The Rolling Tape

Night Nurse , the feature directorial debut of writer-director Georgia Bernstein, premiered earlier this year in the NEXT section of the Sundance Film Festival, and it arrives in theaters July 10 as, in Bernstein's own words, "an erotic thriller which takes place in a retirement community." In joining The Rolling Tape for a conversation on the film, Bernstein describes how the film...

First off, we want to apologize in advance to Matt Damon. We were going to include him on this episode as a surprise guest, but went through the run of show and he decided he had to spend time with Ben Affleck instead. RETRO//RANKED is a Rolling Tape network series ranking the individual entries of beloved franchises and filmographies, timed to major new releases. For season 7, we're diving i...

Leviticus , directed by Adrian Chiarella, is an Australian queer horror film that has resonated with audiences through its blend of horror, coming-of-age drama, and tender romance. While much of the conversation has centered on its emotional story and breakout performances, the film's visual language is equally vital to its impact.  In this exclusive interview, Leviticus costume designer Zohi...

What better way to celebrate 250 years of American history than by talking about the upcoming Emmy nominations? That's right. As of time of this recording, we were just four days away from the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards nominations set to be announced Wednesday, July 8, 2026, at 11:30 A.M. EST, where we'll celebrate the best television has to offer from June 1, 2025, through May 31, 2026...

We are here to tell you where the minions were between 1939 and 1945... Minions & Monsters is directed by Pierre Coffin and written by Coffin and Brian Lynch. Produced by Illumination, it is the third installment in the Minions prequel series and the seventh installment overall in the Despicable Me franchise. Taking place in 1927, 41 years before the events of Minions (2015), the film follows...

To conclude our Pride Series for 2026, we start off with a speed review of LEVITICUS , by Adrian Chiarella, an Australian horror-romance that follows two teenage boys who must escape a violent entity after their religious community discovers their sexuality. We also discuss Gender-Based media, exploring and recommending films that are not based on sexuality, a main topic often included in conversa...

You are unlikely to encounter another movie like Maddie’s Secret this year. The film, born from the mind of writer, director, and star John Early , satirizes both the Lifetime movies of the 80s and 90s and modern influencer culture while also sincerely addressing disordered eating. arly plays Maddie, a dishwasher turned content creator for mega-company Gourmaybe. It’s her dream come true. However,...

We’re going to podcast about Inception and The Dark Knight Rises . When the conversation is done, and the recording is finished processing, then you have my permission to die. RETRO//RANKED is a Rolling Tape network series ranking the individual entries of beloved franchises and filmographies, timed to major new releases. For season 7, we're diving into the complete filmography of Christopher...

It's been a full six months into 2026, and quite a lot has happened. The Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes Film Festivals have come and gone. Greta Gerwig's Narnia has been moved to 2027. Luca Guadagnino's Artificial has been pushed to 2027, dropped by Amazon MGM, and acquired by NEON to go back into the 2026 slate. Michael has surpassed Oppenheimer as the highest grossing biopic of all...

With the second film in the rebooted DCU now in wide release to pair with last year's Superman , we analyze the recent Supergirl movie, exploring its marketing, storytelling choices, and representation of female superheroes. With the film currently sitting at around 54% on Rotten Tomatoes, the reactions have been mixed. We discuss broader trends in superhero films, particularly with female su...

Supergirl is the second film in the DCU created by James Gunn and Peter Safran, following Superman from 2025. Clayface will follow this year as the third entry of "Chapter One: Gods and Monsters" in the soft reboot of the DCEU which featured 16 films between 2013 and 2023. Supergirl follows Kara Zor-El who joins forces with an unlikely companion on an interstellar journey of vengeance an...

In our continued conversation on Queer cinema for Pride, we look toward POC and International Cinema, two topics that often get left out of the Western canon. POC and International Queer cinema provides a platform to explore diverse identities and experiences, often absent from the dominant Western narrative with examples dating back to 1919. These films challenge stereotypes, broaden perspectives...

Now, are you watching closely? Let’s begin with today’s films. RETRO//RANKED is a Rolling Tape network series ranking the individual entries of beloved franchises and filmographies, timed to major new releases. For season 7, we're diving into the complete filmography of Christopher Nolan , building episode by episode, two films at a time, toward the release of his latest film, The Odyssey . T...

With the release of Toy Story 5 (and its estimated $160 million+ opening weekend box office), we're focusing on examining a specific category in the 2027 Oscars race that perhaps has gone through the most interesting evolution over its 25 year history: the Best Animated Feature category.  Here we discuss how we feel about the category itself, the animated race that's shaping up this year...

This is Read Receipts: A Big Screen Book Club where the pronunciations don’t matter! Every month over here at The Rolling Tape , we read a book, watch its onscreen adaptation, then share our receipts with our Read Receipts host Kasey Dunifer – or should I say Dune-ifer? Because this month, for DUNE JUNE , we read none other than Frank Herbert’s 1965 seminal science-fiction novel DUNE . Additionall...

How many hours has it been since you've been scrolling on your phone or tablet? Did you forget that the toys you once played with are now collecting dust and feeling neglected? It's one of the pressing themes we'll discuss with today's review of Toy Story 5 , the 31st feature-length film from Pixar Animation released by Disney on June 19th. It's been seven years since we&a...

Taking a break from the silver screen, we look back on the TV shows that made us and the progression of Queer representation in television. Looking back on our childhood watches, teen dramas, and what’s hot right now, we break down the best and worst of Queer television and what we are looking for next.  Follow along as we continue to celebrate Queer Cinema with discussions on international and pe...

Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up. Let’s dive into the films. RETRO//RANKED is a Rolling Tape network series ranking the individual entries of beloved franchises and filmographies, timed to major new releases. For season 7, we're diving into the complete filmography of Christopher Nolan, building episode by episode, two films at a time, toward the release of his latest film...

Steven Spielberg — you know the name. He's one of our greatest living filmmakers on the planet. The man has created cinematic classics and enduring masterpieces that have and will stand the test of time. Yet early on in his career, he had a fascinating relationship with the Academy Awards, starting with his infamous home video in which he sarcastically reacts to not receiving a Best Director...

RETRO//RECAP is the spin-off of RETRO//RANKED where we hit pause on the rankings and rewind the tape to catch you up on everything that’s happened in a franchise or filmography before the next entry hits theaters.  Previously, we’ve recapped the Scream Franchise and The Devil Wears Prada , and this time we’re recapping Pixar’s most successful franchise that dates back to 1995 and includes four pri...

Christian Sprenger has spent eighteen years in television, but his collaboration with director Hiro Murai is in a category of its own. Together they have built a creative language across more than fifty episodes of television, from Atlanta to Mr. and Mrs. Smith , and now to Widow's Bay , the Apple TV+ comedy horror series created by Katie Dippold that has become one of the most talked-about s...

If you found out we weren't alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you? That is one of many questions we approach today while discussing Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day which has been theatrically released by Universal as of June 11. We’ve been in eager anticipation of the film which is directed by Spielberg and written by David Koepp since April of 2024 when ne...

Following the North American premiere of Just Look Up at the Tribeca Festival, Jeremy Strong moderated a panel discussion with journalist and author David Wallace-Wells (“The Uninhabitable Earth”), psychologist and Climate Emergency Fund Board Chair Margaret Klein Salamon , Climate Defiance Founder Michael Greenberg, and Climate Defiance activist Cheyenne. What followed was a conversation about th...

Happy Pride! We are back with year two of our Pride Mini-series, celebrating Queer artists in Film and Media. After tracking the progression of Queer Cinema last year, the team is back to discuss various topics and give you new recommendations in this four-part series. This week, the team discusses ‘Queer Bending,’ inspired by Hedda (2025), and what it means to tell a known story from a Queer pers...

In his debut feature documentary, Director Eddie Sánchez paints a vulnerable portrait of his family and their experience as immigrants in the U.S. Mexicanamerican introduces us to his parents, Lalo and Beby Sánchez who, like many immigrants and refugees, came to the U.S. in hope of opportunity and a better future. Sánchez joins The Rolling Tape to discuss his experience creating this independent d...