Laura James, Gig Review. Palm Sugar, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7 ½ / 10

There can be no doubting the utter class in Laura James’ voice when she sings as she simply radiates warmth and musical sincerity when she performs.

In Palm Sugar on a Sunday afternoon in which the wind had finally blown away the dark clouds that had got in the way to an extent of a tremendous Liverpool Pride the day before, the sound of Laura James’ voice carried out past the expensive decorative windows and out onto Chavasse Park. Looking out of one of the windows it was possible to see an elderly lady reminisce at the sound of Ms. James’ second set of the afternoon and see her fix on a point in time in which music carried all before it, in the days when numerous and in some cases insidious so called talent shows spat young gifted performers out or swallowed them in the hope of producing pound signs.

Laura James, Gig Review. Palm Sugar, Liverpool. full post

(344 words, estimated 1:23 mins reading time)

Mood Indigo, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh, Aïssa Maïga, Omar Sy, Charlotte Le Bon, Sacha Bourdo, Natacha Régnier, Philippe Torreton, Alain Chabat, Zinedine Soualem, Marina Rozenman, Mathieu Paulus, Frédéric Saurel, Wilfred Benaïche, Alex Raul Barrios, Kid Creole, Paul Gondry, Bobby Few, Tilly Scott Pedersen, Jérôme Coué, David Bolling.

Only somebody perhaps as good as Michael Gondry could produce a film so tender, so utterly charming, so clever and ever so slightly and brilliantly bizarre and pretentious as Mood Indigo and get away with it. A film that is so charming and clever and yet at its very heart is a piece of cinema that deals with death and the loss of idealism, nobody else surely would have the cinematic balls to do it without being locked away first.

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

(487 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

Guardians Of The Galaxy, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, David Bautista, Karen Gillan, Lee Pace, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Benicio Del Toro, Laura Haddock, Sean Gunn, Peter Serafinowicz, Christopher Fairbank, Wyatt Oleff, Gregg Henry, Stan Lee, Melia Kreiling, Alexis Denisof.

When an American summer blockbuster film uses music by the outstanding British band 10cc in its opening sequences, then surely there can be no argument that it already grabs the attention of the viewer. Graham Gouldman’s and Eric Stewart’s timeless masterpiece only enhances the power to come as the latest tale of heroism from Marvel, The Guardians of The Galaxy, comes out to capture the summer cinema audience.

Guardians Of The Galaxy, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(574 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

Cel Damage HD, Game Review (PS4).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9.5 /10

Cel Damage HD is a car combat game available for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS4, PS3 and PS Vita. Cel Damage was originally released two generations ago on such consoles as the PS2 and GameCube in 2001. Cel Damage HD is a HD remake of the original that brings the game up-to-date for the PS4, PS3 and Vita to appeal to the many gamers that still to this very day have fond memories of the original, but how does the HD remake stack up in comparison to the original release?

Cel Damage HD, Game Review (PS4). full post

(2850 words, 2 images, estimated 11:24 mins reading time)

Liverpool Pride 2014, Waterfront Stage.

claire simmo. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Claire Simmo at Liverpool Pride 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Rain has a habit of getting in the way of the most superb of days, like a badly bruised apple can spoil a bag of tempting fruit; it can annoy and ruin any specific moment in which fun and reflection is the order of the day, yet it couldn’t destroy the party that was Liverpool Pride 2014.

Liverpool Pride 2014, Waterfront Stage. full post

(556 words, 2 images, estimated 2:13 mins reading time)

Fables: Legends in Exile. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is trouble in the land of make believe, the images of fables have made their way into the world of humanity and are living amongst us, living their lives, their dreams and facing their nightmares in a world that is every bit as fantastical as their own but with none of the happy endings…legends after all still need to breathe.

Fables: Legends in Exile. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(541 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

The Flash: Volume 2, Rogues Revolution. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Of all the heroes that you encounter when travelling through the world of D.C. Comics, it could be argued that Barry Allen, The Flash, is by the most accessible to both the relative new comer to the land where fiction meets graphic art and the long standing devotee of comic book/graphic novel publications to grace the pages in which the likes of Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman have gained the most adoration over the years.

The Flash: Volume 2, Rogues Revolution. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(588 words, estimated 2:21 mins reading time)

The Mono LPs, Die A Little Death (Deluxe). E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

For anybody who has indulged their music whims, the caprice of cerebral cornucopia that flows from the heart of The Mono LPs live set, the cry of where is a C.D. in which to revel alongside at home has been a vexing one. Thankfully, as with all things, time rewards the patient, it offers the chance to get deep down and logically dirty with a band who are one of the major reasons in which to play great quality music in the second decade of the 21st Century.

The Mono LPs, Die A Little Death (Deluxe). E.P. Review. full post

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

Bouncers, Theatre Review. The Royal Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Paul Broughton, Danny O’ Brien, Louis Emerick, Michael Starke.

The 1980s nightclub, the big night out, big hair, cheaper beer, even cheaper aftershave and perfume sprayed on as liberally as showering underneath Victoria Falls for five days and then taking a dip in a swimming pool to get that real deep down scent. This was the time, depending on where you were living and your circumstances dictated in which Saturday night was the highlight of the week, the chance to meet the girl of your dreams, the man of your nightmares and all washed down with enough alcohol to drown an angel on a week-long bender on a Spanish holiday, all you had to do was get past the Bouncers on the door.

Bouncers, Theatre Review. The Royal Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(543 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

Utopia: Series Two, Episode Four. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Geraldine James, Fiona O’ Shaughnessy, Neil Maskell, Adel Akhtar, Paul Higgins, Alexandra Roach, Nathan Stewart-Jarratt, Oliver Woollford, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Michael Maloney, Ian McDiarmid, Paul Ready, Ruth Gemmel, Sacha Dhawan, Martin McDougal, Emilia Jones, Sofe Dirisu, Richard Laing.

Could you kill? Could you really think about pulling a trigger and blowing somebody’s head apart from their soul? The world is on the edge of extinction and somebody has a plan in which to save Humanity as a species, many billions will fade out of existence eventually but they will have at least lived, unlike the possible tens of thousands who are to become carriers of disease in which, to some is actually a better prospect than what could come.

Utopia: Series Two, Episode Four. Television Review. full post

(513 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)