Category Archives: Film

The Dark Tower. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor, Claudia Kim, Franz Kranz, Abbey Lee, Jackie Earle Haley, Dennis Haysbert, Katheryn Winnick, Nicholas Pauling, Michael Barbieri, Jose Zuniga Eva Kaminsky, Robbie McLean, Karl Thaning.

The world is not always as we see it, there are millions of possibilities at play every day that we do not realise or refuse to witness what can be outside of our sphere of existence. It is a premise that has been used over and over again to great effect, that time, that the ability to see beyond is one of great intrigue and one that Stephen King has used to great effect for over 40 years as one of the pre-eminent writers of the 20th and 21st Century.

The Dark Tower. Film Review. full post

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

The Hitman’s Bodyguard. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Eloide Yung, Salma Hayek, Tsuwayuki Saotome, Richard E. Grant, Gary Oldman, Rod Hallett, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Michael Gor, Barry Atsma, Kirsty Mitchell, Tine Joustra, Sam Hazeldine, Joaquim de Almeida, Georgie Glen, Dijarn Campbell.

 

The Hitman’s Bodyguard. Film Review. full post

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

Atomic Blonde, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, Eddie Marsan, John Goodman, Toby Jones, James Faulkner, Roland Møller , Sofia Boutella, Bill Skarsgård , Sam Hargrave, Johannes, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson , Til Scheiger, Barbara Sokowa.

It could be construed as Spy versus Spy but without the humour or anarchic level of higher learning and yet Atomic Blonde takes on the genre with surprisingly good value and with a storyline that is surrounded by one of the great moments in European history; the Berlin had stood as a symbol of the Cold War for 28 years but as the heat exchanged between Charlize Theron and all who stood in her built up, Atomic Blonde is nothing but explosive from start to the inevitable fall out.

Atomic Blonde, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

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

A Ghost Story, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, McColm Cephas Jr, Kennisha Thompson, Grover Coulson, Liz Franke, Barlow Jacobs, Richard Krause, Dagger Salazar, Sonia Acevedo, Carlos Bermudez, Yasmin Gutierrez, Kimberly Fiddes, Daniel Escudero, Kesha, Jared Kopf, Will Oldham, Brea Grant, Rob Zabrecky, Sara Tomerlin.

 

We are all passengers hanging on the coattails of Time, some of us though refuse to move on once the journey has ended; they hang around and experience the decay of all they ever knew, almost inevitably again and again. Death is traumatic, undoubtedly disturbing, not only for those left behind to carry on riding those flowing coattails but perhaps for those who see the battle and fight end; for life is silent and hurtful for those who see life through the dark hollow eyes of A Ghost Story.

A Ghost Story, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T, Liverpool. full post

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

Dunkirk. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy, Kenneth Brannagh, Aneurin Barnard, Cillian Murphy, Fionn Whitehead, Harry Styles, Damien Bonnard, Lee Armstrong, James Bloor, Barry Keoghan, Jack Lowden, Luke Thompson, Michael Biel, Constantin Balsan, Billy Howle, Mikey Collins, Callum Blake, Dean Ridge, Bobby Lockwood, Will Attenborough, Tom Nolan, James D’Arcy, Matthew Marsh, Adam Long, Miranda Nolan, Bradley Hall, Jack Cutmore-Scott, Brett Lorenzi, Michael Fox, Brian Vernal, Elliott Tittensor, Harry Richardson, Jochum ten Haaf, Johnny Gibson, Kim Hartman, Calum Lynch, Charley Palmer Rothwell, Tom Gill, John Nolan, Bill Milner, Jack Riddiford, Harry Collett, Eric Richard.

Dunkirk. Film Review. full post

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

Spiderman: Homecoming, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr., Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Gwyneth Paltrow, Zendaya, Donald Glover, Jacob Batalon, Tony Revolori, Laura Harrier, Tyne Daly, Chris Evans.

It is easy to see why Spiderman is amongst the favourites of all the super heroes that have come and gone since the much heralded Golden Age of the genre; funny, wisecracking, prone to teenage angst, the fine line between the big picture and the tiniest detail always shown as brightly as possible, a young lad protecting his neighbourhood rather than taking on the world. Since his first appearance in comic book and on screen, through Saturday morning cartoon and posters on the wall, any young person and any adult who remembers the feeling, will always be entranced by Peter Parker and Spiderman.

Spiderman: Homecoming, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(605 words, estimated 2:25 mins reading time)

Baby Driver, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Ansel Elgort, Jon Hamm, Eiza González, Micah Howard, Lily James, Morgan Brown, Kevin Spacey, Morse Diggs, CJ Jones, Sky Ferreira, Lance Palmer, Hudson Meek, Viviana Chavez, Hal Whiteside, Flea, Lanny Joon, Jamie Foxx, Clay Donahue Fontenot.

 

The heist, a cinematic idea that has stood the test of time and sometimes patience, a theme that still produces a feeling of warmth for many to whom cinema is the true meaning of escapism, the expression of being part of against the system but not getting your hands dirty.

Baby Driver, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(494 words, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

Despicable Me 3, Film Review.

 

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Trey Parker, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, Nev Scharrel, Pierre Coffin, Steve Coogan, Julie Andrews, Jenny Slate, Michael Beattie, Andy Nyman, Adrian Ciscato, Brian T. Delaney, Katia Saponenko.

Not quite so Gru-some but still very enjoyable with overtones of brilliance; for the lovers of Despicable Me, this third outing of a villain turned hero, his adopted children and arguably one very special group of comedic sidekicks in the history of animation, is still of such quality that the whole family can go along to the cinema and come out with everybody happy and content.

Despicable Me 3, Film Review. full post

(357 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)

Churchill. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Brian Cox, Miranda Richardson, John Slattery, Ella Purnell, Julian Wadham, Richard Durden, James Purefoy, Danny Webb, Jonathan Aris, George Anton, Steven Cree, Angela Costello, Peter Ormond, Kevin Findlay.

Churchill. Film Review. full post

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

My Cousin Rachel. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Sam Claflin, Rachel Weisz, Holliday Grainger, Iain Glen, Poppy Lee Friar, Andrew Knott, Andrew Havill, Vicky Pepperdine, Katherine Pearce, Harry Hays, Tristram Davies, Chris Gallarus, Bobby Scott, Freeman.

The very name Daphne Du Maurier is one surely that should conjure up the very essence of British writing and one that stands alongside the greatest of the 20th Century, Agatha Christie and Virginia Woolf, and yet for one of Cornwall’s greatest adopted daughters, her passionate, often moody but always multi-layered work, doesn’t get the screen treatment it deserves, and aside from the fantastic adaption of The Birds and Rebecca by the legendary director Alfred Hitchcock, the writer has been pretty much left of the list of books that are ripe for bringing to an even greater audience.

My Cousin Rachel. Film Review. full post

(453 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)