389 episodes listed below
Film chat with sharp elbows and warm edges.
Failed Critics mixes film reviews with catch-up banter, Star Wars quizzes, triple bills, and what-the-panel-has-been-watching detours. It suits movie fans who like opinions tested aloud rather than polished into neat press-blurb verdicts.
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Failed Critics is film criticism with the table left messy. The podcast runs on panel chemistry, tangents, and the kind of opinions that sound as if they are being stress-tested in real time. It can open with a Star Wars quiz, a joke about bad weather, or a quick admission that nobody is quite sure how formal the episode is meant to be. Then the conversation usually finds its shape. Reviews sit alongside triple bills, what-the-panel-has-been-watching sections, spoiler discussions, and the occasional side route into television, sport, local news, or podcast housekeeping. The film coverage ranges across new releases, older watches, television, and Sunday-night comfort watches. That spread matters. Failed Critics is as interested in ordinary viewing life as it is in grand cinematic judgment. The panel talks about what films do well, what they waste, and what kind of mood they fit, often with a brisk refusal to pretend that every release needs a historic verdict. Some films are excellent. Some are merely fine. Some are the sort of thing that passes dinner pleasantly and then disappears from memory. The show has a particular knack for making those middle verdicts entertaining, because the reasoning is social rather than sterile. People disagree, clarify, correct, and wander off into production trivia, streaming availability, cinema pricing, physical media, awards politics, or the odd annoyance of buying something digitally and losing the service later. The humour is dry and informal, with enough bite to keep the conversation awake. It also carries the feeling of old collaborators dropping back into a rhythm after time away. Episodes from later revivals openly acknowledge the gap since 2019, the move to a new home, and the strange pleasure of getting the voices back together. That self-awareness keeps the nostalgia from becoming too tidy. Failed Critics is best for film fans who want robust pub-table criticism: knowledgeable enough to have standards, relaxed enough to admit when a movie is just a decent way to spend 90 minutes.
Made for: For film and TV fans who enjoy conversational reviews, spoiler chats, quizzes, and tangents about how people actually watch things. It especially suits listeners who prefer lively panel disagreement over polished critical monologues.
What sets it apart: Failed Critics stands out through its long-running rapport and its willingness to let digressions become part of the review. The panel judges films as cultural objects and as ordinary viewing choices, from awards films to dinner-friendly six-out-of-ten releases.
Failed Critics is home to the slightly shambolic weekly film podcast, where each week we review new theatrical releases, as well as revisit classics (and not-so-classics), trawl through film news, and even chat with the odd special guest. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Candid group debate connects film craft, franchise knowledge and the practical business of deciding what deserves another watch.
Failed Critics turns film criticism into an open, argumentative conversation, with Steve Norman and Owen Hughes steering discussions alongside contributors including Paul Field, Dave Valentine and Andrew Brooker.
A Star Wars quiz leads to Chewbacca character notes; your post-film debrief has found its people.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Steve Norman and Owen Hughes plan a film triple bill, then talk about The Favourite and the Oscars.
A day off and post-operation boredom bring Steve Norman and Owen Hughes together for a one-off Failed Critics podcast. Their plan is a triple bill of films seen in 2019: a new release, a first-time watch and one to avoid.
A loose screen chat finds sharp edges in cinema chains, I, Daniel Blake, and The Walking Dead's Negan.
Failed Critics has an easy, fast-moving shape as Steve Norman, Owen Hughes, and Tony Black shift from jokes about internet blocking and Theresa May's laws around explicit content into a cinema-chain complaint, then on to I, Daniel Blake and The Walking Dead's Negan.
Owen and Paul turn Arsenal-Leicester, Atomic Blonde and their own bad English into a loose sports-and-culture hangout.
Front Row with Owen and Paul starts by laughing at itself, as the hosts admit their introductions and English have gone off course before easing into Atomic Blonde, local news, Premier League talk and the World Athletics Championships.
Mike Muncer and a different guest dissect two horror films per episode, by subgenre.
Owen and Paul open with a deliberately clumsy intro, then move into Paul’s review of Atomic Blonde, which he places in 1989 Berlin with Charlize Theron playing an MI6 agent chasing a stolen list of double agents.
A weekly film podcast reviewing new releases and revisiting classics with humorous commentary.
A weekly film podcast where hosts review new releases, revisit classics, and play a quiz about animated adaptations.
A weekly film podcast where hosts review new releases, revisit classics, and engage in film trivia.
Failed Critics Podcast: Unremarkable Gits and Where to Find Them opens with Steve Norman, Owen Hughes, and Tony Black trading quiz answers about Eddie Redmayne, Idris Elba, Henry Cavill, Keira Knightley, and Orlando Bloom in Doctors, Silent Witness, The Bill, Casualty, and Midsomer Murders.
Failed Critics hosts Steve Norman and Owen Hughes return after a years-long hiatus—their last recording was 2019—for a casual episode covering a film working-title quiz (Steve scores 2 out of 5), recent watches, and a Triple Bill of TV shows that should become films.
Failed Critics returns with three hosts—Steve Norman, Owen Hughes, and Andrew Brooker—after a hiatus since 2019, on the approximate 10-year anniversary of the podcast's 2012 debut, for a quiz, recent watches, and a new release review.
Steve Norman and Owen Hughes use a 2019 film triple bill to discuss The Favourite, Triple Frontier, Misery, Cargo, and Sleepwalkers.
Steve Norman, Paul Field, and Dave Valentine spend the opening section on a "traditional Star Wars quiz" about Han Solo auditions, the Jedi Council's 12 members, and the last words in "Empire." They then review "Solo: A Star Wars Story" as a Disney-era origin story for Han Solo, Chewbacca, Lando, the Millennium Falcon, and the Kessel Run.
A weekly film podcast where hosts review new releases, revisit classics, and discuss film news with a humorous, shambolic tone.