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 […]
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 about the growth of Sonic Cinema. As with the last time I wrote about Sonic […]
Earlier this month, the 2024 Atlanta Film Festival came to a close. Today, my coverage of it does, as I discuss some of the experiences I had, the thoughts on modern politics some films inspired, as well as name check my favorites of the festival. Also included are red carpet interviews with director Michael Showalter and cinematographer Jim Frohna (“The Idea of You”), director Tyson Horne (“The South Got Something […]
In July 1994, my moviewatching trajectory was changed forever when I finally watched Alex Proyas’s “The Crow”. The film had already become a cult hit, and had been on my radar, but it wasn’t until I saw it for myself that I just came out of the theatre different. As it turns 30, it is time to finally have a discussion of the film, and its legacy, on the Sonic […]
With Spike Lee’s great biopic, I finish up my fifth year of “A Movie a Week” reviews, and it’s been quite a year. I’ve been behind most of the year, as life has been busy for me. Very busy. On the one hand, I started a great relationship with a wonderful woman at the start of the year. On the other hand, my father passed away in October, making for […]
This year has been a challenging one. My schedule, both at home, and at work, changed in a lot of ways, sometimes making watching films for this series (and in general) difficult. I was behind much of the time. Yet, I persevered, mainly because I just enjoy doing this series too much. This year, I decided to do a couple of things different, first in my selection of filmmaker, then […]
Since I last wrote in this section back in June of last year, a LOT has happened. Not necessarily from a musical standpoint, but in life. The most significant change in my life over the past nine months was the passing of my father, Mark, after a year and a half of heart trouble. That put my plans for my October composing practice, which included releasing an album’s worth of […]
It feels like I’ve had a busy year thus far musically, but the truth of the matter is, I really haven’t had much I’ve done. That’s not really true, of course, as I released two long-awaited albums: “Storytelling” and “Arpeggiations & Atmospheres”, both of which had been completed in 2011. The reasons for their delay? Cover art for “Storytelling” (WELL worth the wait from my dear friend, Carrie Stribling), and […]
Sonic Cinema Quick Thoughts
