Sonic Cinema

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 ago, I think what I appreciated the most about this festival is that it has […]

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 into it. As with 2022, I will be doing double duty between work and the […]

The American experiment with Democracy is in a perilous place with the re-election of Donald Trump. Art, and cinema, is inherently political by virtue of the time it was made, as well as the time in which we watch it. In the first episode of what will be a miniseries for the Sonic Cinema Podcast, we begin looking at the ways in which films have portrayed fascism and authoritarianism over […]

Hello readers and listeners! It’s now 2025, and time for a new year on the podcast. To start off the year, we add one more film to the “Class of 1999” series with the sci-fi comedy, “Galaxy Quest”. Joining me in appreciating this film’s warmth, hilarity and adventure is Robert Yaniz Jr. of Crooked Table podcasts and Back to Bluey. I hope you enjoy! I hope you enjoy! “Class of […]

I don’t really write music reviews. I feel it’s a lot easier to watch a movie, and examine all it does right and what it does wrong. How do you do that for music? That said, when my friend and fellow composer Adam Scott Neal– whose website can be viewed through the link on his name- asked me about review his two latest albums of music, I agreed nonetheless, not […]

It’s the day Hitler killed himself. It’s origins date back to pre-Christian times. It’s the day during which the “Night on Bald Mountain” sequence from “Fantasia” supposedly takes place. It was acknowledged in the poem “Faust” by Goethe, whose words were later used in a Cantata by Felix Mendolssohn. Now, “Walpurgisnacht”- which is defined as the evening of April 30-March 1- is the inspiration for a short film I’ve had […]