Tag Archives: Adrian Scarborough

Killing Eve: Series Two. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Sandra Oh, Jodie Comer, Fiona Shaw, Kim Bodnia, Owen McDonnell, Sean Delaney, Edward Bluemel, Henry Lloyd-Hughes Nina Sosanya, Adrian Scarborough, Jung Sun den Hollander, Emma Pierson, Adeel Akhtar, Shannon Tarbet, Zoe Wanamaker, Nickolas Grace, Julian Barratt, Nigel Betts, Barbara Flynn.

A new television serial might be a hit with viewers from the start, the initial rush of congratulations could well be deserved, but there is always a nagging doubt that it is born of quick sensationalism, rather than the embrace of complexity, a character who titillates rather than nourishes, and whilst in a modern world there is no problem with the idea of shock tactics to win over an audience, it can leave others feeling cold, numb to the pressure to enjoy.

Killing Eve: Series Two. Television Review. full post

(514 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

Christopher Robin. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Ewan McGregor, Hayley Atwell, Bronte Carmichael, Mark Gatiss, Oliver Ford Davies, Ronke Adekoluejo, Adrian Scarborough, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Ken Nwosu, John Dagleish, Amanda Lawrence, Katy Carmichael, Orton O’ Brien, Tristan Sturrock, Jasmine-Simone Charles, Paul Chahidi, Simon Farnaby, Mackenzie Crook, Jim Cummings, Brad Garrett, Nick Mohammed, Peter Capaldi, Sophie Okonedo, Sara Sheen, Toby Jones.

It is, with hindsight, easy to suggest that humanity in the 20th Century lost its way, that we as a collected species lost our wonder and our innocence to a new way of thinking, a rational that arguably had its genesis in the self-imposed, stiff upper lipped facade philosophy created by the Victorians and to which even now has eaten away at our ability to forget the dreams we had as children and the wondrous stories we could weave.

Christopher Robin. Film Review. full post

(556 words, estimated 2:13 mins reading time)

A Very English Scandal. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Hugh Grant, Ben Whishaw, Alex Jennings, Patricia Thorpe, Naomi Battrick, Jason Watkins, Alice Orr-Ewing, Monica Dolan, Blake Harrison, Michelle Dotrice, Eve Myles, David Bamber, Jonathan Hyde, Rhys Parry-Jones, Dyfan Dwfor, Lucy Briggs-Owen, Susan Woolridge, Peter Gardiner, Michael Culkin, Paul Freeman, Adrian Scarborough.

The Establishment has a way of winning every war it comes across, no scandal it seems is big enough to truly able to topple a Government, no outrage large enough to permanently harm the elected body that are there to supposedly look after the nation, its interests and its people; it is not the done thing and no matter who gets hurt, or whose reputation comes under fire, the party, the machine, the leadership continues, even if the face changes.

A Very English Scandal. Television Review. full post

(520 words, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

On Chesil Beach, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Billy Howle, Emily Watson, Samuel West, Anne-Marie Duff, Adrian Scarborough, Rasmus Hardiker, Bebe Cave, Jonjo O’Neill.

Time and sensitivity are not natural bed fellows, neither is truly mature enough to handle each other’s whims, demands or spoilt child like behaviour when the going gets tough; it takes a writer of delicate persuasion in which to capture the beauty in heartache and the sudden fall of a relationship which had been so clear before.

On Chesil Beach, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(437 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Little Women (2017). Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Emily Watson, Maya Hawke, Willa Fitzgerald, Kathryn Newton, Annes Elwy, Jonah Hauer-King, Julian Morris, Dylan Baker, Michael Gambon, Adrian Scarborough, Angela Lansbury, Eleanor Methven, Mark Stanley, Kathleen Warner Yates, Amelia Crowley, Ann Skelly, India Mullen, Amy Wren, Max Curnin, Erin Galway-Kendrick, Leah Temple-Lang, John Colleary, Nick Dunning, Nelly Henrion, Felix Mckenzie-Barrow, Mei Bignall, Patrick Flannery, Fode Simbo, Richard Pepple, Aleah Lennon, Will O’Connell.

Little Women (2017). Television Review. full post

(494 words, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

Maigret: Maigret In Montmartre. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Rowan Atkinson, Shaun Dingwall, Lucy Cohu, Lorraine Ashbourne, Cassie Clare, Sebastian De Souza, Simon Gregor, Mark Heap, Douglas Hodge, Sara Kestelman, Nike Kurta, Colin Mace, Gyula Mesterhazy, Adrian Scarborough, Hugh Simon, Nicola Sloane, Leo Starr, Olivia Vinall, Tilly Vosburgh, Jane Wood.

There may be murders in the Rue Morgue but then Paris, under the watchful eye of renowned Detective Maigret has always had its share of acts of homicide in which to fear the mist that rises off the Seine and through the artistic expression of Europe’s most romantic city. It is love that spurs on more murders than hate so it seems in detective fiction and in Maigret in Montmartre, that love is heightened, corrupted and put to the test of what even Jules Maigret can possibly solve.

Maigret: Maigret In Montmartre. Television Review. full post

(521 words, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

Midsomer Murders: A Dying Art. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Gwilym Lee, Fiona Dolman, Manjinder Virk, David Bamber, Jolyon Coy, David Gant, John Hollingworth, Cara Horgan, Dennis Lill, Cherie Lunghi, Saskia Reeves, Adrian Scarborough, Cat Simmons, Ramon Tikaram, Michael Wildman.

There is always a deep meaning to art that might not be first gleaned upon by the layman or the average discerning follower of artistic fashion, just as there is always a hidden motive and significance to murder. Both schools of interpretation look deeply and find sense where they must, both offer value and worth to human understanding and yet murder never imitates art but art is playful in its appreciation of the blackest of all deeds.

Midsomer Murders: A Dying Art. Television Review. full post

(412 words, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

A Little Chaos, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Kate Winslet, Stanley Tucci, Jennifer Ehle, Alan Rickman, Helen McCrory, Matthias Schoenaerts, Steven Waddington, Danny Webb, Adrian Schiller, Adrian Scarborough, Pauline Moran, Phyllida Law, Morgan Watkins, Henry Garrett, Alistair Petrie, Adam James.

There are films in which the abundance of talent on offer simply overwhelms the story line, the procession of acting nobility so engulfing, so crushing, that the film dies a thousand scripted deaths; it never truly lives up to the dignity envisioned off screen and the grace offered in the initial stages of casting. Thankfully this is not the issue when it comes to A Little Chaos.

A Little Chaos, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(606 words, estimated 2:25 mins reading time)

Darkside, Radio Review. B.B.C. Radio 2.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Iwan Rheon, Amaka Okafor, Rufus Sewell, Bill Nighy, Adrian Scarborough, Peter Marinker, Robert Blythe, Ben Crowe, Philippa Stanton.

Tom Stoppard’s pedigree goes before him, he is arguably one of the most prolific and important playwrights of the latter half of the 20th Century and his work has continued to be a source of inspiration and keenly watched and listened to. The idea though that he would come up with an original play that delved deep into the mindset of British Progressive Rock Kings Pink Floyd and their seminal 1973 best-selling album Dark Side of the Moon could be seen by some, if not many, as a voyage of linguistic artistry too far. However if anyone can do justice to the opus that revolves around madness then Tom Stoppard perhaps is one of the finest to even attempt it the daunting process.

Darkside, Radio Review. B.B.C. Radio 2. full post

(516 words, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

Les Miserables, Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfreid, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit, Samantha Barks, Daniel Huttlestone, Cavin Cornwall, Josef Altin, Dave Hawley, John Barr, Adrian Scarborough, Isabelle Allen.

Surely there is no way that one of the most intriguing theatrical productions of its time can transfer all its intensity, all of its enthusiasm and guile to the cinematic screen without losing any of its radical thought or scope. Many producers have tried and not many have ever matched the experience that you get when you are as deeply involved with the tale as you are when you embroiled deep within the production as a passionate observer, however with Cameron Mackintosh at the helm and Tom Hooper as director, there is no way Les Miserables can fail.

Les Miserables, Film Review. full post

(455 words, 1 image, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)