Author Archives: admin

Not Going Out: Christmas Special (2020). Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Lee Mack, Sally Bretton, Bobby Ball, Deborah Grant, Geoffrey Whitehead, Hugh Dennis, Abigail Cruttenden.

We have all been there at some point or another, the forced bonhomie of another party in which we would rather be anywhere else, but because of tradition, because of friendship, because of love, we paint a smile on our face and join in the games, we reminisce about old times and we talk loudly of the good times and plans to be executed in the year to come. The sadness that we feel, the losses we have suffered, the joy that was displaced, is turned on itself, that by Not Going Out, we are placing ourselves in the path of internal review, that the close quarters reveal our inner most thoughts in a way that betray the hopes of the clock ticking down to the inevitable zero.

Not Going Out: Christmas Special (2020). Television Review. full post

(499 words, estimated 2:0 mins reading time)

Black Narcissus. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision 7/10

Cast: Gemma Arterton. Aisling Franciosi, Nila Aalia, Patst Ferran, Rosie Cavaliero, Gianni Gonsalves, Soumil Malla, Alessandro Nirvola, Wayne Llewellyn, Dipika Kunwar, Chaneil Kular, Jim Broadbent, Diana Rigg, Aahish Shrestha, Gina McKee, Prabal Sonam Ghising, Komal Ghambole, Kulvinder Ghir, Charlie Maher, Karen Bryson, Lauren Okadigbo, Sabin Basnet.

Black Narcissus. Television Review. full post

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

Tin Star: Liverpool. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Tim Roth, Genevieve O’Reilly, Abigail Lawrie, Tanya Moodie, Kerrie Hayes, Joanne Whalley, Ian Hart, Neve McIntosh, Andrew Schofield, Neil Fitzmaurice, Lindzi Germain, Michael Starke, John McGrellis, Emma Bispham, Leanne Best, Percelle Ascot, Kaitlyn Akinpelumi, Julia Carlile, Warren Donnelly, Mark Womack.

Every story has a beginning, every action has its initial spur, and the roads taken don’t lead to Rome, nor do they really lead anywhere else…except back to Liverpool, the place which Jung called “The pool of life”, and for Jack, Angela and Anne, Liverpool is the one place where they should never go back to, where the roads are not paved with gold, but with regret, fear, and the damage inflicted.

Tin Star: Liverpool. Television Review. full post

(588 words, estimated 2:21 mins reading time)

Raised By Wolves. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Amanda Collin, Abubakar Salim, Winta McGrath, Travis Fimmel, Niamh Algar, Jordan Loughran, Felix Jamieson, Ethan Hazzard, Aasiya Shah, Ivy Wong, Clayton Evertson, Loulou Taylor, Matias Varela, Susan Danford, Litha Bam, Garth Breytenbach, Anila van Rensburg, Shoko Yoshimura, Jenna Upton, Daniel Lasker, Avumile Qongoo, Nala Khumalo, Chris Fisher, Sienna Hurst, Tristan de Beer, Tanya van Graan, Tarryn Wyngaard, Kabelo Bouga Chalatsane, Cosmo Jarvis, Brendan Sean Murray, Adrian Schiller, Fadzai Simango, Carel Nel.

Raised By Wolves. Television Review. full post

(535 words, estimated 2:08 mins reading time)

Roald And Beatrix: The Tale Of The Curious Mouse. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Dawn French, Harry Tayler, Nina Sosanya, John Hannah, Jessica Hynes, Alison Steadman, Bill Bailey, Nick Mohammed, Rob Brydon, Mollie Holder, Reegan Davies, Rhys Parry Jones, Kevin Bishop, Kimberley Nixon.

It doesn’t matter when it happens, or perhaps even how, but to meet the one person outside of your family to whom your life from that moment is shaped by even the barest, smallest conversation, is a tale to which to inspire others.

Roald And Beatrix: The Tale Of The Curious Mouse. Television Review. full post

(563 words, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)

Cats. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating *

Cast: Francesca Hayward, Idris Elba, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Rebel Wilson, Jennifer Hudson, James Corden, Laurie Davidson, Naoimh Morgan, Danny Collins, Jason Derulo, Robbie Fairchild, Mette Towley, Daniela Norman, Jaih Betote, Larry Bourgeois, Laurent Bourgeois, Jonadette Carpio, Ray Winstone, Steven McRae, Taylor Swift.

There are so many ways in which you can believe you are creating magic on screen, and there are many ways in which that magic can turn sour if the act of hubris is not dealt with, not swallowed to the point where humility can be seen to tread the same boards as the pride you wish to feel; the sense of modesty you wish to convey in your vision.

Cats. Film Review. full post

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

Worzel Gummidge: Saucy Nancy. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Mackenzie Crook, Shirley Henderson, Vanessa Redgrave, Rosie Cavaliero, Steve Pemberton, India Brown, Warrick Brownlow-Pike, Thierry Wickens, Spencer Jones, Brian Blessed, The Unthanks, Daniel Copeland, Youssef Kerkour, Denise Mack, Francesca Mills, Christopher Patrick Nolan, Daniel Page, Jason Pennycooke, Tim Plester.

What was once lost, can often be returned to where it is needed, as long as people are willing enough to care about history and nature.

Worzel Gummidge: Saucy Nancy. Television Review. full post

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

Misbehaviour. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Kiera Knightley, Jessie Buckley, Greg Kinnear, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Loreece Harrison, Suki Waterhouse, Clara Rosager, Lesley Manville, Eileen O’Higgins, Laural Lefkow, Amanda Lawrence, Samuel Blenkin, Nicholas Nunn, Phyllis Logan, Daniel Tiplady, Kajsa Mohammar, John Heffernan, Miles Jupp.

Misbehaviour. Film Review. full post

(498 words, estimated 2:0 mins reading time)

His Dark Materials (Series Two). Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vison Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Dafne Keen, Ruth Wilson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Amir Wilson, Andrew Scott, Kit Connor, Ariyon Bakare, Will Keen, Ruta Gedmintas, Jade Anouka, Sean Gilder, Simone Kirby, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Terence Stamp, Joe Tandberg, Scope Dirisu, Sophie Okenedo, Lindsay Duncan, Jane How, Brian Protheroe, Angus Wright, James McAvoy.

If you are going to be distracted from the on-going torture to which nature and time have placed humanity in 2020, then you should find solace in the fantasy epics being produced; some against some of the most unforeseen pressures to have ever been witnessed by the small screen.

His Dark Materials (Series Two). Television Review. full post

(442 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

Ghosts. 2020 Christmas Special. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Charlotte Ritchie, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Lolly Adefope, Matthew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, Ben Willbond, Katy Wix, Sutara Gayle, Leon Herbert, Samantha Pearl, Timmika Ramsey.

There is a train of thought that the Christmas special of any comedy is meant to be one that goes even further to provide the laughter that we need to put us in the festive mood; like a drug it is there to warp our perception of what the season is actually for, that to be jolly and full of happiness that it makes the year’s end a giddy affair, one of unashamed and continuous enjoyment, that makes the dark evenings one of absolute light.

Ghosts. 2020 Christmas Special. Television Review. full post

(557 words, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)