Sonic Cinema Podcast

It's that time again. Amanda Spears returns to discuss the Oscars and help predict the winners. I also share my 10 Best list for 2023. I hope you enjoy!

In the first episode of the podcast in 2024, I bring back Phil Fasso to discuss an actor he has always loved, Joseph Cotten. As we went through George Cukor's "Gaslight", Carol Reed's "The Third Man" and Alfred Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt", we get an idea of his full range as an actor, and wonder further why he feels so underrated. I hope you enjoy!

To wrap up the 2023 season of the podcast, I'm pleased to bring a different type of guest for a different type of discussion. The subjects are the 1975 and 2004 adaptations of Ira Levin's The Stepford Wives. The guest bringing the discussion to the podcast is Ella Dawson , a culture critic, blogger and author whom I wanted to have on to get her ideas on the ways movies bring relationship issues to...

The last few months have been rough in terms of getting podcasts recorded- you'll notice that November had no episodes released. The truth is, with my new work schedule, as well as my review schedule, it's hard to watch stuff for the podcast as well. But I hope to get back in the habit for 2024. That said, for now, I've got a couple of great episodes to finish up on. We're starting with a long-in-...

To close my October, I am so pleased to share this discussion. World cinema is important to look at as a way of exploring the breadth of cinema. Vietnamese cinema is something I have not really delved into...until now. My guest is Nguyen Le , a Vietnamese critic who can be found at various places, and hopes to bring more recognition to his home country's films. For this episode, we talk about the...

As we begin our month of horror at the podcast, frequent guest Phil Fasso and I decided to take a different perspective on the genre. Inspired by two big swings at bringing Dracula to the screen, our discussion today centers on the history of Bram Stoker's Prince of Darkness onscreen, and why the iconic ones stand out to us. The piece at the end of the episode is "The Dreadful Tick of Time," from...

With so many unknown films right now, what does it mean to have Oscar buzz? Do any films actually have Oscar buzz? In a bit of a change from what I was planning, and what we typically do when it comes to the Oscars, I bring back Amanda Spears to talk about Barbenheimer, filmmakers making movies for Oscar consideration, "Dune" delay theories and what could- or could not- get nominated. It's a wild...

It's after Labor Day, so you know what that means? Time for me to recount my annual trip to Dragon*Con, the genre convention that takes place in Atlanta. Because of the SAG-AFTRA strike, things were a bit different, but I loved the weekend down there all the same. I hope you enjoy!

I wouldn't say that I love David Fincher as a filmmaker, but the films of his I love, I really love. Of those films, few have my affection more than his 1997 thriller, "The Game" . This is one of those movies I've wanted to discuss for a while- and I missed it for its 25th anniversary- but with Fincher having a new film coming out later this year, the time seemed right to finally talk about this f...

This is another episode I've been looking forward to for a year or so. John Frankenheimer is one of the greatest filmmakers of all-time, but also someone who doesn't get their due respect. In the 1960s he directed a trilogy of thrillers that delve into the anxieties of a changing political and societal landscape, and in preparing for this episode, they all continue to exert a hold now, and feel ve...

Last year, it appeared that the greatest film composer of all-time, John Williams, might be retiring after "The Fabelmans" and "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny." Now, we are not sure, but it's still a great time to honor the maestro whose music has led so many people to listening to film music. In this episode, I'm joined by Darin Lundberg from NostalgiaCast , Dr. Becky O'Brien , Danielle So...

**This podcast was recorded during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movies being covered here wouldn't exist. Film preservation is vital to keeping film alive, and right now, we are at a perilous moment for the practice. Today's guest was on in 2022 as he launched a new streaming site for showing classic films as a part of Fil...

After an episode record required being rescheduled, Brian takes time to reflect on the podcast, where it's been, and where it's going, as well as share some meaningful film experiences from the past few years.

This ended up being a much deeper discussion than intended, but it is one worth listening to. Sexploitation cinema can mean selling sex for a number of reasons, and in my talk with Jason from Binge Movies , we run the gamut in terms of three of those reasons. Listen to us discuss the state of film criticism before diving into "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls", "Emmanuelle" and "The Blue Lagoon," an...

After a brief break, the Sonic Cinema Podcast returns, and with a guest that has been away for far too long. This time, independent filmmaker Chris Esper returns, and the subject is one of the godfathers of the American independent film movement as we know it, John Cassavetes. All of these were blind spots for both of us, as we discuss "Shadows," "Faces," "A Woman Under the Influence," as well as...

The Atlanta Film Festival for 2023 has come to a close. In this episode, I discuss the experience of the festival, some of my favorite films of the fest, and share my interviews with George R.R. Martin and Vincent D'Onofrio on the red carpet for "Night of the Cooters." I hope you enjoy!

One of my favorite films of the 2023 Atlanta Film Festival was the meditative sci-fi film, "Red Earth" . On the night of its premiere, I had the chance to discuss it with director Georg Koszulinski, cinematographer Kate E. Hinshaw and producer Tiffany Albright, and it was great to discuss this complex film with them.

One of the great things about the interviews I did at the 2023 Atlanta Film Festival was that they feel more like conversations than just basic Q&As. This one, with Georgia filmmaker Brian Lonano, is no different. In addition to his short film, "Content: The Lo-Fi Man," we discuss content vs. film, inspiration, film scores and the value of film festival. I hope you enjoy!

One of my early favorites from the 2023 Atlanta Film Festival came from watch Geoff Marslett's "Quantum Cowboys" ahead of the festival. As a result, I was able to set up some time prior to the film's screening at the festival to talk with the director and one of his producers, Melodie Sisk, about the film, and it was a great, expansive discussion. I hope you enjoy! Continuing with the Western moti...

Darren Aronofsky has been a bold, and polarizing, filmmaker since he first hit the scene with 1998's "Pi." In this episode, I am joined by filmmaker K/XI as we explored Aronofsky's films, with a particular focus on "The Fountain," "mother!" and "The Whale." I hope you enjoy!

We're not quite done with our Oscar discussion for this year, but in this episode, it ties into the past, and one of the great stars of Hollywood's Golden Age. Barbara Stanwyck is an actor I've been familiar with by name, but not as much by her work. When my guest- film critic Matthew St. Clair- suggested this topic, however, I got excited in being able to rectify that. Listen as we discuss Stanwy...

In this episode, I close my coverage of the Renegade Film Festival this year by sharing my thoughts on the films that played the 2023 festival, several that stood out, and interviews with "Give Me an A" filmmakers Natasha Halevi and Jessica Taylor Galmor, screenwriter Megan Fitzgerald and "Number Twelve" filmmaker Nonie Shiverick.

It's that time of year again when every movie podcast and their brother discusses the Oscars, and who would I be to deprive you of that? Joining me once again is Amanda Spears to discuss the chaos of the 95th Oscar nominations before I wrap things up with my 10 Best films of 2022. I hope you enjoy! See my yearly retrospective from December here .

There's a lot to set up in this episode- which I try to in the episode- but this is, simply, a discussion with my mother, Victoria Skutle. She was an actress, a lifelong movie fan, and obsessive about the TV shows she loved. This was recorded in December 2018, after I noticed her memory starting to slip, and before we officially heard her dementia diagnosis from doctors. I hope you enjoy- it's as...

As we've moved through the podcast, and guesting on podcasts, I've realized a lot of what I focus on in terms of these discussions are things and movies that I really want to talk about, and with people I want to talk about them with. We are at that point with a film that is one of my very favorites about the struggle to create. It is Spike Jonze's "Adaptation." , and joining me in the discussion...