King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Jude Law, Djimon Hounsou, Eric Bana, Aiden Gillen, Freddie Fox, Craig McGinlay, Tom Wu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Neil Maskell, Annabelle Wallis, Geoff Bell, Bleu Landau, Jacqui Ainsley, Georgina Campbell, Rob Knighton, Michael Hadley, David Beckham, Katie McGrath, Peter Ferdinando, Michael McElhatton, Mikael Persbrandt.

 

Legends come from stories long since handed down and embellished, made uncertain and then allowed to fade into the darkness of our collective memories, such is the fate of us all and without proof, who is to say that you also won’t become a myth.

King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword. Film Review. full post

(631 words, estimated 2:31 mins reading time)

Beauty And The Beast. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Hattie Morahan, Haydn Gwynne, Gerard Horan, Ray Fearon, Ewan McGregor, Ian Mckellen, Emma Thompson, Nathan Mack, Audra McDonald, Stanley Cadenza, Clive Rowe, Adrian Schiller.

 

Heralded as one of the great Disney classics of all time, Beauty and the Beast is a scintillating tale of compassion over anger, of love over objectivity and quite rightly has become engrained in the heart of those who have taken its message of purity and simplicity against force and prejudice to its true place in the psyche; love conquers all they say and yet sometimes love is not quite enough to warrant taking a much loved animated film and turning into a live action feature, sometimes love just isn’t enough.

Beauty And The Beast. Film Review. full post

(421 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

I Am The Stranger.

I am a stranger,

so very strange,

in the town I live in

today, in the circle

and support group

I inhabit and even

if you look at my old

school report card

for Religious Education

during third year;

it will simply be scrawled,

who is Ian Hall?

I am a stranger, no sense, full of nonsense,

known only for dreadful dress sense

occasionally,

I am the stranger in my own thoughts,

I am the stranger lost in my own concept

I Am The Stranger. full post

(121 words, estimated 29 secs reading time)

Snakecharmer, Second Skin. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Love the skin you are in if you are able, cherish it even it is the hardest thing you do, and if it is not possible, if all the cards are stacked against you and you left holding the Queen of Spades and all the Hearts except the Ace, then grow a Second Skin, put on the mask if it is possible and throw a single finger up in defiance; nothing would make your enemies and detractors more mad and jealous.

Snakecharmer, Second Skin. Album Review. full post

(430 words, 1 image, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

Danzig, Black Laden Crown. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There is a special place on Earth reserved for Danzig, the most combustible of volcanoes bow down and spill their lava in appreciation, stars blink out of existence in honour and the doom laden unappreciative steel their knives and pen like swords in readiness to decry one of the most incredible of lyrically perfect bands of the last three decades.

Danzig, Black Laden Crown. Album Review. full post

(414 words, 1 image, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

But A Vanity.

It is but a vanity

to believe anything we do,

create, ultimately, means a thing.

We can only hope in the end,

that when time

chimes and begs us to depart the dance,

that we have at least managed

to make

one person smile,

one soul love us,

one mind changed

and one heart skip a beat

to know we have been in their life.

Ian D. Hall 2017

Permanent link to this post (71 words, estimated 17 secs reading time)

Clean Cut Kid, Felt. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Never dismiss the humble acorn, never turn that opportunity to see a band start out, for the mightiest of trees turn out like that band that you cannot get tickets for as they take their music out on the road and become a truly great success; to have the feeling of nurturing a group in your heart of see the first signs of life evolve from the ground, it is something to behold, it is something proud to have Felt.

Clean Cut Kid, Felt. Album Review. full post

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

Skyclad, Forward Into The Past. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The intro perhaps says it all, “Welcome back my friend, yes, it’s been too long…”, arguably a truer set of combined words never more uttered in the realms of the distinguished career of Skyclad.

Of course the band have been missed, the eight years in between album enough to tear the hair out of any long term fan, those who migrated from the days of Sabbat and the incredible fusion of Heavy Metal with superb allusions to the Folk genre, those who have not been able to see the band on tour for what perhaps seem forever; missed? There have surely been fans who have pined themselves into a state of unearthly unease as Time has flown by and now feel the relief of the checked mark of the clock as the band return to go Forward Into The Past.

Skyclad, Forward Into The Past. Album Review. full post

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

Bucket. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Frog Stone, Miriam Margolyes, Stephanie Beacham, Catherine Steadman, Cyril Nri, Maggie Stead, Iain McKee, Waleed Akhtar, Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Chris Middleton, Sonny Ashbourne Serkis, Samantha Baines, Cicely Giddings, Janine Harouni, Seeta Indrani, Tom Price.

 

The Bucket List, we all perhaps have one but it is one that is constantly updating, ever shifting, perhaps never taken too seriously, there is always time to do anything and only the most daring of adventures are ever put off till it is too late to ever contemplate doing them. Bucket it all, the list should always be looked upon as a friend, the memory for others to be inspired by and no matter how bizarre the revelations’ that come with them, no matter the chaos that ensues, some things in life are just too important to never achieve.

Bucket. Television Review. full post

(479 words, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Oxygen. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Peter Capaldi, Pearl Mackie, Matt Lucas, Kieran Bow, Justin Salinger, Lewis McGowan, Mimi Ndiweni, Peter Caulfield, Katie Brayben, Clem So.

All that you need is the air that you breathe…and a superbly written Doctor Who story in which the means of Capitalism are shown for what they truly are, the means of control, supply and demand and when demand for labour is non-existent, the way that the economic and political structure survives is to terminate all who cost too much to be involved.

Doctor Who: Oxygen. Television Review. full post

(447 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)