Film Utopia Film Utopia

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!

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!

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!)

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!

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.

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!
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