Paddington, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Nicole Kidman, Michael Gambon, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Peter Capaldi, Imelda Staunton, Matt Lucas, Madeline Harris, Samuel Joslin, Matt King, Tim Downie, Geoffrey Palmer, Jim Broadbent, Michael Bond, Alice Lowe, Simon Farnaby, Dominic Coleman, Will Smith, Javier Martez.

In even the most unassuming of people, there is the potential for greatness and joy. The tales of Paddington Bear are amongst the most loved in children’s literature television, and yet the stories are so well imagined and presented, that like all the best characters from British Literature they appeal right across the age spectrum and the latest incarnation for the cinema is just as enjoyable and just as much fun as an audience member could ever hope for.

Paddington, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(595 words, estimated 2:23 mins reading time)

The Hobbit, The Battle Of The Five Armies, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Luke Evans, Richard Armitage, Lee Pace, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Billy Connolly, Graham McTavish, Ken Stott, Ian Holm, Sylvester McCoy, Ryan Gage, Peter Hambleton, Jed Brophy, William Kircher, Adam Brown, Aiden Turner, Manu Bennett, Hugo Weaving, Dean O’ Gorman, Christopher Lee, James Nesbitt, Stephen Fry, Mikael Persbrandt.

The Hobbit, The Battle Of The Five Armies, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(666 words, estimated 2:40 mins reading time)

The Whereabouts, I Don’t Care. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It seems such an interminable age since the position vacant sign went up on the door, group of young energetic lads from Ireland who can actually play decent Rock and Roll and who has rhythm engrained throughout their souls. The call becomes a shout, a bellow and an unremitting plea and like Manchester City in the mid-1990s in search of a manager who actually could do the same fine job that Peter Reid was on the verge of creating, the appeal seems to have kept falling upon deaf ears…until the listener finds a band from County Cavan has been plugging away and The Whereabouts make introduce themselves with honour.

The Whereabouts, I Don’t Care. Album Review. full post

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

The Truce, E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It is remembered as a point in time in which Humanity gained a little perspective in a world that had gone completely and utterly insane. The leap of faith in which hundreds of soldiers, who only hours before had been shooting at each other in a conflict that none of them truly understood the reason for which it was being fought, met in the middle of a scrap of Earth called No-Man’s Land and declared a truce that would have lasting repercussions and the small smile of peace installed in the hearts of generations to come. The Truce was the moment in which peace broke out and man put down his weapon against all that had gone before him.

The Truce, E.P. Review. full post

(538 words, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)

Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions (PS4), Game Review

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is a twin-stick shooting game available for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS4. Geometry Wars started out life as a mini-game upon the release of Project Gotham Racing 2 on November 17th 2003 and was accessible via the in-game garage, which due to the positive reception it received from players was spun off into its own game called Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved and has since continued as its own successful series of games. Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions was developed by Lucid Games who rose from the ashes of the unfortunately disbanded Bizarre Creations that had developed the Project Gotham Racing series and began the Geometry Wars series as well as some excellent titles through the years such as Formula One, Formula 1 ’97, Metropolis Street Racer, Fur Fighters, The Club, Blur and James Bond 007: Blood Stone, therefore proving Bizarre Creation’s and Lucid Games’ pedigree as excellent games developers and one of the best Liverpool based developers of all-time in the videogames industry.

Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions (PS4), Game Review full post

(2466 words, estimated 9:52 mins reading time)

The Who, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. December 2014.

The Who, Echo Arena, Liverpool. December 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It’s a wonder at times that the River Mersey doesn’t grumble at the thought of another band making its way to the Echo Arena and producing a cacophony of sound that seeps through every pore of the audience’s being. The dynamic ebb and flow, the underlying fury that drives the water down to the Liverpool-Manchester Canal and hits the rocky shoreline of Ireland with a brutal but much loved smack takes second place to the sheer resonance produced when rock legends such as Peter Gabriel, Status Quo and The Who come to Liverpool within a week of each other.

The Who, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. December 2014. full post

(626 words, 1 image, estimated 2:30 mins reading time)

Men, Women And Children, Film Review. Picturehouse@ F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Gardner, Rosemarie Dewitt, Judy Greer, Dean Norris, Emma Thompson, J.K. Simmons, Timothée Chalamet, Olivia Crocicchia, Kaitlyn Dever, Ansel Elgort, Katherine C. Hughes, Elena Kampouris, Will Peltz, Travis Tope, David Denman, Dennis Haysbert, Tina Parker, Shane Lynch, Phil LaMarr, Jason Douglas.

Men, Women And Children, Film Review. Picturehouse@ F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(706 words, estimated 2:49 mins reading time)

Kenneth J. Nash, The Fall Of Eden. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

To tumble from grace is to find yourself! There is a certain freedom attached to being so low that the view from above can be an inspiration. If you have everything then you are too afraid to lose it and The Fall Of Eden is a long and bumpy road in which there is heartache, pain and grief, but there is also the chance of redemption in liberty. It is a redemption and liberty in which Kenneth J. Nash captures exquisitely in The Fall Of Eden.

Kenneth J. Nash, The Fall Of Eden. Album Review. full post

(378 words, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

Boo Hewerdine, My Name In Brackets (The Best of Boo Hewerdine & The Bible). Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

A gentle demeanour is never lost in life. The soothing tones of a musician seemingly at peace with themselves is never truly overshadowed by the storm that rampages around them, the squall and the rough tidal surges that drown out the less romantic find ways to inspire the artistically gifted. For Boo Hewerdine if the squall and blizzards of life affect him, then his music doesn’t show it, not outwardly possibly but like all great artists there is something of the dark attached within the moving, almost sensual lyrics that command the same attention as coming across the flowing beast that is the River Nile for the first time.

Boo Hewerdine, My Name In Brackets (The Best of Boo Hewerdine & The Bible). Album Review. full post

(443 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

Sharon Van Etten, Gig Review. The Library Institute, Birmingham.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Every time Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten releases an album, it’s an opportunity for the listener to check out her state of mind. An intimate setting like The Library, was the perfect platform for her selection of unguarded, confessional narratives, in a set which drew heavily from her most recent release Are We There’.

Sharon Van Etten, Gig Review. The Library Institute, Birmingham. full post

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