The Rolling Tape

Our first diary-style review entry of the summer season covers reviews of Midday Black Midnight Blue directed by Samantha Soule and Daniel Talbott as well as Songs About Fucking directed by James Gallagher.  Joined by Bryan Sudfield, we discuss the merits of each of these respective premieres and preview some of the next films we will be checking out in the summer festival season. Midday Black Mid...

Emily Ruhl is a model, actress, producer, writer, and director who made her producing, directorial, and writing debut with Blue Moon in 2021. Emily also founded Public School Pictures, a production company with a nine picture slate to date. This led her to executive producing with Public School Pictures Georden West's feature film Playland, which debuted at the Rotterdam Film Festival (2022)...

After our first inaugural TRT Trivia bonus episode, our winner Sara Ciplickas had the opportunity to choose the film we would cover for the next bonus review! In order to celebrate pride month, we review To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar directed by Beeban Kidron in 1995 starring Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, and John Leguizamo. The Rolling Tape is a multimedia film and entertainme...

One-location films often utilize enclosed settings to create a specific element of tension as if the characters are trapped within a space for the narrative to unfold. Joined by guest Manning Franks we discuss two films that are quintessential examples of the single-location setting technique, 12 Angry Men and Rear Window. Sidney Lumet and Alfred Hitchcock respectively master the closed setting of...

Christian Cargill is a London-based filmmaker and photographer. During his time at Pulse Films, Christian worked across productions for Netflix, HBO, Vice Studios and the BBC. He has directed various mini-docs and music videos, working with artists including Laura Marling and Gorillaz. In this interview, we discuss his first documentary Heart Valley which won multiple awards during its festival ru...

With the HBO series Succession, created by Jesse Armstrong, coming to a close, members of The Rolling Tape team and guest Sean Place deliver their next-day reactions on the finale and discuss the show in hindsight of its four season run. The Rolling Tape is a multimedia film and entertainment outlet for podcasts, online publications, and film production. The podcast is a TRT production covering we...

The latest addition to the Disney live-action remake lineup is The Little Mermaid directed by Rob Marshall and starring Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, Melissa McCarthy, Awkwafina, Javier Bardem, and Daveed Diggs. Joined by guest Katie Rentschler, we review everything under the sea reviewing the film and its merit as a remake of the 1989 animated classic. Chapter Timestamps: 0:00:00 Introduction 0...

Levi Eddie Aluede is a writer and director based in southeast London, known for their shorts (The Smell of Cut Grass) which screened at the Prince Charles Cinema in Central London and web series (Visions of a Vivid Life). Levi is currently promoting their short film An Eighth of Him which is premiering at the Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival in Toronto. Alongside filmmaking, they have successful...

Giving Birth To a Butterfly follows a woman who after having her identity stolen, connects with her son's pregnant girlfriend as they bond together on a surreal journey and attempt to track down the perpetrators. In the conversation with co-writer Patrick Lawler, he speaks to the ‘alchemy’ of the creative dynamic between him and director Ted Schaefer. The pair co-wrote the film together after...

The Palme d’Or is one of the most prestigious awards in the film festival circuit where it is given to the top film chosen by a jury at the Cannes International Film Festival each summer. We discuss why this award is historically significant through the lens of two films that have won the award previously, Titane (2021) and All That Jazz (1979). We review both films and why they had what it took t...

Drea Clark is a Film Producer, a Programmer for Sundance Film Festival and Bentonville with experience at LA and Slamdance Film Festivals. She’s produced three feature films, The Last Time You Had Fun (director Mo Perkins), Lake Los Angeles (director Mike Ott), No Light and No Land Anywhere (director Amber Sealey, exec. producer Miranda July), as well as music videos, web series and a TV pilot dir...

The Rolling Tape takes a break from film coverage to present our first edition of TRT Trivia! How much does our team know about our podcast and publications? How much do we know about each other? Find out and play along to see for yourself! Hosted by our very own Eugene Rocco Utley, he takes us through three rounds of trivia covering questions about what we have published and questions about our t...

James Gunn’s final entry to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, is the last entry into the franchise of this rag tag group of heroes championed by Gunn over the course of his trilogy. Joined by guest Meredith Loftus, we discuss the Guardians’ place within the MCU, and how the arcs of its characters play out over the course of this third and final film. We discuss everyth...

Benjamin Millepied is a world-renowned choreographer, dancer, and rising director. In 2010, Millepied choreographed and starred in the Oscar-winning feature Black Swan (2010). Since then, he has directed a number of short films, commercials, and music videos before making his feature film directorial debut with Carmen (2023) starring Paul Mescal, Melissa Barrera, and Elsa Pataky. In our conversati...

Kelly Fremon Craig’s first film since The Edge of Seventeen in 2016 is a return to the coming-of-age genre following Margaret Simon in an adaptation of Judy Blume’s novel of the same name, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Joined by guest Morgan Roberts, co-host of the Cinema Gals podcast, we discuss the adaptation of the acclaimed novel which stars Abby Ryder Fortson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Ba...

Authorship in filmmaking is a topic that has been debated amongst film theorists through the entire history of the art. Oftentimes, directors are the most credited with their name as the forefront author, but at the same time, filmmaking is a collaboration with many other significant voices weighing in on the creative process. Joined by guest Zach Marsh, we discuss one film with a clear stylistic...

Ari Aster’s third directorial feature has finally hit theaters and he’s back and bigger than ever with surrealistic epic Beau is Afraid starring Joaquin Phoenix, Patti LuPone, and Amy Ryan. We’ll take a look into the psyche of Aster who commits to his boldest film yet that is distributed by A24. We also break down all of the news from studio presentations at CinemaCon 2023 where we look ahead with...

Black and white cinematography used to be the only ways to capture moving images for film. In contemporary filmmaking, it is now only rarely used as an intentional choice by the filmmaker to capture a specific tone, setting, or atmosphere for a story. We discuss two films, Frances Ha and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, to examine the strategy of black and white imagery in a modern lens. The Roll...

The Super Mario Bros. movie is here as we review the newest Illumination Studio film starring voice work from Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, and Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach among many others. Joined by guest Ryan Guido, we discuss the use of the video game IP in feature film form and how the story utilizes the IP in creative ways. We also take a look at the...

Our second double feature of Season 2 features the theme of “character study” films which follow central figures and are more driven by their internal struggles than external plot points. Joined by guest Brian Skuttle, the two character study films we discuss are There Will Be Blood starring Daniel Day Lewis as Daniel Plainview and Nightcrawler starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Lou Bloom. We compare the...

Billie Melissa Rogan is a writer, director, activist, and podcaster active online in the film community. In this interview joined by Danny Jarabek, we discuss her upcoming debut short film I Love You, Guys and how the story and film were ultimately made stronger by the obstacles of the pandemic. We also discuss her inspirations as a filmmaker and upcoming projects. The Rolling Tape is a multimedia...

A.V. Rockwell's directorial feature debut A Thousand and One premiered at Sundance Film Festival earlier in 2023 and is currently out in theaters. The film follows unapologetic and fiercely loyal Inez who kidnaps her son Terry from the foster care system, and the mother and son set out to reclaim their sense of home, identity, and stability, in a rapidly changing New York City. Joined by film...

For our first news & review episode post-Oscars 2023, we’re kicking off the year of releases by discussing John Wick: Chapter 4, the latest installment in the John Wick franchise from director Chad Stahelski starring Keanu Reeves. We also review everything happening on the news front in the film industry from our reactions to SXSW to our first preview of the Cannes Film Festival to reviewing a...

Danny Jarabek and Sara Ciplickas interview screenwriter Izzy Davis about her story of becoming involved with film writing. We discuss her inspirations as a writer and take a look at some of the processes behind the screen of what goes into developing a screenplay for new writers. The Rolling Tape is a multimedia film and entertainment outlet for podcasts, online publications, and film production....

Season 2 launch! With the start of a fresh slate of movies, we are kicking off season 2 by also looking at the first films of two directors in a double feature on “The Directorial Debut.” We discuss the Coen brothers debut Blood Simple paired with Greta Gerwig’s debut Lady Bird and look at how this film informed the future careers of both directors. We are joined by guest Aaron White, host of Feel...