Author Archives: admin

The City & The City. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: David Morrissey, Mandeep Dhillion, Christian Camargo, Roon Cook, Robert Firth, Lara Pulver, Maria Schrader, Paprika Steen, Danny Webb, Lee Bagley, Cokey Falkow, Michael Moshonov, Amélie Chantrey, Barry Aird, Morfydd Clark, Corey Johnson, Kasia koleczek.

There was once a view point that there were books that just could not be filmed, regardless of cost, the story-line was just too complex or even off the scale in its imagination to hold a television or film audience’s attention, at least not without confusing them and losing interest. View points are subjective, The Lord of the Rings would have been considered impossible, Terry Pratchet’s work would have been consigned to this particular undead realm, and books such Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, and ideas such as Alien would have long been left on the shelf.

The City & The City. Television Review. full post

(475 words, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

Avengers: Infinity War. Film Review.

 

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Josh Brolin, Zoe Saldana, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Pratt, Karen Gillan, Elisabeth Olson, Sebastian Stan, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Idris Elba, Chadwick Boseman, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Pom Klementieff, Danai Gurira, Benico Del Toro, Paul Bettany, Kerry Condon, Bradley Cooper, Carrie Coon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Peter Dinklage, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Mackie, Terry Notary, Winston Duke, Benedict Wong, Don Cheadle, Marija Juliette Abney.

Avengers: Infinity War. Film Review. full post

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

Metallica, The $5.98 E.P: Garage Days Re-Revisited. 2018 Reissue. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When the band were fresh faced and riding on the high of three hugely successful, and later considered dramatically influential, albums, Metallica could do no wrong, they were the epitome of the new breed of American Heavy Metal that had come to teach the cousins on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean that they had had their time in the sun and now was the time for the San Francisco Bay to become the epicentre of this new home, this heavier and demanding sound that struck gracious fear into those that lived and told the tale of the four horsemen of the hammer, anvil and foundry apocalypse.

Metallica, The $5.98 E.P: Garage Days Re-Revisited. 2018 Reissue. E.P. Review. full post

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

Another Berlin Moment.

 

A handshake across the divide, all smiles,

not just for the poised

and focused cameras,

but for the owner of the Korean future,

it means the world

and the world watches on

in astonishment at this symbolic act,

a single step in the right direction,

back and forth the two men go,

the right direction, no matter the influence,

the right step, a holding of hands,

if not of ideals, regardless of the position,

another Berlin Wall moment

in days of endless bad news.

 

Another Berlin Moment. full post

(92 words, estimated 22 secs reading time)

Black Men Walking, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Tyrone Huggins, Trevor Laird, Tonderai Munyevu, Dorcas Sebuyange.

By denying the inalienable truth of the past, we suffer the fools of the future, instead of celebrating the fact, we experience the danger of lies and slurs becoming the norm, it is this misrepresentation of history that brings us the insanity of Presidents and the vileness of certain groups and their unfathomable so called logic, better to admit in the open and let the fools run, that the country we live in, no matter where we live, is made of a history that is more diverse, more beautiful than we understand, that we all walk, we walk in the shadow of our ancestors.

Black Men Walking, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(444 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

Sons Of Mowgli, Wasted Years. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

We have a propensity to squander years and not regret them and yet the minutes in between, the subtly of the clock marching slowly onwards, we find ourselves consumed with appearing busy. The ever watchful eye of those we place above us confirming to us that it is in the here and now that we are forever seeking solace and reassurance, that the years themselves can take care of themselves, for who truly thinks of five or ten years ahead when we don’t even know how we will be looked upon tomorrow.

Sons Of Mowgli, Wasted Years. E.P. Review. full post

(385 words, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)

Penicide.

 

Don’t let it be by the gun, rather a pun,

a word or a thousand in line, revised,

perhaps, but would rather leave each sentence

delivered as the judge requires, laid down law,

mistaking my zest for apathy,

not so,

it is just a work in progress that is over half way passed

and should there be need for an additional

chapter or appendix whipped out

before it bursts into paper shreds, then let the pen decide,

let life be snuffed out by the nib,

Penicide. full post

(111 words, estimated 27 secs reading time)

Lennon’s Banjo, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Eric Potts, Jake Abraham, Mark Moraghan, Lynn Francis, Daniel O’Brien, Stephanie Dooley, Alan Stocks, Roy Carruthers.

Special guest appearance by Pete Best.

Memorabilia is big business, some of it only worth the money to the person that truly wants to covet it, to see it take pride of place in a darkened room and never let anyone ever see it again. The private collector to whom a piano played by Billy Joel, Elton John or Tori Amos is as valuable, if not more so, than keeping the instrument used to create art out of sight of millions; a type of dystopian pleasure, a greed that undeniably stokes the furnaces of ownership but also in which hangs tales of intrigue, of lost items and found loves.

Lennon’s Banjo, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(409 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Lily James, Matthew Goode, Jessica Brown Findlay, Michiel Huisman, Katherine Parkinson, Tom Courtenay, Glen Powell, Penelope Wilton, Bronagh Gallagher, Dilyana Bouklieva, Kit Connor, Marek Oravec, Steve Carroll, Nicola Pasetti, Andy Gathergood, Emily Patrick, Amil Freeman, Tom Owen.

The idyllic can hold a person’s mind entranced, the beauty of the location a veritable feast for the soul and the easy going nature of the locals, disarming, reassuring and pleasurable; yet in any place which holds the attention of the visitor, there is always the unspoken horrors that may have occurred, that may be pushed down so far into the consciousness that resurrect them is more painful than anyone from the outside can believe.

The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society. Film Review. full post

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

The Leisure Seekers. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Helen Mirren, Donald Sutherland, Christian McKay, Janel Moloney, Dana Ivey, Dick Gregory, Leander Suleiman, Ahmed Lucan, Gabriella Cila, David Silverman, Lucy Catherine Haskill, Joshua Hoover, Kirsty Mitchell.

We all have that final dream within us, that if the moment comes when we are told there is no hope, that we fight to make hope ours, we go out of the way to remind people that once upon a time, we were incredible and that we should go out the same way, right to the end and the final breath, we must go out the same way we came into the world, as The Leisure Seekers, of always learning, always striving to improve, of seeing hope as our friend.

The Leisure Seekers. Film Review. full post

(462 words, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)