The Mezzotint. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Rory Kinnear, Frances Barber, Robert Bathurst, John Hopkins, Nikesh Patel, Emma Cunliffe, Tommaso Di Vincenzo.

It is the embracement of life, of being thankful for what you have, and not the chance to add want to the overburdened and groaning table or under pressure waiter serving you another daily dose of charm, reality, and thought, that makes Christmas special, for in reality we see the shadows that skulk at the door, we feel the draft at our feet whilst the heart is cosy, and in that heartbeat that makes us inhale deeply, that causes a string of sweat to form on the brow, we find the night before the ‘big day’ the true meaning of being alive.

The Mezzotint. Television Review. full post

(589 words, estimated 2:21 mins reading time)

Not Going Out (Christmas Special 2021).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Lee Mack, Sally Breton, Deborah Grant, Geoffrey Whitehead, Hugh Dennis, Abigail Cruttenden, Jason Donovan, Rick Astley.

The trick is to so all you can to stay fresh whilst never betraying the core values of what made you popular in the first place; if you can master that then the world of entertainment and art is at your beckoned call.

Not Going Out (Christmas Special 2021). full post

(375 words, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

Ghosts: Christmas Special. (2021). Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Charlotte Ritchie, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Jim Howick, Martha Howe-Douglas, Matthew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Lolly Adefope, Laurence Rickard, Ben Willibond, Katy Wix, Jennifer Saunders, Justin Edwards, Keeran Blessie, Richard Dixon, Andrew Francis, Jeremy Limb, Marcus Onilude, Chrostopher Villiers.

The message of Christmas gets lost, swamped by the greed of consumerism, by the heady ringing of tills and the message from political elites that you may as well as celebrate now because come the New Year life is about to get real, is about to see you become nostalgic for the 24 hours you try to make perfect.

Ghosts: Christmas Special. (2021). Television Review. full post

(549 words, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

Hawkeye. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Jeremy Renner, Hailee Steinfeld, Vera Farmiga, Tony Dalton, Alaqua Cox, Fra Fee, Linda Cardellini, Florence Pugh, Vincent D’Onofrio, Aleks Paunovic, Piotr Adamczyk, Carlos Navarro, Cade Woodward, Ava Russo, Clayton English, Ben Sakamoto, Adetinpo Thomas, Robert Walker Branchaud, Ivan Mbakop, Adelle Drahos, Pat Kiernan, Brian d’Arcy James, Zahn McClarnon, Simon Callow, Darnell Besaw, Phoenix Crepin, Sissi Kal, Franco Castan, Clara Stack.

Hawkeye. Television Review. full post

(629 words, estimated 2:31 mins reading time)

Ragdoll. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Thalissa Teixeira, Lucy Hale, Michael Smiley, Sam Troughton, Angus Wright, Samantha Spiro, Phil Davies, Natasha Little, Clive Mendus, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Perry Jaques, Amita Dhiri, Douggie McMeekin, James Barriscale, James Tarpey, Robin Weaver, Camilla Beeput, Tim McDonnell, Ava Masters, Oriana Charles, Cannon Hay, Eric Raymond Lim, Paul McEwan, Dave Hart, Peter Bottley.

The sense of the extraordinary comes from out of nowhere and hits you where you least expect it.

Ragdoll. Television Review. full post

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

A Brief And Final Farewell From The Red Haired Girl In Bantry.

Listen my love

As you take my hand

As we walk gently to the town’s fair

I can no longer love you

in the way that you wish

under Wolfs Tone’s marbled stare.

You see my Ma thinks that we have

no future together

and I’m inclined to agree

for I seek a different life sailing the sea

beyond our small life

here in Bantry.

So she said her fond farewells

his face drowned in tears,

and the taste of bitter salt

A Brief And Final Farewell From The Red Haired Girl In Bantry. full post

(195 words, estimated 47 secs reading time)

Laura-Mary Carter, A Town Called Nothing. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is a truth in our voice when we find we have nothing to say about the town we may live in or the place where we were born; it is the lack of endorsement, the ringing chimes of indifference which insists that boredom and inertia has coloured our view, or that the memory of the place is such that it the last place on Earth that you would send someone to, maybe to save them from the damage done to your soul. A Town Called Nothing, a village of the damned, a city of unearthly delights.

Laura-Mary Carter, A Town Called Nothing. E.P. Review. full post

(490 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

Everyday I Ask Myself The Same Question.

I’ve been called boring,

I’ve been told I am miserable,

Weird, odd, names of derision,

Not our kind, useless,

Straight up to my face

That I was going to Hell,

That they wished I hadn’t survived

The experience of self-harm,

That I was a disappointment,

That I wasn’t loved,

That she wished she hadn’t turned up

To our wedding,

Three hours after saying I do,

On a train to London as we set off

Everyday I Ask Myself The Same Question. full post

(152 words, estimated 36 secs reading time)

Last Train To Christmas. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Michael Sheen, Cary Elwes, Nathalie Emmanuel, Sophie Simnett, Mia McKenna-Bruce, Robin Askwith, Anna Lundberg, John Thomson, Natalie Mitson, Laura Evelyn, Sianad Gregory, Thomas Law, Claire Cage, Anna Bolton, Edward Harrison, Samuel Logan, Harry Giubileo, George Hannigan, Dan Bothers, Danny Ashbrook, Matthew Lee, Philippa Cole, Jack Cristou, Ebony Aboagye, Charlotte-Hannah Jones, Volenté Lloyd, Coein Dalton, Lily Adair, Tom Hayes, Samuel Blake, Emily Adair.

Last Train To Christmas. Film Review. full post

(489 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

Vienna Blood: The Devil’s Kiss. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Matthew Beard, Jürgen Maurer, Astrit Alihaidaraj, Christoph Bittenauer, Heinz Arthur Boltuch, Amelia Bullmore, Haymon Maria Buttinger, Josef Ellers, Stipe Erceq, Larissa Fuchs, Lucy Griffiths, Simon Hatzl, Miriam Hie, Conleth Hill, Brigitte Karner, Charlene McKenna, Dajana Rajic, Robert Reinagl, Bernhard Schir, Florian Teichtmeister, Raphael von Bargen.

Vienna Blood: The Devil’s Kiss. Television Review. full post

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