Category Archives: Film

The Portable Door. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Patrick Gibson, Christoph Waltz, Sam Neil, Miranda Otto, Damon Herriman, Jessica De Gouw, Mezi Atwood, Rachel House, Chris Pang, Sophie Wilde, Christophr Sommers, Tori Webb, Jason Wilder, Arka Das, Lillie Wallace, Savanna Crasto, Jasmine Barui, Diane Lin, Finn Treacy, Lin Yin, Chris Bridgewater, Stephen Walker.

In all fairness, it is only right that Tom Holt’s prestigious and abundant work should finally get the big screen treatment that his ideas and iconic books have long been asked for by the discerning and faithful readers of his comic creations.

The Portable Door. Film Review. full post

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

The Black Phone. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeline McGraw, Jeremy Davies, E. Roger Mitchell, Troy Rudeseal, James Ransone, Miguel Cazarez Mora, Rebecca Clarke, J. Gaven Wilde, Spencer Fitzgerald, Jordan Isaiah White, Brady M. Ryan, Tristan Pravong, Jacob Moran, Brady Hepner, Banks Stikeleather, Kristina Arjona, Sheila O’Rear, Rocco Poveromo, Kellan Rhude, Nina Repeta.

There are some supernatural/ thriller/ horror films that just frame the genre so well, and yet don’t receive the wider appreciation that others of lesser quality seem to enjoy.

The Black Phone. Film Review. full post

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

John Wick: Chapter 4. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Bill Skarsgård, Clancey Brown, Donnie Yen, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rina Sawayama, George Georgiou, Marko Zaror, Aimée Kwan, Iryna Fedorova, Marie Pierre Kakoma, Natalia Tena, Sven Marquardt.

It may not be the last we hear of John Wick, but if the series was to end on Chapter 4 then the final instalment of the lone assassin’s revenge/redemption tale is by far and without argument, its masterpiece.

John Wick: Chapter 4. Film Review. full post

(472 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

Marlowe. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, Jessica Lange, Ian Hart, Danny Huston, Colm Meaney, Ian Hart, Alan Cumming, Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje, Stella Stocker, François Arnaud, Mitchell Mullen, Patrick Muldoon, Daniela Melchior, Roberto Peralta, J.M. Maciá, Michael Garvey, David Lifschitz, Anton Antoniadis, Minnie Marx, Seána Kerslake, Julius Cotter, Michael Strelow.

Whether in classic sense of the genre, or in its more functional, but less direct late 20th Century/21st Century observance, Noir influences the cinematic lover in ways that other fields of the medium fail to deliver.

Marlowe. Film Review. full post

(484 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

The Boston Strangler. Film Review. (2022).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Keira Knightley, Carrie Coon, Chris Cooper, Alessandro Nivola, Rory Cochrane, David Dasmaichian, Peter Gerety, Robert John Burke, Morgan Spector, Michael Malvesti, Aurora McLaughlin, Liam Anderson, Antonio X Volpicelli, Nancy E. Carroll, Therese Plaehn, Stephen Thorne, Greg Vrotsos, Ian Lyons, Christian Mallen, Pat Fitz, Pamela Jayne Morgan, Robert C. Kirk, Charlie Thurston, Kate Middleton, Ivan Martin, Kate Avallone, Tamara Hickey, Luke Kirby, Steve Routman, Thomas Kee, Kyra Weeks, John Lee Ames, Richard O’Rourke, James Ciccone, Bill Camp, Jimmy LeBlanc, Gary Galone, David Conley, Josh Drennen, Brian Faherty, Caroline Nesbitt.

The Boston Strangler. Film Review. (2022). full post

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

Elvis. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thompson, Richard Roxburgh, Kelvin Harrison Jr., David Wenham, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Luke Bracey, Dacre Montgomery, Leon Ford, Gary Clark Jr., Yola, Natasha Bassett, Xavier Samuel, Adam Dunn, Alton Mason, Shonka Dukureh, David Gannon, Shannon Sanders, Charles Grounds, Gareth Davies, Chaydon Jay, Nicholas Bell, Josh McConville, Cie Morgan, Charles Allen.

The public face of an enigma is one in which all who profess they knew the figure well, actually understood him even less than the occasional fan.

Elvis. Film Review. full post

(592 words, estimated 2:22 mins reading time)

Bullet Train. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Benito A. Martinez, Sandra Bullock, Zazie Beetz, Logan Lerman, Masi Oka, Karen Fukuhara, Kevin Akiyoshi Ching, Minchi Murakami, Kaori Takentani, Toshitaka Katsumi, Jim Garrity, Emalina Adams, Jenson Cheng, Nobuaki Shimamoto, Yoshi Sudarso, Johanna Watts, Ian Gabriel Martinez, Tania Verafield, Pancho Cardena, Julio Gbaey, Andrea Munoz, Nancy Daly, Arnold Chum, Naomi Matsuda, Benmio McCrea, Pasha D. Lychnikoff, Primus Johnson, Miles Marz, Michelle Lee, Parker Lin, Garland Scott, Jason Matthew Smith, Zooey Miyoshi, Kamil Aydin, David Leitch.

Bullet Train. Film Review. full post

(485 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o, Daniel Gurira, Winston Duke, Tenoch Huerta, Martin Freeman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Dominque Thorne, Florence Kasumba, Michaela Coel, Mabel Cadena.

As a mark of respect to the late Chadwick Boseman, the tribute to a fine actor’s work, should not be in question, but maybe the timing of the release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the way in which the focus was shifted on as one of Marvel’s true great and Golden Age heroes was almost relegated in his pedigree and scope, or even in the way that as a finale to a phase it was messed around should all be given sharp focus on how not to give the excellent Ryan Coogler short shrift when it comes to storytelling.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Film Review. full post

(542 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

Alice. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Keke Palmer, Common, Jonny Lee Miller, Caius Charles, Madelon Curtis, Kenneth Farmer, Natasha Yvette Williams, Jaxon Goldenberg, Craig Stark, Alicia Witt, Davod Andrew Nash, Jim McKeny, Katie Gill, Sharonne Lanier, Janet L. Burns, Durrell Lyons, Roderick Dorsey, Eddie King.

To own another human being is an abhorrence.

It is a statement of fact, a truth that is universal, and yet often ignored by those by whose own admission they see it is a right, an admission declared for all to see without a shred of shame in their hearts, that to enslave a person, another human being, is to attain a status…it is sick, depraved, and yet still goes on in the world. Across all cultures, men, women, children, all creeds, all colours, slavery is business.

Alice. Film Review. full post

(478 words, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

Jurassic World: Dominion. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, Dewanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, Isabella Sermon, Campbell Scott, BD Wong, Omar Sy, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, Scott Haze, Dichen Lachman, Kristoffer Polaha, Caleb Hearon, Freya Parker, Alexander Owen, Ahir Shah, Elva Trill, Teresa Cendon-Garcia, Manuela Mora, Bastian Antonio Fuentes, Jasmine Chiu, Varada Sethu, Ben Ashenden, Enzo Squillino Jr., Glynis Davies, Mo Brings Plenty, Emilie Jumeaux, Aisling Sharkey, Joel Eiferink. 

Jurassic World: Dominion. Film Review. full post

(617 words, estimated 2:28 mins reading time)