Highbrow Lowbrow

Welcome to  Highbrow Lowbrow . The show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture.  In this episode dedicated to the films of German director Volker Schlöndorff, Steve discusses  The Ogre , a World War Two drama which was never theatrically released in the US or UK but features one of John Malkovich's finest performances. Dan's choice is  The Ha...

Welcome to  Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this episode dedicated to the work of Nicolas Roeg, we look at two films helmed by one of Britain’s most avant-garde directors. Steve’s pick is  Eureka , a big-budget disaster that nearly destroyed Roeg’s career when it was released. Steve argues that its arty mix of c...

Welcome to  Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this claret-themed episode, Steve watches sorority sisters come to a sticky end in Black Christmas , the film that launched a thousand slasher movies . Just where are those phone calls coming from? Dan's pick sees (the real) Santa brutally dispatch some home invaders u...

Welcome to  Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this special Halloween-themed episode, we look at two films which are guaranteed to send a shiver down your spine. Steve’s pick is Ken Russell’s  The Lair of the White Worm.  Russell’s screenplay mixes Bram Stoker’s final novel with Lambton Worm mythology with devilish...

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this special episode devoted to the pioneering acting career of Olivia de Havilland, we look at two of de Havilland’s standout performances. Dan’s highbrow pick is The Snake Pit , a psychological drama that was both controversial and ground-breaking in its portrayal of...

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this special episode devoted to the work of actor/dancer/writer and director Christopher Walken, we look at two of Walken’s finest performances. Dan’s highbrow pick is  At Close Range , in which Walken’s psychopath gang leader comes undone when his son, played by Sean P...

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this episode, we look at two classic Hammer Horror films. Steve’s pick is The Nanny , a chilling psychological thriller in which Bette Davis plays a babysitter that you won’t be rushing out to hire to look after your kids. Dan’s choice is  The Woman In Black: Angel Of D...

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this special comedy-themed episode, we look at two films which are guaranteed to have you rolling in the aisles. Steve’s pick is Noises Off , an adaptation of Michael Frayn’s play within a play in which everything goes horribly and hilariously wrong! Dan’s choice is The...

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this special episode devoted to the work of Martin Scorsese, we look at two films which have been unjustifiably overlooked in the career of one of the world’s greatest directors. Steve’s pick is The Age of Innocence , in which Daniel Day-Lewis plays a nineteenth-century...

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this special biopic-themed episode, we look at two films which celebrate the highs and lows in the lives of artists. Steve’s pick is Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle , in which Jennifer Jason Leigh plays the titular Dorothy Parker, a gifted but melancholy writer who s...

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow, the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this special episode devoted to the work of Peter Weller, we look at two films which highlight the talents of one of Hollywood's most versatile actors. Steve’s pick is The New Age , in which Peter Weller and Judy Davis play a married yuppie couple who lose all of the...

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this festive special, Steve is off to Montreal to see if Patrick McGoohan and Alexis Kanner are Kings And Desperate Men in a radio station hostage drama on Christmas Eve. Does it deserve regal status, or should it be clapped in irons? Meanwhile, Dan takes cover as Bruce...

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this special Halloween-themed episode, we look at two films with only one thing in common: the capacity to disturb. Steve’s pick is The Rapture , in which a call-centre operator played Mimi Rogers, bored with her dull job and swinging sex life, converts to Christianity...

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this special episode dedicated to the director William Friedkin, who died in August of this year, we look at two lesser-known films from the auteur’s canon. Steve’s pick is Sorcerer , in which a group of desperate men transport unstable dynamite across two hundred miles...

Welcome to  Highbrow Lowbrow . The show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture.  In this episode, the clock is ticking in a countdown to Suspense. Dan's choice is The Andromeda Strain , a techno thriller based on a Michael Crichton novel in which science is the star. Steve takes a look at Juggernaut , in which an all-star cast finds themselves lo...

An unedited video version of our wellbeing episode. Thanks to Chris Simon for the recording.

Welcome to  Highbrow Lowbrow . The show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture.  In this special wellbeing episode, Steve and Dan are joined by University of Liverpool staff member and all-round good guy Chris Simon to discuss three education-themed films which always make us feel happier and that we hope will resonate with students today who need a...

Welcome to  Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture.  In this episode, revenge is a dish best served cinematically as we look at two films where the lead protagonists get mad and then get even. Steve’s choice is The Reckoning , in which Nicol Williamson puts his marriage, career and liberty on the line to find the man who k...

On the next Highbrow Lowbrow, it's all about #revenge....and Steve's dinner.

Welcome to  Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this episode, we look at two films which are both marvels of narrative cinema, and also landmark works in technical innovation. Steve’s choice is John Huston’s twisted melodrama Reflections in a Golden Eye , a film which was originally released in an all-gold colour pa...

Coming up on the next Highbrow Lowbrow ...what was its title again?!

Welcome to  Highbrow Lowbrow, the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this episode, we celebrate the eclectic career of Sir Michael Caine with two lesser-known gems from his body of work. Steve’s pick is The Wilby Conspiracy , in which Caine teams up with Sidney Poitier to fight the racist system of apartheid. Dan’s choice is the black co...

Welcome to  Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this war-movie episode, Steve discusses the WWII North Africa-set film Play Dirty , in which Michael Caine learns that there's no way to fight a clean war. Dan looks into the future of conflict, by looking into the past, in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow . B...

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this action-packed episode, Steve discusses the classic buddy-buddy, chase road movie Midnight Run . A perfect film for a Friday night deadline Dan’s pick is Vantage Point . A time-bending, media-driven, conspiracy thriller which is guaranteed to find the right angle.  ...

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In our first episode of 2023, we shine a light on films which explore the dark side of human nature. Steve's pick is Wait Until Dark , in which three criminals terrorise a blind Audrey Hepburn, only to find themselves outwitted one by one. Dan's choice is Devil , in which...