Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow . The show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this episode dedicated to the films of German director Volker Schlöndorff, Steve discusses The Ogre , a World War Two drama which was never theatrically released in the US or UK but features one of John Malkovich's finest performances. Dan's choice is The Handmaid's Tale . This big-screen adaptation of Margaret Atwood's classic novel has been somewhat overshadowed by ...
Apr 25, 2025•42 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this episode dedicated to the work of Nicolas Roeg, we look at two films helmed by one of Britain’s most avant-garde directors. Steve’s pick is Eureka , a big-budget disaster that nearly destroyed Roeg’s career when it was released. Steve argues that its arty mix of colonial-era murder mystery and Caribbean courtroom drama is an overlooked gem. Dan’s choice is Castawa...
Jan 01, 2025•39 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this claret-themed episode, Steve watches sorority sisters come to a sticky end in Black Christmas , the film that launched a thousand slasher movies . Just where are those phone calls coming from? Dan's pick sees (the real) Santa brutally dispatch some home invaders using ice skates and candy canes during one Violent Night . But will little Trudy's parents kiss and m...
Dec 25, 2024•36 min•Season 3Ep. 9
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 which are guaranteed to send a shiver down your spine. Steve’s pick is Ken Russell’s The Lair of the White Worm. Russell’s screenplay mixes Bram Stoker’s final novel with Lambton Worm mythology with devilishly good results. This is also the film which seared Amanda Donohue, Hugh Grant and Peter Capaldi into t...
Oct 31, 2024•36 min•Season 3Ep. 8
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 pioneering acting career of Olivia de Havilland, we look at two of de Havilland’s standout performances. Dan’s highbrow pick is The Snake Pit , a psychological drama that was both controversial and ground-breaking in its portrayal of mental health issues when it was released in 1948 and still packs a punch today. Steve’s lowbrow cho...
Aug 06, 2024•45 min•Season 3Ep. 7
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 actor/dancer/writer and director Christopher Walken, we look at two of Walken’s finest performances. Dan’s highbrow pick is At Close Range , in which Walken’s psychopath gang leader comes undone when his son, played by Sean Penn, does not inherit the sins of the father. Steve’s lowbrow choice is the James Bond film A View To...
Jul 27, 2024•40 min•Season 3Ep. 6
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 two classic Hammer Horror films. Steve’s pick is The Nanny , a chilling psychological thriller in which Bette Davis plays a babysitter that you won’t be rushing out to hire to look after your kids. Dan’s choice is The Woman In Black: Angel Of Death. While he concedes that it is not the most successful take on Susan Hill’s spinetingling tale, i...
Jul 12, 2024•37 min•Season 3Ep. 5
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 wi...
Mar 24, 2024•37 min•Season 3Ep. 4
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 ...
Feb 29, 2024•43 min•Season 3Ep. 3
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 rock...
Jan 25, 2024•50 min•Season 3Ep. 2
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 happine...
Jan 01, 2024•33 min•Season 3Ep. 1
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 Dull...
Dec 25, 2023•42 min•Season 2Ep. 11
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...
Oct 31, 2023•37 min•Season 2Ep. 10
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 dedicated to the director William Friedkin, who died in August of this year, we look at two lesser-known films from the auteur’s canon. Steve’s pick is Sorcerer , in which a group of desperate men transport unstable dynamite across two hundred miles of the Amazon jungle. A critical and commercial bomb when it was first released, Steve argues that ...
Oct 29, 2023•46 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow . The show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this episode, the clock is ticking in a countdown to Suspense. Dan's choice is The Andromeda Strain , a techno thriller based on a Michael Crichton novel in which science is the star. Steve takes a look at Juggernaut , in which an all-star cast finds themselves lost at sea on a cruise with only a mad bomber for company. Expect some sweat on the brow and prepare to bit...
Aug 10, 2023•34 min•Season 2Ep. 8
An unedited video version of our wellbeing episode. Thanks to Chris Simon for the recording.
Aug 05, 2023•46 min
Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow . The show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this special wellbeing episode, Steve and Dan are joined by University of Liverpool staff member and all-round good guy Chris Simon to discuss three education-themed films which always make us feel happier and that we hope will resonate with students today who need a good movie to decompress from their studies. Steve's highbrow pick is Educating Rita , in which Michae...
Jul 30, 2023•41 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Welcome to Highbrow Lowbrow , the show where our podcast hosts Steve Powell and Dan Slattery pit high art against low culture. In this episode, revenge is a dish best served cinematically as we look at two films where the lead protagonists get mad and then get even. Steve’s choice is The Reckoning , in which Nicol Williamson puts his marriage, career and liberty on the line to find the man who killed his father. Dan’s pick is Dirty Weekend , a Michael Winner revenge flick in which Lia Williams g...
Jun 10, 2023•42 min•Season 2Ep. 6
On the next Highbrow Lowbrow, it's all about #revenge....and Steve's dinner.
Jun 10, 2023•20 sec
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 two films which are both marvels of narrative cinema, and also landmark works in technical innovation. Steve’s choice is John Huston’s twisted melodrama Reflections in a Golden Eye , a film which was originally released in an all-gold colour palette. Dan takes a look at Searching , a film for the internet age where all of the footage is taken ...
May 31, 2023•37 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Coming up on the next Highbrow Lowbrow ...what was its title again?!
May 18, 2023•46 sec
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 Shock to the System , in which Caine murders his way to the top in order to take revenge on th...
May 17, 2023•38 min•Season 2Ep. 4
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.......
May 01, 2023•41 min•Season 2Ep. 3
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.......
Apr 22, 2023•49 min•Season 2Ep. 2
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 yo...
Feb 03, 2023•44 min•Season 2Ep. 1
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 festi...
Dec 25, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 18
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 t...
Dec 17, 2022•46 min•Season 1Ep. 17
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 veritab...
Dec 04, 2022•50 min•Ep. 16
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...
Nov 26, 2022•44 min•Ep. 15
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 p...
Nov 19, 2022•46 min•Ep. 14
