Film Utopia

Steven, Benjamin, and Sean have a very relaxed chat about the year’s cinema releases and reveal their opinions on the good, the bad, and the atrocious that 2022 had to offer. From the return of ‘classic era Cronenberg’ with Crimes of the Future, and ‘that is how you do a requel’ Hellraiser, to the disappointment of Lightyear, and the downright appalling Thor: God of Thunder and Moonfall.

Film Utopia cranks up the volume and slips on a pair of mirrored aviators for a full-throttle dive into the filmography of composer Harold Faltermeyer, the man who made the ‘80s sound like, well… the ‘80s. From the neon-tinged hum of Fletch to the icy pulse of Tango & Cash, the bombast of Axel F and Top Gun Anthem to the next-level cheese of Running Man’s Captain Freedom’s Workout, we celebrat...

Love him or hate him, Tom Cruise is often referred to as the last, true, Hollywood movie star, and he has the career, the charisma, the chops, and the scandals to prove it. But among his impressive body of work, which roles standout for us at Film Utopia? Join Steven and Sean as they divulge their top 10 favourite Tom Cruise performances and discuss why these roles and films stand out. Stay till t...

Happy Halloween everybody! With Halloween Ends, the final part of David Gordon Green’s new Halloween trilogy, out in cinemas now, we thought we would reflect on the entire movie series for this special retrospective episode. Steven Benjamin, and Sean deliberate all 13 movies in the long-running series, starting with John Carpenter’s genre defining slasher, Halloween (1978). From the multiple direc...

If anyone said “save the best till last” to any of us here on the show, you would be met with wild, howling laughter. It’s Steven Segal time, and Sean definitely wanted no part of this! He broke bones, broke box offices, and eventually just broke reality. We cover the rise and bewildering evolution of Steven Seagal. From aikido icon in Above the Law and Under Siege to direct-to-video mystic who fi...

High kicks, slow splits, and a surprisingly soulful streak, Steven and Benjamin trace JCVD’s journey from Bloodsport bravado to meta meltdown. Expect talk of spin kicks, slow-mo tears, some surprising acting chops, and the philosophical musings of cinema’s most flexible action poet. We chart the early fighting cult classics such as Bloodsport, Kickboxer and Lionheart (aka A.W.O.L). There is the br...

With a master’s degree in chemical engineering and a PhD in looking good while exploding things, Lundgren brought intellect to ultra-violence. From Rocky IV to Universal Soldier, The Punisher to Men of War, Steven and Benjamin celebrate the blond enigma who made stoicism stylish and PhDs dangerous.

Where denim met destruction. We dive into the low-budget, high-body-count world of Chuck Norris and his Cannon Films heyday; a glorious blur of slow kicks, faster bullets, and scripts written on the way to set. It’s America’s beardiest one-man army in full form. According to legend, Death himself once had a near-Chuck experience. We don’t know about that, but we do know that on a series covering 8...

Steven, Benjamin, and Sean conclude their deep-dive on the action movie career of Sly Stallone by discussing his post 1997 output, an era defined heavily by reinvention and re-imagining. From comeback king in Rocky Balboa to team player in The Expendables and everything in between. Explosions get bigger, hair gets smaller, and dialogue… well, still mostly shouted. A study in never knowing when to...

The Film Utopia 80s Action star summer projects continues exploding forwards in a hail of bullets and sweat as Steven, Benjamin, and Sean talk opinion their way through the incredible career of Sylvester Stallone! If Schwarzenegger was the king of action, then Stallone must be the godfather of it. From underdog to overachiever, we follow Stallone’s first act of the Rocky triumphs, the Rambo trauma...

What would a retrospective series on 80s Action stars be without Mr. Olympia himself? Lacking, is what! Steven, Benjamin, and Sean are delighted to discuss the action career of the one and only Arnold Schwarzenegger. Bodybuilder, cyborg, governor, and somehow the most quotable man of the 1980s. We dive into Arnie’s cinematic conquest, from Conan to Terminator, Predator to Commando, charting the ri...

Welcome to our 2022 summer special retrospective series! This year we’re doing an 8-part extravaganza on 80s action stars, starting with everyone’s favourite filthy vest; Bruce Willis! From wisecracking cop to reluctant planet-saver, we trace Bruce Willis’s journey from Moonlighting charm to Die Hard mayhem and beyond. Explosions, vests, hangovers, and that smirk that could defuse (or start) a bom...

It’s director time again on Film Utopia! This time, Benjamin drags Steven and Sean into the gloriously sleazy, shockingly intelligent world of Dutch provocateur Paul Verhoeven – a filmmaker who turned blood, boobs, and biting satire into an art form. From his early Netherlands experiments of Turkish Delight, Soldier of Orange, and Spetters to his explosive Hollywood run with Robocop, Total Recall,...

Steven, Benjamin, and Sean dive head-first into the bargain bin of cinema history to discuss bad sequels – think of it as a sequel to our recent ‘Belated Sequels’ episode. The cash-grabs, the disappointments, the shit nobody asked for, and the franchise entries that actively vandalised what came before. From Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions to Jaws 3, Highlander II, Men in Black II, Sin City 2 (not eve...

Steven, Benjamin, and Sean drift into the shimmering electronic dreamscape of Vangelis, diving deep into the legendary composer’s filmography from Chariots of Fire to the thunderous majesty of 1492: Conquest of Paradise, the criminally overlooked Missing and Antarctica, and of course, the towering, neon-drenched titan that is Blade Runner. While Benjamin and Sean flex their musical know-how, gleef...

Steven, Benjamin, and Sean take a nostalgic-yet-critical trek through the world of belated sequels; those unexpected franchise revivals that arrived decades late but somehow absolutely slapped. We celebrate late-in-the-game triumphs like Rocky Balboa, the powerhouse resurgence of Creed, the gloriously unhinged carnage of Rambo IV, and the chrome-sprayed miracle that is Mad Max: Fury Road. We also...

Steven, Benjamin, and Sean hop in the cinematic time machine once again, this time to revisit 1988. A year of genre-bending gems, blockbuster oddities, and VHS-era schlock. We share what we saw in the cinemas at the time, what’s aged like a fine wine, and what’s curdled into something best left in the bargain bin. From the political punch of They Live! To the pinstripe cheese of Cocktail, via Red...

It’s film composer retrospective time again! This time, Sean leads Steven and Benjamin into the brooding, hypnotic world of Clint Mansell; one of his favourite composers and one of modern cinema’s most distinctive musical voices. We trace Mansell’s journey from the chaotic brilliance of Pop Will Eat Itself to his evolution into a master of bleak minimalism, tension-heavy soundscapes, and emotional...

On this episode, The Film Utopia lads burst into spontaneous song (metaphorically… mostly) for an entirely off-the-cuff romp through the world of musicals, from the 1920s all the way up to the present. We revisit the Musicals we grew up with, the ones we adore, and the ones we’d happily yeet into the orchestra pit. From Disney classics to Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Fiddler on the Roof, Chitty Chitt...

Sean’s director pick for this retrospective leads the FU trio through the shadowy, creature-cluttered corridors of Guillermo del Toro’s filmography, covering everything the Mexican film-maker has produced up to The Shape of Water. It’s a journey of fairy tales, clockwork horrors, comic-book demons… and some very divided opinions. There’s unanimous love for Hellboy and the gloriously kinetic Blade...

The Film Utopia complete Star Trek retrospective draws to a close with a look at Star Trek Picard; the legacy sequel, or follow on, to the events of the TNG era of Star Trek. While we applaud the franchise finally moving forward in time rather than endlessly destroying historical and beloved canon, unfortunately, the praise ends there. With terrible writing, awkward fan service, a fetch-quest plot...

The Film Utopia Trekathon brings Steven, Benjamin, and Sean into unprotected contact with Alex Kurtzman’s ‘ST:D’.

Steven, Benjamin, and Sean take the 70s Animated Star Trek series for a re-spin before checking out the newly produced Lower Decks. There’s also time for a cheeky pit stop, randomly, into Futurama… we assure you, there’s a point.

Film Utopia go boldly back to a time before Kirk and revisit the short-lived series Star Trek: Enterprise. Sean is once again the torch carrier for this underappreciated series and is happy to report on just how well it has aged in the interim. Meanwhile, Benjamin is largely new to the series and pleasantly surprised by its better moments (Seasons 3 and 4), while Steven has had his fill of Trek an...

Steven, Benjamin, and Sean get stranded in the Delta Quadrant and plot their 70,000 light year journey though the ups and downs of the second spin-off series in the next generation era; Star Trek: Voyager. For Sean, it’s a frustrating combination of some of the best of Trek along with some of the worst, for Steven it’s largely garbage, and for Benjamin it’s an improvement over DS9, but not a patch...