Sonic Cinema

Sounds, Visions and Insights by Brian Skutle

News

Last year, I joined the Atlanta Film Critics Circle. I voted in last year’s awards, and will do so again this year. This year is not just a normal year for the organization, however. Earlier this year, before other publications had done their respective lists of the Best Films of the 21st Century, we had begun to discuss the idea of doing our own. We begin by submitting our personal […]

Categories: News, News - General

Five years ago, I dove into QAnon. I don’t mean that I began looking at 8kun or Qmap for the latest Q drops from the anonymous, alleged “insider” promising mass arrests and “The Great Awakening.” I mean that, a few years after the conspiracy theory began- and after seeing the occasional article about it- I began to really consider the danger it played in our politics. I began listening to […]

Categories: News, News - General

Sonic Cinema Podcast

Earlier this week, the 2026 Atlanta Film Festival wrapped up its 50th iteration with its virtual festival. What was great? What was noteworthy? What was the experience. All will be discussed in this episode, and for the topper, I present an interview with filmmaker Costa Karalis, who made one of my favorite films of the festival, “Frogtown”. I hope you enjoy! Episode 184 – Atlanta Film Festival 2026 Sonic Cinema […]

Categories: News, News - Podcast

As I started to look to 2026, I knew there was still more to cover in this series beyond what we hit upon in the five episodes last year in discussing authoritarianism in cinema. One of the richest genres doing that was science fiction which, coincidentally, is what led to my emphasis on the genre this year. With such a vast subject, there was only one choice to join me […]

Categories: News, News - Podcast

Repertory Revues

To paraphrase one of the film’s I reviewed in this space in 2020, I picked a Hell of a year to stop reviewing older films once a week. It makes all the sense in the world that, in a year where I resolved to review fewer older movies a month than I had under the “A Movie a Week” banner, we would be thrown into a global pandemic that would […]

As we close the 11th year of this series, I’m doing more to write more about movies, and older movies, than ever before. I also have more going on with regards to modern movies than I previous have. That’s why, in this space, I will be closing the “Movie a Week” series, in its current form; between my other reviews, and life, I am unable to maintain the weekly pace […]

Music News

Octobers had a special place in my musical career for a lot of years. Now, I bring that full-circle. The COVID-19 pandemic has been surprisingly robust for me, as I was able to focus a lot on Sonic Cinema even when movie theatres shuttered back in March, and film release schedules became barren. In May, I decided to take advantage of this as a composer. I finally completed recording (in […]

Categories: News, News - Music

Sonic Cinema started out as an idea, primarily, for my musical works, and I would write movie reviews from time to time. Of course, over time, the balance has been reversed, and this site is very much a site for my discussion on film, with an area for the music I’ve written over the years. And you know what? That is perfectly fine. Movies have become my love, and music […]

Categories: News, News - Music