Downton Abbey. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern, Allan Leech, Phyllis Logan, Jim Carter, Laura Carmichael, Lesley Nicol, Michael Fox, Sophie McShera, Robert James-Collier, Imelda Staunton, Joanna Froggatt, Penelope Wilton, Douglas Reith, Kevin Doyle, Brendan Coyle, Tuppence Middleton, Raquel Cassidy, Charlie Watson, David Haig, Susan Lynch, Mark Addy, Kate Phillips, Henry Hadden-Paton, Kate Phillips, Andrew Havill, Phillippe Spall, Richenda Carey, Simon Jones, Darren Strange, David Lonsdale, Matthew Goode.

Downton Abbey. Film Review. full post

(627 words, estimated 2:30 mins reading time)

The Evil Face Of Suburbia On A Missouri Lawn.

The trigger feels inviting

doesn’t it?

The parade passes your house,

and I get it, you’re afraid,

something inside you

that has always been there

hiding,

concealing itself under the thin mask

of respectability, cruelty, and hate

denied,

loathing and malice

rebuffed,

accusations of temper tantrums

rejected,

as you point your gun at the crowd

because you feel afraid…

…or is it real, this feeling of power

you imagine you had as you squeeze

The Evil Face Of Suburbia On A Missouri Lawn. full post

(152 words, estimated 36 secs reading time)

Thundermother, Heatwave. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The God-Mother of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Susie Quattro, would arguably be proud of the continuation of her vision, that of female rock that doesn’t capitulate to the notion that to be taken seriously does not mean betraying everything that you stand for just so you can get noticed. Yes, there was the patent alure that went with the gravitas of the music played by Ms. Quattro, however, like Sweden’s Thundermother, it is the storm created by the Heatwave that brings the joy of Rock to the ears of the listener, the heavy pound of a heart in love with the music on offer.

Thundermother, Heatwave. Album Review. full post

(381 words, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

Sapphire And Steel: Daisy Chain. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: David Warner, Susannah Harker, Kim Hartman, Lena Rae, Stuart Piper, Emma Kilbey, Joseph Lidster.

When the question is posed by a force or instrument of evil or dangerous intent, “Would you sacrifice yourself to save your family?, for the majority of us we would perhaps not hesitate to answer in the positive, that we gladly give our lives if it meant that those we love around us were to survive.

Sapphire And Steel: Daisy Chain. Audio Drama Review. full post

(405 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

James Reyne, Toon Town Lullaby. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Every now and then a tune will come at you bearing gifts, the gentle hug of appreciation, the extreme lullaby of the taken opportunity coming at the listener with strength, guile and the beauty of the moving whimsical address; many will hit the nail of such serenades on the head, few though get the chance to drive the point home in one complete action, the swift delivery of the hammer to the cause.

James Reyne, Toon Town Lullaby. Album Review. full post

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

Jay And Silent Bob Reboot. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Harley Quinn Smith, Aparna Brielle, Shannon Elizabeth, Brian O’Halloran, Jason Lee, Joey Lauren Adams, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, Treshelle Edmond, Alice Wen, Craig Robinson, Justin Long, Chris Jericho, Val Kilmer, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Rosario Dawson, Adam Brody.

The cynical ploy of cinema and film is that unless there is a call for a sequel, the character, no matter how loved, seems to land in some sort of limbo, a celluloid purgatory, where the last scene in which they inhabit is where they remain, forever, locked and static, never to be smile, crack a joke, be hurt, cause harm or have the rest of the lives explained.

Jay And Silent Bob Reboot. Film Review. full post

(515 words, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

Sapphire And Steel: The Passenger. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: David Warner, Susannah Harker, Mark Gatiss, Hugo Myatt, Jackie Skarvellis, Neil Henry, Claire Louise Connolly.

Guilt, or the shouldering of blame and responsibility, even if by all logical deductions incapable or culpable of the crimes committed, is a disease of the soul that will keep eating away at your mind until there is nothing left to be devoured. We should accept the blame, we must feel the remorse of actions that we undertake which has caused someone pain, inflicted misery, affected their life, or even taken it, however, there comes a time when the feeling and effects of guilt, especially when innocence is forced to accept or adapt to the cognitive association to which our own inner desires may not yet have asserted themselves.

Sapphire And Steel: The Passenger. Audio Drama Review. full post

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

Thinking You Have Won On The First Throw.

It may look spectacular,

The first-time roll

of the – count them and weep – five sixes

that make up the thrill of Yahtzee,

but what does that matter if all you roll

afterwards is the odd

double four,

forever chasing the large straight

or the four of a kind,

shaking your hand, blowing

the dice, willing them

to give you the thrill once more of a five

that leads to a hundred…

forgetting that the win is based

partly on making sure you score

Thinking You Have Won On The First Throw. full post

(120 words, estimated 29 secs reading time)

Elijah James and The Nightmares, Who’ll Be Here Tomorrow/Enough Rope. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

In times of adversity, even the smallest gesture can bring about the greatest change, and a voice given to sincerity, of honour, will give hope to many, and even if the subject matter at hand is one of concern, of clenched fist and tears in the eyes, there is still hope to be found.

It is only natural in the times we live in that we have to delay certain plans, to put back the clock on experience and release, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop living, to hold back on dreams or desires, and art, for the multitude and majority, is the place where their own existence on the planet is made concrete, which gives them a reason to be.

Elijah James and The Nightmares, Who’ll Be Here Tomorrow/Enough Rope. Single Review. full post

(335 words, estimated 1:20 mins reading time)

Brigitte Beraha, Lucid Dreamers. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

You could take a straw poll of your friends and family and come up with varying degrees of answers, from the perplexing, through to the bizarre and on to the thoughtfully played out, of how dreams are meant to be observed, studied, and even relieve the soul of the burden they may carry.

Dreaming is such an intrinsic part of human existence, and yet we pay it less regard than chasing the product of those visions, and the benefit of introspection, of interpretation, is lost, allowed to fade into nothing.

Brigitte Beraha, Lucid Dreamers. Album Review. full post

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