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Doctor Who: Philip Hinchcliffe Presents… The Ghosts of Gralstead. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, Carolyn Seymour, Gethin Anthony, Martin Hutson, Emerald O’ Hanrahan, Alan Cox, Ivanno Jeremiah, Andy Secombe, Sean Carlsen, Andrew French, Mandi Symonds.

The fourth Doctor was arguably never better than when thrust into the tale of the Gothic persuasion. It was a running theme throughout his tenure in the shoes of the Timelord that the Gothic, in one shape or another would feature heavily and the macabre would be accompanying with relish.

Doctor Who: Philip Hinchcliffe Presents… The Ghosts of Gralstead. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish. full post

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

Natalie McCool, Pins. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Unlike an album which always gave the impression of being an event that was tantalisingly months out of reach, the single seemed to come around with near frightening regularity.

There was a heyday, an apparently glorious period of time which the single was lauded as the high point of the week for many, the chance to go out on a Monday morning, perhaps be late for the first part of school, but knowing the language that spoke from within the seven inch vinyl were engrained much more in your head than the imagined words of fools.

Natalie McCool, Pins. Single Review. full post

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

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Saturday Supplement. An Interview With Paul Dunbar Of The Midnight Ramble.

The Unity Theatre in Liverpool has long been a home for the adventurous and the glorious. It has been and will hopefully always be the place in which the avant-garde shakes hands with the rebellious and in which the seditious, defiant revolutions can start.

These revolutions may be small, they may be missed by the greater good and the world in general but they take place none the less and alongside the plays and productions that take place within its two theatre spaces and even a nod to Kerouac having been filmed within its walls, it is music that carries the revolution nod gently along.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Saturday Supplement. An Interview With Paul Dunbar Of The Midnight Ramble. full post

(1622 words, estimated 6:29 mins reading time)

Inherent Vice, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Joanna Newsom, Katherine Waterston, Josh Brolin, Reece Witherspoon,  Jordan Christian Hearn, Taylor Bonin, Jeannie Berlin, Eric Roberts, Serena Scott Thomas, Maya Rudolph, Martin Dew, Michael Kenneth Williams, Hong Chau, Shannon Collis, Benicio Del Toro, Owen Wilson, Martin Short, Sasha Pieterse.

 

Inherent Vice, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T, Liverpool. full post

(547 words, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

The Medieval Child

The Medieval child, lauded over and acclaimed at the start of the year,

now will show its true colours to the world away

from its long since gone mother’s breast.

The old harridan who succumb to final old age

at the moment of delivery follows her charges fortunes now

as it gears up to become a teenager.

 

The January day is over and Janus rests content for another year

not to have to keep up the pretence of concern or anxiety

of what was before. His young responsibility, now old enough

The Medieval Child full post

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

The Musketeers: Amilie, Series Two: Episode Four. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Tom Burke, Santiago Cabrera, Howard Charles, Luke Pasqualino, Alexandra Dowling, Ryan Gage, Tamla Kari, Maime McCoy, Hugo Speer, Marc Warren, Emma Lowndes, Ellie Haddington, Laura Hobson, Charles Venn, Oliver Rix, Will Keen, Charlotte Salt, Celeste Dodwell, John Harding, Ed Stoppard.

 

Religion and politics, never easy bed fellows at the best of times, when the delicate balance hangs on the word of a young woman, that strange set of bed fellows becomes a dicey, almost inflammatory affair, which if left unchecked; could spell disaster for French-Spanish relations and have long consequences for the whole of Europe.

The Musketeers: Amilie, Series Two: Episode Four. Television Review. full post

(547 words, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

Black, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre Studio, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9.5/10

Cast: Abby Melia, Craig Shanda.

Liverpool Theatre Company 20 Stories High has the knack of producing theatre that grabs you by the thought processes and shakes them out of their modern complacency. Arguably one of the most forthright companies, 20 Stories High make theatre not only relevant but they hold a mirror up to a society that at times allows itself to sink to a depth before seeing one person rise high  above the trench line. This is arguably never more so in their production of Keith Saha’s wonderfully self-incendiary play Black.

Black, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre Studio, Liverpool. full post

(529 words, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)

The Beast Of My Burden (Or One Of Our Gods Is Missing)

They are retiring the reason for loss of faith.

As the bones will be taken down and will never

adorn the main hall in my lifetime, how Darwin must be laughing

at the peculiar notion that my evolution started not with

an ape or a monkey but with a dinosaur and now that beast

of my burden is leaving home, presumed missing.

Eight years old, dressed in green, no badges yet of note earned

and the first of many visits to the Capital undertaken

with a tour and my paid homage

The Beast Of My Burden (Or One Of Our Gods Is Missing) full post

(545 words, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

Fables: Arabian Nights (And Days). Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

In every season, in all great and interesting art, there must always come a small blip in the fabric of performance; so much so that the only real and humane thing to do is to treat it as perhaps filler between the good stuff. Not everything appeals all the time, not everything immediately grabs you by the scruff of the neck and shouts proudly down your ear-hole, “Adore me.”

Fables: Arabian Nights (And Days). Graphic Novel Review. full post

(420 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Saints Row IV: Re-Elected (PS4), Game Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating: 9 out of 10

Saints Row IV: Re-Elected is a third-person open world action game available from retail stores and for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS4. The game is an enhanced version of Saints Row IV which was released on PS3 in August 2013, although the Saints Row series began development in mid 2003 initially under the name Bling Bling as a PS2 game before finally releasing in August 2006 as an Xbox 360 exclusive followed by multi-platform sequels in the form of Saints Row 2 in October 2008 and Saints Row: The Third in November 2011. Volition is no stranger to making great games as they have developed multiple games in the FreeSpace, Summoner and Red Faction franchises since 1998.

Saints Row IV: Re-Elected (PS4), Game Review. full post

(3999 words, estimated 16:0 mins reading time)