The Nice Guys, Film Review. Picturehouse, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, Gil Gerard, Margaret Qualley, Yaya Dacosta, Keith David, Beau Knapp, Lois Smith, Murielle Teilo, Daisy Tahan, Kim Bassinger, Jack Kilmer, Lance Valentine, Ty Simpkins.

Occasionally in life cinema offers you the perfect picture, the moment when the genre of your choice comes out of the gloom and shoves perfection up close to your face. You expect perfection when it comes to some films and performances, it is the reason the film was made in the first place but when it comes to the unexpected, when it comes to films such as Mad Max, the first Lethal Weapon or The Nice Guys, such a hit is to be more than applauded, it is to be seen as genuine and highly praised.

The Nice Guys, Film Review. Picturehouse, Liverpool. full post

(411 words, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

Wallander: The Troubled Man. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Terrance Hardiman, Christopher Fairbank, John Lightbody, Jeany Spark, Boel Larrsson, Ann Bell, Simon Chandler, Barnaby Kay, Richard McCabe, Joe Clafin, Harry Hadden-Paton, Garrick Hagon, Nimmy Marsh, Michael Byrne, Sandra Redlaff, Colette O’ Neill, Anton Saunders, David Warner.

You can always trust Kenneth Branagh to pull one special moment out of the bag in whatever venture he is doing, time and time again the actor just seemingly, like a highly rated magician, leaves the audience gasping at the truth he wears behind the character’s mask. From his work promoting Shakespeare, through to the brilliant Shackleton and to his latest venture Wallander, Kenneth Branagh has given everything for the stage and screen.

Wallander: The Troubled Man. Television Review. full post

(490 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

Tired…

I never used to get like this.

I could happily go for weeks

and months on just

a couple of hours sleep a day,

especially if it kept the nightmares

at bay and the tightness in my chest

regulated, not so much at ease

but at least not aggravated

by missing dawn and dusk.

Tired…

of it all at times

and Time is winning, the curse

of mortality is that it tires you out.

Tired, bones crushing under the weight

and so little time…

Tired… full post

(203 words, estimated 49 secs reading time)

James Wyatt, Gig Review. Strings And Things, Studio 2, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It is easy to love James Wyatt, the young performer almost shyly stipulates such cool and terrific poise on stage that to not admire him, to not fall for the songs of bitterness, of despair and desperate longing in an unfair and charmless world, is to realise that your ears have long since given up the task they were appointed for, that this is music that sits very much in the same vein as some of the great performers at their most iconic and virtuous.

James Wyatt, Gig Review. Strings And Things, Studio 2, Liverpool. full post

(368 words, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Esme Bridie, Gig Review. Strings And Things, Parr Street, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Being away from home does not stop people caring about you, it does not mean that you are able to shrink in stature or let the light of the song ever diminish; for by doing so, the light fades and allows darkness to fill the void. It is darkness that never once pokes its head above the trenches as far as the beautiful voice and song writing of Esme Bridie is concerned.

Esme Bridie, Gig Review. Strings And Things, Parr Street, Liverpool. full post

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

Battenberg Angel.

Mine looked odd,

completely out of place.

Being kind you might have said unique,

the teacher called it a one off

and said it was in the nature

of a piece of work that was mine,

that it resembled me

not exceptional or exclusive

but something quite…

rare, unusual…go on I thought

daring the words out loud,

call me peculiar, after all my

Battenberg Angel was certainly that

in amongst the dazzling white fairies

constructed by the other members

of my class just before Christmas 1981.

Battenberg Angel. full post

(222 words, estimated 53 secs reading time)

Our Ladies Of Perpetual Succour, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Kirsty Findlay, Karen Fishwick, Joanne McGuinness, Kirsty MacLaren, Francis Mayli McCann, Dawn Sievewright.

The potent mix of having too much time on your hands and not enough to do in the area is more than the headlong crash into certain temptation. For those whose young hormones rule absolutely it can cause the body and mind to depart and separate in ways that might seem unfathomable to many who have never experienced the deprivation of what a city life can offer.

Our Ladies Of Perpetual Succour, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(427 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Rusted Bucket.

Hold on to any dream you have,

even if what you carry it in

is corroded, oxidised and tarnished

beyond recognition

for even rusty buckets

held at a peculiar angle

can still carry water.

It might not be clean,

it perhaps won’t be seen as glimmering

or potent or even full,

the handle on its last hinge,

but the bucket does not know this,

all it feels is that in a small,

underlying physical way

that it is helping to dampen

Rusted Bucket. full post

(110 words, estimated 26 secs reading time)

Royal Southern Brotherhood, The Royal Gospel. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Your perceptions should be challenged daily, what you think you know, what you believe to be sacrosanct, should be questioned and subjected to scrutiny every minute of every passing day; it is the only way to hold on to your wits and your confidence in the unassuming and the courageous.

Royal Southern Brotherhood, The Royal Gospel. Album Review. full post

(389 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

Albert Castiglia, Big Dog. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It is not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog, it is the strength of character that marks out, not only genius but the willingness to carve out the furrow long after many have the trench and found their way to a comfortable place beside the fire – it takes a Big Dog to watch the other animals in the pack resign their feelings and still have the courage and tenacity to bark and growl in the night.

Albert Castiglia, Big Dog. Album Review. full post

(388 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)