SOUNDWAVES CINEMA 1999-2009
After ten years, twenty contributors and 800 reviews, Soundwaves Cinema fades into the sunset.
The first few years were pretty exciting: a bunch of friends bravely storming the internet with our informed, unbridled love of films daring to tell you what we think! Before aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes or an internet filled with ten million blogs, we built a little corner for ourselves. It was never the most sophisticated-looking site. We never had whiz-bangy flash or javascript widgets. Heck, we never even really had a decent search engine!
But we had some amazing writers.
No less than John Stanley himself, the legendary host of Creature Features, who jumped on board early and filed over 140 articles, including reviews and various stories. John is a phenomenal writer (having logged 30 years at the San Francisco Chronicle) who raised the bar early for us and promoted the site in his nationally-released Creature Features Movie Guide.
Stacey Oziel called me one day after tracking down my number and posed the question, “how does somebody become a film critic?” I wasn’t quite sure how to answer the question but I loved her enthusiasm. We chatted for quite some time, met at Borders in San Francisco and she quickly joined the crew. We became great friends, frequently meeting at Borders and going to screenings together. The last movie we saw together was No Country for Old Men before she moved back down to Southern California.
Dale Jay Dennis surprised me by wanting to contribute reviews. We had worked together on various video projects and I had gotten to know his family over the years. He was a touch older than us (he’ll kill me for saying that) and a lot more conservative, opting to cover family films, war flicks and sci-fi/fantasy. And just because I barely agreed with a thing he wrote didn’t mean I didn’t welcome his passion or his contribution. I was never the kind of guy who needed to be part of the choir being preached to. I love a difference of opinions and ideas. That’s how we learn from each other. Dale’s reviews were incredibly detailed and I always saw the film through a different set of eyes, and really, isn’t that what commentary should be about?
Adam Blodgett is a whip-smart, clear-headed guy who came to us when we expanded our roster in 2005. Funny, film-savvy and literate, Adam wrote only about ten reviews but each was deeply involved in the material with a running theme of the superficial versus the thematic, so frequently calling out filmmakers for not having earned their icing with so little cake to be had.
But when it comes to running long, few can jazz-riff on films like Don R. Lewis, a filmmaker and writer who seems to have as unhealthy a preoccupation with cinema as I do. He always seemed surprised when I encouraged him to write longer reviews but some movies absolutely require a lengthy analysis, especially if the product of an auteur with a singular vision. Don gets that, and it will be a blast to work with him again.
Alton Lee also joined the crew in 2005 and wrote long reviews, and like Don, his pieces were deep in research and filled with passion. He even brought his own reviewing criteria, using the movie itself as part of the grade (i.e. “Out of 5 golden tickets, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory finds 2.5 winning bars.”)
Yuri Baranovsky might have only written a few reviews in ‘05, but that’s fine. He’s an incredibly talented writer and filmmaker who publishes a really entertaining blog about his creative exploits at yuribaranovsky.com. Check it out!
Sean Novak is our newest writer and has a keen sense of what makes genre movies tick and an unabashed love for what he does. Very few people “get” the film industry the way he does. It is my hope to work more with him as we move over to the new site.
I would also like to thank Cari Phillips, Dave Schilling, Kristina Schneider, Joe McCaffrey and Steve Willis for their contributions; as well as Jeff Germann and Fred DeLisio for hosting the site for as long as they did.
Finally, Steven Kirk for his years or creativity on this project (hell, he came up with the name for the cinema site, which was an offshoot of SoundwavesTV) writing reviews, commentary, obituaries and mucho graphics work. After a while, the look of the site was all Steve. Those early days were a lot of fun and even as it became more difficult maintaining regular coverage and reviews, Steve was always on board to do whatever was needed to keep the ball rolling. As usual. Thank you, sir.
This was a venture borne out of a love for film and the expression of ideas. Sure, there are a hundred start-ups that did it more efficiently and had slicker-looking websites. But I think we had the better writers, a unique crew with original perspectives and a passion for pop culture and cinema.
That’s why I’m excited about Flick Nation. It’s the new version of this site and I invite all former participants to join the community. Flick Nation is based on a social networking platform, but also aggregates current box office, news, features, trailers and reviews. We have a forum, a place for writers and commentary … but it’s also a blank slate. It can be whatever we want it to be.
Please consider joining us there and continuing this great conversation about movies! But above all else, thank you for your support for the past ten years!
Dennis Willis
CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE ALL-NEW FLICKNATION.NET
The first few years were pretty exciting: a bunch of friends bravely storming the internet with our informed, unbridled love of films daring to tell you what we think! Before aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes or an internet filled with ten million blogs, we built a little corner for ourselves. It was never the most sophisticated-looking site. We never had whiz-bangy flash or javascript widgets. Heck, we never even really had a decent search engine!
But we had some amazing writers.
No less than John Stanley himself, the legendary host of Creature Features, who jumped on board early and filed over 140 articles, including reviews and various stories. John is a phenomenal writer (having logged 30 years at the San Francisco Chronicle) who raised the bar early for us and promoted the site in his nationally-released Creature Features Movie Guide.
Stacey Oziel called me one day after tracking down my number and posed the question, “how does somebody become a film critic?” I wasn’t quite sure how to answer the question but I loved her enthusiasm. We chatted for quite some time, met at Borders in San Francisco and she quickly joined the crew. We became great friends, frequently meeting at Borders and going to screenings together. The last movie we saw together was No Country for Old Men before she moved back down to Southern California.
Dale Jay Dennis surprised me by wanting to contribute reviews. We had worked together on various video projects and I had gotten to know his family over the years. He was a touch older than us (he’ll kill me for saying that) and a lot more conservative, opting to cover family films, war flicks and sci-fi/fantasy. And just because I barely agreed with a thing he wrote didn’t mean I didn’t welcome his passion or his contribution. I was never the kind of guy who needed to be part of the choir being preached to. I love a difference of opinions and ideas. That’s how we learn from each other. Dale’s reviews were incredibly detailed and I always saw the film through a different set of eyes, and really, isn’t that what commentary should be about?
Adam Blodgett is a whip-smart, clear-headed guy who came to us when we expanded our roster in 2005. Funny, film-savvy and literate, Adam wrote only about ten reviews but each was deeply involved in the material with a running theme of the superficial versus the thematic, so frequently calling out filmmakers for not having earned their icing with so little cake to be had.
But when it comes to running long, few can jazz-riff on films like Don R. Lewis, a filmmaker and writer who seems to have as unhealthy a preoccupation with cinema as I do. He always seemed surprised when I encouraged him to write longer reviews but some movies absolutely require a lengthy analysis, especially if the product of an auteur with a singular vision. Don gets that, and it will be a blast to work with him again.
Alton Lee also joined the crew in 2005 and wrote long reviews, and like Don, his pieces were deep in research and filled with passion. He even brought his own reviewing criteria, using the movie itself as part of the grade (i.e. “Out of 5 golden tickets, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory finds 2.5 winning bars.”)
Yuri Baranovsky might have only written a few reviews in ‘05, but that’s fine. He’s an incredibly talented writer and filmmaker who publishes a really entertaining blog about his creative exploits at yuribaranovsky.com. Check it out!
Sean Novak is our newest writer and has a keen sense of what makes genre movies tick and an unabashed love for what he does. Very few people “get” the film industry the way he does. It is my hope to work more with him as we move over to the new site.
I would also like to thank Cari Phillips, Dave Schilling, Kristina Schneider, Joe McCaffrey and Steve Willis for their contributions; as well as Jeff Germann and Fred DeLisio for hosting the site for as long as they did.
Finally, Steven Kirk for his years or creativity on this project (hell, he came up with the name for the cinema site, which was an offshoot of SoundwavesTV) writing reviews, commentary, obituaries and mucho graphics work. After a while, the look of the site was all Steve. Those early days were a lot of fun and even as it became more difficult maintaining regular coverage and reviews, Steve was always on board to do whatever was needed to keep the ball rolling. As usual. Thank you, sir.
This was a venture borne out of a love for film and the expression of ideas. Sure, there are a hundred start-ups that did it more efficiently and had slicker-looking websites. But I think we had the better writers, a unique crew with original perspectives and a passion for pop culture and cinema.
That’s why I’m excited about Flick Nation. It’s the new version of this site and I invite all former participants to join the community. Flick Nation is based on a social networking platform, but also aggregates current box office, news, features, trailers and reviews. We have a forum, a place for writers and commentary … but it’s also a blank slate. It can be whatever we want it to be.
Please consider joining us there and continuing this great conversation about movies! But above all else, thank you for your support for the past ten years!
Dennis Willis
CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE ALL-NEW FLICKNATION.NET
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