What did going to the movies sound like back in the “silent film” era? The answer takes us on a strange journey through Vaudeville, roaming Chautauqua lectures, penny arcades, nickelodeons, and grand movie palaces. As our guest In today’s episode, pioneering scholar of film sound, Rick Altman, tells us, the silent era has a lot to teach us about why sound wo ... Show More
Sep 3
Stephen Lee Naish, "Point Break: Movies Minute by Minute" (Bloomsbury, 2026)
Stephen Lee Naish's Point Break: Movies Minute by Minute (Bloomsbury, 2026), in Bloomsbury's Timecodes Series, is a detailed, minute-by-minute critical exploration of Kathryn Bigelow's 1991 action film "Point Break". Moving sequentially through the film's two-hour runtime, the bo ... Show More
46m 40s
Oct 2022
The Booj Strikes Back: Why all modern trailers sound the same
In the 80s and 90s, movie trailers were ruled by “voice-of-God” narrators who used stock phrases like, “In a world…” Today, movie studios have a different trick up their sleeves: epic sound design. In this episode, Professor James Deaville explains the history of trailers, and Yo ... Show More
24m 7s
Oct 2025
Cinema
From flickering silent films to the golden age of Hollywood and the digital blockbusters of the modern day, the history of cinema is a tale of creativity, innovation, and storytelling. Discover how moving pictures came to be, captivated audiences, transformed culture, and became ... Show More
48m 42s
Apr 2022
The Waterphone: Hollywood’s spookiest sound effect
For nearly half a century, one eerie sound has been showing up again and again in movies and TV shows. It’s typically used when something spooky or mysterious happens—and it can be heard in Poltergeist, The Matrix, Let the Right One In, and countless episodes of Unsolved Mysterie ... Show More
24m 10s
Jun 2021
We Went Back to the Movies to See ‘A Quiet Place Part II’! And It Rocked.
Shhhhhhhhhhh. We’re back in movie theaters! After more than 13 months away from our favorite place, we returned to theaters. This is worthy of a celebration. Sean and Amanda talk about the experience, what they expect in the future at theaters, and then dive deep into a movie tha ... Show More
1h 8m