Cara, Grounded. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Why stand in the shadows of someone else’s dreams when you can be rooted, Grounded, by respect of being unique; even in a group, a large gathering delivering art, it is possible to see the experience as being something matchless, distinctive, exceptionally rare and powerful.

To be grounded is an act of defiance in a world that only wants to see excess, to witness fame and offer a sense of misguided hope that a certain listener or viewer can have some kind of life that they deem so impressive that they would almost give their soul away cheaply just to be able to attend a star-studded party in the hope they get recognised.

Cara, Grounded. Album Review. full post

(428 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

Nia Shea: These Are The Words I Shout At The Moon. Poetry Collection Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

We will come to regret the day when we deny the individual the freedom to feel.

We have become consumed by the idea that to be able to make our position clear must mean we are seeking confrontation, and perhaps in a way we have, for in a world that finds ever more ingenious ways to make us believe we are being heard, only to find out that we have been ignored, or worse, offered platitudes in the form of verbal bromide, being unable to make peace through the art of flowing anger is to stunt the growth of anyone with a soul, anyone with passion.

Nia Shea: These Are The Words I Shout At The Moon. Poetry Collection Review. full post

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

War Of The Worlds (Series Two). Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Léa Drucker, Gabriel Byrne, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Natasha Little, Bayo Gbadamosi, Ty Tennant, Stephen Campbell Moore, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Paul Gorostidi, Mathieu Torloting, Stéphane Caillard, Emilie de Preissac, Adel Bencherif, Aaron Heffernan, Ania Sowinski, Pearl Chande, Thom Ashley, Oliver Zetterström, Leo Bill, Féodor Atkine, Robert Emms, Elizabeth McGovern.

War Of The Worlds (Series Two). Television Review. full post

(555 words, estimated 2:13 mins reading time)

Iron Maiden, Senjutsu. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

There is nothing wrong with showboating, even revelling in excellence, of being so technically adept that your brilliance shines through and keeps you at the top of your game with no one seriously challenging your crown, and yet expertise, specialised connoisseurship, is wasted if you don’t allow the soul to be seen, to be felt, to be heard beating in time with the heart.

Iron Maiden, Senjutsu. Album Review. full post

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

Cruella. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser, John McCrea, Emily Beecham, Mark Strong, Kayvan Novak, Kirby Howell-Baptiste Jamie Demetriou, Leo Bill, Tipper Seifert-Cleveland.

For all the great characters that the Disney studios have created or adapted in their time as one of the influential film makers of the last 100 years, it is perhaps the incredible villain Cruella de Vil who stands out alongside the likes of Captain Hook and The Evil Queen as ones who give children and adults alike their glimpse of how the twisted nature of humanity can be taken down a road of self-indulgence, possessed by want, and turned ugly within by their greed.

Cruella. Film Review. full post

(467 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Harley Quinn (Season Two). Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Kaley Cuoco, Lake Bell, Alan Tudyk Ron Funches, Tony Hale, Matt Oberg, Jason Alexander, Diedrich Bader, Christopher Meloni, J.B. Smoove, Jim Rash, James Adomian, Vanessa Marshall, Phil LaMarr, Briana Cuoco, James Wolk, Tom Hollander, Sean Giambrone, Michael Ironside, Rory Scovel, Sanaa Lathan, Rachel Dratch.

Subversion is a game played geniuses. To subvert the norm is a political act of will carried out by those who wish to shift attitudes and destroy boundaries with all the artistic integrity they can muster, whilst at all times, conforming to the point of art; to alter a person’s view through beauty, through insight, and with passion.

Harley Quinn (Season Two). Television Review. full post

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

Prodigal Son (Season Two). Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Tom Payne, Michael Sheen, Bellamy Young, Halston Sage, Lou Diamond Phillips, Aurora Perrineau, Frank Harts, Catherine Zeta Jones, Keiko Agena, Esau Pritchett, Kasjan Wilson, Alan Cumming.

What we inherit, the D.N.A we have coursing through our very being, is only a fraction of the traits we exhibit when out in the open amongst others, the very question of nature and nurture is never more acute of the moments when we have to remove the mask we have put in place, when we allow our true feelings to surface in the company of strangers and family who may look upon us as the uncontrolled daughter, the Prodigal Son.

Prodigal Son (Season Two). Television Review. full post

(433 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

Only Child, Everybody Comes From Something. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/0

To suggest we come from nothing is to dismiss all that your ancestors, close relatives or long since forgotten forebears achieved in their lifetime and passed in down through memory and tales, it is to suggest that lives were of little consequence to the world, that it is only through your own existence that Time has been fortunate and that yourself have the power of changing history.

Only Child, Everybody Comes From Something. Single Review. full post

(392 words, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

Various Artists: Stand Up Now – A Compilation Of Folk Agricultural Folk Songs. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Impressive, moving, imposing itself upon the senses and the mind from the very start until its final lament, such is the striking set of songs brought forth under the banner of Stand Up Now – A Compilation Of Folk Agricultural Folk Songs, that it takes a while for the listener to find their composure once more in the face of extraordinary beauty and honesty, that those three initial thoughts are but the first in a long line of adjectives that make the heart sing when listening to the various artists on offer.

Various Artists: Stand Up Now – A Compilation Of Folk Agricultural Folk Songs. Album Review. full post

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

Tom and Jerry: The Movie. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Michael Peña, Jordan Bolger, Rob Delaney, Patsy Ferran, Pallavi, Colin Just, Somi De Souza, Patrick Poletti, Janis Ahern, Ken Jeong, Camilla Arfwedson, Bobby Cannavale, Nicky Jam, Joey Wells, Harry Ratchford, Will Horton, Na’im Lynn, Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudaker, Tim Story, Joe Bone, Edward Judge, Christina Chong, Daniel Adegboyega, Craig Stein, Edward Dogliani.

For anyone over a certain age, Tom and Jerry could be conceivably looked upon as one of the great double acts of the 20th Century.

Tom and Jerry: The Movie. Film Review. full post

(432 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)