Highbrow Lowbrow

Coming up on the next Highbrow Lowbrow...what was its title again?!

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow, the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this episode, we celebrate the eclectic career of Sir Michael Caine with two lesser-known gems from his body of work.

Steve’s pick is The Wilby Conspiracy, in which Caine teams up with Sidney Poitier to fight the racist system of apartheid. Dan’s choice is the black comedy A

Brace yourself for film analysis and some dodgy cockney accents, and as always, dear listener, 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 war-movie episode, Steve discusses the WWII North Africa-set film Play Dirty, in which Michael Caine learns that there's no way to fight a clean war.

Dan looks into the future of conflict, by looking into the past, in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Be prepared to take cover, dear listener, and as always, 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 action-packed episode, Steve discusses the classic buddy-buddy, chase road movie Midnight Run. A perfect film for a Friday night deadline

Dan’s pick is Vantage Point. A time-bending, media-driven, conspiracy thriller which is guaranteed to find the right angle.

Buckle up, dear listeners, and as always, 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 our first episode of 2023, we shine a light on films which explore the dark side of human nature.

Steve's pick is Wait Until Dark, in which three criminals terrorise a blind Audrey Hepburn, only to find themselves outwitted one by one. Dan's choice is Devil, in which a seemingly random group of people endure the elevator ride from Hell... quite literally.

We hope you enjoy our choices, and remember, don't be afraid of the dark...only the things that lurk in it! Mind the 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-themed episode, Steve encounters some amateur dramatics thanks to Kenneth Branagh's In The Bleak Midwinter. Will the cast be able to successfully perform Hamlet for Christmas, or will the production end up like poor Yorick?

Dan finds himself In Bruges along with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two Irish hitmen on the run. Will they get into the festive spirit or end up killing each other?

Beware of the spoilers. Enjoy the show....

Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow, which comes to you tonight from the streets of Los Angeles.

In this episode, we celebrate films adapted from the novels of legendary crime novelist James Ellroy. Ellroy biographer Steve Powell goes back to the 1950s and looks at L.A. Confidential, in which three LAPD cops search for Mickey Cohen’s missing Big H while the notorious crime kingpin is doing time at Big Q. We ask the question, is this the greatest film adaptation of an Ellroy novel?

Dan’s pick is from the '80s and is Cop. James Woods investigates a series of 187s of women in L.A. Will he collar the killer before more women are slain? 

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 episode, we celebrate films which are all talk. Steve looks at My Dinner With Andre, a film in which Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory discuss the big issues in life while enjoying a delicious meal in a New York restaurant.

Dan’s pick is Before Sunrise. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy take a stroll around Vienna and fall in love along the way.

Are these films veritable classics, or just a whole lot of verbiage? As always, dear listener, the final decision is up to you. Mind the 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 episode, we celebrate the work of maverick Dutch director Paul Verhoeven and look at two seminal films of his career. Steve looks at the gripping wartime drama Black Book and argues it deserves its distinction as the most successful film ever made in the Netherlands.

Dan argues that the sci-fi epic Starship Troopers was a career highlight of Verhoeven's Hollywood phase.

Have we argued our case successfully? As always, dear listener, the final decision is up to you. Beware the 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 episode, we look at claustrophobic films which hinge on one powerhouse performance.

Steve's choice is Locke, in which construction foreman Tom Hardy tries to hold his crumbling life together through a series of phone calls while travelling on the M6. Locke will take you on an emotional journey involving love, loss and whether concrete should be C5 or C6.

Dan's pick is Buried, in which Ryan Reynolds awakes to find himself buried underground in a coffin in Iraq with only a phone, lighter, flashlight, pen knife and inquisitive snake for company. Will he make it out in time? Dan digs deep into this horror classic.

We hope you enjoy our discussion of these one-man films, and as always, dear listener, beware of spoilers. Enjoy the show....