests join with their own selections for series like Queer ‘90s, Cannes Winners, Nora/Nancy, and more!

The Take-Up Podcast is a tv podcast hosted by The Take-Up, with 69 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

The Take-Up hosts The Take-Up Podcast, a tv show with 69 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  The Take-Up Podcast

  100th Episode Extravaganza Spectacular Super Variety Hour

  Aug 20, 202653 min

  A hundred eps, a hundred eps, you can hear the whistle blow a hundred eps. On our 100th episode (if you ignore the bonus episodes, panel discussions, and two-parters, so, like, using Tarantino logic), Josh and Andrew rummage through the archives and search for which films are worthy of being a part of the Take-Up Canon. Will it be Gus van Sant’s shot-for-shot remake of Psycho ? Will it be Björk’s magical sounds that spin you around in Dancer in the Dark ? Or Ousmane Sembène’s masterpiece Black Girl ? Or the gross, bacon-taped lewdness of Gummo ? Listen in, fuck around, find out, and join our celebration at The Take-Up! Continuing the festivities, they have One More Thing, spreading the word over Lance Oppenheim’s Texan documentary Ren Faire and AppleTV sci-fi show Silo , starring Take-Up favorite Rebecca Ferguson. Next week, filmmaker and Lindenwood professor Ben Scholle comes by and talks with our hosts about the collage documentary Cameraperson . Made by Dick Johnson is Dead director Kirsten Johnson, the trio spotlight the globe-trotting doc that has made her a critic darling. 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 suicidal virgin Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  The Take-Up Podcast

  Blue Heron

  Aug 5, 20261h 2m

  On a very special episode of the Take-Up podcast, Josh and Andrew peer into the memory palace of Sophy Romvari’s semi-auto-biographical debut Blue Heron , giving their own two cents on one of the most acclaimed films of the year. Praising the introspection and heartbreak, they admire the dedication to the late-90s childhood period drama that manages to hold its own against the other semi-biographical late 90s childhood trauma drama they inevitably compare it to. Comparisons aside, prepare for a deep discussion about regret and loss for a movie that provides the most therapeutic Take-Up episode yet. Next, they have One More Thing, bringing up Kate Folk’s objectophilic tale of love, sex, death, and plane crashes in her novel Sky Daddy , and Milagros Mumenthaler’s hydrophobia-centered psychological drama The Currents . In two weeks, on the Take-Up’s 105th episode (or 100th, according to JoshMath), our hosts will do the impossible and look back on their past talks and figure out if any of the films they discussed deserve a spot on the Take-Up Canon. Finally, they will answer the question: Does Gus van Sant’s Psycho get to be in the canon? 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. Theme music by AMP.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  The Take-Up Podcast

  The Odyssey

  Jul 31, 20261h 6m

  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.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  The Take-Up Podcast

  The Prestige

  Jul 26, 20261h 12m

  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.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  The Take-Up Podcast

  Fateful Findings (with Isabelle Roig)

  Jul 18, 20261h 20m

  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.

  ListenShow Notes

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.