Solo: A Star Wars Story. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Paul Bettany, Jon Favreau, Linda Hunt, Joonas Suotamo, Ian Kenny, Anthony Daniels, John Tui, Warwick Davis, Erin Kellyman, Ray Park.

It is perhaps impossible to capture the essence of what makes a screen legend in a particularly iconic role; the one in which they not only ran with across four different films in a much-loved film series, but to whom in many ways was the absolute star, the one to whom the kids loved and the one that others admired. To try and do so would be reckless folly, and yet every hero needs their backstory told, every past needs to be explored and that of Han Solo is no exception.

Solo: A Star Wars Story. Film Review. full post

(475 words, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

The Curse Of Adapting.

 

I wrote a thousand words down,

mostly direction, some form,

all cloud and dust from a temper that rages

to be free, simple

and subtle substance of memory

adapting to a new place, released

by a new phrase, new belief,

and yet as I look upon this meagre world

where pseudo black ink

discretely blots out pages of snow

and ice bound though,

I cry a little, for it surely is all for nought.

 

Ian D. Hall 2018

The Curse Of Adapting. full post

(82 words, estimated 20 secs reading time)

Shelby, Texas, We Are Shelby, Texas. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

In the heat of a spoilt Texas night, the sound of crickets and the thoughts of music gone by are sure to be illuminating, if not in many cases intimidating; add to that the beauty of the American Country ballad or the passion of a song that lights up the face when played in a bar that seems to be a few miles off down a dirt road and frequented by those with an absolute lust for the genre at hand, then you know you have been bitten by the gentle taste of the deep South and the mix of harmony that comes from Rock and Country.

Shelby, Texas, We Are Shelby, Texas. Album Review. full post

(399 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

Stephen King, The Outsider. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It is perhaps one of our more realistic and understandably damaging fears, to lose our identity, to be accused of a crime that we know we didn’t commit but to have all the evidence, our D.N.A., witness statements and testimony from every conceivable source of police profiling and psychiatric testing, to have our identity wiped out, to have someone else wear your face, act like you, have your friends believe you have become evil, insane or just plain foolish, that is the basic premise of many nightmares and some great cinematic moments captured for eternity.

Stephen King, The Outsider. Book Review. full post

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

Wherever You Were.

 

Wherever you were yesterday, know

for sure that I thought of you,

that I talked of you, that I hoped

beyond measure

that your day was respectable, that you

did something positive

for someone else and atoned perhaps

the storm you left me in,

the disrespect shown as you slid

into a dirty corner and withered

from my sight, of no contact, of no Time…

I would ask of you, to seek me out

one day and ask of me what your actions meant

Wherever You Were. full post

(107 words, estimated 26 secs reading time)

On Chesil Beach, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Billy Howle, Emily Watson, Samuel West, Anne-Marie Duff, Adrian Scarborough, Rasmus Hardiker, Bebe Cave, Jonjo O’Neill.

Time and sensitivity are not natural bed fellows, neither is truly mature enough to handle each other’s whims, demands or spoilt child like behaviour when the going gets tough; it takes a writer of delicate persuasion in which to capture the beauty in heartache and the sudden fall of a relationship which had been so clear before.

On Chesil Beach, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(437 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

In Howth, It Started To Go Wrong.

The adorned grave in Howth,

overlooking an Irish Sea, was full

of memorabilia left by fans,

nearby a gardener mowed down

excess green tokens and kept order

between the various plots

lost to time, in his own small world

of Presidents and stars, of the ordinary men

and women who saw this village grow…

…time was we talked here, you and I,

before darkness fell

and shadows widened, we now reside

in cottages of straw and supposed moral

outrage, though yours is greater than mine,

In Howth, It Started To Go Wrong. full post

(131 words, estimated 31 secs reading time)

Bunting Points The Way To Queen’s Square And Kiev.

 

The odd house

along the main road to Liverpool

had fluttering bunting pinned to the doors

and hanging from the outside

of the recently varnished windows, hand drawn

pictures of heroes who lifted

the European Cup

in their name, and Shankly legend

and Paisley lore, of Kennedy penalty,

of Hughes, Crazy Horse

and a small child kicking a scuffed

second hand football against a wall

in Anfield, Toxteth, Bootle and Cairo,

dreaming of putting on the red shirt,

someday, to hear their name resonate

Bunting Points The Way To Queen’s Square And Kiev. full post

(158 words, estimated 38 secs reading time)

Iain Till, In The Clouds. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

In The Clouds, so much goes on that we cannot comprehend fully the way it affects our lives, this once strange realm in which poets pondered and the visionary dreamed, where we believed that giants slept and snored, and in which flights of fancy are the now everyday as millions cross the clouds in search of adventure, home and freedom.

Iain Till, In The Clouds. E.P. Review. full post

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

Orbis Max, Love Will Keep Us Together. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It is the song of the eternal optimist, and in this world that we seek solace in, sometimes it is the only words of comfort that we dare believe in, that we ever think will keep us warm. When Hell threatens to freeze over, when the Sun in all its glory, dims, hides in the shadows and blames the path of the moon for the eclipse of rational thinking available; Love Will Keep Us Together is the cry of old, of hope and of the possible future to which we cling to, that when all else fails, love is the measure in which our souls are tested.

Orbis Max, Love Will Keep Us Together. Single Review. full post

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