Author Archives: admin

Eddi Reader, Vagabond. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

To suggest that the phenomenal Eddi Reader has wandered through music since bursting onto the scene with Fairground Attraction would be doing this versatile and exciting musician a massive disservice. This is not a woman who can be accused of strolling through life, drifting from record to record, song to song as with some; the beauty she exudes through her music is enough at times to take your breath away and her latest solo album Vagabond is no exception.

Eddi Reader, Vagabond. Album Review. full post

(450 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

August: Osage County, Film Review. FACT Cinema.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Dermot Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson, Sam Shepherd, Misty Upham.

August: Osage County, a beautiful, flat and hot place to visit but you wouldn’t want to be related a particular family that resides there.

When renowned published poet Beverly Weston decides to take his own life, the can of spiteful and mean-spirited worms come flooding out everywhere and into the lives of the family members left behind, chiefly in the viscous tongue of drug addicted cancer patient of his wife Violet Weston. Nobody is immune, and like a disease floating free in the air, multiplies and takes root in the actions of some of those around her until words are said that become too much to bear.

August: Osage County, Film Review. FACT Cinema. full post

(578 words, estimated 2:19 mins reading time)

Inside Llewyn Davis, Film Review. FACT Cinema.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, Justin Timberlake, F. Murray Abraham, Stark Sands, Jeanine Serralles, Adam Driver, Ethan Phillips, Alex Karpovsky, Max Casella, Benjamin Pike.

Inside Llewyn Davis, Film Review. FACT Cinema. full post

(667 words, estimated 2:40 mins reading time)

Once A Catholic, Theatre Review. Royal Court, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Richard Bremner, Calum Callaghan, Sean Campion, Clare Cathcart, Oliver Coopersmith, Kate Lock, Molly Logan, Amy Morgan, Katherine Rose Morley, Cecilia Noble.

If you are bad, apparently as the saying perhaps misleadingly suggests, you will go to Hell. However if you are good, if you are very good and eat everything set before you and say your prayers and remember to confess your sins, you might just be fortunate enough to see one of the best comedies likely to hit Liverpool this year, the beautifully irreverent, the supremely funny Once A Catholic.

Once A Catholic, Theatre Review. Royal Court, Liverpool. full post

(526 words, estimated 2:06 mins reading time)

Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Omnibus Volume Four. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

If the third omnibus edition of Buffy the Vampire Slayer saw the collection of tightly packed stories and incredible artwork come of age then the fourth edition sees arguably Dark Horse’s finest adaptations of a television series or film mature and become everything you could ever want from a collection of artists and script writers.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Omnibus Volume Four. Graphic Novel Review. full post

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

The Three Musketeers, Film Review. (2011)

Originally published by L.S. Media November 2nd 2011

Cast: Matthew Macfadyen, Logan Lerman, Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans, Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Waltz, Mads Miikkleson, Gabriella Wilde, James Corden, Freddie Fox, Juno Temple, Til Schwiger, Carsten Norgaard.

 

It can’t be certain that Alexandre Dumas would have enjoyed it or quite understood what had happened to his tale of treachery, honour and sword fighting but in the latest movie adaptation of his novel The Three Musketeers comes around with frightening predictability but with the story bought up to date to meet the needs of a 21st Century audience.

The Three Musketeers, Film Review. (2011) full post

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

Ed Harcourt, Time Of Dust. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

If there is ever any question over just how good, how brilliant, a musician and lyrists Ed Harcourt is, then that might be the day to hang up the earphones, put away the stereo and flog your collection for enough money as you can make and head off to the place where the silent order of monks and nuns reside, for no music could ever surely lift your spirits again.

Ed Harcourt, Time Of Dust. Album Review. full post

(418 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Afterlife. Audio Drama 181, Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Philip Olivier, Amy Pemberton, Jean Boht, Mandi Symonds, Jonathan Forbes, Andrew Dickens.

It depends on your point of view, but what if there really is life after death? How could you be sure that whatever higher power, what god or demon has had you in their charge whilst your memory has begun to fade in the minds you left behind, that they won’t have cheated you in yet another cosmic joke.

Doctor Who: Afterlife. Audio Drama 181, Big Finish. full post

(573 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

The Jigantics, Daisy Roots. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

In amongst all the signs of having enjoyed a debut album by a band surely listening to it and not notice the time slip away from you as it pulls you in to its musical soul has to rank highly. Another sure fire way is when you find yourself humming along with the harmonies in a relaxed fashion, the infectious nature getting to you quite easily and the smile returning to your lips as you swim amongst unhurried lyrics and elegant instruments.

The Jigantics, Daisy Roots. Album Review. full post

(371 words, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

The Musketeers, Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Tom Burke, Luke Pasqualino, Santiago Cabrera, Howard Charles, Peter Capaldi, Tamla Kari, Maimie McCoy, Hugo Speer, Ryan Cage, Alexandra Dowling, Will Tizard, Roger Aston-Griffith, Abigail Rice, Bo Peraj, Daniel Gosling, Dave Florez, Nicholas McGaughey, Oliver Cotton, Chris Barnes, Philip Brodie, Joe Wredden, Flip Webster, Emily Beecham, David Verrey, Alex Austin.

There doesn’t seem to have been a great action adventure in the void that is Sunday night for ages. Lots of great detective drama but no real daring, swords, and the thrill of a well written narrative interlaced with seeing some of the great heroes of literature being bought to life like never before…that is until The Musketeers.

The Musketeers, Television Review. full post

(583 words, estimated 2:20 mins reading time)