A handshake across the divide, all smiles,
not just for the poised
and focused cameras,
but for the owner of the Korean future,
it means the world
and the world watches on
in astonishment at this symbolic act,
a single step in the right direction,
back and forth the two men go,
the right direction, no matter the influence,
the right step, a holding of hands,
if not of ideals, regardless of the position,
another Berlin Wall moment
in days of endless bad news.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Tyrone Huggins, Trevor Laird, Tonderai Munyevu, Dorcas Sebuyange.
By denying the inalienable truth of the past, we suffer the fools of the future, instead of celebrating the fact, we experience the danger of lies and slurs becoming the norm, it is this misrepresentation of history that brings us the insanity of Presidents and the vileness of certain groups and their unfathomable so called logic, better to admit in the open and let the fools run, that the country we live in, no matter where we live, is made of a history that is more diverse, more beautiful than we understand, that we all walk, we walk in the shadow of our ancestors.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
We have a propensity to squander years and not regret them and yet the minutes in between, the subtly of the clock marching slowly onwards, we find ourselves consumed with appearing busy. The ever watchful eye of those we place above us confirming to us that it is in the here and now that we are forever seeking solace and reassurance, that the years themselves can take care of themselves, for who truly thinks of five or ten years ahead when we don’t even know how we will be looked upon tomorrow.
Don’t let it be by the gun, rather a pun,
a word or a thousand in line, revised,
perhaps, but would rather leave each sentence
delivered as the judge requires, laid down law,
mistaking my zest for apathy,
not so,
it is just a work in progress that is over half way passed
and should there be need for an additional
chapter or appendix whipped out
before it bursts into paper shreds, then let the pen decide,
let life be snuffed out by the nib,
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Eric Potts, Jake Abraham, Mark Moraghan, Lynn Francis, Daniel O’Brien, Stephanie Dooley, Alan Stocks, Roy Carruthers.
Special guest appearance by Pete Best.
Memorabilia is big business, some of it only worth the money to the person that truly wants to covet it, to see it take pride of place in a darkened room and never let anyone ever see it again. The private collector to whom a piano played by Billy Joel, Elton John or Tori Amos is as valuable, if not more so, than keeping the instrument used to create art out of sight of millions; a type of dystopian pleasure, a greed that undeniably stokes the furnaces of ownership but also in which hangs tales of intrigue, of lost items and found loves.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Lily James, Matthew Goode, Jessica Brown Findlay, Michiel Huisman, Katherine Parkinson, Tom Courtenay, Glen Powell, Penelope Wilton, Bronagh Gallagher, Dilyana Bouklieva, Kit Connor, Marek Oravec, Steve Carroll, Nicola Pasetti, Andy Gathergood, Emily Patrick, Amil Freeman, Tom Owen.
The idyllic can hold a person’s mind entranced, the beauty of the location a veritable feast for the soul and the easy going nature of the locals, disarming, reassuring and pleasurable; yet in any place which holds the attention of the visitor, there is always the unspoken horrors that may have occurred, that may be pushed down so far into the consciousness that resurrect them is more painful than anyone from the outside can believe.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Helen Mirren, Donald Sutherland, Christian McKay, Janel Moloney, Dana Ivey, Dick Gregory, Leander Suleiman, Ahmed Lucan, Gabriella Cila, David Silverman, Lucy Catherine Haskill, Joshua Hoover, Kirsty Mitchell.
We all have that final dream within us, that if the moment comes when we are told there is no hope, that we fight to make hope ours, we go out of the way to remind people that once upon a time, we were incredible and that we should go out the same way, right to the end and the final breath, we must go out the same way we came into the world, as The Leisure Seekers, of always learning, always striving to improve, of seeing hope as our friend.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The added bonus extra is sometimes a piece of information that really doesn’t do or give additional benefit to the enjoyment of the main piece under consideration, it would be like seeing the treasured Benjamin West painting, The Death of Nelson, in all its glory at The Walker Art Gallery and saying, well I enjoyed the painting but for added emotional pleasure it would be better if the blood was more realistic and the sound of battle could be heard in the background; some things do not need the extra added bonus.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Helen Bradbury, Sam Frenchum, Alice Haig, Justin Avoth, Molly Logan, Crispin Redman, Nicola Sanderson, Gareth Willams.
Despite being one of the few works by Agatha Christie which has not had the major investment by television and film and has which received perhaps less attention than most when it comes to being adapted by theatre, Love From A Stranger is a compelling piece in which the idea of the hidden psychopath is explored and manipulated to the point of the absolute style becoming of the Queen of British Crime fiction.
From the safety of my shattered glassed bus stop,
I watch him shuffle past, worn shoes,
possibly one inherited black, matches his panda
bear eyes, these days reflecting
nothing more but his own stale scuffled
disappointment and the latest craze
of hitting every crack
in the fractured pavements; dying now
but someone forgot to tell him,
so he keeps shuffling onwards,
panda eyes squinting for a point
and I watch him from the safety
surrounds of broken bus stop glass.
Ian D. Hall 2018