utopia

14 Oct

David Byrne’s American Utopia

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David Byrne’s American Utopia brings the critically acclaimed Broadway show to HBO in a one-of-a-kind film directed by Spike Lee. Recorded during its run at Broadway’s Hudson Theatre in New York City, David Byrne is joined by an ensemble of 11 musicians, singers, and dancers from around the globe, inviting audiences into a joyous dreamworld where human connection, self-evolution, and social justice are paramount.Rated: Not RatedRelease Date: Oct 17, 2020

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28 Sep

Utopia US Remake Ending Explained: Who is Mr Rabbit?

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Warning: contains major Utopia spoilers With newly invented characters and a whole new world wrapped around bad guys/pragmatic planet savers The Harvest (the US version of The Network), Gillian Flynn’s Utopia makes considerable changes to the Channel 4 original. It’s faithful though, in most of the ways that matter – Jessica Hyde, the unforgettable Arby, Wilson Wilson and more are all kept intact, just transplanted from London to Chicago. There’s some very close translation of a few memorable scenes, as well as a good amount of invention. Flynn rewrites the backstory to weave in new setting ‘Home’, and new players,…

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28 Sep

The Utopia US Remake’s Easter Egg Nods to the UK Original

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It’s only polite, when you’ve borrowed an idea, to acknowledge its originator. Amazon Prime’s blackly comic conspiracy thriller remake Utopia does that by giving an executive producer credit to Dennis Kelly, the creator of the original UK series. Kelly recently told Den of Geek that though the remake had his blessing and best wishes, his involvement in the US series had been nil. As is often the case, his executive producer credit was a courtesy.  Another little courtesy is paid at around 04:30 in the remake’s second episode. A gang of comic book fans who’ve been speaking online for months meet up…

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28 Sep

Utopia: How the US Remake Changes the UK Show’s Most Controversial Sequence

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Warning: Contains Utopia plot details (original and remake) Compare the openings of the original Utopia and the US remake, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that the new version had softened the show’s hard edges. Right out of the gates, the 2013 UK original kicks off with a series of murders. In the aptly named Doomsday Comics shop, a pair of assassins cosh one man with a metal pipe, and gas another two men and a child to death. Before we know anything about Utopia’s story or its characters, we’re confronted by unsettling violence. Beware, is the message, nobody is safe here. That…

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25 Sep

Utopia: Who Is Jessica Hyde?

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The following contains some light spoilers for Utopia. The more common question in Utopia might be “Where is Jessica Hyde?” but “Who is Jessica Hyde?” is just as pressing. Is she friend or foe? Protagonist or antagonist? In the Amazon series, she’s both the star of a mysterious comic book that foretells viruses, biowarfare and man-made diseases, and a real person. She’s the young woman at the center of Utopia’s mystery and, as played by Sasha Lane, she’s what happens when a unique character meets a powerhouse actor. Getting to know Jessica Hyde means understanding that she is in a…

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16 Sep

Utopia Review (Spoiler-Free)

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This Utopia review contains no spoilers. Utopia subverts what we know about geek culture and uses it against its characters in a dangerous game that changes the world. The suspense drama shepherded by Gillian Flynn, the author best known for Gone Girl and Sharp Objects, will arrive on Amazon Prime on Sept. 25 to wage a bloody path through the viewers psyches.  Based on a 2013 British black comedy of the same name, the American version of Utopia tells the story of a group of nerds who believe that the comic, also named Utopia, is based in fact. Wilson Wilson…

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25 Aug

David Byrne’s American Utopia Trailer Gives Reason to Be Cheerful

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“Despite all that’s happened, and despite all that’s still happening, there’s still possibility,” David Byrne tells us in the first David Byrne’s American Utopia trailer. Directed by Spike Lee, the upcoming adaptation of Byrne’s acclaimed Broadway show premieres on HBO and to stream on HBO Max on Oct. 17. David Byrne’s American Utopia is a “one-of-a-kind, dynamic film that gives audiences access to Byrne’s electrifying Broadway show,” HBO said in a press statement. The stage show  American Utopia previewed at Broadway’s the Hudson Theatre on Oct. 4, 2019 and ran until Feb. 16, 2020, playing to sold-out, record-breaking audiences. The…

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18 Aug

Utopia Release Date Revealed by Amazon with New Trailer

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Amazon Prime Video’s American remake of brief-but-beloved British television series Utopia is readying a premiere on the platform this fall—specifically September 25, as the newest trailer for the show has finally announced.   The long-gestated series (originally planned back in 2015 for HBO by David Fincher), involves a group of fans whose obsession with a prophetic graphic novel about biological warfare thrusts them in the middle of a real-life conspiracy involving a pandemic. Now, by some cosmic coincidence, Utopia is set to arrive during a time in which such a plot proved shockingly prescient. Compounding the weirdness, the series showcases…

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23 Jul

Utopia Trailer Features John Cusack and Rainn Wilson

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Putting aside for a moment the premise of Amazon Prime Video’s new original series, Utopia, the highlight of the teaser trailer that dropped during the show’s Comic-Con@Home panel was the appearance of 80s-film everyman John Cusack alongside Rainn Wilson of The Office and Star Trek: Discovery. What a combination! Add to that the fact that the series comes from best-selling author and award-winning screenwriter Gillian Flynn of Gone Girl and Sharp Objects fame, and it’s clear that Utopia has an incredible pedigree right off the bat. Utopia is inspired by the British series of the same name and is described…

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16 Jun

Spike Lee Concert Film of David Byrne’s American Utopia Goes to HBO

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Director Spike Lee aimed his cameras at, and adjusted the visual beats on, David Byrne’s American Utopia, the acclaimed Broadway show which previewed at the Hudson Theatre on Oct. 4, 2019 and ran until Feb. 16, 2020. The David Byrne/Spike Lee joint will now light up at HBO later this year. “It is my honor and privilege that my art brother, Mr. David Byrne, asked me to join him in concert, to invite me into his magnificent world of American Utopia,” Spike Lee said in a statement. “And dat’s da ‘once in a lifetime’ truth, Ruth. Ya-dig? Sho-nuff. Peace and…

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