Blade Runner 2049. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Dave Bautista, David Dastmalchian, Edward James Olmos, Jared Leto, Mackenzie Davis, Lennie James, Barkhad Abdi, Sean Young, Loren Peta.

The dystopian feel of our lives is always there, humming in the back ground, playing that sad song of regret whilst understanding it is our own folly that has bought us to such junctures in time. It is a genre of writing that has existed perfectly well and in many ways is arguably more suited to our own thoughts of humanity’s future than the clean, sanitised and off kilter imagination of many science-fiction films; for even they soon revert to the realisation that not all is good where humanity treads, even in space.

Blade Runner 2049. Film Review. full post

(482 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

Kingsman: The Golden Circle. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Channing Tatum, Halle Berry, Jeff Bridges, Elton John, Edward Holcroft, Hanna Alstrom, Calvin Demba, Thomas Turgoose, Tobi Bakare, Keith Allen, Tom Benedict Knight, Michael Gambon, Sophie Cookson, Lene Endre, Pedro Pascal, Poppy Delevingne, Bruce Greenwood, Emily Watson, Samantha Womack.

 

A long line of sequels is always possible when a film comes along with the possibility of an open ended cast and is good enough to carry the weight of excitement, action and sometimes outlandish plot; if it is respectable enough for the makers of James Bond, then it more than good enough for those responsible for The Kingsman.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle. Film Review. full post

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

Porridge. Series One (2017). Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Kevin Bishop, Mark Bonnar, Pippa Haywood, Dominic Coleman, Dave Hill, Harman Singh, Jason Barnett, Ricky Grover, Harry Peacock, Moyo Akande, Amina Zia, Rory Gallagher, John Marquez.

You can be spoiled in life, the little things, the small moments of brilliance can seem so monumental that they, in most people’s eyes, cannot be seen to be bettered, not even equalled and it is a shame because the monumental should be inspiring; it should be a light that shines, not to intimidate, but to at least emulate, to carry on the noble tradition of something worthwhile.

Porridge. Series One (2017). Television Review. full post

(488 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

The Memory Of Fame.

Fame, it’s yours.

I don’t forgive easy,

despite live

and let live

being a promise I try to keep;

fame it is yours,

for when

the time is right to introduce

a new character to the blank

page, the unhinged, staring eyes

betraying a gormless look

of intolerance and limp dick machismo

upon sweaty brow and fevered bullish,

prostituted personality,

I shall remember you

and give you all the fame

you desired.

 

Ian D. Hall 2017

The Memory Of Fame. full post

(79 words, estimated 19 secs reading time)

Belinda Carlisle, Gig Review. Olympia, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It is not just people that have a history, a story worth remembering, it is the very fabric of a place, a building and even the structure of art and the thoughts that go into it as well.

When history on all fronts collide it can make for an impressive evening of memory, a kaleidoscope of colour and fantasy rolled together; it is a history which dominates and fights like a boxer scrapping for the money in which to build a better life for, a harassed mother to be finding the strength to deliver a child into a world. For between these two states of human emotion comes life and one that can only be tempered by the sound of an artist calling through time and being appreciated with the full extent of both Heaven and Earth.

Belinda Carlisle, Gig Review. Olympia, Liverpool. full post

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

Poured Over Timetable (On The Way To Plymouth).

 

Learning to read

the British Rail National Timetable

was a rite of passage

I enjoyed early

as my mum

would invariably

restrict me to one comic

only, purchased at the station,

as we made our way from Birmingham

to Plymouth

when I was a small boy;

exotic names, unheard of treasures

would find their way

worm like and lay eggs forever

into my subconscious.

I lament the passing

of such information,

lost to print it seems,

found only as an A to Cornwall,

Poured Over Timetable (On The Way To Plymouth). full post

(122 words, estimated 29 secs reading time)

Kathryn Roberts And Sean Lakeman, Gig Review. Music Rooms, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Tomorrow will follow today, to think otherwise is to take the only thing that matters in the world to many people from them, the belief of hope. Hope is the reason why so many of us get up in the morning, hope is the point of talking in vain to the nice girl who smiles, to listen to that song, to relish an evening out when everything about the modern world screams to stay inside; it is in hope that the live performance by an artist is one that will captivate you and keep you alive inside.

Kathryn Roberts And Sean Lakeman, Gig Review. Music Rooms, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(449 words, 1 image, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Wild Life, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Joanna Holden, Chloe Purcell, Amelia Pimlott.

Life should be a happy medium between fun and the stay at home nights, the frantic and the exciting and the small release of comfort which comes from looking back on the day, catching up with small jobs and the odd glass of your favourite tipple whilst you relax, look around with a careful eye at your own kingdom and take stock.

Wild Life, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

The Wrong Winning Ticket.

 

I bought the wrong winning ticket,

easy mistake to make,

and yet the council

won’t take the wrong money

to pay off my bills,

the slave owners of credit cards

insist I still owe them

despite mistakenly wanting to settle

my debt and the milkman

is adamant that he still feels

obligated to inform me

that I should hand over

the spondoolicks for my

regular full cream top.

I wanted to shell out shrapnel

to the people that own my house

The Wrong Winning Ticket. full post

(152 words, estimated 36 secs reading time)

Findlay Napier, Glasgow. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It takes an artist to paint a picture in which the local chippy is given prominence, a sense of the Lowry inhabiting a mind which grasps, understands and exemplifies the uniqueness of the human mind to make the ordinary explode with colour and reason and make what we see just astonishing, the passion of the painter’s eye capturing a detail that many would gloss over or not see at all.

Findlay Napier, Glasgow. Album Review. full post

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