Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The path taken alone can either be one filled with wonder or one that leads to a dark place, one that is filled with promise and the objective of new beginnings or the solitary trail that is hindered by vines, haunting memories and sad reflection, both though lead to a certain desire, one that is unyielding and creatively relentless.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
It may be considered unlawful but to love Eliza Neals’ new album Breaking and Entering is to know that out there in the land of Blues the flag is forever being flown and with great pride by the women of the genre.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Neel Sethi, Ritesh Rajan, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, Giancarlo Esposito, Christopher Walken, Garry Shandling, Brighton Rose, Jon Favreau, Sam Raimi, Russell Peters, Madeline Favreau.
There are remakes of films in which the audience should always ask the question, why did they do this, what point does it serve, what on Earth did they do that was any different? The feeling of a sacred bond between cinema and film lover being shattered by the gnawing pain that it comes down to money and conceit, never an easy feeling to shake off; however, in the live action remake of one of Disney’s finest films, The Jungle Book is a film of absolute beauty and fine film craft and much of it comes down to Jon Favreau direction and flag waving cause.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman, Richard McCabe, Barkhad Abdi, Jeremy Northam, Monica Dolan, Iain Glen, Babou Ceesay, Phoebe Fox, Aaron Paul, Faisa Hassan, Aisha Takow, Armaan Haggio, Gavin Hood, Ebby Weyime, Lex King, Andrew Ahula, Ali Mohamed.
There are many reasons in which to take Eye In The Sky for a simple film about choice, its after effects and the consequences of decision; there are many reasons in which to understand that sometimes the greater good is served by the action of several bad and potentially evil people being taken out and one good person losing their life because of it; what it doesn’t prepare you for is the harrowing nature in which some decisions are formed.
I saw a sun explode,
obliterate in the night sky
and whilst nobody
else saw it at that moment,
I knew that worlds would end.
Somewhere deep I felt
the hundreds of thousands
of possible deaths,
across millions of light years
and I trembled at the fragility
of a single life taken
at dawn
just within the blink
of a savage’s eye,
murder by celestial means; death
decreed by sunlight fading thousands
of years ago.
I see a distant sun explode
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Lesley Butler, Maximillian Chase, Peter Grant, Susan Hedges, Samuel Raymond Heller, Mark Lacey, Edwina Lee, Steve Macfarlane, Robert Southworth, Peter Turner, Ozzie Yue.
Life on Lark Lane is purr-fect for the Moggies, everything they could ask for, all they desire, is there to be enjoyed. All the furry feline’s nine lives are spent doing what cats do best, taking a stroll through the park, fine dining, watching the world go by with good friends and the only blot on the social calendar is having to deal with the squirrels, who are to be avoided just because they’re nuts.
Silence
and hands on heads,
no talking
whatsoever
and I do not
want to hear a
peep
out of you,
any of you,
till you learn some manners…
Our arms outstretched
having mastered the art
of class room sign language
by the time we were eight
and the deflection of the hammered down
metal measuring device
across the bare biting knuckles,
scrapped skin
bleeding as the monstrous
and over-zealous uncrowned ruler
struck again and again
and the headmaster would be lethal
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Sarah Maher, Emily Heyworth, Alun Parry.
If Paradise was half as nice…we would probably sleep in our beds not with worry but with comfort, not with concern but with joy and certainly not with the idea that at any given time in a world of seven billion souls were we being watched, every move undertaken scrutinised and studied, dissected just in case of any misappropriation of feelings or of possible conflict with the state. If paradise was half as nice then writer Brian Coyle would have no need to write a play that gripped the soul and gave it steely resolve to not allow the world to come down to this Pinter-esque dystopia.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
Cast: Harriet Wilson, David Ward, James Dorman.
When the inevitable breakdown in society comes, would you be searching for the best place to hide and wait it out till the authorities find a way to exert control back or would you spend it in a locked room talking about the breakdown in your personal life and that of those you love. It is a question many will hope to never answer but as Thomas Oléron Evans explores in his play to stage production An Everyday Apocalypse, sometimes the end of the world is a lot closer to home than we ever imagine.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Simone Tani, Carmen Arquelladas.
Monty Python lives and breathes, you just got to look for it under different names and be wary of the ones that don’t so much leave you having enjoyed the surreal nature of the event unfolding as more than open to thrash a pretend animal on its behind.
For budding Python, for the life of Brian or Jesus you didn’t see, Simone Tani’s and Carmen Arquelladas’ Resurrection Half Price is a blast of surreal moments put together so well that each segment is bordering upon genius and fully embraces madness.