Failed Critics

Hey listeners, the episode title is a nice little 90's earworm for you as we party like it's 1999. It's our birthday! We're going to party like it's our birthday - because, as I mentioned, it is actually our birthday. Today, in fact! The Failed Critics Podcast has hit yet another milestone and reached our fourth birthday. Hip hip... Usually, it'd be up to the guests (i.e. you) to get the birthday-boys (i.e. us) presents, but it's cool. We know it's been a tough year for you and, you know, who really cares about presents at our age, right? I mean, we're not mad. Sure, a little disappointed but that's society's fault. No, really, don't feel bad. Forget I even mentioned it. Here, we've got you something instead. The first ever (and given the amount of time and effort, the only ever) issue of the Failed Critics Magazine - in a handy to download and read pdf format: https://thefailedcritic.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/failedcriticsmagissue0011.pdf There's articles on Brooker's favourite films of the year so... &#

Sorry, you won't find life's bare necessities on this page. Life's sort-of, not entirely annoying, mildly amusing leisure accompaniment? That sounds more like it. I suppose that means welcome to this week's Failed Critics Podcast, featuring the saddest sentence you'll ever hear another human say, plus hosts Steve Norman and Owen Hughes are joined by Callum Petch as they attempt a review of Disney's latest adventure movie, The Jungle Book. As usual, we start the show off with a quiz, but unusually we don't conclude it until the very end of the show. I blame Steve. In between all that we also try to round up the week's film news, specifically looking at: the potential live-action Pokemon film series heading to our screens; our first reactions to the Ghost In The Shell remake that's in the pipeline; and whether or not it's fine to use your mobile phone in the cinema. We also squeeze into a packed show our regular 'What We've Been Watching' section, which sees Owen battle Batman Returns, Callum dances in... &#

Welcome to this week's episode of the Failed Critics Podcast. You know how we sometimes swear a lot and are rather crass? Yet, occasionally, we have to add an extra warning that the levels of explicit language and vulgar comments exceed our usually-already-fairly-high volume..? Well, this is one of those weeks. Just as he was last week, Paul Field is back on the podcast along with hosts Steve Norman and Owen Hughes, and was once again given license to take over the quiz. The theme he went for is very tangibly linked to the first-person extremely graphic violent action movie Hardcore Henry, our main review this week. We also have two other new releases to review this week as Owen looks at Jeff Nichols' latest offering, the foreboding sci-fi drama Midnight Special, whilst Paul reviews Danish-noir sequel The Absent One. Never heard of it? Fear not! Paul also reviews the previous film, Keeper of the Lost Causes, in 'What We've Been Watching', where Owen lavishes praise on the documentary Future Shock! The...

Three clueless bellends gather for the latest Failed Critics Podcast with hosts Steve Norman and Owen Hughes joined by our long-suffering guest, Paul Field. So long suffering is he, in fact, that he's hosting this week's quiz and theming it on injuries, suffering and accidents in movies. Quite fitting then that this week's new releases take in: notorious YouTubers (we don't know what that really means) causing grief in Natural Born Pranksters; bone-breaking British feel-good comedy Eddie the Eagle; pointless gruesome horror remake Martyrs; and the independent horror film putting Martyrs to shame, with Anguish. There's also time on this episode for the team to cover a re-watch of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (where Owen gets all ranty about the poor level of criticism on offer for Zack Snyder's blockbuster), British crime drama Orthodox and sci-fi classic Alien. We even cover the Suicide Squad reshoots and Wolf Creek TV spin-off in our news section. Join us again next week as the same line-up tackle...

It might not be the podcast you wanted, but it's the podcast you deserve. It's the proper critics in one corner, the audience in another corner, and your hosts Steve Norman and Owen Hughes with special guests Brian Plank and Andrew Brooker in the other corner. The final corner is where Sad Ben Affleck is hanging his head in disappointment, next to Henry Cavill's pile of gold. That's right, this week we're reviewing DC's latest $250m mega-blockbuster, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Divisive amongst those who've watched it, as well as on this episode. We've a full spoiler-free review where the team discuss everything they liked (mainly Batfleck) and didn't like without giving away much, before Spoiler Alert Returns towards the end. Also on this episode: Owen reviews freshly released found-footage horror JeruZalem (that's with a capital 'Z' and no lower case 's'); Brian prepares for Zack Snyder's superhero movie in the only way he knew how... by watching Kramer vs Kramer...; Brooker revisits Failed...

Firstly, thanks to everyone who joined in on our live broadcast of episode 202 on our YouTube channel on Monday. We're considering it a success - whether it was or wasn't isn't really up to Steve Norman, Owen Hughes and Andrew Brooker to decide! But people chatted to us during the show, we received messages via Twitter, and the live stream didn't crash once. Huzzah! This week's podcast is pretty much a rip of the YouTube video edited into a more audio-friendly format. Jingles have been edited in, whilst the majority the references to stuff that happened visually that wouldn't have made sense on an audio only podcast have been edited out. What has been left in is our chat about this week's film news, including another new Netflix movie acquisition starring Will Smith, directed by David Ayer, plus a set-top box that could potentially change the way we view cinema releases forever. We've also got our round up of what we've been watching. Steve talks us through the generic but decent action film London Has...

This week's episode of the Failed Critics Podcast features Callum Petch, returning for the first time in 2016, to join both Steve Norman and Owen Hughes for four new-release reviews. With the latest entry in the Divergent Series franchise, it seemed almost impossible to record a show without Callum's input on Allegiant - particularly after his last appearance on the pod the week after the previous instalment, Insurgent, came out! Continuing to play to Callum's strengths this week, there are two new animated movies out. As if it wasn't already well set up for him with a new Dreamworks Animation out, Kung Fu Panda 3, there's also a new Disney film (Zootopia / Zootropolis / whichever it is wherever you're from) which has already set the standard by which to judge all other movies this year - or, at least, that's what Callum says. As well as this, Steve and Callum have a chat about 2008's monster-movie Cloverfield ahead of the upcoming 10 Cloverfield Lane, whilst Owen reminisces about the 90's and watching...

In this week's Failed Critics Podcast, it's time for a crossover episode! Inspired by the news that 21 Jump Street and Men In Black will be merging for a new upcoming comedy, Steve Norman and Owen meet Paul Field and try to come up with some ideas for other movie characters and franchises that they would like to see crossover during the triple bill segment of the podcast. Meanwhile, they try not to cross the streams when talking about the latest Ghostbusters trailer after its release earlier this week. We also have a wide range of movies to review! Owen takes a look at Studiocanal's DVD release of the Stanley Milgram biopic, Experimenter, starring Peter Sarsgaard and Winona Ryder. Paul checks out Austrian horror Goodnight Mommy after the hype over the supposed "scariest trailer ever". Elsewhere, Steve rethinks his opinion on big-dumb-action-film Battleship, but has his opinion reaffirmed on the Men In Black series. It's also, like, our 200th episode, or something. Apparently.  See acast.com/privacy

Welcome to this week's Oscars special Failed Critics Podcast. Steve Norman and Owen Hughes are joined once again by Paul Field and Andrew Brooker after their appearance on the preview episode released a couple of weeks back, returning to react to the eventual winners and losers at the 88th Academy Awards. The stage was set for us to get all glamorous and spread the word about some very important socio-political issues that were close to our hearts... Alas, we were self-sabotaging the whole night through instead. Rallying against the Oscars being used as one-upmanship for actors with the biggest and most important cause that they care about, we flipped 180 degrees and outdid ourselves in the crass, ignorant and often downright offensive stakes. At least the episode is relatively short this week - a sign of just how much more offensive we could be that those comments simply couldn't stay in the episode and had to be edited out - but we still managed to cover two new releases. The disappointingly tame horror...

This week's Failed Critics Podcast is a two-part Netflix Original special as hosts Steve Norman and Owen Hughes are joined by guests Chris Haigh and Phil Sharman. Similar to our TV specials, this episode is all about the Netflix - with very little chill. Some chill. A bit of chill. But not a lot of chill. In part one, the team discuss the rise of Netflix Originals, from their conception to recent additions. With no movies to review, there's chat about the shows that we've been watching lately, plus a few of our other favourites. Part two is a triple bill where Steve, Owen, Chris and Phil each pick their favourite Netflix Original comedy, drama and feature, before recommending shows for listeners to try out themselves. Join us again next week as Steve and Owen return alongside Brooker and Paul to dissect the Oscars results.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week's Failed Critics Podcast is a two-part Netflix Original special as hosts Steve Norman and Owen Hughes are joined by guests Chris Haigh and Phil Sharman. Similar to our TV specials, this episode is all about the Netflix - with very little chill. Some chill. A bit of chill. But not a lot of chill. In part one, the team discuss the rise of Netflix Originals, from their conception to recent additions. With no movies to review, there's chat about the shows that we've been watching lately, plus a few of our other favourites. Part two is a triple bill where Steve, Owen, Chris and Phil each pick their favourite Netflix Original comedy, drama and feature, before recommending shows for listeners to try out themselves. Join us again next week as Steve and Owen return alongside Brooker and Paul to dissect the Oscars results.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to the Failed Critics Podcast, where hosts Steve Norman and Owen Hughes are joined by both Andrew Brooker and Paul Field to put their collective expert (ha!) minds together to predict who will win what at this year's Academy Awards on Sunday 28th February. You too can take part! Simply leave a post in the comments box on our website (failedcritics.com) to tell us which films you think will pick up the award in each of the categories listed on this episode's page. The winner will pick up some DVD's and blu-rays! OOooohhhh exciting. Also in this episode, we feature a few new release reviews. Brooker, our residents American sports fan, finds Concussion is not all it's cracked up to be. Meanwhile, Paul calls Steve's heritage into question whilst reviewing British zom-rom-com Nina Forever. And then we all get together at the end to slightly gush over Deadpool's expletive-laden fourth wall-breaking comedy capers. Join us again next week as Owen and Steve take part in our first ever Netflix special episode.

Welcome to this week's Failed Critics Podcast. What're the names of our hosts and guests on this episode..? Shh! Don't tell 'em, Steve Norman, Owen Hughes, Brian Plank and Chris Wallace... D'oh! Yes, that was a tedious set-up to reveal that on this podcast we'll be discussing the Dad's Army movie in our new release section. We've also got reviews for you of: heist-thriller Triple 9; a comedy sequel 15 years in the making in Zoolander 2; and the Bryan Cranston starring Trumbo. In the news this week, the team sat down and watched every single film trailer shown at Super Bowl 50. From a Deadpool teaser to the latest look at Jungle Book, a new Bourne movie and even TMNT2. Yeah - don't get your hopes up for that last one is all we'll say right now. More importantly, perhaps, we also try to work out just what the hell is going on lately with Netflix stepping up their attempts to block users accessing multi-regions. In 'What We've Been Watching': Owen comes to a conclusion about Woody Harrelson; Brian gets... &

He's old, he's cranky, and he's got a legion of followers that adore everything he does. At least one of those comments should give you a clue that I am of course referring to John Carpenter and not our special guest, James Diamond. (When has James ever been known to be cranky?) One of the few well documented benefits of not being awarded an Oscar is that it allows a person the privilege of being received in our illustrious Corridor of Praise. And James was only too willing to help Owen Hughes and Steve Norman to induct the celebrated genre auteur. At least we assume it was James. It sounded like James. It looked like James('s Skype profile). He did spend the whole episode tied to his chair, just to be on the safe side, but was still able to run through Carpenter's career like the pro that he is. We look at where it all began with Dark Star and Halloween, through his triumphant 80's phase and the not-so-triumphant later movies. Also on this episode, we discuss the Academy Award nominated Spotlight, with... &#

From quirky Bulgarian movies to Jordan's Oscar nominations. From 1931 in Germany to 2013 in Hong Kong. From the poetic realism of France to the period dramas of Afghanistan. This week's Failed Critics Podcast is taking a truly global slant. We could think of no better guests for our second ever World Cinema Special than aficionados Monsieur Liam and Herr Andrew Alcock. Along with regular hosts Signore Steve Norman and Señor Owen Hughes, together the team take a look at films from all over the world in both What We've Been Watching and this week's triple bill. The caveat this time is that the Failed Critics had to pick three films each from three different countries, with some surprising - and some not so surprising - choices from our crew! Join us again next week as Steve and Owen are joined by Failed Critics founder, grandmaster, and all round spiritual leader, James Diamond, as we prepare to induct another great of cinema into our Corridor of Praise.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out

Back by popular demand, it's the second episode Field & Mullinger's Underground Nights. Once again, your hosts Paul Field and James Mullinger are delving into the depths of cinema to dig out some of the best documentaries they can find. From the phenomenon of the Netflix series Making A Murderer, to the ground-breaking Paradise Lost, they've got it covered. Joining Paul and James to discuss the world of documentary film-making is Cleanflix co-director Joshua Ligairi. As well as sharing his thoughts on some of the crazy conspiracies behind Making A Murderer, Josh also talks about his own work past and present, including the upcoming Plan 241. There's also time for the trio to quickly run through the recent Oscar nominations and explain how Alan Rickman inadvertently funded one member of the team throughout his education!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With the tragic passing of one of British music's most iconic people earlier this week, our latest episode features a touching tribute to the pioneer that was the Thin White Duke, Ziggy Stardust, Jareth the Goblin King or just simply 'David Bowie'. Failed Critics founder and Bowie super-fan, James Diamond, returns for a short emotional farewell to one of the most inspirational figures of this and last century. We even dug up a clip from an episode we recorded back in 2012 when James went to the inaugural Bowiefest in London and have edited into the post-credits of this week's podcast. Elsewhere, Steve Norman hosts with Owen Hughes, Andrew Brooker and Matt Lambourne back for reviews of Quentin Tarantino's new movie, The Hateful Eight, starring Kurt Russell, Samuel L Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh and more. Loads more. More than eight others. Owen also reviews the fly-on-the-wall documentary Bolshoi Babylon, from the producer of Man On Wire and Searching for Sugarman, about the historic ballet theatre...

Dawn breaks on a new day, ushering in the fresh optimism that another year on God's green Earth brings with it. New starts, new ideas and new opportunities to shambolically attempt to review movies, for Paul to use wildly-offensive non-PC terms, and for the rest of us to fall flat on our arses. As Steve Norman nurses a poorly rum-addled brain after two weeks of non-stop partying whilst not on the Failed Critics clock, he returns to the driving seat - probably still too inebriated to drive, but nobody could wrestle the keys from his clutches. Gripping the armrests, clinging on for dear life and hoping to make it out alive are Steve's passengers, Owen Hughes and Paul Field. Three new releases make their way onto on of our shortest podcasts in a long time, as awards season well and truly hits these shores. Paul begins this section by trying to comprehend the new Terrence Malick movie, Knight of Cups, before Owen joins in a verbal rant about the Oscar-baiting The Danish Girl. David O. Russell's latest feature...

Votes have been counted, booze has been consumed and a resulting two hour long podcast has been produced, examining each of the winners (and some of the losers) in this year's Failed Critics Awards. With Steve Norman absent, it's up to Matt Lambourne to step in and host our final podcast of the year as Owen Hughes runs through who has won what in all eight of the different categories that our listeners have submitted votes in. Accompanying them both are special guests Callum Petch and Phil Sharman, who duke it out in the opening quiz, before laughing/lamenting the choices for: Best soundtrack of 2015 Best documentary Best film not in the English language Best British film Best male performance Best female performance Worst film of 2015 and of course the definitive Top 10 films of the year. Thank you to everybody who spared 5 minutes to send in your picks for each of the above - and thanks to all of you who have downloaded our podcast over the past 12 months. You've made this year the most... &n

Ding dong, merrily high - Steve's pants are wet and minging. Don't worry. He just got a bit over-excited on last week's Star Wars podcast. But before Steve worked himself up into that state, you can listen to his usual mildly-subdued-self as he hosted our Christmas special podcast, recorded the week before he exploded in a fit of fan-geekery over The Force Awakens. Joining him in our festive celebrations during this most unholy Winterval and non-religion-specific season are Owen Hughes, Andrew Brooker and Brian Plank. As is tradition, we start off with a Christmassy quiz - quite possibly the worst quiz we've had on the podcast all year. Possibly ever. But moods are soon lifted as the team run through which Christmas movies they've been watching over the holiday period. In lieu of any main releases to talk about, we have a special triple bill where each member of the crew pick their films of Christmas past (favourite first watch of a non-2015 film during this year), Christmas present (favourite 2015... &