Tag Archives: Kenneth Branagh

A Haunting In Venice. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Tina Fey, Kelly Reilly, Jamie Dornan, Michelle Yeoh, Riccardo Scamarcio, Dylan Corbett-Bader, Amir El-Masry, Ferando Piloni, Lorenzo Acquaviva, David Menkin, Camille Cottin, Jude Hill, Rowen Robinson, Emma Laird, Vanessa Ifediora, Kyle Allen, Ali Khan, Esther Rae Tillotson, Winnie Soldi.

Agatha Christie is the queen of crime, but even those of literary royal blood must admit that there is a period of time in their career that just doesn’t align itself to any other; and the longer the reign, the more likely it is to be at the final curtain that the illumination starts to fade; literature aping real life as the spell can be, hopefully not broken, but perhaps witnessed for what it is; a last hurrah of a genius mind.

A Haunting In Venice. Film Review. full post

(549 words, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

Oppenheimer. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Alden Ehrenreich, Scott Grimes, Jason Clarke, Florence Pugh, Dane DeHaan, Kurt Koehler, Tony Goldwyn, John Gowans, Macon Blair, James D’Arcy, Kenneth Branagh, Harry Groener, Gregory Jbara, Ted King, Tim DeKay, Steven Houska, Tom Conti, David Krumholtz, Matthais Schweighöfer, Josh Hartnett, Alex Wolff, Josh Zuckerman, Rami Malek, Gary Oldman, Hap Lawrence, Matthew Modine, Louise Lombard, Matt Damon, Jack Quaid, David Dastmaichian.

Oppenheimer. Film Review. full post

(629 words, estimated 2:31 mins reading time)

Death On The Nile. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Armie Hammer, Gal Gadot, Tom Bateman, Annette Bening, Rose Leslie, Letitia Wright, Sophie Okonedu, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Russell Brand, Emma Mackey, Michael Rouse, Alaa Safi, Orlando Seale, Charlie Verhaeren, Susannah Fielding, Rick Warden, Ali Fazal.

It could be argued that we may have reached peak Christie.

The Queen of Crime has not lost any of the affection on the fans, the books will always sell, the dedicated devotee will pour over even the shortest of articles that has Agatha Christie’s name attached, even if by the merest of association, they will believe that there is somewhere a story, a tale in which perhaps one more exercise in observing the act of criminality and murder will make itself known.

Death On The Nile. Film Review. full post

(459 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

All Is True, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Lydia Wilson, John Dagleish, Kathryn Wilder, Sam Ellis, Alex MacQueen, Jack Colgrave Hirst, Margaret Wheeler, Gerard Horan, Doug Colling, Lolita Chacrabarti, Philip Dunster, Freya Durkan, Flora Easton, Matt Jessup, Sabi Perez, Michael Rouse, Kate Tydman.

It is a beautiful story and one that will break the heart of anyone with half a romantic soul in their body and yet like all beautiful whispers that we seek to take advantage of by seemingly learning something of the poet’s soul, fiction, that forgiving beast of bounty, leads to a comedy of inaccuracies and yet we still pursue it as if it were a fair maiden covered in buttercup petals or a rueful youth displaying muscles and brawn on the beach.

All Is True, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T, Liverpool. full post

(507 words, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

Upstart Crow: A Crow Christmas Carol. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: David Mitchell, Kenneth Branagh, Liza Tarbuck, Tim Downie, Harry Enfield, Gemma Whelen, Lily Cole, Dominic Coleman, Jocelyn Jee Esien, Mark Heap, Rob Rouse, Steven Speirs, Spencer Jones, Helen Monks, Paula Wilcox, Rosanna Beacock, Hannah-Jane Fox, Karl Theobald, Luka Petrovic.

Words, songs, and inspiration hang in ether waiting for the right ear in which to discern their meaning, what though a clever mind can deduce is sometimes another soul will mark them with greater solemnity, the time is not always right – and the words are heeded, but allowed with great wishes and understanding to find another home in which to be born, another time in which the need is nobler, the suffering of the people more acute.

Upstart Crow: A Crow Christmas Carol. Television Review. full post

(504 words, estimated 2:01 mins reading time)

Murder On The Orient Express (2017). Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Penelope Cruz, Willem Defoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Daisy Ridley, Marwan Kenzari, Olivia Colman, Lucy Boynton, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Sergei Polunin, Tom Bateman, Miranda Raison, Paapa Essiedu, Michael Rouse, Joseph Long, Elliot Levey, David Annen, Kathryn Wilder, Phil Dunster.

It is a story that evokes images that many of us will never see, never experience and one that captures the raw cold hate of many emotions, as well as the beauty of the scenery that is on offer as one of the most famous pieces of engineering takes its passengers through Europe.

Murder On The Orient Express (2017). Film Review. full post

(492 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

Wallander: The Troubled Man. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Terrance Hardiman, Christopher Fairbank, John Lightbody, Jeany Spark, Boel Larrsson, Ann Bell, Simon Chandler, Barnaby Kay, Richard McCabe, Joe Clafin, Harry Hadden-Paton, Garrick Hagon, Nimmy Marsh, Michael Byrne, Sandra Redlaff, Colette O’ Neill, Anton Saunders, David Warner.

You can always trust Kenneth Branagh to pull one special moment out of the bag in whatever venture he is doing, time and time again the actor just seemingly, like a highly rated magician, leaves the audience gasping at the truth he wears behind the character’s mask. From his work promoting Shakespeare, through to the brilliant Shackleton and to his latest venture Wallander, Kenneth Branagh has given everything for the stage and screen.

Wallander: The Troubled Man. Television Review. full post

(490 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

Wallander, A Lesson In Love. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Jeany Spark, Clive Wood, Kitty Peterkin, Harry Hadden-Paton, Terrance Hardiman, Barnaby Kay, Karen Gledhill, Joe Claflin, Cecile Anckarsvard, Richard McCabe, Marie Critchley, Glenn Doherty, Hugh Mitchell, Thomas Coombes, Felicia Womack, Miranda Pleasence, John Lightbody, Boel Larsson, Ann Bell, Marlene Sidaway, Mia Goth, Robin Gott.

There is a demon that stalks all of us, it will eventually claim us all at one time or another and as it sits waiting patiently for us to succumb, the only question worth asking is what form will it take?

Wallander, A Lesson In Love. Television Review. full post

(426 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)