Film Review. The Current War.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon, Tom Holland, Katherine Waterston, Tuppence Middleton, Nicholas Hoult, Matthew Macfadyen, Damien Molony, Craig Conway, Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Simon Kunz, John Schwab, Amy Marston, Woody Norman, Celyn Jones, Colin Stinton, Conor MacNeil, Simon Manyonda, Joseph Balderrama, Tom Bell, Evy Frearson.

 

The race to be remembered for one’s achievements is one that normally never truly won, it can also be one that causes a degree of self-harm on the protagonist, especially when it drives them to the point of exhaustion, and the possibility of neglecting loved ones and the thoughts of the wider community.

Film Review. The Current War. full post

(450 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Film Review. Horrible Histories: The Movie-Rotten Romans.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * *

Cast: Sebastian Croft, Emilia Jones, Nick Frost, Craig Roberts, Kate Nash, Kim Cattrall, Derek Jacobi, Rupert Graves, Warwick Davis, Alexander Armstrong, Kevin Bishop, Alex MacQueen, Lee Mack, Chris Addison, Ella Smith, Sanjeev Bhasker, Tony Way, Lucy Montgomery, Tony Gardner, Ben Ashenden, Samantha Spiro, Katy Wix.

 

Film Review. Horrible Histories: The Movie-Rotten Romans. full post

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

Blackpool Rain.

 

Through her creased paper appearance

I watched her dance in time

to the cabaret of the Blackpool day,

too tired beyond four

in the afternoon

to stiffly

compete with the aged, gnarled

quick fingers at the head of the Wurlitzer

playing out tunes that were fashionable

when she was a young lady

on the edge of unblinking time.

I sit and consider the movement,

a smile of love

for her as the applause ripples

above the tide, the pier

holding her memory

Blackpool Rain. full post

(98 words, estimated 24 secs reading time)

Jason Robert, The Death Of Stone Stanley. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

We don’t celebrate life in the way that it should be, by that virtue we look upon the loss of anyone with a mixture of regret, sadness, and sometimes the unfathomable, all the emotions brought on because we had no idea what the person who has left us was truly like.

Jason Robert, The Death Of Stone Stanley. Album Review. full post

(377 words, 1 image, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

Scouse Pacific, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. (2019).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Jake Abraham, Jamie Clarke, Guy Freeman, Stephen Fletcher, Lindzi Germain, Abigail Middleton, Mia Molloy, Michael Starke.

Band: Howard Gray, James Bretton, Mike Woodvine, Greg Joy.

Billy Riley is the hero you may not have heard of but because of his ingenuity, his fortitude and love of a fish and chip supper, there is forever a part of the South Pacific that is Scouse, where bananas are abundant, where a certain newspaper gets used for its rightful position as a cleansing aid, and where the descendants of the ship-wrecked, press-ganged mariner burst into song as a right; some enchanted evenings are always worth remembering, especially in Scouse Pacific.

Scouse Pacific, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. (2019). full post

(407 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Karen Marshalsay, The Road To Kennacraig. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision 8.5/10


The Road To Kennacraig is one that few will probably undertake, only perhaps the adventurous will see the possibilities that such an affair could produce, the sense of the windswept town joining in the ravishing sound created by the mysticism of the harp, one that the whisper of angels themselves would find hard to emulate.

However, if you should undertake the journey to Kennacraig, then in the company of one of the finest harpists in the world would surely make the adventure that much sweeter. For Karen Marshalsay, that expedition is one that gets deep into the traditional and the contemporary, one that is blessed to have all three Scottish harps centre stage and giving the acoustic lift that heightens the senses gloriously.

Karen Marshalsay, The Road To Kennacraig. Album Review. full post

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

Diana Rein, Queen Of My Castle. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

We shouldn’t need affirmation for the choices and loves of our lives, however there will always be those waiting outside the fortress we have built for ourselves wanting to tear it down, angry at what they perceive to be aloofness, or worse, a measure of self-control to which they seek to destroy. We should always be ever vigilant against such people who wish to decry our efforts for peace in a world that wants to destroy; we should all be able to withstand other’s opinion and declare that we are the King and the Queen Of My Castle.

Diana Rein, Queen Of My Castle. Album Review. full post

(425 words, 1 image, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Aidan O’ Rourke, 365: Volume 2. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Art is at its best when it inspires other artists as well as the general public to be greater than they thought they could be. A poem that stimulates the writer to take on the length of a novel, the painting that arouses the passion of the film maker, and the boldness of music which has caught the meaning and fire of the enthusiastic sculpture, all contain the seeking out of mystery and explaining in greater detail what the world can be.

Aidan O’ Rourke, 365: Volume 2. Album Review. full post

(477 words, 1 image, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

American Idiot, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Tom Milner, Luke Friend, Sam Lavery, Alexandra Robinson, Christian Tyler Wood, Daniel Law, Glen Adamson, Jennifer Caldwell, Joshua Dowen, Laura Marie Benson, Lucas Rush, Raquel Jones, Rory McGuire, Ross William Wild, Samuel Pope, Shekinah McFarlane, Siobhan O’ Driscoll, Amy Anzel, David Brooks.

Band: Robert Wicks, Chris George, Nick Kent, Charlie Maguire.

American Idiot, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Riot V, Live In Japan 2018. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

To be Live In Japan, it is an act of worship and homage to a land of intrigue, fascination and beauty that few of us will ever be able to achieve but then not all of us have pursued the idea of causing our lives to be a riot, to glimpse at the communication possible and demonstrate the rampage that good hard rock can bring to the world.

Riot V, Live In Japan 2018. Album Review. full post

(470 words, 1 image, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)