Sonic Cinema Podcast

Everything I've written about the 1996 movie year has come to this- a roundtable presenting of the best films of 1996 with three guests. First is Mathew Timms, who's been on the podcast before. Next up is Chels from the Untitled Cinema Gals Project and Community Rewatch Podcast. Finally we have actress Grace Aki. You are not prepared for the chaos and madness and diversity to come.

Brian welcomes back Phil Fasso to the podcast as we discuss four horror films from 1996 - "The Craft," "The Island of Dr. Moreau," "The Ghost and the Darkness" and "Scream."

One of the seminal works of the 21st century turns 20 this week, with the anniversary of "The Fellowship of the Ring's" theatrical release. To help discuss Peter Jackson's trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien's epic work, I welcome friends Jeff Darden and Eric Sansone, as we discuss our histories with "Lord of the Rings," as well as some thoughts on the films themselves.

Brian sits down with actor-producer Molly Quinn and co-writer and director Mickey Reece to discuss the horror drama, "Agnes," coming out on December 10.

In this episode, Brian is joined by Carlo of The Movie Loot podcast to look into the documentary form, and six films that sometime prove that truth is stranger than fiction. We discuss "Vernon, Florida," "Hoop Dreams," "Bowling for Columbine," "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters," "Grizzly Man" and "Cameraperson."

It's been a few years since I've done a deep dive like this with an interview. Matthew Saliba is back on the podcast, but instead of looking at personal favorites, we're exploring his own work, much of which has just been put online on YouTube. CW/TW There are moments where suicide, bullying and sensitive racial and sexual content are discussed. They are in context of both real-life and movies. Thank you to Matthew for his honesty.

Brian sits down with writer-director Miles Doleac to discuss his new film, "Demigod."

We begin our October of terror with an anniversary discussion. Joining me in P Owen Fasso of Death Ensemble, and we delve into his favorite horror franchise of all-time with "The Omen" Trilogy. In the prep for this podcast, I ended up rewatching the 1976 original the night Richard Donner passed away, and this was my first time watching the "Damien: Omen II" and "Omen III: The Final Conflict." I hope you enjoy!

In this episode, we continue in the "Established Classics" series, as actor Timothy J. Cox and I look at Frank Capra's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard" and Sidney Lumet's "12 Angry Men."

Brian discusses the return of the in-person Dragon*Con on Labor Day weekend 2021.

In this episode, there are some technical issues early on, but when Brian tackles two of the best films of the challenging, polarizing director, Terrence Malick, they're worth sitting through. The films chosen were his 2011 epic of childhood memory, "The Tree of Life", and his 2019 drama about Franz Jagerstatter, "A Hidden Life". Joining me in discussing the visionary humanity of these films is friend Stuart Delony, the host of Snarky Faith. I hope you enjoy our discussion!

I've been wanting to have a discussion on three specific films from Alfred Hitchcock for a while on the podcast, and I think I found one of the ideal guests to join me in the talk in Morgan Roberts from the Untitled Cinema Gals Project. Listen to us discuss the complicated psychology and suspense of Hitchcock's "Rebecca," "Vertigo" and "Marnie."

After a major hiccup the first time we recorded, the second time was a charm. Kip Mooney is a fellow film critic whom I have gotten to know over the years on Twitter, and it was a pleasure to discuss movies, and several different topics, with him for the podcast. You can see some of his work at KipMooney.com. I hope you enjoy!

In this episode, Brian takes you on a musical journey through the Marvel Cinematic Universe, exploring various themes and consistencies- or lack thereof- and pointing to highlights in the franchise.Excerpts of soundtracks and scores from "Iron Man," "The Incredible Hulk," "Thor," "Thor: The Dark World," "Thor: Ragnarok," "Captain America: The First Avenger," "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," "Avengers: Endgame," "Guardians of the Galaxy," "Ant-Man," "Doctor Strange," "Spider-Man: Homecoming," "Black Panther," "Captain Marvel," "WandaVision," "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," "Black Widow" and "Loki" used for educational reference purposes.

As his documentary about Billy Tipton goes into release, I was able to sit down with co-director Chase Joynt to discuss their unique approach to the subject matter of this wonderful documentary.

To go along with my print review of "In the Heights," I'm pleased to be joined by fellow critic Rosa Parra of the Latinx Lens podcast to dig more into the Latino perspective on the film, as well as have a larger discussion on representation. I hope you enjoy!

The parody genre has been around for about five decades, and it's been interesting to see it evolve. Joining me to discuss the topic (which he brought up to me) is Robert Yaniz Jr. from Crooked Table podcasts as we dive into "Blazing Saddles," "Airplane!" and "Scary Movie."

Brian takes a deep dive on the work of Orson Welles with DW Lundberg of the NostalgiaCast podcast as they discuss three of the great director's films- "Citizen Kane," "Othello" and "The Trial."

Brian interviews filmmaker Jessica Ellis about her directorial debut, "What Lies West," which comes to DVD and VOD on May 11, 2021.

Brian recaps his favorite films from the 2021 Atlanta Film Festival, as well as shares interviews with filmmaker Bo McGuire ("Socks on Fire") and ATLFF Assistant Director Cameron McAllister.

Brian interviews filmmaker Christopher Chambers about his new documentary, "A Fire Within," ahead of its premiere at the 2021 Atlanta Film Festival.

Brian interviews filmmaker Jared Callahan, and the two discuss friendship, addiction, and documentary filmmaking in regards to Callahan's terrific film, "Clean Slate."

Brian wraps up the 2020 year (finally) with his thoughts on the Oscar nominees, as well as predictions, and his 10 Best Films of the over 400 he saw for the 2020 year.

Brian sits down with filmmaker Maia Lekow about her film "The Letter," and the extraordinary and disturbing story her and husband Christopher King tell in it.

Brian interviews filmmaker Alexis Gambis about his film, "Son of Monarchs," which is available virtually at the 2021 Atlanta Film Festival.

In the first of what will be a regular series for the Sonic Cinema Podcast, myself and actor Timothy J. Cox look at three films that don't necessarily need to be seen for their greatness to be recognized. That idea will make more sense in the episode as we look at John Ford's "The Grapes of Wrath," Orson Welles's "Citizen Kane" and Michael Curtiz's "Casablanca."

I had the pleasure to talk to Oscar nominee Kris Bowers on "A Concerto is a Conversation," a documentary short which he co-directed, wrote the music to, and features him and his grandfather. Please excuse the audio the first couple of statements; it's worth getting through to hear the interview.

Last year marked the 10th anniversary of the death of the anime master Satoshi Kon. Listen to myself and my friend David Miles discuss his work, and the importance recognizing animators like we do live-action directors.

As the films of Wong Kar-Wai get ready for a massive box set via Criterion Collection, Brian invites filmmaker Christopher DiNunzio back onto the podcast to discuss the director's most famous film, his 2000 romance, "In the Mood for Love."

I welcome Jason from the Binge Movies Podcast to the show, and we have lengthy discussions on discussing cinema in the age of blogging and Twitter, and the nature of B-movies through the context of three films- "Trancers," "Leviathan" and "Popcorn."

Brian recaps his best and favorites from the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Included are interviews with short film directors Julian Doan ("Raspberry") and Gregory Barnes ("The Touch of the Master's Hands").

In this episode, we continue to catch up with the "Class of 1999" series in a discussion of Anthony Minghella's elegant thriller. Joining me for this review is actor Timothy J. Cox.

In this episode, I welcome friend and filmmaker Matthew Saliba back to the podcast to introduce us to the wild, exploitation world of Jess Franco.

There were still a few stragglers left to discuss in 2019's "Class of 1999" series. I begin to pick them back up with filmmaker Jakob Bilinski as we discuss Doug Liman's dark comedy, "Go."

I just really wanted to discuss John Woo's 1997 action classic. Thankfully, filmmaker Jakob Bilinski wanted to, as well, and it was great to be able to gush poetic on this movie with him.

Brian sits down with actress Azura Skye to discuss her career, and what led to the challenging role she thrusts herself into in the psychological drama, "The Swerve."

I'm not doing a full year deep dive on 2000 like I did 1999, but when Death Ensemble's P Fasso asks you to discuss horror movies from such a grab bag of a movie year, you welcome the opportunity, and our discussion runs quite a variety.

Brian sits down with filmmaker Kim A. Snyder to discuss her documentary, "Us Kids."

To discuss the Clive Barker-adapted horror anthology, "Books of Blood," Brian welcomes back to the podcast filmmaker David Spaltro for a look at Barker, anthologies and straight-to-streaming filmmaking.

Brian sits down to talk with filmmaker Anabel Rodriguez Rios to discuss her documentary, "Once Upon a Time in Venezuela," which played at the 2020 Atlanta Film Festival.

Brian sits down with filmmaker K/XI, whom he first met at the Women in Horror Film Festival, to discuss her film, "Black Lake," prior to its screening at the 2020 Salem Horror Fest.

Brian recounts his experience at the 2020 Atlanta Film Festival, discusses his favorite films, as well as shares interviews with Steven Robert Morse ("In the Cold Dark Night") and Carlton Daniel Jr. ("Homegoing").

Brian sits down with filmmaker Joshua Leonard to discuss his comedy, "Fully Realized Humans," which played at the 2020 Atlanta Film Festival.

Brian sits down with filmmaker Nicole Dorsey to discuss her coming-of-age drama, "Black Conflux," which played at the 2020 Atlanta Film Festival.

Brian sits down with actress/writer/producer Sarah Megan Thomas to discuss her WWII thriller, "A Call to Spy."

Brian sits down with writer-director Robert Machoian to discuss his drama, "The Killing of Two Lovers," which screened at the 2020 Atlanta Film Festival.

Brian discusses his best and favorites of the virtual 2020 Fantasia Fest. Includes interviews with the filmmakers of the short, "Don't Text Back!," and the feature-length thriller, "For the Sake of Vicious."

For his final interview of Fantasia Fest 2020, Brian sits down with writer-director Ben Hozie to discuss the latter's erotic drama, "PVT Chat."

Brian interviews the writer-director of the wild sci-fi dark comedy, "Fried Barry," about his film from 2020 Fantasia Fest.

Ahead of his martial arts action-comedy playing Fantasia Fest, I talk to writer-director Bao Tran about "The Paper Tigers," and what he would liken his film to. I hope you enjoy!