Liverpool Sound And Vision: An Interview With Jonathan Markwood.

 

Jonathan Markwood is no stranger to the Royal Court Theatre. An actor, an artist of great repute and somebody who just seems to be able to play any role the Royal Court, or indeed any theatre, cares to put his way. Recently he has been part of the cast that bought the superb Lennon back for yet another successful run, and who has to be said had audiences enthralled with his scintillating timing of the Ring Master at the start of the second half, his spot on portrayal of George Martin and John and Cynthia Lennon’s art tutor. He also played alongside Michael Starke and Roy Brandon in the wonderfully entertaining Laurel and Hardy revival piece, The Sons Of The Desert.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: An Interview With Jonathan Markwood. full post

(1577 words, estimated 6:18 mins reading time)

Entwined (PS4), Game Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Entwined is a unique abstract exploration and evolutionary game available for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS Vita, PS3 and PS4. The development team at Pixel Opus is a merging of graduate talents from Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Centre and the San Jose State University Animation and Illustration program, therefore considering this is Pixel Opus’ first ever game; it is an interesting evaluation of the team’s collective talents.

Entwined (PS4), Game Review. full post

(1792 words, estimated 7:10 mins reading time)

Castles In The Sky. Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Eddie Izzard, Karl Davies, Laura Frazer, David Hayman, Alex Jennings, Julian Rhind Tutt, Tim McInnerny, Iain McKee, Joe Bone, Stephen Chance, Nick Elliott, Lesley Harcourt, Carl Heap, Celyn Jones, Arron Tulloch.

It is perhaps appropriate that on the week the country remembers the 75th anniversary of Britain’s entry into the Second World War that the B.B.C. should show the story of how Britain was saved in the early days of The Battle of Britain by no small measure of ingenuity, sacrifice and imagination from the fathers of RADAR, Robert Watson Watt and Skip Wilkins.

Castles In The Sky. Television Review. B.B.C. full post

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

Winter In Eden, Court Of Conscience. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There is a quiet solemnity and gravitas in the frozen landscape that winter offers Humanity but which is shamefully overlooked by modern society in its constant pursuit of the need to be seen to be productive, productive in the disturbingly wrong way, not the industry of creative endeavour in which a field stuffed with snow captures the bleating sheep unawares and provides the captured moment for the ever present photographer. Nor in the way that a sudden snowfall on a busy city can bring it grinding to a halt causing people to stay indoors and forcing them to rest a while, perhaps talk or at least wrestle with their conscious on how Winter was at one time a chance to take stock and to mourn those lost before the snow, not to sell stock and forget to mourn the passing of time.

Winter In Eden, Court Of Conscience. Album Review. full post

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

Rob Jones & Rob White, Thirty. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Some acts just exude a sense of calm proportion to the daily grind, to the stuttering headache caused by the constant bombardment of noise that comes out of every office block, tin pan alley and thoroughfare. The insanity that a shrill voice at the end of a telephone or the damaging bluster of those who see the price in everything but for the life of them cannot see the value of a moment of gentleness that is worth more than whatever they earn over the course of a day.

Rob Jones & Rob White, Thirty. Album Review. full post

(459 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Revenge Of The Swarm. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Philip Olivier, John Leeson, Mandi Symonds, Maggie Service, John Heffernan, Phyllida Nash, Siobhan Redmond, John Dorney, Paul Panting.

Revenge is a dish best served cold, preferably being poured from a bucket with ice cubes the size of Norwegian glacier formation and over the head of someone you don’t like whilst they are sunbathing. Failing that, to be mastered in the form that Science Fiction adores, with plenty of back story and with an enemy that doesn’t quite fit the top echelons of master criminals or war mongering civilisations.

Doctor Who: Revenge Of The Swarm. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish. full post

(651 words, estimated 2:36 mins reading time)

HammerFall, (r)Evolution. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It almost feels as if there an element of greed attached to the way the Scandinavian countries have dominated the world of Metal in recent times, greed or perhaps something more profound, something that would have been seen as verging on the edge of musical insanity only three decades ago. If the late 70s saw the emergence of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, then the epoch that we live in, this time of feeling of global communication but complete disconnection from the way we live our fleeting lives should be seen as the time of a new dominant force, the second Viking Invasion, a lot more Metal, and the only pillaging is that of the U.K.’s and America’s ever loosening grip on the title of the home of the genre.

HammerFall, (r)Evolution. Album Review. full post

(357 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)

Rachel Newton, Changeling. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Folk tales have immense power, they somehow have a way of burrowing below the skin and becoming part of the fabric of the inner workings of the mind. They nestle at the heart of worry, of being something that somehow Humanity is susceptible to other worldly influences and transformation, the trick of the fairy folk is the way they can steal a baby and leave one of their own in its place causes suspicion and distrust. Whether in the Cornish tradition of Mên-an-Tol or other Gaelic influences, the Changeling is something that captures the fertile imagination.

Rachel Newton, Changeling. Album Review. full post

(415 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Velocity 2X (PS4), Game Review.

Game Review: Velocity 2X (PS4)

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Velocity 2X is a part twin-stick shooter, part platform game available for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS4 and PS Vita. The game is the much anticipated sequel to the multi award winning Velocity that was originally released in May 2012 as part of the PlayStation Minis range before receiving an overhaul under the title Velocity Ultra and releasing natively upon the one year anniversary of the original game for PS Vita in May 2013 and on PS3 in November 2013.

Velocity 2X (PS4), Game Review. full post

(3751 words, estimated 15:00 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Breaking Bubbles And Other Stories. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Jemma Churchill, Andy Secombe, Allison McKenzie, Janet Henfrey, Jessica Knappett, Paul Panting, Anjella Mackintosh, Phil Mulryne, Johnny Gibbon, Toby Fountain.

 

There are times when Big Finish pulls something rather terrific out of the bag and what the listener hears is the culmination of endeavour, love and devotion mixed with the art of excellent story telling. There are many full length stories that fall into the category, some with so much ease that they feel as though the writer has had the moment of divine interpretation placed between their ears. On the rarer occasion, it falls to four separate writers to bring out the special in the speciality in providing a voice for the much loved Time Lord.

Doctor Who: Breaking Bubbles And Other Stories. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish. full post

(655 words, estimated 2:37 mins reading time)