Film Utopia

Hellraiser Part 2

We’re back for Part 2 of our Halloween Hellraiser Special! On this episode, Steven, Benjamin and Sean unpack the remaining movies in the Hellraiser series, including Rick Bota’s Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2002), Hellraiser: Deader (2005) and Hellraiser: Hellworld (2005), followed by Victor Garcia’s Hellraiser: Revelations (2011), Gary J. Tunnicliffe’s Hellraiser: Judgement, and finally David Bruckner’s reboot, Hellraiser (2022) before we each give our rankings to the series’ entries.

So, strap in and enjoy! Hopefully, your suffering won’t be legendary, even in hell!

Hellraiser Part 1

Happy Halloween!

Continuing with our usual horror franchise "Halloween Special" format, this year Sean has picked the long running Hellraiser series for us to have a good old yarn over, across two episodes! Starting with the original 1987 movie based on The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker and directed by the man himself, the film series has developed over the years into all manor of miss-fires and return to forms alike! In part one we're discussing Hellraiser (1987), Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth (1992), Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996) and Hellraiser V: Inferno (2000) and seeing which are hit or miss for the three of us! Enjoy! x

Kathryn Bigelow Part 2

We're back for part 2 of our Kathryn Bigelow theatrical retrospective! Things get a little heated on this episode with divided opinions between Steven, Benjamin and Sean as we discuss a more drama-focused and historically themed selection of movies from our beloved Bigelow, including; The Weight of Water (2000), K-19: The Widowmaker (2002), The Hurt Locker (2008), Zero Dark Thirty (2012) and Detroit (2017).

Kathryn Bigelow Part 1

It's Steven's choice for our latest director deep-dive and this time he has picked Kathryn Bigelow!

With numerous accolades to her name, a filmography that runs the gamut from iconic cult horror to Oscar winning war drama, and one of the finest action directors of a generation, Bigelow has long been a high ranking filmmaker for the three of us at Film Utopia.

We have split her 10 theatrical releases neatly across two episodes starting here with part one, covering; The Loveless (1981), Near Dark (1987), Blue Steel (1990), Point Break (1991) and Strange Days (1995). Join us as we explore this eclectic mix of movies, many of which have significant nostalgia appeal to the three of us. Enjoy!

Sc-Fi Part 7 - All Them Punks

Steven, Benjamin and Sean conclude their look at science fiction subgenres with an examination of the bizarre fascination with placing the noun ‘punk’ after various technological descriptors to create a subgenre within a subgenre for seemingly no other reason than superficial aesthetics. While Sean and Benjamin can barely contain their disdain for this labelling trend, Steven valiantly attempts to keep things on track as we talk our way through the subgenre in cinema, including Johnny Mnemonic (1995), The Matrix (1999), Mortal Engines (2018), Treasure Planet (2002), eXistenZ (1999), The City of Lost Children (1995), Upgrade (2018), Blade Runner (1982) and many more. Fun fact; Star Trek doesn’t get mentioned for the first and only time in this entire series!

Alien: Romulus movie review

For the second time this year, the Film Utopia Podcast breaks from its traditional show format of legacy movie coverage to discuss Alien: Romulus, the latest film in the long-running Alien franchise. Hot on the heels of an impressive opening weekend, the Fede Alvarez helmed entry is certainly making waves; both financially and critically. But opinions seem to be divided; and they certainly are among us! Also! To go along with this special episode, we have a special guest joining: Film industry practical effects artist and life-long Alien fan Max Payn, of Oracle FX, is on board the FU ship to share his tuppence on whether Romulus lands, or burns up on re-entry! Hit or miss? Listen and find out!

Sci-Fi Part 6 - Alien Contact

On the penultimate episode of our science fiction subgenres series, we discuss all things alien invasion, contact with other worlds and alien abduction stories in movies; including some literary influences to the world of cinema. Join us as we talk our way through the early days of the genre in the 1950s and 1960s with the likes of The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) Invaders From Mars (1953) right through the ‘70s and ‘80s with Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and E.T. (1982) and into the 90s and beyond when the genre was massively revitalised with Independence Day (1996).

Sci-Fi Part 5 - Utopia/Dystopia

For part 5 of our Science Fiction Subgenres Series, Steven, Benjamin & Sean dive into the world of oppressive societies, shady governments and brutalist aesthetics with Dystopian set movies. We're calling it Utopia/Dystopia, though, despite struggling to identify a Utopia set narrative that isn't a dystopia in disguise! Join us as we talk all things Orwellian, from Gattaca (1997), to
Idiocracy (2006), 1984 (1984), Logan's Run (1976), A Clockwork Orange (1971), Equilibrium (2002) and more!

Sci-Fi Part 4 - Science Out Of Control

In part 4 of our Science Fiction sub-genres series, Steven Benjamin and Sean tackle the topic of "science out of control", or "machine over man", or "we've created something, and now it's going to kill us all"! Join us as we discuss our way through the tropes of the sub-genre and touch base with a wide variety of movies such as The Matrix, Fantastic Voyage, Upgrade, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Surrogates, Splice, The Fly and, of course, Star Trek!

Sci-Fi Part 3 - Space Opera

In Part 3 of our Sci-fi sub-Genres in Film series, The FU trio dive into Space Opera – and spend much of the discussion debating precisely what defines the term, and what constitutes a Space Opera in the first place! From influential sci-fi authors of the 1940s, 50s 60s and 70s such as Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke and Philip K Dick, to the serials and comic strips of the 1930s such as Flash Gordon, right through to modern motion picture epics and the revival of the genre – of sorts – in 90s television! Expect the usual suspects of Star Wars and Star Trek, but also a few nods to other noteworthy examples along the way!

ARCHIVE EPISODE: The Mad Max Franchise (1979-2015)

Archive Episode!

Originally recorded and published in 2015 for our old podcast, Filmwerk. Please excuse our less-than-stellar audio quality and editing efforts back then!

Ahead of Mad Max: Fury Road, Steven, Benjamin & Sean dig deep into the George Miller created Mad Max movie franchise! From the trailblazing 1979 original, to the seminal sequel, Mad Max 2 (1981) – or “The Road Warrior” in the USA – and the 1985 follow-up ‘Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome’. Also included is our review of Mad Max: Fury Road, recorded fresh upon release in May 2015. There's laughs, love and hate to be had as well as some pretty spicy language throughout – even more so back then than now!

Chapters included for supported platforms!

Follow us on X

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on Facebook

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga movie review

At the time of preparing our latest Sci-fi Subgenres episode, ‘Post Apocalypse’, George Miller released his recent Mad Max spin-off; Furiosa. As we’re all big Miller and Mad Max fans here and also, as Furiosa is topical to our last main show episode, Benjamin & Steven decided to have a chat and share their ever-so-slightly divided reaction to the Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth starring movie! Sean sits this one out as at the time of recording he hadn’t yet seen the film!

Follow us on X

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on Facebook

Sci-Fi Part 2 - Post Apocalypse

Steven, Benjamin & Sean continue their exploration of the many Science Fiction sub-genres with a discussion about Post Apocalyptic set movies – and have plenty of debate over what constitutes a Post Apocalypse Movie in the first place! From ‘Mad Max’ to ‘Children of Men’, with pit stops at ‘Akira’, ‘Wall-E’, ‘Waterworld’, the multiple ‘The Road Warrior’ clones of the 1980s and many more in between!

Follow us on X

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on Facebook

Sci-Fi Part 1 - Time Travel

Science Fiction! The Film Utopia Podcast summer project gets rolling with a wide look at the sub-genre of Time Travel in movies, from time machines to time loops, paradoxes to alternative histories. Steven, Benjamin & Sean talk about some of their favourite time travel movies, as well as the ins and outs of time travel as a story telling device and macguffin, including Primer (2004), 12 Monkeys (1995), The Edge of Tomorrow (2014), Timecrimes (2007), Predestination (2014), The Terminator (1984), Back to the Future (1985) and many more!

Follow us on X

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on Facebook

Stuart Gordon Part 2

Steven, Benjamin & Sean conclude their deep dive of iconic cult movie director Stuart Gordon with a thorough chin-wag about his latter filmography, from Castle Freak (1995) to Stuck (2007). The FU trio discover some hidden gems among these lesser known films and find themselves with differing opinions on others!

Follow us on X

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on Facebook

Stuart Gordon Part 1

Between 1985 and 2007, 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 defunct Empire Pictures International, resulting in From Beyond (1986), Dolls (1987) and Robot Jox (1990) – all becoming cult faves both at the time and in later years.

In part one of our Stuart Gordon retrospective review series, Steven, Benjamin and Sean – resident Gordon fanatic - share their *slightly* divided opinion on these early films, as well as The Pit and the Pendulum (1991) and Fortress (1992, or 1994 if you live in the UK like us!)

Follow us on X

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on Facebook

Boutique Disc Labels

Steven & Sean discuss their way through the many UK, USA and Australian boutique disc label companies out there; from Arrow to Vinegar Syndrome. We chat about our own collecting habits as well as 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

Disc Special Features

Special features, commentary tracks, cast & crew interviews and other bonus disc content have historically been a real selling point for movie fans and 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 disc material as well as overall presentation and visual/audio quality.

Follow us on X

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on Facebook

Denis Villeneuve Part 3

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 as usual, and Steven isn't quite sure what all the fuss is about!

Stay tuned till the end where we summarize our thoughts on Villeneuve's movies and give our rankings for the entire filmography, where we all agree on at least one film. No prizes for guessing which one!

Follow us on X

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on Facebook

Denis Villeneuve Part 2

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 full advantage of the fact and hijack almost three quarters of this episode's runtime to wax lyrical about Villeneuve's 2017 follow up to Ridley Scott's 1982 masterpiece, Blade Runner. Much to Steven's chagrin!

Follow us on X

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on Facebook

Denis Villeneuve Part 1

With the release of Dune Part Two in theatres now, this is the first episode of our retrospective review series of the directorial work of Denis Villeneuve. As we are going in chronological order, this episode covers all of his early work starting with August 32nd on Earth from 1998, right up to Sicario from 2015.

Steven, Benjamin and Sean are all happily along for the ride as we are now launching into our third season of podcasting, our second as Film Utopia, on our new podcast hosting home!

Please follow us:

Film Utopia on X

Film Utopia on Instagram

Film Utopia on Facebook

Physical Media Formats

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 about their experiences as consumers of multiple mediums, from Betamax and VHS all the way through to UHD 4K.

1989 in Film

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 we discuss the highs and lows of 1989 in cinema, where we were, what we saw, what we loved and what we loathed!

Friday the 13th Part 2 - 1985 to 1989

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, including many fans' favourite and least favourite entries to the series. Enjoy! (We largely didn’t! (Especially Ben) (who chose to do this series) (Thanks Ben!)).