Failed Critics

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... Owen Hughes has vanished. In his absence, the sinister Steve Norman has risen from the ashes of the Failed Critics Podcast and will not rest until he has reviewed Star Wars: The Force Awakens. With the help of Paul Field and Dave Valentine, Steve leads a brave effort to restore order to the podcast.. OK, enough of that. You get the idea with our opening crawl. It's a Star Wars special episode that celebrates the iconic movie series, from the original trilogy all the way through to JJ Abrams smash hit Episode 7 - The Force Awakens, released in UK cinemas yesterday. As Owen kicked off the podcast this week, it's up to Steve to host on his lonesome, with support from Underground Nights' very own Paul Field, and making his debut on Failed Critics, Dave Valentine. All of whom have been huge fans of the sci-fi fantasy saga from a young age and share their nostalgic experiences and how it may or may not have impacted on their enjoyment of the latest release in...

Apologies for the... un-Christian... language in this week's episode title, but when Steve goes off on one during the podcast recording - as he does this week - it's hard to ignore. For everyone but the Pope, welcome to another episode of the Failed Critics Podcast! It's our last regular episode now until 2016, as Christmas, Star Wars and End of Year specials are the only thing left for us to record in order to see the year out. As ever, this week's episode starts off with a quiz, straight from Steve's bulging sack. Yes, you guessed it! It's Santa themed (that's what you were guessing, right?) and swiftly followed by a look through a few of the winners at the BIFAs. We also make an appeal for votes in this year's Failed Critics Awards! Last year we had record numbers of people submitting their top 10 films of the year to us, and we hope this year that you'll help improve on 2014's total! Voting ends on Sunday 27th December. We also have a lengthy discussion about the relative merits of Star Wars...

We're back to our normal routine today with Steve Norman and Owen Hughes joined by Callum Petch. There's not a single professional comedian amongst them after the first episode of Paul Field and James Mullinger's Underground Nights popped up in your podcast subscription software of choice this past weekend. And what a bumper crop of new release reviews we have in store for you! Four new movies that have hit your cinema screens recently, including: The new Pixar dramedy, The Good Dinosaur; Black Mass, a crime biopic starring Johnny Depp; a film that Callum describes as "perfect" in Carol; and cold war drama Bridge of Spies, the latest Spielberg and Hanks collaboration. All of this plus a bunch of other stuff that we've seen this past week. Callum boldly goes where millions of others have gone before and inducts himself into the Star Trek universe via the original motion picture. Meanwhile, Steve talks us through a post apocalyptic horror like so many more before it with Hidden and rounds up this season of...

Welcome to the premiere episode of Field & Mullinger's Underground Nights, where we’ll be tickling the underbelly of cinema, from Troma & Astron 6 to the much maligned British gangster flick and everything in between. Your hosts James Mullinger and Paul Field kick off with a Canadian Special (not a euphemism) where we discuss our favourite Canadian movies. James tells us why he loves Lost After Dark and explains why he is still buying VHS, whilst Paul shows a lot of love for The Soska Sisters (come on, we all love a Dead Hooker In A Trunk…) We go balls deep into WolfCop as we’re joined by the director Lowell Dean who shares his passion for Canadian cinema and offers a veritable feast of WolfCop news & insight - including some exclusive WolfCop 2 news! There’s even time to finish up with a new release review, where we look at the controversial LOVE 3D from notorious French auteur Gaspar Noé. Obviously that flies off at a tangent so acute we end up on a jolly jape concerning Fred and the stash of

May the odds be ever in your favour as Steve Norman, Owen Hughes, Callum Petch and Chris Haigh volunteer themselves as tributes for this Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 themed episode of the Failed Critics Podcast. We've got a young-adult adaptation inspired quiz to kick things off before covering news on: the latest sci-fi fantasy remake to get its own Hunger Games style franchise; Wonder Woman finally having an announced cast; and ask if it's right that cinema chains should ban the showing of an advert created by the Church of England. All of this, plus a review of the final movie in the Hunger Games series and a special triple bill, where the Failed Critics are assigned an individual actor from the movies and each pick their three favourite movies of that particular actor. Join us again next week as Steve, Owen and Callum return for reviews of Bridge of Spies, The Good Dinosaur and Black Mass.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Bonjour, guten tag, konnichiwa, hola, namaste, aloha, salve, an-nyong, olá, goddag, ahalan, shalom, nei ho... and hello! Welcome to this week's Failed Critics Podcast as Owen and Steve take a break from reviewing new releases (sort of) to draft in special guests and world cinema aficionados (and podcast débutantes), Andy and Liam. Whilst it may be the first time on Failed Critics for the cultured duo, this episode does see the return of a feature from earlier this year called 'Listener Questions'. Through our Twitter and Facebook pages, we invited listeners and previous podcast guests to send in any question at all that they wanted to ask us - and they did! We've done our best to answer as many as we could but as ever, it's all a bit shambolic from the get go! There's also reviews of some lesser known movies from around the world; from the Danish black comedy starring Mads Mikkelsen called Green Butchers, to the charming Spanish animation Nocturna, via a stop over in Romania for some tasteful holocaust...

Everybody, raise your right hand and say it with me: On my honour, I promise that I will do my best To do my duty to Owen and to Steve, To help other people And to keep the Failed Critics Podcast on my iTunes subscription list at all times. You may lower your hand so that you can press play now and listen to your hosts Steve Norman and Owen Hughes, with their special guest Brian Plank, play a game of 20 Questions around the camp fire, stay up late talking about movies (such as He Named Me Malala, Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse and Kill Your Friends) and scare Brian by telling him ghost stories. Well, Steve tells a ghost story of sorts with a review of Housebound, a horror film from New Zealand (not Australia). Owen finds possibly the worst Bruce Willis movie ever made in Hudson Hawk, whilst Brian - still recovering from the shock - talks about indie documentary King of Kong. There's time before all of that for the group to sing a rendition of Kumbaya - but unfortunately the mic wasn't plugged... &#

Never let it be said that the Failed Critics are afraid to try anything new. I mean, it's only taken us 192 episodes to finally getting around to doing a film commentary. Andrew Brooker and Matt Lambourne joined hosts Steve Norman and Owen Hughes for this special episode as together they watch and share their thoughts, opinions, anecdotes and stories about 1999's pioneering indie found footage horror, The Blair Witch Project, co-written and co-directed by Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick. As the four failed critics gathered for their unholy ceremony, only Owen knew which film they were going to be watching that night. If you listen closely when it's revealed, you can hear the lamentations of Brooker who hates the film, the rustle of a jumper as Steve's shrugging shoulders indicate he has no opinion either way, and then Matt jumps for joy as he prepares to shit himself at one of the scariest films ever made. The film was streamed via Netflix UK, so if you want to watch the film underneath our commentary...

The name's Critics. Failed Critics. Should you expect us to die during our James Bond special episode? No, you should expect us to talk! And that's exactly what we do for about 90 minutes, as hosts Steve Norman and Owen Hughes are joined by special guests Tony Black (from Pick A Flick) and Brian Plank. The main review this week is of course the latest adventures of Britain's (worst kept) secret agent in SPECTRE. Sam Mendes is back in the director's seat after his record breaking success with Skyfall, and Daniel Craig faces yet more peril with the rise of a shady organisation threatening the safety of the British people. To tie into the release of SPECTRE, we have a miniature version of our Corridor of Praise episodes as we induct 007 himself. Starting with Ian Fleming's original novels, right through to Daniel Craig emerging from the sea in Speedos, we cover the character's history from beginning to the modern day. There's also time for us to squeeze in Owen's review of the Columbo TV movie that Steve... &

All of you that have never listened before and have seen your family die [from laughing], huh, you now have something that stands for you! That would be the Failed Critics Podcast: Halloween special. OK, so it is a couple of weeks early, but think of all that extra time we've given you to source the incredible horror movies from a whole host of different decades that we discuss during our spooktacular (urrgghhhh sorry) triple bill. With picks by hosts Steve Norman and Owen Hughes, and guests Carole Petts and Phil Sharman, there's plenty for you sink your fangs into (aahhhhhh sorry sorry sorry). Before all that, we begin as we always do - with a quiz! Steve is in control of the questions and still 2-1 up after last week's disaster (get it?) leaving Owen teetering on the edge of being handed a potentially diabolical booby prize should he be unable to prevent a joint Carole and Phil triumph. Perhaps regardless of whatever film might await either Owen or Steve, nothing could truly be more distressing than... &#

In this episode of the Failed Critics Podcast, hosts Steve Norman and Owen Hughes are joined by guests Andrew Brooker and Callum Petch to take a look over the latest film releases, review what else they've been watching in the past seven days, and to cast their beady eyes over recent news. With the score tightly poised at 1-1, Steve's ground breaking, Earth shattering, cataclysmic quiz kicks off this week's episode, swiftly followed by some news close to home [INSERT 'NEW WEBSITE' KLAXON] and some a whole (cinematic) universe away. The team also discuss the trailers for the first ever Netflix original movie, Beasts of No Nation, as well as the upcoming Coen Brothers film, Hail, Caesar!. We also feature a look back at The Never Ending Story, a look ahead to Hotel Transylvania 2, and a look... now... at the Fright Night remake. Callum retains his dignity when Owen and Steve shrug in unison at Sicario, before delving into some returning TV shows, including The Walking Dead, American Horror Story and... &nb

Is this a dagger I see before me? No, it's just this week's triple bill edition of the Failed Critics podcast! Acclaimed Glaswegian author Escobar Walker debuts alongside noted-neds and podcast regulars Steve Norman, Owen Hughes and Paul Field, to review the Scottish play-turned-movie Macbeth and to each pick their three favourite films from north of the border. We kick things off as we always do with a quiz,one that is - yes, you guessed it - Scottish themed. Before that though, we have a short pre-credits intro that should give you an insight into just how depraved and filthy the combined minds of Paul and Esco can get. You have been warned. With no other new releases to review this week, and no 'what we've been watching' section, we devote more time to our review of Macbeth than Paul spent awake during his entire short cinema trip to watch director Justin Kurzel's big-screen Shakespearean adaptation. To wrap things up the team share their three favourite Scottish movies. Alas, this might be a... &

Hello and welcome to this week's Failed Critics Podcast, released slightly earlier than usual to try and push it out just before the end of International Podcast today (that's today for the next couple of minutes, anyway!) As such, we recommend you check out our fellow podcast comrades Wikishuffle, Black Hole Cinema and Diamond & Human; all of whom are deserving of your time during your commute or whilst boiling the spuds, or whatever you do whilst you're listening to us. Joining Mexican assassin Steve Norman and intergalactic failed critic Owen Hughes for this week's episode is Andrew Brooker, undertaking his unpaid work placement, as they review three new releases. They're so new, in fact, that they are not even out in the UK yet! First up, Owen reviews new Ridley Scott sci-fi The Martian (which doesn't feature any aliens - xenomorphs or otherwise) before Brooker seethes over the new Anne Hathaway / Robert De Niro comedy The Intern. There's even room for a review of the much anticipated crime-thriller..

Welcome to another episode of the Failed Critics Podcast. As promised, Steve Norman is back in the host's chair this week as the award winning duo of Jack and Phil from Wikishuffle depart to be replaced by Matt Lambourne from the award winning video-game podcast Retro Asylum, such is the quality of guest on our shows these days! As ever, they are both joined by Owen Hughes for this week's triple bill episode, where each member of the team pick three films made for one million dollars or less in a bid to prove that the quality of a movie is not always dependent on its budget. Before all of that, the guys also take a look at the Primetime Emmy Award winners announced this past weekend and indulge themselves with the final round of our ongoing quiz - which, for once, isn't as shambolic as you might expect! There's also time for: Steve to tackle Everest, starring Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal and Josh Brolin amongst others; Matt blows the dust out of his Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie cartridge;...

Do you want to hear a magic trick? How many C's are there in Failed Critics? Answer: Four! Specifically, Owen Hughes, Phil Sharman, Andrew Brooker and special guest host, Jack Stewart. I will leave it to your imagination to work out what the 'C' stands for... ...All right, it was 'critics', of course! Failed ones, but what else could I have possibly meant..? Unfortunately there's no Steve Norman on this week's episode, but the award winning duo of Phil and Jack from the comedy podcast Wikishuffle join Owen and Brooker to review two new releases. Whilst Phil prepares a rant on M. Night Shyamalan's latest twisty-turny-twist-again-turn-again horror The Visit, the group also review British gangster movie Legend, starring Tom Hardy as Ronnie Cray and Tom Hardy as Reggie Kray. Also on the podcast: Brooker walks the line with Oscar winning documentary Man On Wire; Phil tentatively recommends Jonathan King’s (yes, that one) self-produced Vile Pervert: The Musical; and Owen shouts from the stands about indie... &#

Welcome to another edition of the Failed Critics podcast. This week, hosts Steve Norman and Owen Hughes are joined by Paul Field (making his first appearance since the Corridor of Praise: Danny Dyer episode) and Phil Sharman, one third of the award nominated comedy podcast Wikishuffle. On top of the news about Danny Boyle confirming production will begin on Trainspotting 2, there are two new release films reviewed by the team this week; Nima Nourizadeh's stoner comedy American Ultra, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, and the Statham-less Statham-vehicle Transp4ter (...no? AKA The Transporter Refueled.) As well as the new releases, Owen discusses the documentary Welcome to Leith (which is screening this week at the Cambridge Film Festival) with Paul, who also reviews Fort Tilden. Phil rewatches a recent favourite in The Adjustment Bureau and Steve follows up on a discussion from last week's FrightFest summary by checking out Australian pre-post-apocalyptic thriller These Final Hours. Fans of... &

You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge as four white boys from the UK discuss N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton on this week's Failed Critics Podcast. Joining crazy mother-flipper Steve Norman and another crazy arsed bad mother-flipper Owen Hughes on our latest episode is Andrew Brooker, a dangerous mother-flipper raising hell, and controlling the automatic is Mike Shawcross. We're not entirely as gangster as you might expect, believe it or not, as we kick off the podcast with a quiz and a short tribute to Wes Craven. We manage to express ourselves in a more dignified manner befitting four dudes sat around in their pants on Skype, late on a Tuesday night, during reviews of video-game adaptation Hitman: Agent 47, Nic Cage thriller Joe and James Cullen Bressack's indie-horror To Jennifer. On top of all that, we have a round-up of the good, the bad and the ugly that came out of this year's Film4 FrightFest. Get your notepad and pen ready as Mike reveals everything you should be...

What else are you going to do on a Wednesday morning? Sit in your fucking armchair, listening to Kermode & Mayo's Film Review? Then go and spunk your wages on Twilight DVDs and merchandise? Fuck that for a laugh. We know what we'd rather do! An entire podcast dedicated to Danny Dyer. Love it! That's right. In this episode, the Failed Critics will be honouring the work of Britain's most unappreciated actor, Danny Dyer, by inducting him into our illustrious Corridor of Praise and dedicating a special one-off two-hour long episode to discussion about his career and influence. Luckily, Steve Norman and Owen Hughes don't have to do this on their own and are joined by some very special guests this week. We were accompanied by both Failed Critics regular Paul Field, who has recently re-watched Dyer's entire filmography, and the hilarious professional stand-up comedian James Mullinger, co-author of the book 'The Films of Danny Dyer' - and co-star of Dyer's in the 2013 revenge thriller Vendetta! Together, we tak

Steve Norman? Here. Owen Hughes? Here. Callum Petch? Here. Now that the register has been taken, the latest Failed Critics Podcast may commence. Please take your seats, spit your chewing gum in the bin and we'll start this week's quiz and hear Owen's reaction to Steve's choice of film for winning last week with the sports documentary Next Goal Wins. We also have a triple bill where the team each pick three films set in a place of learning - and that's all the criteria they were given! It really is as broad as that. Good? Bad? Overrated? Underrated? Obscure? Well known? You'll have to listen to find out what they pick. We also have reviews of new releases Trainwreck (reviewed by Brooker on the website), The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (er, also reviewed by Brooker) and Pixels. I say "review" of Pixels, but it was more like an uncontrollable rant by Callum. Join us next week for the next entry to our Corridor of Praise, the inevitable induction of Danny Dyer! Where we'll be joined by Paul Field and one or two...

On an audio-pod adventure, they got hit by cosmic rays. And the four would change forever, in some most fantastic ways! Oh, Steve Norman is sarcastic, Brian Plank's unusually polite. Carole is obsessed with Bill Murray, and Owen's opinions are a crock of shite. Call for Four... Failedastic Four! Yes, that's right listeners. This week's main release review is the not particularly well received [ahem] latest superhero film from Josh Trank, Fantastic Four. Or Fantfourstic if you're going to take the poster literally (and we do.) We try to work out what exactly didn't work and why it didn't work with our special guests Carole Petts and Brian Plank, both of whom contributed to the Avengers Assemble and The Incredible Hulk episodes respectively in our Avengers Minisodes series from earlier in the year. Staying with the comicbook theme, the team also take a look at the divisive Deadpool trailer that officially launched last week and react to the news that Bill Murray will be cameoing in the new Ghostbusters...