Sonic Cinema Podcast

In this mini-episode of the podcast, I thought I'd talk briefly about my favorite genre of all-time- science fiction. My history with the genre, why my love has only deepened, and why it's being covered so heavily this year on Sonic Cinema. I hope you enjoy!The end piece is "Weightless Waltz in F," from my 2010 album, "Beyond the Infinite: A Musical Odyssey".Listen to me talk about some of the films mentioned:"2001: A Space Odyssey""Strange Days" (on Female Gaze: The Film Club)"12 Monkeys" (on NostalgiaCast)"Dark City""2050""A.I. Artificial Intelligence"

It is that time of year again- the Oscars. This episode features the things you've come to expect over the years- a category by category breakdown with awards watcher Amanda Spears, followed by my 10 Best Films of the year. I hope you enjoy!My retrospective on 2025 can be read here.Read Brian's Thoughts on the 2025 Atlanta Film Critics Circle Winners here.Read Brian's Thoughts on the 2025 Southeastern Film Critics Association Winners here. Read Brian's Thoughts on the 2025 Georgia Film Critics Association Nominees and Winners here.I also joined the Piecing It Together podcast to discuss the best film scores of 2025 here.

A few months ago, we discussed three films about the press speaking truth to power. What happens when the powerful pervert media for profits? As it enters The Criterion Collection this week, Sidney Lumet's satirical look at television news- 1976's "Network"- feels like a documentary of the times we live in now. Joining me to discuss the legacy of this film is Jason from Binge Movies and The Slashers and Joan Amenn from In Their Own League. I hope you enjoy!

What could be more romantic than two Gen X white guys talking about Alfred Hitchcock's most romantic film before Valentine's Day? I'm sure plenty of things, but this is what you get from the Sonic Cinema Podcast this year. My frequent guest, Phil Fasso, returns for the third time in five months to discuss Cary Grant and Grace Kelly being two of the most drop-dead gorgeous people in movie history in Hitchcock's 1955 light and entertaining caper, "To Catch a Thief". I hope you enjoy!

This is an episode my guest and I have discussed doing for a couple of years, and with the release of a new film with the subject of the episode, it made sense. The topic is Academy Award nominee Rachel McAdams, who has shown herself to be a versatile performer in a variety of films over the years. My guest is fellow critic and podcaster Morgan Roberts, the host of Female Gaze: The Film Club. We focus on the early part of McAdams's career in film with Nick Cassavetes's "The Notebook", Mark Waters's "Mean Girls", Wes Craven's "Red Eye" and Thomas Bezucha's "The Family Stone". I hope you enjoy!

Immediately after recording the first episode of 2026, I went into the editing, because honestly, it's one of my favorite year starter episodes to date. This episode was born out of the fact that my guest, Snarky Faith's Stuart Delony, has a book coming out, and it's subject is a satirical look at the theological idea of the Rapture that has taken ahold in some sects of Evangelical Christianity. It only made sense for us to discuss three cinematic depictions of the Rapture. Join us as we talk about faith, religious escapism, and 1972's "A Thief in the Night", 2000's "Left Behind", and 2013's "Revelation Road: The Beginning of the End". We do have some audio issues at times but it's worth listening for the discussion we have. I hope you enjoy!Check out Stuart's book, The Tribulation Survival Guide: How to Stay Alive When Everything Else is Dead, when it comes out on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. You can order it here.

We've looked at resistance to fascism. The police state. Faith peddlers. And journalists holding power accountable. The first few episodes in this series have looked at serious topics when dealing with encroaching authoritarianism. For the fifth and final episode of the series for 2025, it's time to have a little bit of fun. While cinematic propaganda has been around for pretty much the entirety of the medium's existence, when it comes to American propaganda, there was something about the politics of the 1980s that found its way into a lot of action cinema. Joining me is Phil Fasso, and here we discuss "Rambo: First Blood - Part II" and "Rambo III", "Invasion U.S.A." and "The Sum of All Fears". I hope you enjoy!

When it comes to authoritarian regimes- or those aspiring to be- a free and independent press can be its worst enemy. Fake news, Lugenpresse. "Liberal bias." Those are just some of the ways they can be discredited by leaders with a fetish for dictatorships. In this episode in our "Fascism in Cinema" episode, listen as myself and the Editor in Chief at In Their Own League, Joan Amenn, discuss what a free press means, and why it matters now more than ever. We bring up more films than these, but our discussion focuses on Alan J. Pakula's "All the President's Men", George Clooney's "Good Night, and Good Luck", and Tom McCarthy's "Spotlight". I hope you enjoy!

In part due to the unplanned hiatus during May and June, horror podcast episodes are not on the menu this year. But this episode is close, because H.G. Wells's is one of the most terrifying stories in the annals of science fiction. Much like we did a couple of years ago regarding Dracula, Phil Fasso and I look at Wells's classic through the perspective of some of its most famous iterations. We begin with Orson Welles's infamous radio play version, then go to Byron Haskins's 1953 film, Steven Spielberg's 2005 adaptation, and finally, this year's hideous adaptation. I hope you enjoy!

As you've probably noticed in the past few years, one of the things I've wanted to do is have some discussions on films from my formative years discovering films, and getting deeper into films, that mean a lot to me. This is one that was bound to be a tough one to get a guest for, but as you hear, this conversation ended up being a fascinating, all-encompassing one about every aspect of this film's discussion over the years. We are discussing Mel Gibson's Oscar-winning "Braveheart", which remains meaningful to me, in spite of its maker- and the film's- reputation. Joining me is Carlo from The Movie Loot podcast. I hope you enjoy!

In the latest episode of the Sonic Cinema Podcast, we continue a conversation that began this year at the 2025 Atlanta Film Festival. It's not often that we return to a filmmaker so quickly after meeting them, but the connection I had with filmmaker Kiera Faber was a meaningful one for both of us. I hope you enjoy this continuing meeting of minds with the filmmaker of the short film, "The Garden Sees Fire".You can hear our discussion at the Atlanta Film Festival here.

Because of the lack of the film festival element, it feels as though my annual DragonCon podcast gets shorter and shorter each year. But, it is tradition, and it's also a nice reprieve from the heavier episodes of the year. I hope you enjoy this year's episode!

One of the most exciting things about the idea of discussing Fascism in Cinema is how fluidly the ideas of authoritarianism have been adapted, and sometimes skewered, by filmmakers over the years. In the third episode of this series, we are looking at films that look at matters of faith, and how corrupted they can be by mankind. Since we are discussing religion, it would be wrong to have any other guest but return guest Stuart Delony from Snarky Faith. Listen as we discuss the state of religion in both the US, and the world, through the lens of Carl Theodor Dreyer's "The Passion of Joan of Arc", Monty Python's "Life of Brian", and Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood". I hope you enjoy!You can read my blog outlining my thoughts after the 2024 election here.Stuart wrote about a lot of the ideas we discuss about "There Will Be Blood" on his blog here.Fascism in Cinema SeriesEpisode 162 - Resistance to Fascism in CinemaEpisode 166 - Fascism in Cinema: Copaganda

You'll have to excuse the high-pitched sound during most of the record. It's my first record with my new computer and I'm still working out the kinks. That said, this was quite a discussion to debut it with. In this episode, "Star Wars" returns to the podcast with a discussion about the acclaimed series, "Andor." Joining me is a filmmaker whom I met a few years ago at the Renegade Film Festival, Charles de Lauzirika, whose love for the series made him a natural fit for this discussion.The end piece on this episode is my original piece, "Ahsoka's Theme," from my EP, "Classical Cinema."

It's a couple of months later than I hoped, but my wrap-up episode of the 2025 Atlanta Film Festival is finally here. I explain where the podcast has been the past couple of months, rattle off some of my favorite films of the fest, as well as share interviews with director David Fortune, executive producer Xavier Two Lewis and actor Njema Williams ("Color Book"), writers Omar Epps and 2 Chainz ("Red Clay") and filmmaker Kiera Faber ("The Garden Sees Fire", which I forgot to mention as one of my favorite short films of the festival). I hope you enjoy!

Prior to the 2025 Atlanta Film Festival beginning, I had the chance to watch the lovely short documentary, "At See", and speak to its director- Serena Dykman- about its unusual storytelling approach. I hope you enjoy!

It's interesting how this episode lined up with events around it. My guest and I had been planning for this episode for months, and we happened to have time for it shortly after one of its stars passed away. My guest is a first-timer to the podcast, my dear friend Dawn Echols, and the subject is George P. Costamos's 1993 film, "Tombstone", starring the late Val Kilmer. In addition to thoughts on the film, we also have a meaningful discussion about our friendship. I hope you enjoy!The closing composition is "Ballad for the Beloved Departed", which was performed by Dawn, and is from my 2007 album, Sonic Visions of a New Old West.

As I began to prepare for my recent episode with Jason from Binge Movies on Fascism in Cinema, it occurred to me that this would be a fascinating ongoing series in the next year or two in American history. For the next episode of the series, we are looking at authoritarian violence and the idea of due process in our society, and how it can be reflected in films. Joining me for this episode is Darin Lundberg from NostalgiaCast and Back to Bluey, and listen to us discuss Don Siegel's "Dirty Harry", Paul Michael Glaser's "The Running Man", and Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises". It's a very different discussion, but one worth taking in. I hope you enjoy!

On the next episode of the podcast, I'm joined by a fellow podcaster whom I've only talked to on social media, and will be my first new guest on 2025. The topic of the day is Mary Harron's controversial dark comedy, "American Psycho", which turns 25 this year. The guest is Pete Abeyta, one of the co-hosts of the Middle Class Film Class podcast. I hope you enjoy!