Sonic Cinema Podcast

In this episode, I close my coverage of the Renegade Film Festival this year by sharing my thoughts on the films that played the 2023 festival, several that stood out, and interviews with "Give Me an A" filmmakers Natasha Halevi and Jessica Taylor Galmor, screenwriter Megan Fitzgerald and "Number Twelve" filmmaker Nonie Shiverick.

It's that time of year again when every movie podcast and their brother discusses the Oscars, and who would I be to deprive you of that? Joining me once again is Amanda Spears to discuss the chaos of the 95th Oscar nominations before I wrap things up with my 10 Best films of 2022. I hope you enjoy!

See my yearly retrospective from December here.

There's a lot to set up in this episode- which I try to in the episode- but this is, simply, a discussion with my mother, Victoria Skutle. She was an actress, a lifelong movie fan, and obsessive about the TV shows she loved. This was recorded in December 2018, after I noticed her memory starting to slip, and before we officially heard her dementia diagnosis from doctors. I hope you enjoy- it's as enlightening about me as it is her.

As we've moved through the podcast, and guesting on podcasts, I've realized a lot of what I focus on in terms of these discussions are things and movies that I really want to talk about, and with people I want to talk about them with. We are at that point with a film that is one of my very favorites about the struggle to create. It is Spike Jonze's "Adaptation.", and joining me in the discussion is return guest David Rosen, a composer and the host of the Piecing It Together podcast. I hope you enjoy!

*There are some blips that you'll hear. Zoom was muting me periodically during the record, and so it resulted in a lot of stops in the record. I edited as many out as I could.

**The end music is my original composition, “Creative Beginnings.”

Our guest on this episode was actually on the Sonic Cinema Movie Chat back in 2021, and that discussion is what inspired this one. When a lot of people think about "blind buying" movies, they typically think about buying movies they've never seen. But if you think you're going to get greatness, how much of a blind buy is that? We talked more about that on the chat, but in this episode, I'm joined by Simon Watson of the Extra Features podcast, and we discuss a multitude of subjects before getting to our respective blind buys for this episode, 1972's "The Stepmother" for me, and 2003's "Kung Phooey!" for Simon. I hope you enjoy!

After a slight delay, the "Established Classics" series continues, and begins the 2023 podcast year. As always, I am joined by actor Timothy J. Cox to discuss three terrific classics from Hollywood's Golden Age. This year, we begin with Preston Sturges's 1941 classic, "Sullivan's Travels". Next, we discuss Elia Kazan's Oscar-winning masterpiece, "On the Waterfront" before concluding with Alexander Mackendrick's "Sweet Smell of Success". I hope you enjoy!

Thirty years ago today, my parents, my grandfather and I went to go see Rob Reiner's "A Few Good Men", and an unorthodox Christmas tradition for me was born. I've wanted to talk about the film with other people for a while, and I'm pleased to be joined by Kevin the Critic and Kip Mooney in this discussion on one of my favorite films.

On December 13, it will have been 30 years since my Eagle Scout Court of Honor. Also on December 13, the new documentary, "Boy Scout's Honor," becomes available. The film tells the story of Aaron Averheart, and several other Scouts, who were sexually abused by one of their Scoutmasters, Bill Sheehan, as well as how the organization has kept secret files on pedophiles in BSA, while not doing much to curb the abusers themselves.

In this episode, Brian begins by sharing his own memories of scouting before going into interviews he conducted with the film's director Ash Patiño and Averheart himself. This episode does touch on subjects of child abuse, trauma, and sexual assault.

With the release of his semi-autobiographical film, "The Fabelmans," it's finally time to discuss Steven Spielberg in depth on the podcast. Joining me in a wide-ranging discussion of Spielberg's impact on film, how he means something else to audiences now than he did when he started, as well as our favorite films, is Danielle Solzman from Solzy at the Movies and Darin Lundberg from NostalgiaCast. I hope you enjoy!