Sonic Cinema

Sounds, Visions and Insights by Brian Skutle

News

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 Georgia Film Critics Association Awards Best Picture “American Fiction” “Barbie” “Godzilla Minus One” “The Holdovers” […]

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 multi-month strikes by both the Writer’s Guild and Screen Actors Guild (with more potential strikes […]

Categories: News, News - General

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! Episode 149 – Oscar Thoughts with Amanda Spears & Brian’s Top 10 of 2023 Read Brian’s Retrospective on 2023 here. Read Brian’s Thoughts of the 2023 Georgia Film Critics Association Nominees and Winners here. Thanks for listening, Brian Skutle www.sonic-cinema.com You […]

Categories: News, News - Podcast

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! Episode 148 – Discussing […]

Categories: News, News - Podcast

Repertory Revues

The title, “Repertory Revues,” just fits for this series. In a way, it feels like I’m operating my own, personal repertory series each year. One of the things you realize when you work at a theatre for as long as I have is how little autonomy one has when it comes to scheduling and booking. With new releases, you are beholden to the studio release schedule, and when it comes […]

Sometimes, the best laid plans can go awry. Even when it’s continuing a project you’ve been working on for years. When I choose a “bookend” filmmaker for the year, the expectation I hold for myself is that I will watch one of their films every year after their initial inclusion as a bookend, thereby making their filmography an imperative one for me to go through. This year, if you looked […]

Music News

Every October since 2002, I’ve spent the month delving into horror films. Some years have leaned more into familiar choices that I have come to love over the years, often by virtue of what else I had going on that month. In its earlier incarnations, however, I leaned into films I was not familiar with in the genre, from classic offerings to modern movies I’ve missed. Each year, I find […]

Categories: News, News - Music

When I first scored “The Case” short films for my friend, Chris Dufresne, I had one keyboard synthesizer, and no recording software with which to truly sync picture and music. That meant figuring out the timings for each cue by figuring out where music should be, when it should change, and basically hoping it would work out. It did, and I’m still quite pleased with those musical efforts. “Player, PhD.” […]

Categories: News, News - Music