The Rolling Tape

While it didn’t debut at Fantasia Fest (that honor belongs to SXSW this year), A Safe Distance also played at the Montreal-based festival. An eighty-five-minute thriller, A Safe Distance follows Alex (Bethany Brown) as she goes camping with her long-time partner in the forest of Canada. Shortly into their stay,  Joey (Chris McNally) pops the question to Alex. She says no. And, well, things don’t go as expected after that. 
The Rolling Tape's Ethan Simmie was joined by Director Gloria Mercer and cast members Tandia Mercedes and Bethany Brown to discuss making a film that “is about contemporary relationships, toxic masculinity,” and being in a relationship “where it feels like you are not being true to yourself”.
A Safe Distance has currently has distribution secured for the US and Canada but does not have an official release date.
Follow the film online:
A Safe Distance
Follow our interview host online:
Ethan Simmie
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Credits:
Theme music: Eugene Rocco Utley & Karl Vincent
Artwork: Danny Jarabek
Editor: Danny Jarabek
Assistant Producer: Evan Miller

It's the opening weekend of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but I don't think we can conclusively say it'll be part of this upcoming awards conversation—outside of a potential Best Visual Effects nomination. So instead of focusing on that amid the hundreds of millions of dollars being made by The Odyssey and Spider-Man, there's a much smaller film quietly holding its own at the box office, The Invite, directed by and co-starring Olivia Wilde, alongside Seth Rogen, Edward Norton, and Penélope Cruz.
A24 acquired the film of the Sundance Film Festival for more than $12 million, and it has quietly become one of the studio's biggest success stories of the year. It's now approaching $40 million worldwide, including roughly $20 million domestically and nearly $16 million internationally. Critically, the film has been a standout as well, earning a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, an 82 on Metacritic, and a 4.0 average on Letterboxd.
Its performance is starting to resemble another Sundance acquisition from A24: Past Lives, which went on to earn Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay nominations at the 96th Academy Awards.
So, today we discuss The Invite's Oscar chances, as well as A24's broader awards strategy this year. With a slate that includes Club Kid, Primetime, and The Debut, could the studio once again land multiple Best Picture nominees once again?
We also discuss films like The Invite and Past Lives more broadly—movies that live on the fringe of the Best Picture race and ultimately sneak into the lineup thanks to widespread passion and strong overall support from Academy voters. We rank 17 of our favorite (or not so favorite) fringe Best Picture nominees that fit that mold.
On this episode:
Paul Rai
Danny Jarabek
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Subscribe for Early Access and Video:
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Podcast Website Link
Website & Publications: www.therollingtape.com
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Credits:
Theme music: Eugene Rocco Utley & Karl Vincent
Artwork: Danny Jarabek
Editor: Danny Jarabek
Assistant Producer: Evan Miller

It’s episode 200 of our weekly Monday show, and what better way to celebrate than with the 38th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the fourth film in the MCU Spider-Man film series. It's also National Spider-Man Day which is celebrated annually on August 1st. The date marks the anniversary of the character's first comic book appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15, published in August 1962 by Marvel Comics creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
The film is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, and written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. Tom Holland stars as Peter Parker and Spider-Man, alongside Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Liza Colón-Zayas, Jon Bernthal, Florence Pugh, Tramell Tillman, Marisa Tomei, and Mark Ruffalo.
We review Destin Daniel Cretton’s entry to the Tom Holland era of Spider-Man, discuss recent MCU news out of San Diego Comic-Con, and turn the tables on our weekly mini-game where I’ll be posed with questions and trivia regarding the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Our pre-episode Patreon exclusive conversation features:
The Thomas Crown Affair Trailer
Wicker Trailer
On this episode:
Danny Jarabek
Joshua Mbonu
Adam Patla
Paul Rai
Cameron Ritter
Ethan Simmie 
Support the show
Subscribe for Early Access and Video:
The Rolling Tape Patreon
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Have questions? Email info@therollingtape.com
Podcast Website Link
Website & Publications: www.therollingtape.com
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Credits:
Theme music: Eugene Rocco Utley & Karl Vincent
Artwork: Danny Jarabek
Editor: Danny Jarabek
Assistant Producer: Evan Miller

We celebrate the 20th anniversary of She’s The Man by breaking down the film and “women in sports” movies. We also give some of our favorite recs from the genre and look at the progression of sports films over the past two decades. 
She’s The Man, loosely based on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, stars Amanda Bynes as Viola Hastings, a high school soccer player who disguises herself as her twin brother, Sebastian, to play on the boys' soccer team at a rival boarding school, after her own school cuts the girls' team. The film also stars Channing Tatum and Laura Ramsey.
On this episode:
Sara Ciplickas
Sasha Raquel
Bobbi Miller
Our guest:
Paige Irwin
Support the show
Subscribe for Early Access and Video:
The Rolling Tape Patreon
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Have questions? Email info@therollingtape.com
Podcast Website Link
Website & Publications: www.therollingtape.com
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Credits:
Theme music: Eugene Rocco Utley & Karl Vincent
Artwork: Danny Jarabek
Editor: Danny Jarabek
Assistant Producer: Evan Miller

In a barren post-apocalyptic world with no humans, a barter system of sunflowers for scrap parts, and robots, Zap is very lonely. In his scavenging one day, he finds the broken body of another robot. His curiosity gets the better of him, and he takes this robot home, in hopes of reviving it. As we follow Zap on his journey, the theme of Sunspark remains ever clear: how far are you willing to go to help a complete stranger?
It’s a theme that director Danny Bourque discusses as he joins The Rolling Tape to talk about the new 4K animated short. He divulged his creative process, his excitement for the screening at Fantasia Film Festival 2026, and even some insight into how he created the robot noises. Bourque also discusses his experience as a solo and independent filmmaker. He is a Slamdance Anarchy Award Winner, Regional Student Academy Award Finalist, and has done professional work with Hasbro's Star Wars and Transformers IP. 
Sunspark had its Canadian Premiere at Fantasia on July 18, with a subsequent screening on July 19. 
Follow the interviewee online:
Danny Bourque, IMDB, Website, Instagram 
Follow our interview host online:
Mariana Fabian
Support the show
Subscribe for Early Access and Video:
The Rolling Tape Patreon
Listen Here:
Spotify
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Have questions? Email info@therollingtape.com
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