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PODCAST

Film Utopia

In-depth movie talk hosted by three fellas with a passion for film. Detailed retrospective movie reviews and filmography discussions of directors, actors, composers, and more!

tv & film film reviews

All Episodes

161:59

118. The Lord of the Rings Extended Editions

Film Utopia ·

2025/12/25

For this year’s Christmas episode, Film Utopia heads back to Middle-earth as Steven, Benjamin, and Sean tackle The Lord of the Rings Extended Editions in full – from The Fellowship of the Ring to The Return of the King. Not a misty-eyed holiday special, but a long, honest fireside reckoning with one of cinema’s most beloved trilogies.While still a fan overall, Steven uses the extended runtime to reflect on the criticisms he’s developed over the years, particularly with Return of the King, from its

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112:34

117. 1995 in Film

Film Utopia ·

2025/11/27

This week on Film Utopia, Steven, Benjamin, and Sean hop in the cinematic time machine and cruise back to 1995, a year stacked so high with bangers, bruisers and cult classics that even John Doe would struggle to catalogue them.We stroll month-by-month through our first-watch memories and rediscover why ‘95 was an all-timer. There’s expected reverence for Se7en, Casino, and Heat (the holy trinity of grimy crime masterpieces); love for Crimson Tide, 12 Monkeys, The Usual Suspects, and Strange Days,

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58:55

116. Predator: Badlands - Reaction

Film Utopia ·

2025/11/20

With Benjamin off-world, Steven, Sean, and special guest Max suit up for a deep-dive reaction to Predator: Badlands. After a quick surveying of the state of the modern Disney/Trachtenberg-verse, touching on Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers, we zero in on the new film itself and each give our tuppence on this latest entry in one of our most beloved movie series’.How does Badlands stack up against the broader Predator legacy? How does the series fare as a whole compared to other long-running

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110:47

115. Halloween Special: A Nightmare on Elm Street...

Film Utopia ·

2025/10/30

This spooky season, Film Utopia sharpens its glove and dives head-first into the complete A Nightmare on Elm Street movie series; the final corner of what we lovingly call “the Big Four” of 80s horror, following our previous years’ deep dives into Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Hellraiser.Steven, Benjamin, and Sean stalk their way through the original six films plus Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, Freddy vs Jason, and… yes, even that 2010 remake (which everyone happily agrees belongs in the

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54:34

114. Alien: Earth – Reaction

Film Utopia ·

2025/10/24

Occasional Film Utopia collaborator and Alien nut Max joins Steven and Benjamin for their reaction to the new Disney+ series, Alien: Earth. With somewhat mixed expectations from the gang due to varying opinions on Disney's efforts with last year’s Alien: Romulus, will Noah Hawley’s series hit the spot, or will it be a nuked site from orbit? From interesting plot points to bizarre design choices, underdeveloped characters to missed opportunities, have a listen to see what we think. Spoiler alert:

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47:12

113. ‘80s Fantasy Part 5 – The Quest Ends: What...

Film Utopia ·

2025/10/11

Film Utopia’s epic 1980s Fantasy retrospective reaches its end as Steven, Benjamin, and Sean look beyond their beloved decade to see what became of the genre in the years that followed. From Disney’s magical 90s renaissance to Tim Burton’s gothic daydreams, through to Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter reviving the genre in the 00s, we briefly trace fantasy’s evolution and slow retreat into remakes, reboots and rehashes.There’s grumbling over The Hobbit, apprehension over The Hunt for Gollum, and

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58:40

112. ‘80s Fantasy Part 4 – Inconceivable!: The...

Film Utopia ·

2025/09/22

Film Utopia’s summer quest reaches the tail end of the 1980s as Steven Benjamin, and Sean reminisce about the fantastical twilight of the decade. From the muscle-bound chaos of The Barbarians, to the satirical fair-tale perfection of The Princess Bride, the surreal stop-motion wonder of Alice, the “best leave that one in childhood’s memory” Willow, and the gleeful absurdity of Erik the Viking, we explore how the fantasy boom began to wind down in the late 80s.Steven’s love for The Princess Bride

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02:00:20

111. ‘80s Fantasy Part 3 – Goblins, Gods, and the...

Film Utopia ·

2025/08/30

The Film Utopia summer quest thunders onward as Steven, Benjamin, and Sean venture into the fantastical mid-80s; 1984 – 1986. An era when fantasy cinema became darker, more kid-friendly, and occasionally farcical.From the dreamy surrealism of A Company of Wolves and the childlike wonder (and childhood trauma-inducing) The NeverEnding Story to the neon-drenched Dungeonmaster, the ever-present loincloth-clad barbarian sights of Red Sonja and Barbarian Queen, and the iconic delights of Legend,

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02:02:08

110. ‘80s Fantasy Part 2 – From Hawk to Krull: The...

Film Utopia ·

2025/08/09

The Film Utopia summer quest continues in this second instalment on fantasy cinema of the 1980s as Steven, Benjamin, and Sean tackle the shimmering, sword-swinging, and body oil-drenched years of 1980 to 1983. From popular mainstays such as Hawk the Slayer (1980), Clash of the Titans (1981), Conan the Barbarian (1982), The Dark Crystal (1982) and Krull (1983), to side quests veering into the more eclectic cult offerings of Heavy Metal (1981), Conquest (1983), Deathstalker (1983), and Ironmaster

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52:35

109. '80s Fantasy Part 1 - Before the Boom: A Brief...

Film Utopia ·

2025/07/24

Before the loincloths, elf-muppets, crystal balls, dying horse trauma, and mullets of 80s fantasy cinema, there was… quite a lot, actually! In this opening episode of our new series on 1980s fantasy films, Steven, Benjamin and Sean gather round the mic to set the stage and trace the tangled narrative roots of fantasy, both on and off the screen, from a time before things got all neon-coloured and swordy. We dive into everything from Ray Harryhaussen epics and surreal Euro-fairytales, to biblical

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01:34:06

108. Lamberto Bava - 1980 to 1992

Film Utopia ·

2025/06/26

Steven and Sean continue their exploration of Italian genre cinema with a laid-back chat about the filmography of Lamberto Bava.Unlike his father, horror maestro and Giallo godfather Mario Bava, Lamberto carved out his own unique legacy by straddling the line between art horror and sleaze – usually opting for the latter – with a mix of gore, kinetic pacing and trashy fun; trading in typical Giallo elegance for rubber demons, dodgy cash-in knock-offs, synth soundtracks, and pure VHS-era pulp. On

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01:29:48

107. David Lynch Part 2 - 1990 to 2017

Film Utopia ·

2025/06/05

Steven, Benjamin and Sean conclude their retrospective of the late director, David Lynch, and find themselves heavily in agreement in some areas of the auteur’s directorial filmography, but completely opposed in others. On this episode, we discuss Twin Peaks (1990 – 1992, 2017), Fire Walk With Me (1992), Lost Highway (1997), The Straight Story (1999), Mulholland Drive (2001), and Inland Empire (2006).

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01:22:47

106. David Lynch Part 1 - 1977 to 1990

Film Utopia ·

2025/05/29

With the recent passing of auteur filmmaker David Lynch fresh in mind, Steven Benjamin and Sean reflect on the director’s legacy and discuss their thoughts on his innovative and influential theatrical filmography. In part one we cover Eraserhead (1977), The Elephant Man (1980), Dune (1984), Blue Velvet (1986) and Wild At Heart (1990).

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03:00:18

105. James Bond - 2025 Update

Film Utopia ·

2025/04/24

With Amazon Studios now in control of the Bond franchise, we thought we’d share our hopes and fears for the future of 007. At least, that’s how this episode was originally planned! However, as Sean wasn’t part of our original Bond retrospective review series back in 2015 that we’ve just republished over the last 10 days, we have decided to hear out his ranked list of the 25 Eon produced Bond films, in ascending order, while Steven and Benjamin chime in with any updated opinions they have of each

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01:09:39

104. ARCHIVE EPISODE (2021): Bond Part 9 - No Time to...

Film Utopia ·

2025/04/23

Originally recorded and published in 2021. Please excuse our less-than-stellar audio quality efforts back then!With Bond in the news again, and in the run up to our 2025 Bond update episode coming later this month, we’ve decided to reach way back into the depths of our archives and resuscitate one of our classic filmography review series’, our nine-part, complete James Bond movie retrospective, originally released back in 2015 to coincide with the release of Spectre (2015), plus a single-episode,

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01:21:42

103. ARCHIVE EPISODE (2015): Bond Part 8 - Spectre...

Film Utopia ·

2025/04/22

Originally recorded and published in 2015 for our former podcast, Filmwerk. Please excuse our less-than-stellar audio quality efforts back then!With Bond in the news again, and in the run up to our 2025 Bond update episode coming later this month, we’ve decided to reach way back into the depths of our archives and resuscitate one of our classic filmography review series’, our nine-part, complete James Bond movie retrospective, originally released back in 2015 to coincide with the release of Spectre

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01:58:06

102. ARCHIVE EPISODE (2015): Bond Part 7 - Daniel...

Film Utopia ·

2025/04/21

Originally recorded and published in 2015 for our former podcast, Filmwerk. Please excuse our less-than-stellar audio quality efforts back then! With Bond in the news again, and in the run up to our 2025 Bond update episode coming later this month, we’ve decided to reach way back into the depths of our archives and resuscitate one of our classic filmography review series’, our nine-part, complete James Bond movie retrospective, originally released back in 2015 to coincide with the release of Spectre

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02:13:31

101. ARCHIVE EPISODE (2015): Bond Part 6 - Pierce...

Film Utopia ·

2025/04/20

Originally recorded and published in 2015 for our former podcast, Filmwerk. Please excuse our less-than-stellar audio quality efforts back then!With Bond in the news again, and in the run up to our 2025 Bond update episode coming later this month, we’ve decided to reach way back into the depths of our archives and resuscitate one of our classic filmography review series’, our nine-part, complete James Bond movie retrospective, originally released back in 2015 to coincide with the release of Spectre

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01:12:20

100. ARCHIVE EPISODE (2015): Bond Part 5 - Timothy...

Film Utopia ·

2025/04/19

Originally recorded and published in 2015 for our former podcast, Filmwerk. Please excuse our less-than-stellar audio quality efforts back then! With Bond in the news again, and in the run up to our 2025 Bond update episode coming later this month, we’ve decided to reach way back into the depths of our archives and resuscitate one of our classic filmography review series’, our nine-part, complete James Bond movie retrospective, originally released back in 2015 to coincide with the release of Spectre

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01:29:46

99. ARCHIVE EPISODE (2015): Bond Part 4 - Roger Moore...

Film Utopia ·

2025/04/18

Originally recorded and published in 2015 for our former podcast, Filmwerk. Please excuse our less-than-stellar audio quality efforts back then! With Bond in the news again, and in the run up to our 2025 Bond update episode coming later this month, we’ve decided to reach way back into the depths of our archives and resuscitate one of our classic filmography review series’, our nine-part, complete James Bond movie retrospective, originally released back in 2015 to coincide with the release of Spectre

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119 results

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