Film Utopia

Between 1985 and 2007, a former theatre director named Stuart Gordon embarked on an iconic movie directing career which, in later years, catapulted his filmography to cult status. With the help of producer, Brian Yuzna – himself a H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe enthusiast – he directed the notorious, independently-produced ‘Re-Animator’ in 1985 which led to a three picture deal with the now de...

Steven & Sean discuss their way through the many UK, USA and Australian boutique DVD/Blu-ray/4K UHD disc distributors out there; going A-Z from Arrow to Vinegar Syndrome. We chat about our own collecting habits, our experiences and opinions of each label as well as some of our favourite discs we've owned over the years! Follow us on X Follow us on Instagram Follow us on Facebook

Special features, commentary tracks, cast & crew interviews and other bonus disc content have historically been a real selling point for movie fans. Nowadays, physical media collectors are even hungrier for additional material for their favourite films of yesteryear. On this episode, Steven, Benjamin and Sean recall some of their favourite physical media releases both in terms of additional di...

On the third and final episode of our Denis Villeneuve retospective movie review series, Steven, Benjamin and Sean conclude their journey with a detailed look at Dune (2021) and the recently released Dune Part 2 (2024). Benjamin arrives with a solid knowledge of the Frank Herbert books and a fondness for the David Lynch movie from 1984, Sean is as enamoured with all things sci-fi and high-concept...

With the release of Dune Part Two in theatres now, this is the second episode of our Denis Villeneuve retospective movie review series. In this episode, Steven, Benjamin and Sean continue discussing the Canadian director's filmography, from Arrival (2016) to Blade Runner 2049 (2017). Having not participated in previous coverage of Blade Runner 2049 on our former podcast, Benjamin and Sean take ful...

Steven, Benjamin and Sean begin a detailed retrospective review series on the directorial filmography of French-Canadian filmmaker; Denis Villeneuve.  In this episode, we cover August 32nd on Earth (1998), Maelström (2000), Polytechnique (2009), Incendies (2010), Prisoners (2013), Enemy (2013), and Sicario (2015). Please follow us: Film Utopia on X Film Utopia on Instagram Film Utopia on Facebook

Physical Media is in danger of going extinct, thanks in no small part to streaming. But do we also have an issue with the buyers themselves? Have people become complacent with digital products, and are they aware of what is being sacrificed as a result? In this episode, Steven and Sean rope Benjamin in for a long discussion about their journey with Physical Media Formats in their lives and talk ab...

1989! A year of many team-ups, buddy comedies, underwater sci-fi fiascos, and of course; the summer show-down of the mega blockbuster! What with Batman, Lethal Weapon 2, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, License to Kill, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Back to the Future Part II, Dead Poets Society, Look Who's Talking and Ghostbusters II, the Hollywood machine was in full force this year! Join us as w...

Sadly, the franchise that made Jason Voorhees famous couldn't quite live up to its name; both by losing the 'Friday 13th' moniker of the series, and also not making it to a 13th movie entry! The good news is that not all of the movies at the tail-end of the long running horror series are that bad, so it'd be unfair to title this episode "The Arse-End of Friday the 13th"! On this episode, Steven, B...

We are back for our second instalment of our Friday the 13th saga (Huh? huh? Saga?!) coverage to discuss Friday the 13th Pat V: A New Beginning (1985), Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986), Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988) and Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989). The three of us are pretty shocked by the extreme highs and lows on offer among this selection,...

It's Ben's turn to choose our Halloween special this year, and he has seen fit to inflict the Friday the 13th franchise on us! However, he ended up just as quickly regretting it upon watching the films! Thankfully, Sean and Steven are old hats at this sort of crap; so there is plenty cheerful discussion to be had. So much so, that we have divided this up into three parts! In part 1 we discuss the...

Hi there movie lovers! On this episode, Benjamin nominates award winning, mega-star actor William Bradley Pitt for another 'top 10 performances' discussion. Joining Benjamin is a woefully unprepared Sean and a patience-tested Steven as we discuss a bunch of Pitt's film (and TV) appearances over the years, highlighting each of our personal favourite performances from the man himself. Expect to hear...

Steven, Benjamin and Sean revisit a topic from way back in our first year of the Film Utopia Podcast to bring you another assortment of their go-to guilty pleasure movies. Apparently, there are a lot more embarrassing admissions than we all realised as there’s some right steaming tosh in this episode! Expect cringe, hesitant declarations, and nervous laughter as the trio own up to a fondness for t...

Upon realising the shocking lack of Comedy coverage on The Film Utopia Podcast, Steven, Benjamin and Sean go some way to amend this glaring omission with an epic 160 minute episode about a slew of the films that tickle us the most! The three of us each bring two comedic actor legends to the discussion; Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy, Jim Carrey and Michael Palin, and Gene Wilder and John Candy, and...

Steven, Benjamin and Sean conclude their epic John Carpenter retrospective with a discussion on the legendary filmmaker’s music score work. Having composed music for the majority of his own films, starting with Dark Star (1974), Carpenter has become as recognisable and prolific for his scores as he has his movies. With absolutely iconic title themes from the likes of Assault on Precinct 13 (1976),...

Steven, Benjamin and Sean close out their John Carpenter filmography retrospective with a look at the latter movies of his career and share their disappointment with the rather unfortunate diminishing returns on offer. With much of what made Carpenter’s earlier works awesome to behold now absent, and instead replaced with derivative stories and lacklustre film making, it’s a shame to end our retro...

With the 1980s coming to an end and during the start of the 1990s, John Carpenter’s output makes a few left field turns in terms of quality compared to the tour-de-force of previous years. But the unmistakable and magical vibe of Carpenter’s idiosyncrasies are still very evident among this mixed bag, and there’s plenty for the Film Utopia hosts to unpack and disagree on! In this episode, Steven, B...

Welcome to Part 2 of our John Carpenter retrospective review series! In this episode, we unpack and discuss the movies made during period of Carpenter’s filmography that most consider his absolute peak – and we completely agree! With one film in particular ranking tops among Carpenter’s work for all three of us, and for Sean in particular; his favourite film of all time. In this episode, we discus...

Ahoy there, fellow film fanatics! If you were to ask each of us for a list of our top 5 directors, all three of us would include John Carpenter! So, it doesn’t really matter that he is Sean’s pick for our latest multi-part director retrospective series, as Steven and Benjamin were both more than ready to dive in to a full filmography rewatch and likely would have picked John Carpenter anyway! In P...

*NOTICE* There is a very slight delay between our three hosts' on this episode. Apologies in advance! Steven, Benjamin, and Sean continue their review of Star Trek: Picard Season 3 with delight at just how unfathomably superior it is compared to any other Star Trek output of the last 20 years! With yet more returning fan favourite characters, a finale for the ages and, finally, a send off for the...

With latter Star Trek movies and shows leaving an awful taste in our collective mouths, Steven Benjamin and Sean were ready to leave their beloved franchise behind in the safe bosom of mother nostalgia, never to revisit it again on The Film Utopia Podcast! But with rumours abound of Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard being the return to form we all hoped Season 1 would be, we dust off our tricorders an...

Steven, Benjamin and Sean conclude their epic discussion of Brian De Palma’s filmography as well as ponder why so many legendary filmmakers end their careers with a series of such spectacular duds. On Part 2, we examine The Untouchables (1987), Casualties of War (1989), The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), Raising Cain (1992), Carlito’s Way (1993), Mission Impossible (1996), Snake Eyes (1998), Miss...

As Steven’s director pick this year, the Film Utopia boys dive deep into the directorial filmography of Brian De Palma. With a career spanning 50+ years and encompassing a broad genre palette, from Hitchcock and Italian genre cinema-inspired Suspense, Crime, and Psychological Thriller and Slasher/Horror to Musical, Gangster, Spy/Espionage, Science Fiction and Comedy, De Palma has dipped his toes i...

Steven, Benjamin, and, Sean each recommend 10 films from before the 1980s that float their boat, including plenty of deep cuts and underrated treasures from the Golden era of cinema and into some of the experimental film making of the 60s and 70s. The boys do their best to intentionally avoid the more obvious go-tos from the likes of Hitchcock, Coppola and Spielberg (say no more), so expect some r...

As has become routine, Film Utopia kicks off the new year with another retrospective year of cinema history. It’s Sean’s pick this time and he brings Steven and Benjamin kicking and screaming back into the 90s for a thorough recap of the delights and misfires of 1990! In a year brimming with many first sequels, from Die Hard 2: Die Harder, Predator 2, Young Guns II, and Robocop 2, there are also n...