The Rolling Tape

The lineup for the 83rd Venice International Film Festival was announced on Thursday, July 23, coming on the heels of the first wave of announcements from the Toronto International Film Festival. That means we're officially entering fall festival season, the multi-week stretch in late August and September where many of the biggest contenders for the 99th Academy Awards will make their world premieres and begin their awards campaigns.

Acclaimed actress and filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal will serve as Jury President for this year's Main Competition. Joining her on the jury are composer Daniel Blumberg, filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, whose documentary The Voice of Hind Rajab won the Grand Jury Prize at Venice last year, Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To, Italian film theorist Francesco Casetti, and several other internationally acclaimed artists.

The reaction to this year's lineup has been somewhat mixed. Many critics and industry observers expressed disappointment that several heavily rumored titles ultimately didn't make the cut. The competition lineup has also drawn criticism for its lack of representation, featuring just one film directed by a woman, Danish filmmaker May el-Toukhy's Woman Unknown. 

We break down what this all means before our host of The Awards Tape, Paul Rai, ships off to Venice next month!

On this episode:
Paul Rai
Justin Duggan

Our Guest:
Mariane Tremblay on X, Instagram, Letterboxd, and W Spotlight

Support the show

Subscribe for Early Access and Video:
The Rolling Tape Patreon

Listen Here:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
All Listening Platforms

Have questions? Email [email protected]

Podcast Website Link
Website & Publications: www.therollingtape.com
Social Platforms on Linktree

Credits:

• Theme music: Eugene Rocco Utley & Karl Vincent
• Artwork: Danny Jarabek
• Editor: Danny Jarabek
• Assistant Producer: Evan Miller

We're going channel surfing for round 2! 

If you missed our last Channel Surfing episode, instead of spending an hour diving deep into a single series, we bounce around the television landscape and talk about the shows we haven't had a chance to cover on the main show, along with the hidden gems we think deserve a little more attention.

Hopefully, we'll give all of you (and ourselves) a few new additions to your watchlists. If you missed the first one, this is just a chance for us to hang out and talk about TV, which is one of the best parts of being a TV fan, recommending shows to your friends and catching up on everything everyone's been watching.

So we're excited to bring back this little show-within-a-show that we do here on The Rolling Remote and finally shine a spotlight on some of the series that have slipped through the cracks.

On this episode:
Jake Fittipaldi
Ethan Dayton
Timmy Lee

Support the show

Subscribe for Early Access and Video:
The Rolling Tape Patreon

Listen Here:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
All Listening Platforms

Have questions? Email [email protected]

Podcast Website Link
Website & Publications: www.therollingtape.com
Social Platforms on Linktree

Credits:

• Theme music: Eugene Rocco Utley & Karl Vincent
• Artwork: Danny Jarabek
• Editor: Danny Jarabek
• Assistant Producer: Evan Miller

Christopher Nolan please exit stage left, this episode is for the freaks. 

It's time to get wild, Olivia Wilde that is! With her third directorial feature, The Invite, in theaters as of last week, and an upcoming leading role in Gregg Araki’s I Want Your Sex set to go into wide release next week, we discuss her career building up to this moment.

In her directorial effort, The Invite, Joe and Angela's marriage is on thin ice. When they invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbors for a dinner party, the night spirals into unexpected places. This is of course paired with Gregg Araki’s Olivia Wilde led feature where Elliot lands a job for Erika Tracy as her sexual muse. The Invite is written by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones as an English-language remake of the 2020 Spanish film The People Upstairs (Sentimental) by Cesc Gay and stars Seth Rogen, Wilde, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton. 

I Want Your Sex is directed by Gregg Araki and written by Karley Sciortino and Araki. It stars Olivia Wilde, Cooper Hoffman, Mason Gooding, Chase Sui Wonders, Johnny Knoxville, Margaret Cho, Roxane Mesquida, Charli XCX, and Daveed Diggs.

We discuss both films and the state of the actress-director’s career before playing a guess the Letterboxd review mini-game.

Our pre-episode Patreon exclusive conversation features:

• Paramount x Warner Bros. Deal Paused
• Avengers: Doomsday Trailer Watchalong

On this episode:
Danny Jarabek
Joshua Mbonu
Mariana Fabian
Adam Patla
Paul Rai
Evan Miller
Des Mack

Support the show

Subscribe for Early Access and Video:
The Rolling Tape Patreon

Listen Here:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
All Listening Platforms

Have questions? Email [email protected]

Podcast Website Link
Website & Publications: www.therollingtape.com
Social Platforms on Linktree

Credits:

• Theme music: Eugene Rocco Utley & Karl Vincent
• Artwork: Danny Jarabek
• Editor: Danny Jarabek
• Assistant Producer: Evan Miller

Heartstopper Forever is a new Netflix film that concludes the three-season TV series Heartstopper, which was adapted from Alice Oseman's graphic novels. Set in the UK, the story follows a gay high school romance and the friendships that surround it. We're joined by Todd Downing, editor of the film, to discuss bringing the beloved coming-of-age romance to its emotional conclusion. 

Todd shares what it was like collaborating closely with creator Alice Oseman to preserve the characters fans have grown to love, how transitioning from a three-season series to a feature film created new opportunities for emotional depth and visual storytelling, and why subtle character moments are so essential to the film's impact. In conversation with Risa Bolash, they discuss everything from exploring authentic queer representation to the lasting legacy of Heartstopper as one of the defining LGBTQ+ coming-of-age stories of its generation.

Follow our interviewee online:
Todd Downing IMDb

Follow our interview host online:
Risa Bolash

Support the show

Subscribe for Early Access and Video:
The Rolling Tape Patreon

Listen Here:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
All Listening Platforms

Have questions? Email [email protected]

Podcast Website Link
Website & Publications: www.therollingtape.com
Social Platforms on Linktree

Credits:

• Theme music: Eugene Rocco Utley & Karl Vincent
• Artwork: Danny Jarabek
• Editor: Danny Jarabek
• Assistant Producer: Evan Miller

We read it. We watched it. It’s time for the receipts. For this month’s Read Receipts, we are going on an Odyssey. Or should we say a Pod-yssey? Welcome back to your favorite podcast for readers and watchers alike. If you’re new here, this is Read Receipts: A Big Screen Book Club from The Rolling Tape.

Every month, we read a book, watch its onscreen adaptation, then share our receipts. I am your Read Receipts host Kasey Dunifer. And this month we read none other than The Odyssey, the epic poem from Ancient Greece attributed to Homer, dating back to 8th century BC, and is widely considered one of the oldest surviving works of literature. First derived from generations of oral tradition. We then of course watched the new film adaptation, which everyone is talking about, including all of us here at the Rolling Tape. We watched Christopher Nolan’s 2026 The Odyssey. Starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, alongside a very star-studded cast.

On this episode:
Kasey Dunifer
Red Broadwell

Our guests:
Arnold Woods
Ezra Bebop

Support the show

Subscribe for Early Access and Video:
The Rolling Tape Patreon

Listen Here:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
All Listening Platforms

Have questions? Email [email protected]

Podcast Website Link
Website & Publications: www.therollingtape.com
Social Platforms on Linktree

Credits:

• Theme music: Eugene Rocco Utley & Karl Vincent
• Artwork: Danny Jarabek
• Editor: Danny Jarabek
• Assistant Producer: Evan Miller

Ten years on this fucking podcast. Let's go home! Today, our destiny comes to a close. We add The Odyssey to our collaborative rankings that we've been building for weeks. Call it the Trojan horse of RETRO//RANKED, but where will it end up?

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.

The Odyssey is the 13th film from Christopher Nolan. He wrote and directed the film, which is of course based on Homer’s epic poem. It was released on July 17, 2026. Nolan has long been a prominent filmmaker in advancing the use of IMAX technology in mainstream cinema, beginning with The Dark Knight in 2008. For this film, Nolan challenged IMAX to develop new 70 mm film cameras that are lighter and up to 30% quieter than the previous standard. In response, IMAX provided new cameras that met the requirements, and Nolan is the first person to use them, shooting the entire film with them from start to finish.

Enjoy all VIDEO episodes of SEASON 7 one week ahead of their public audio-only release.

Our current collaborative ranking so far:

1. Oppenheimer
2. The Dark Knight
3. Interstellar
4. The Prestige
5. Inception
6. Tenet
7. Memento
8. Dunkirk
9. The Dark Knight Rises
10. Batman Begins
11. Following
12. Insomnia

On this episode:
Evan Miller
Danny Jarabek
Timmy Lee

Support the show

Subscribe for Early Access and Video:
The Rolling Tape Patreon

Listen Here:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
All Listening Platforms

Have questions? Email [email protected]

Podcast Website Link
Website & Publications: www.therollingtape.com
Social Platforms on Linktree

Credits:

• Theme music: Eugene Rocco Utley & Karl Vincent
• Artwork: Danny Jarabek
• Editor: Danny Jarabek
• Assistant Producer: Evan Miller

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is quite possibly the most anticipated film of the year. It marks Nolan's first feature since Oppenheimer, which won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, along with Actor, Supporting Actor, Film Editing, Cinematography, and Original Score. The film grossed more than $970 million worldwide, and in the wake of that success, Nolan was essentially handed a $250 million blank check to bring to life the passion project he's been developing for more than two decades: an old-school Hollywood epic adapting one of the most celebrated and enduring works of literature in human history.

The Odyssey is currently tracking for a global opening weekend approaching $250 million, including approximately $125 million domestically. At the time of this recording, the film holds a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, an 89 on Metacritic, and a 4.3 average rating on Letterboxd.

Our team has already released a full review of the film on The Rolling Tape, but here on The Awards Tape, we break down The Odyssey's Oscar prospects, starting with our overall impressions before diving into category-by-category predictions. Then, we'll wrap things up with a conversation on Christopher Nolan's past awards success.

On this episode:
Paul Rai
Danny Jarabek

Support the show

Subscribe for Early Access and Video:
The Rolling Tape Patreon

Listen Here:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
All Listening Platforms

Have questions? Email [email protected]

Podcast Website Link
Website & Publications: www.therollingtape.com
Social Platforms on Linktree

Credits:

• Theme music: Eugene Rocco Utley & Karl Vincent
• Artwork: Danny Jarabek
• Editor: Danny Jarabek
• Assistant Producer: Evan Miller

Call it our (p)odyssey weekend here at The Rolling Tape as we’ll have not one, not two, not three, but FOUR podcasts across our network of shows discussing Christopher Nolan’s 13th feature film in various capacities. 

The Odyssey is, of course, written and directed by Christopher Nolan. We have taken the long journey home to our closest IMAX theaters to see the film. An adaptation of Homer's ancient Greek epic poem, Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca, and it chronicles his long and perilous journey home after the Trojan War and his encounters with mythical beings as he attempts to reunite with his wife, Penelope, portrayed by Anne Hathaway. The ensemble cast includes Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Samantha Morton, Zendaya, and Charlize Theron. Universal released the film in wide theatrical exhibition this weekend July 17.

We review the film and play a mini-game attempting to guess the the order and percentages of Christopher Nolan's filmography on Rotten Tomatoes.

For more discussion on The Odyssey, our upcoming shows include:

• The Awards Tape: The Odyssey Awards Assessment
• Read Receipts: The Odyssey (comparing the epic poem to the movie)
• RETRO//RANKED: The Odyssey & Season 8 Announcement (placing the film in our current collaborative ranking list)

Our pre-episode Patreon exclusive conversation features:

• Digger trailer
• Behemoth! trailer
• Ink Opening Venice Film Festival

On this episode:
Danny Jarabek
Joshua Mbonu
Mariana Fabian
Adam Patla

Support the show

Subscribe for Early Access and Video:
The Rolling Tape Patreon

Listen Here:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
All Listening Platforms

Have questions? Email [email protected]

Podcast Website Link
Website & Publications: www.therollingtape.com
Social Platforms on Linktree

Credits:

• Theme music: Eugene Rocco Utley & Karl Vincent
• Artwork: Danny Jarabek
• Editor: Danny Jarabek
• Assistant Producer: Evan Miller

The Summer 2026 Box Office Draft returns. This is our check-in episode. We kicked off the second annual edition of our Summer Box Office Draft back in May around Memorial Day, taking a deep dive into the entire summer release schedule. Each of us made our predictions for the top 10 highest-grossing films of the summer and estimated how much each would earn at the box office.

Today, we're checking in to see how those predictions are holding up. We take a look at the current top 10 based on the films that have already been released, discuss how the rankings could still change with several major releases arriving over the next few weeks, and revisit some of the movies we didn't spend much time on in our original draft. In particular, we talk about a few August releases that could still have the potential to shake up the summer box office.

On this episode:
Evan Miller
Danny Jarabek
Ethan Dayton
Joshua Mbonu
Paul Rai

Support the show

Subscribe for Early Access and Video:
The Rolling Tape Patreon

Listen Here:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
All Listening Platforms

Have questions? Email [email protected]

Podcast Website Link
Website & Publications: www.therollingtape.com
Social Platforms on Linktree

Credits:

• Theme music: Eugene Rocco Utley & Karl Vincent
• Artwork: Danny Jarabek
• Editor: Danny Jarabek
• Assistant Producer: Evan Miller

THE LAST PRE-ODYSSEY EPISODE IS HERE.

Don’t try to understand the ranking you hear on this podcast today. Feel it.

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.

Tenet is the eleventh movie from Christopher Nolan. He served as both writer and director on the project. It was released on September 3, 2020, amid peak COVID times. It was originally slated to release on July 17, but repeatedly got delayed due to theatres being shuttered amid the pandemic.

Oppenheimer is Nolan’s twelfth film. It was released on a day that will be forever remembered as Barbenheimer day, July 21, 2023, amid the strikes of the actors and writers guilds. Nolan wrote the script, which he based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Prometheus.

Enjoy all VIDEO episodes of SEASON 7 one week ahead of their public audio-only release.

Our current collaborative ranking so far:

1. The Dark Knight
2. Interstellar
3. The Prestige
4. Inception
5. Memento
6. Dunkirk
7. The Dark Knight Rises
8. Batman Begins
9. Following
10. Insomnia

On this episode:
Evan Miller
Ethan Simmie
Claire May Lewis

Support the show

Subscribe for Early Access and Video:
The Rolling Tape Patreon

Listen Here:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
All Listening Platforms

Have questions? Email [email protected]

Podcast Website Link
Website & Publications: www.therollingtape.com
Social Platforms on Linktree

Credits:

• Theme music: Eugene Rocco Utley & Karl Vincent
• Artwork: Danny Jarabek
• Editor: Danny Jarabek
• Assistant Producer: Evan Miller