The Rolling Tape

The musical is a genre of movie that rose in popularity in Hollywood’s Golden Age through its reliance on star power and the song and dance numbers that engaged audiences in exciting ways. Today, the musical landscape has dramatically changed with a waning popularity in studio productions and a larger interest in music propelling the plot forward rather than distinct breaks from the story itself....

The “Barbenheimer” craze has captivated audiences for months in anticipation of July 21st to suggest one of the most iconic release dates of the century. With both films, Barbie directed by Greta Gerwig and Oppenheimer directed by Christopher Nolan now in theaters, we review both in a mega Barbenheimer breakdown to assess everything from the existential journey of stereotypical Barbie to the psych...

Jacob Deboer is a Visual Effects Pipeline Software Engineer for Brainstorm Digital whose most recent credit is for No Hard Feelings starring Jennifer Lawrence. We discuss his role in the visual effects workflow process, his contributions to No Hard Feelings and some of his upcoming projects. Follow our interviewee online: Jacob Deboer on LinkedIn Follow our interview host online: Danny Jarabek Web...

Over the past couple of months we have received a number of trailers for films that will shape the fall festival season and beyond. Many of the titles will be vying for attention as we move closer to awards season, but these trailers are our first look at assessing where the fall season may go. We break down titles ranging from Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla to Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things and everyt...

Mission: Impossible is back and bigger than ever with Tom Cruise and company returning for the 7th iteration of the action blockbuster franchise. Joined by Jonathan Fujii, also known as The Film Drunk, we review Christopher McQuarrie’s latest effort Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One now out in theaters starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, and V...

Ciara Whaley is an LA based Costume Designer who believes strongly in the importance of embracing one’s individuality through personal style and wearing one’s differences with confidence. This mantra guided her to a vocation of styling and costume design and continues to inform her work in fashion and film. Her designs have been seen on HBO, IFC, Netflix, and Showtime, as well as in music videos f...

Acting range is something that is extremely difficult to achieve for a performer: the skill to navigate many different types of roles and characters. Our double feature topic dives into this skill as it is portrayed through Robin Williams. Williams was a chameleon as an actor always navigating between comedy and drama in a wide variety of characters that defined his career. The two films that high...

Adele Lim’s Joy Ride is one example of the recent revival of the raunchy comedy now in theaters. The film follows four Chinese-American friends as they bond and discover the truth of what it means to know and love who you are, while they travel through China in search of one of their birth mothers and stars Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, and Sabrina Wu. Chapter Timestamps: 0:02:48 Introd...

Georden West is the writer and director of Playland , a raucous work of queer fantasy and history, which conjures a time-bending night in Boston's oldest and most notorious gay bar. The film recently played at Tribeca Film Festival for its North American premiere. Follow our interviewee online: Georden West Website , IMDb Follow our interview host online: Matt Minton on Letterboxd , Instagram...

The Rolling Tape reviews the first half of 2023 revealing each of our team member’s top 5 of the first six months. We look at the trends of the year and choose our superlatives before turning the corner into July and the next ensuing awards season cycle. Chapter Timestamps 0:00:00 Introduction 0:09:18 Top 5’s of 2023 1:27:39 Midyear Superlatives 1:52:35 Conclusion Follow our team online: Danny Jar...

To My Father, directed and written by interviewee Sean Schiavolin, depicts the Oscar-winning path of Deaf actor Troy Kotsur and his father's inspirational effect on him despite a horrific accident. The short documentary premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival. Follow our interviewee online: Sean Schiavolin Website , IMDb , Instagram , LinkedIn Follow our interview host online: Eugene Rocc...

Wes Anderson is back at the full height of his symmetrical powers assembling his trademark ensemble for Asteroid City , which follows a writer on his fictional play about a grieving father who travels to the namesake town for a junior stargazing event. The film stars Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johnasson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, and Bryan Cranston. We are joined by Lauren Puckett-Pope to review...

Max Cohn and Ellie Sachs co-wrote and co-directed Proof of Concept , a short film that premiered at Tribeca Film Festival 2023 that follows an aspiring auteur who tries to make her dad and uncle finance her first short film but winds up raising more questions than dollars. Bryan Sudfield interviews the pair about the short which stars Will Janowitz, Richard Kind, and Ellie Sachs. The Rolling Tape...

Camp is an aesthetic style and sensibility that admires bad taste and ironic value. Camp questions art and beauty by dethroning the serious through theatricality, irony, and a love for exaggeration. It is inherently elusive to understand and capture in any art form but it has succeeded in paving its way through film history, intentionally or otherwise. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) and But...

Eric Burton is a film editor known for A Day on the Force: Women's Professional Tackle Football  (2004) , The Boardroom  (2019) , and Kiss the Future  (2023) . Kiss the Future premiered as the opening night film at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival. The film showcases the struggle of the citizens of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War and how aid worker Bill Carter's determination resulted in t...

Premiering at Sundance Film Festival before going wide June 23, Past Lives directed by Celine Song has taken the film community by storm. As a directorial debut and Song’s first venture into filmmaking coming from a theater background, her first film follows Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, who were wrest apart after Nora's family emigrated from South Korea. 20 years...

As Tribeca Film Festival comes to a close, we are joined by guest Larry Fried as we recap our festival experiences as an outlet. We discuss some of the highlights we watched as well as discuss our virtual and in-person coverage of reviews and interviews throughout the 11 day fest. The Rolling Tape is a multimedia film and entertainment outlet for podcasts, online publications, and film production....

H. P. Mendoza is a Filipino-American filmmaker and artist known for his work as screenwriter, composer, and actor on Colma: The Musical (2007) , as well as his arthouse horror film, I Am a Ghost (2014) . Crowned "San Francisco's queer cinema poet," Mendoza is also known for his music in films, installations and albums.  In this interview we discuss his latest film, The Secret of Art...

In our inaugural news episode taking the format of a roundtable discussion, we are joined by guest Tasha Jagger to reflect on and recap the 2023 Cannes Film Festival with its lineup and awards outcomes. We discuss the films that Tasha saw at the festival and her experience covering the festival with everything from the glam of the red carpet to the Cannes traditions that often surround the festiva...

Noam Kaplan is the writer and director of The Future which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival 2023 and follows the Israeli secret service who hire criminal profiler Nurit to question a young Palestinian woman suspected of killing a government official. Nurit learns some unsettling realities via their interactions. The film tackles themes surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict compounded with...

Pixar’s latest effort takes the form of earth, air, fire, and water in Elemental directed by Peter Sohn and featuring a voice cast including Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, and Ronnie Del Carmen. Joined by second-time guest Derrick Murray we follow Ember and Wade into Element City. We are joined by returning guest Derrick Murray to review the film and where it places amongst Pixar's library. Chap...

Originally from Kansas, Sav Rodgers is a filmmaker and screenwriter whose work often centers on telling highly specific, surprising stories about queer people. He is the director/producer of Chasing Chasing Amy, a feature documentary premiering at Tribeca Film Festival about the complex legacy of Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy among LGBTQ+ people and the profound, lasting impression on his own lif...

Samantha Soule is an actress and filmmaker known throughout her career for roles in many TV series including Godless. She made her feature directorial debut alongside co-director Daniel Talbott for Midday Black Midnight Blue starring Samantha Soule with Chris Stack and Merritt Weaver. The film is releasing on VOD on June 16th and in LOOK Theaters in LA. The Rolling Tape is a multimedia film and en...

Julie Cohen is the director of Every Body, a documentary that focuses on three individuals who overcame shame, secrecy, and unauthorized surgery throughout their childhoods to enjoy successful adulthoods. The film explores how these individuals chose to ignore medical advice to conceal their bodies and came out as who they truly were and is a Tribeca Film Festival premiere. The Rolling Tape is a m...

The long-awaited sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, Sony’s major blockbuster hit featuring Miles Morales in an animated iteration of your local friendly Spiderman. The cast and crew returns and expands deeper into the multiverse of Spiderpeople with a closing third film still to come. Joined by John Maffeo, we discuss the innovation of the film that is leading to critical and audience ac...