The Rolling Tape
The Rolling Tape podcast is a TRT production covering weekly film reviews, industry updates, and awards season news.
NEWS 042: Fall Festival Preview, NYFF63 & TIFF50 Lineups

The fall film festival cycle is gearing up once again with the major festivals announcing their lineups in recent weeks that will reveal to us many of the major awards players and flesh out the fall and winter 2025 theater schedule. We’ll discuss the lineups for NYFF and TIFF, highlighting some titles that stand out to us ahead of the festivals.
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EP 152: Highest 2 Lowest (2025)

Highest 2 Lowest is a 2025 crime thriller film directed by Spike Lee from a screenplay by Alan Fox. It is an English-language reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 Japanese film High and Low, itself loosely based on the 1959 novel King's Ransom. The film stars Denzel Washington, Ilfenesh Hadera, Jeffrey Wright, and A$AP Rocky. It’s the first collaboration between Lee and Washington since Inside Man in 2006, but their 5th in total.
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*PATREON PREVIEW* Highest 2 Lowest Marketing Failures, 'Him,' 'If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,' 'Rental Family,' 'Jay Kelly,' & 'Shelby Oaks' Trailers

To hear more bonus conversations like this, subscribe to our Patreon for as little as $1/month for early access and video episodes. Ahead of our review of The Naked Gun we discuss:
Highest 2 Lowest Marketing FailuresHim, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Rental Family, Jay Kelly, Shelby Oaks TrailersSubscribe:
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Interview With 'The Bear' Sound Team, Steve "Major" Giammaria, Scott D. Smith & Evan Benjamin

Ethan Simmie is joined by Steve "Major" Giammaria, Scott D. Smith, and Evan Benjamin, the Emmy-nominated sound team behind FX's hit dramedy series The Bear. The trio discusses the evolution of sound throughout the four seasons of the show, their favorite characters, and shares behind-the-scenes anecdotes about the challenges of curating the show's unique sound. They also talk about working on former projects like ‘The Fugitive’ & ‘Blue Valentine’ and the biggest differences sound editing and mixing between TV and film.
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Bonus Review Round-Up: Together (2025), KPop Demon Hunters (2025) & Freakier Friday (2025)

To catch up on a few recent releases that we have not covered on the main show of late, we’re doing a round up of reviews for some titles that have come to theaters or streaming in the last couple of weeks. The three we will be focusing on are NEON’s body horror Together, Netflix’s animated phenomenon KPop Demon Hunters, and Disney’s legacy sequel Freakier Friday.
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Awards Season Draft: 2015-16

In the inaugural episode of this new Awards Season Draft series, we look at individual past award seasons and competitively draft films/performers from the pool of winners. This first draft of its kind puts 2015 into the *spotlight* as we draft 2015 films for the 2016 Academy Awards. Our draft options include Oscar winners, Precursor winners (Golden Globe, BAFTA, SAG, CCA), festival winners (TIFF, Venice, Cannes, Sundance), and critics group winners (NSFC, LAFCA, NYFCC). See the video version of the podcast on our Patreon.
Each of our drafts must include:
2 above the line Oscar winners2 below the line O...EP 151: Weapons (2025)

The highly anticipated follow-up to Zach Cregger’s breakout horror hit, Barbarian, has now arrived in theaters. Weapons is written and directed by Cregger, and follows the story of when all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanishes on the same night at exactly the same time, and a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance. The film stars Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong, and Cary Christopher.
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*PATREON PREVIEW* Physical Media Hauls, Spider-Man: Brand New Day Suit Reveal & The Social Network Part II Minus David Fincher and Jesse Eisenberg

To hear more bonus conversations like this, subscribe to our Patreon for as little as $1/month for early access and video episodes. Ahead of our review of The Naked Gun we discuss:
Physical Media HaulsSpider-Man: Brand New Day Suit RevealThe Social Network Part II Minus David Fincher and Jesse EisenbergSubscribe:
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*HOLLYSHORTS* Interview With 'Babka' (2025) Director, Serena Dykman

Co-Founder Sara Ciplickas sits down with Director Serena Dykman to discuss her recent short, Babka, premiering at HollyShorts on August 9th. In the heart of Hasidic Brooklyn, a newly blind Jewish Orthodox baker (Saul Rubinek) forms an unlikely friendship with a Queer Catholic Latino guide dog trainer (Jonny Beauchamp), embarking on an eye-opening journey to overcome personal and cultural barriers in his quest to reopen his beloved bakery. The short is also in development to become a feature film. Babka is also a nominee for the Humanitas Prize, which will be announced in September. Watch the trailer here.
<...*PATREON PREVIEW* Live Commentary: Barbarian (2022)

Happy Weapons week to all who celebrate! One of the most anticipated movies of the year is Zach Cregger's sophomore feature, Weapons, and the follow up to his directorial debut, Barbarian. Naturally, we had to revisit Barbarian by watching along and staying together as a team at the most fucked up AirBnB you've ever seen. Take a trip to Detroit with us and listen along as we revisit Barbarian (2022) ahead of our review of Weapons (2025) this coming weekend.
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EP 150: The Naked Gun (2025)

The Naked Gun has returned after the trilogy through the late 80’s and early 90’s that starred Leslie Nielsen, now featuring Liam Neeson and directed by Akiva Schaffer as only one man has the particular set of skills - to lead Police Squad and save the world. The film also stars Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston, and Kevin Durand.
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0:00:00 Initial Thoughts0:16:32 Spoiler Review0:56:02 Final RatingsInterview With 'Harvest' (2024) Director, Athina Rachel Tsangari

From Athina Rachel Tsangari (Chevalier, Attenberg), Harvest is a spellbinding and thrillingly distinctive period piece like no other, telling a folk horror-inflected story about the trauma of modernity and the looming threat of the outsider. Set over seven hallucinatory days in an idyllic rural Scottish village, the traditional way of life for its agrarian community is suddenly disrupted when a series of unexpected invaders from the outside world bring about irrevocable – and potentially damaging – change. In our interview, we discuss Tsangari's approach to location and worldbuilding as well as the beautifully captured 16mm cinematography.
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*PATREON PREVIEW* MCU Phase Six Timeline, Summer Box Office Check-In & Ne Zha 2 Re-Release

Ahead of our review for The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025), we lay out what's coming up on the release slate for DC and the MCU phase six, we check in with summer box office numbers for the July blockbusters, and discuss the re-release of Ne Zha 2 in IMAX theaters.
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Ladies Night 010

Taking a break from their discussions on fangirling and branding, The Ladies discuss the summer’s superhero films and the newly introduced Lois Lane and Sue Storm.
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EP 149: The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

As the last piece of the July blockbuster season, The Fantastic Four: First Steps brings the family of four back to the big screen for the first time in a decade. Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, the Fantastic Four must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer. The film is directed by Matt Shakman and stars Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn.
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*PATREON PREVIEW* Hoppers, After the Hunt Trailers & Theater Popcorn Buckets

Ahead of our Eddington review, we debrief the latest original trailer from Pixar, Hoppers, as well as Luca Guadagnino's After the Hunt which is set to play at Venice and New York film festivals this fall. We also discuss the latest trends in popcorn buckets from Galactus to The Naked Gun beaver.
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The Awards Tape: Oscar Predictions 2025 First Draft

Back in April we hosted our first conversation of the awards season with a way-too-early glimpse at the potential contenders ahead, and we’re now revisiting that conversation.With festival season just around the corner and conversations starting to heat up about potential contenders finding their world premieres in the fall festival cycle, today we are offering our first draft predictions for above-the-line categories including Picture, Director, and the two Screenplays and all four Performance categories. We will continue to update these predictions as the awards season picture becomes more clear on our website and podcast.
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NEWS 041: 82nd Venice International Film Festival (2025) Lineup Announcement

We received the full lineup for the 82nd edition of the Venice International Film Festival and share our first reaction takeaways from the in- and out-of-competition lineups. We take an overall glimpse at how festival season is shaping up as a whole as well and select our blind picks for the top prize at Venice, the Golden Lion.
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EP 148: Eddington (2025)

Bookended by the two biggest superhero blockbusters of the summer is Ari Aster’s fourth feature, Eddington. The modern western is set in May of 2020, where a standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Deirdre O'Connell, Emma Stone, Michael Ward, and Austin Butler.
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0:09:05 Initial Thoughts0:26:07 Spoiler Rev...*PATREON PREVIEW* Project Hail Mary Trailer, Legendary Rumors Acquisition of Lionsgate & The Backrooms/Shelby Oaks Expectations

Ahead of our Superman review, we discuss a few topics of news including the Project Hail Mary trailer starring Ryan Gosling, the rumors surrounding Legendary's potential acquisition of Lionsgate, and expectations for some horror films later this year: The Backrooms and Shelby Oaks.
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Interview With 'Drowning Dry' (2024) Director, Laurynas Bareisa

Drowning Dry originally had its world premiere at Locarno Film Festival in 2024 and is now in limited theatrical release in the US. The film is described as follows: to celebrate Lukas' victory at the martial arts tournament and Tomas' birthday party, their wives Juste and Ernesta organize a weekend at the summer house with a families. It was suppose to be a quiet weekend at countryside. We are joined by director Laurynas Bareisa to discuss the making of the film along with its prominent themes of familial relationships, sisterhood, and masculinity.
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RETROSPECTIVE 024: Ari Aster

Ahead of Ari Aster’s latest film Eddington, we look back through his filmography of three feature films and the trademarks that have defined them from the unique blends of horror and dark comedy to the violence and psychological interrogations of Hereditary, Midsommar, and Beau is Afraid.
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NEWS 040: Best of 2025 First Half & Most Anticipated of Second Half

At the midway point of the year, we evaluate our favorite films that have defined the first six months of 2025 from our personal favorites to the superlatives so far. We look at the trends of the year before turning the corner into the ensuing festival and awards season cycle. We also discuss our most anticipated for the second half of the year.
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EP 147: Superman (2025)

Written and directed by James Gunn, Superman is the film of the newly rebranded DCU's Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. David Corenswet stars as Clark Kent / Superman, alongside Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion, and Isabela Merced.
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0:00:00 Introduction & Initial Thoughts0:32:46 Spoiler Review2:03:43 Oscars Assessment2:04:47 Final RatingsFollow our team online:
Danny Jarabek Letterboxd, Instagram, Bluesky, X, TikTok, and Linktree<...
*PATREON PREVIEW* The Odyssey Teaser, The Running Man trailer, and What We've Been Watching

On the pre-episode ahead of our Jurassic World: Rebirth review we discuss The Odyssey teaser, The Running Man trailer, and 'What we've been watching.'
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Tate Fowler on Letterboxd and Instagram
Joshua Mbonu Letterboxd, and X...
*PATREON PREVIEW* RETRO/RANKED: Paul Thomas Anderson (Hard Eight & Boogie Nights)

This is a preview section for season 3 of our Patreon exclusive RETRO/RANKED series collaboratively ranking entire franchises and filmographies. After the first two seasons covered the Jurassic franchise and the 28 franchise, our third season is focusing on the filmography of Paul Thomas Anderson. Starting with his first two films, Hard Eight and Boogie Nights, we will collaboratively rank all 10 of his films leading up to and including his latest work set for wide release later this year, One Battle After Another. Subscribe to our Patreon to hear the rest of this conversation and follow along with the rest...
Summer 2025 Box Office Draft Check-In

As previously discussed in the first episode of this summer mini-series, we’re tracking box office for the movies on our radar between the first weekend of May and the end of August, with each team member on the show preparing a list of their predicted top ten box office earners of the summer, along with their predicted total worldwide gross. We previously promised to check in halfway through the summer to see how things are stacking up and that’s what we’re doing today, so let’s see how our lists are shaping up against actual box office n...
EP 146: Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025)

Dinosaurs are returning to the big screen in the 7th edition of the Jurassic franchise with Jurassic World: Rebirth. Five years post-Jurassic World: Dominion (2022), an expedition braves isolated equatorial regions to extract DNA from three massive prehistoric creatures for a groundbreaking medical breakthrough. The film is directed by Gareth Edwards with David Koepp returning to write and stars Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, and Jonathan Bailey.
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0:00:00 Introduction & Initial...Ladies Night 009

After a chaotic primary discussion of “fangirling” the ladies continue to break down this industry phenomenon, discussing what it means to be a fangirl and which actors are capitalizing on the idea of “for the girls.”
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Have ques...
*PATREON PREVIEW* The Batman 2 Script, The Odyssey Poster & Denis Villeneuve and Bond

Ahead of our F1 review, we debriefed a pre-episode Patreon exclusive conversation featuring The Batman 2 script completion, The Odyssey poster and teaser announcement, and Denis Villeneuve directing the next James Bond movie.
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0:00:00 Introduction & Initial Thoughts0:17:05 Spoiler Review1:08:43 Oscars Assessment1:11:15 Final RatingsFollow our team online:
Ethan Simmie on Letterboxd, Instagram, X, The Movie Draft Podcast, 24 Minutes of A24
Paul Rai on Letterboxd...
The Rolling Remote: TV in 2025 & Emmy Nomination Predictions

After our first four episodes of our new Rolling Remote podcast series covering Severance Season 2, The White Lotus Season 3, The Studio Season 1, and The Last of Us Season 2, we’re taking a broader lens at TV in 2025 and rounding up any other shows that stood out to us as a team. We’ll discuss personal standouts we didn’t cover on this podcast series before diving into Emmy nomination predictions.
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Interview With 'Tummy Monster' (2025) Director, Ciaran Lyons & Actor, Lorn Macdonald

In our first coverage of a Scottish film, Tummy Monster is described as follows: when a self-centered tattoo artist discovers his latest client is a world-famous musician, his fixation on getting a selfie with his client embroils the pair into a bizarre and dangerous game. Matthew Allen joins director Ciaran Lyons and star Lorn Macdonald in a conversation about the making of the film which had its world premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival in 2024.
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*TRIBECA 2025* Interview With 'Dear Ms.: A Revolution in Print' (2025) Directors, Salima Koroma, Alice Gu, Cecilia Aldarondo

Ms. magazine has been a driver of substantial change in the lives of women and how they have been perceived over the past 50+ years. Through interweaving a wide array of archival footage, close analysis of the magazine’s most iconic cover stories and contemporary interviews with the women who made Ms. what it is, Dear Ms.: A Revolution in Print examines the magazine’s legacy, highlighting its most powerful moments while also poignantly reflecting on its well-intentioned mistakes. From the Spotlight Documentary section of Tribeca, we interview the three directors Salima Koroma, Alice Gu, and Cecilia Aldarondo.
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EP 145: F1 The Movie (2025)

Based on the premier class of motorsport, F1 The Movie follows the international worldwide racing sport. The film is a sports drama starring Brad Pitt as a driver who returns to Formula One racing after a career cut short by injury. It was directed by Joseph Kosinski with a screenplay written by Ehren Kruger. It is based on the Formula One World Championship, created in collaboration with the FIA, its governing body. The film also stars Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, and Javier Bardem.
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*PATREON PREVIEW* Zombie Media & Venice International Film Festival Lineup Speculation

Ahead of our 28 Years Later review, the team debates zombie media with the best and worst of zombie movie and TV show protagonists. We also speculate on the potential Venice International Film Festival lineup before the fall festival season starts to kick into full gear in less than a couple of months.
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Interview With 'Ballerina' (2025) Supervising Sound Editor, Mark Stoeckinger

Ethan Simmie joins Mark Stoeckinger, a three-time Oscar nominee and key contributor to the John Wick universe as a Supervising Sound Editor, who has crafted an electrifying soundscape for Ballerina, elevating its pulse-pounding action and gritty underworld atmosphere. Set during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, the film follows Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas) as she trains in the Ruska Roma’s assassin traditions and seeks vengeance. He discussed the "precision violence" of the sound design—honed through work on all four John Wick films and The Continental—bringing every gunshot, fight, and tense moment to life with unparall...
NEWS 039: Tribeca 2025 Recap ft. Larry Fried

Tribeca Festival in New York recently wrapped up and we had three members of our team helping to cover some film titles in the diverse lineup. We’ll discuss what we heard and saw through the festival from myself, Sara Ciplickas our Co-Founder and host of Ladies Night and the Pride Mini-Series, and writer Arleigh Rodgers who isn’t here on the podcast but was in Tribeca for the festival including our coverage plans and the festival’s award winners alongside a guest, Larry Fried.
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NEWS 039: Tribeca 2025 Recap ft. Larry Fried

Tribeca Festival in New York recently wrapped up and we had three members of our team helping to cover some film titles in the diverse lineup. We’ll discuss what we heard and saw through the festival from myself, Sara Ciplickas our Co-Founder and host of Ladies Night and the Pride Mini-Series, and writer Arleigh Rodgers who isn’t here on the podcast but was in Tribeca for the festival including our coverage plans and the festival’s award winners alongside a guest, Larry Fried.
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Pride Mini-Series: Queer Television & Modern Cinema (Part Four)

As we enter the 90s and early 2000s the team discusses Queer cinema’s entrance into the mainstream and the films that we grew up with. We discuss The Oscars and the dramas that entered “high cinema,” as well as the low-budget comedies that came to define CAMP and the Queer pushback to the tragedies still facing them. With only one more episode left, the team prepares to break down contemporary Queer cinema and where we go from here.
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EP 144: 28 Years Later (2025)

23 years after Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s genre-breaking dystopian zombie movie comes a direct sequel to that film with 28 Years Later, directed and written by the same creators. A group of survivors of the rage virus live on a small island. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors.
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