Sonic Cinema

Sounds, Visions and Insights by Brian Skutle

There are some pleasant surprises with the nominees for this year’s Georgia Film Critics Association awards, but also some not-so-pleasant snubs. There are still several I haven’t seen, though. Here are the nominees, what won, and my thoughts as a voting member. I hope you enjoy! This was a fairly impressive selection this year. 2023 […]

Categories: News, News - General

The excess of overspending on blockbusters and relying too much on audience goodwill for franchises, and not putting enough creative muscle in stories, finally caught up with Hollywood in 2023. This summer was a reckoning for studios on a number of fronts: first with the studios penny-pinching and disregard of creatives in the form of […]

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In 2003, I had my first meetings with friends David Miles and Brendan Bushman about building Sonic Cinema. A year later, the first reviews went online; the year after that, hosting audio began, and my music and some of the Yahoos With a Microphone commentaries were online. This isn’t the first time I’ve been reflective […]

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“Belief, like fear or love, is a force to be understood as we understand the Theory of Relativity and Principles of Uncertainty: phenomenon that determine the course of our lives. Yesterday, my life was headed in one direction. Today, it is headed in another. Yesterday I believed that I would never have done what I […]

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**This piece was written 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. Hello all. I decided that I wanted to bring this blog back this year. Because I can do my long-form Best, Worst and Favorites lists over […]

Categories: News, News - General

I’ve covered four different film festivals since 2019. I think, when it comes down to how a festival’s programming aligns with my interests as a film critic, and as an individual, the Atlanta Film Festival is the festival that connects with me strongest. In discussing it with one of the programmers a couple of years […]

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The time has come, once again, for the Atlanta Film Festival. Because of personal matters, and just a bog of work and Sonic Cinema responsibilities through the first part of April, I haven’t made a big deal of it, but I cannot wait for year five of the festival, and I’m finally ready to delve […]

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At a typical film festival, there’s only going to be a certain amount of films you can get to. There’s usually multiple venues, there’s showtimes that run parallel to one another, and honestly, if all you do is watch films, I feel like you’re going to drive yourself mad. That is part of why the […]

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One of the things I love about the Renegade Film Festival is that it has the personality and sense of community of DragonCon, but on a much smaller scale. Don’t get me wrong- the cosplay on display every Labor Day is simply stunning, magnified when thousands of people are doing it, but when you are […]

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As a podcast commences, you find yourself bringing some of the same people back time and again. It’s not because the podcast is stalling, but because you enjoy their company, and the discussions you have with them. As a guest, I’m always looking for new opportunities to approach film criticism from a different angle, but […]

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