Highbrow Lowbrow Highbrow Lowbrow

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow, the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture.

In this special comedy-themed episode, we look at two films which are guaranteed to have you rolling in the aisles.

Steve’s pick is Noises Off, an adaptation of Michael Frayn’s play within a play in which everything goes horribly and hilariously wrong!

Dan’s choice is The Tall Guy, in which Jeff Goldblum’s struggling actor comes to terms with life, love and Weetabix without milk.

We hope our rib-tickling choices will leave your sides on the brink of splitting, dear listener. Prepare to turn that frown upside down and, as always, beware spoilers and enjoy the show....

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow, the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture.

In this special episode devoted to the work of Martin Scorsese, we look at two films which have been unjustifiably overlooked in the career of one of the world’s greatest directors.

Steve’s pick is The Age of Innocence, in which Daniel Day-Lewis plays a nineteenth-century lawyer torn between true love and the expectations of the high society he belongs to.

Dan’s choice is Bringing Out the Dead, which he argues features Nicolas Cage’s greatest performance as a burnt-out paramedic haunted by the ghost of a patient he failed to save as he drives an ambulance through Hell’s Kitchen every night.

We hope our choices will drive you back to the more overlooked films in Mr Scorsese’s eclectic career. Beware spoilers and enjoy the show...

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow, the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture.

In this special biopic-themed episode, we look at two films which celebrate the highs and lows in the lives of artists.

Steve’s pick is Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, in which Jennifer Jason Leigh plays the titular Dorothy Parker, a gifted but melancholy writer who spent ten years partying hard with the writers of the Algonquin Round Table.

Dan’s choice is the rockumentary Anvil!, which takes a look at the fortunes and misfortunes of Canadian Heavy Metal band Anvil. Once the darlings of the rock world, Anvil have fallen on hard times, but can a new European tour restore them to their former glory?

Does fame and success bring the artist happiness?  Listen up, dear listener, and we’ll leave the final decision to you. Beware spoilers and enjoy the show....

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow, the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture.

In this special episode devoted to the work of Peter Weller, we look at two films which highlight the talents of one of Hollywood's most versatile actors.

Steve’s pick is The New Age, in which Peter Weller and Judy Davis play a married yuppie couple who lose all of their money and have to find a new purpose after giving up the finer things in life. Will they find happiness? Steve argues that it's hilarious watching them try.

Dan’s choice is the sci-fi flick Screamers, which he argues transcends its genre limitations to become one of the strongest Philip K Dick adaptations ever made for the screen.

We hope our choices do Mr Weller justice. Part actor. Part academic. All talent. Beware spoilers and enjoy the show...

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow, the show where our
podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture.

In this festive special, Steve is off to Montreal to see if Patrick McGoohan and Alexis Kanner are Kings And Desperate Men in a radio station hostage drama on Christmas Eve. Does it deserve regal status, or should it be clapped in irons?

Meanwhile, Dan takes cover as Bruce Willis takes on some terrorists (again) on Christmas Eve (again), this time at Washington DC's Dulles Airport. Does Die Hard 2 start the holiday season with a bang, or is it a damp squib?

The final decision, dear listener, is up to you. Beware spoilers. Enjoy the show...

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow, the show where our
podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture.

In this special Halloween-themed episode, we look at two
films with only one thing in common: the capacity to disturb.

Steve’s pick is The Rapture, in which a call-centre
operator played Mimi Rogers, bored with her dull job and swinging sex life, converts to Christianity and becomes obsessed with the Rapture. Her new religious lifestyle does not go entirely to plan, but it’s not the end of the world. Or is it?

Dan’s choice is the blood-soaked horror classic Saw. Despite its grisly reputation, Dan argues that the true star of Saw is its great script and inventive special effects pulled off on a miniscule
budget. Forget the torture-porn label; Saw is a film you should see.

Which one of these films will leave you the most sleep-deprived and freaked out this Halloween? As always, dear listener, the final decision is up to you. Beware spoilers. Enjoy the show....