Sonic Cinema

Sounds, Visions and Insights by Brian Skutle

Even though such things are easier to see in hindsight, as I started to ramp up my moviewatching in 1996, I could definitely tell my tastes were getting expanded, and my horizons were broadening. Ironically, it began with a TV channel. To this day, I do not remember the name of the cable channel that […]

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I think Alex Proyas was my first, official “favorite filmmaker.” “The Crow” had a profound impact on me when I finally watched in July of 1994, and I watched it a ridiculous amount of times when it came out on video. Next to the original “Star Wars” trilogy, I think it’s the movie I’ve owned […]

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When The Plaza in downtown Atlanta closed last March with every other movie theatre at the start of the pandemic, I told myself that, if it reopens on the other side, I would finally take in a midnight screening of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”. The everlasting icon of all midnight movies, the film that […]

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There aren’t a lot of movies I have multiple times going to where I remember the circumstances of some of those viewings in theatres. But even before it came out, Roland Emmerich’s “Independence Day” just felt different than anything else that had come out, at the time. I guess blowing up the White House in […]

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Six months into 2021, and one could make the case that moviewatching is getting back to normal. Most of the major movie chains have reopened, markets such as New York and Los Angeles are open for business, and we’ve had at least two films break the hallowed $100 million dollar mark. If it still doesn’t […]

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With the Sonic Cinema Podcast, I’ve strived for it to be more than just me talking about movies and subjects related to movies. In the early years of the podcast, that’s mostly how it was, although I would- occasionally- have friends, and even filmmakers, on, the former to share some of our thoughts on particular […]

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Watching the 2020 awards season move along to its awkward, yet inevitable, climax, it was interesting to see how, after a year of madness and uncertainty in terms of what the movie year would bring, the awards managed to be as polarizing, and predictable, as any other Oscar year. The precursor awards spelled out the […]

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**Before we get to the main post, the Virtual Catalog of this year’s festival has been made available through Sunday, May 9. If you haven’t had the chance to watch any of the wonderful films from the festival, several of them are available there. The link is in the first paragraph below. The last days […]

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In 2019, the middle of my week at the Atlanta Film Festival was interrupted by food poisoning, forcing me to sit out Wednesday and Thursday. Last year, I got to everything I wanted to see, but learned that the movie theatre I had worked at for 19 years was closing permanently. This year, I got […]

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It’s beginning to feel normal again. The week before this year’s Atlanta Film Festival, the Plaza Theatre had two 70mm screenings of “Lawrence of Arabia”. I attended the second screening for my first indoor theatrical experience since September and “Tenet”. It was quite an experience to return to theatres for. And yet, the opening weekend […]

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