Tag Archives: Liverpool

The Homesman, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Hilary Swank, Grace Gummer, Miranda Otto, Sonja Richter, Jo Harvey Allen, Barry Corbin, David Dencik, William Fichtner, Evan Jones, Caroline Lagerfelt, John Lithgow, Tim Blake Nelson, Jesse Plemons, James Spader, Hailee Steinfeld, Meryl Streep.

Some films just have the ability to leave an audience member completely unnerved by the message of stark truth that they can feel as though have been hit several times with a jack hammer across the stomach and yet have them pleading for more.

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

(695 words, estimated 2:47 mins reading time)

Scouse Of The Antarctic, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Helen Carter, Michael Fletcher, Lindzi Germain, Hayley Hampson, Michael Ledwich, John McGrellis, Michael Starke, Ross Higginson, Jack Humers, Emily Linden, Alex Smith.

The Antarctic: A place where a person from Liverpool can be at one with Penguins, Polar Bears, a sarcastic snowman with a not just a carrot on his nose but a chip on a shoulder and a cob on his mind and where a man’s underpants can signify that you are truly the master of all you survey. Life it seems can be serene and peaceful as the Scouse of The Antarctic.

Scouse Of The Antarctic, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(505 words, estimated 2:01 mins reading time)

The Searchers, Gig Review. Sixties Gold Tour, Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

The Searchers at the Liverpool Empire Theatre. November 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

You are never too young to be spoken of highly, you are never too old to perform as if the world has always loved you and as long as there is an audience who responds to your music then never mind the detractors, forget those that decry the period as something that is no longer relevant, for the four men who make up The Searchers, every cheer, every moment of the long lasting applause between songs and every well played note was more than worth rolling back the years to headline a night of pure wonderful 60s music at the Liverpool Empire Theatre.

The Searchers, Gig Review. Sixties Gold Tour, Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(532 words, 1 image, estimated 2:08 mins reading time)

Spencer Davis, Gig Review. Sixties Gold Tour. Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It seems at times there are more living legends still placing one foot infront of the other and getting, mostly rightful, plaudits for their continuing appeal and depth of character. There well as may be a sign on a student’s door proclaiming that after all the defining era’s of the Earth’s evolution that the latest one may as well be named, the era of legends.

Spencer Davis, Gig Review. Sixties Gold Tour. Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(409 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

The Fortunes, Gig Review. Sixties Gold Tour, Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

The Fortunes, Liverpool Empire Theatre. November 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The ties that bind Liverpool and Birmingham are deeper and stronger than many might realise or even understand. Politically both squeezed by the Westminster Empire and its mouldy London centric viewpoint, both devastated by unrest in the early 80s and both at one point claiming the title of second city of the U.K. They also share a people who took music to the hearts more than any other city during the 60s pop revolution and who have spawned some of the greatest musicians to ever play on a stage the length and breadth of the islands.

The Fortunes, Gig Review. Sixties Gold Tour, Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(475 words, 1 image, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

Live Lounge, Gig Review. Palm Sugar, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

In Chevasse Park in Liverpool One, the first hopeful sounds of a Winter many will dread overpowers the senses, the heady aroma of Christmas is clinging in the air. The sound of children being treated by their parents to try their luck in the hope of winning an overstuffed bear or the thrill of a ride being undertaken with much glee follows suit and a cold November evening feels as biting and as forced as commemorating the end of the First World War with a supermarket advert for chocolate.

Live Lounge, Gig Review. Palm Sugar, Liverpool. full post

(481 words, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

Russell Edwards, Naming Jack The Ripper. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It is one of the most baffling mysteries and indisputably one of the most horrific set of crimes in British detective police work to have ever been committed. Every corner of the Earth, from all walks of life, the foul and craven murder spree of Jack the Ripper is known, researched and poured over by amateur detectives, hunters of the truth, the rank and file and the ghoulish alike.

Russell Edwards, Naming Jack The Ripper. Book Review. full post

(707 words, estimated 2:50 mins reading time)

What We Do In The Shadows, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Jonathan Brugh, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stuart Rutherford, Ben Fransham, Jackie van Beek, Elena Stejko, Jason Hoyte, Karen O’Leary, Mike Minogue, Brad Harding, Rhys Darby.

The Mockumentary is one that really divides opinion. There are those that adore the thought of being able to see the ordinary person on the street satirised and lampooned and there are those that find it the lowest form of cerebral wit; however, satire is only truly funny when the foot is being kicked upwards, when it starts kicking downwards that’s when cruelty is allowed to fester and the undeserving get left behind. Satire is at its best when it is aimed at the aloof and genuinely disturbing.

What We Do In The Shadows, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(485 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part One, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 5/10

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Donald Sutherland, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Banks, Natalie Dormer, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Willow Shields, Sam Claflin, Mahershala Ali, Jeffrey Wright, Paula Malcomson.

The revolution has begun, the Mockingjay stands aloft against a tyrannical elite and Katniss Everdeen is pouting firmly against all the odds and yet something does not sit well in the third film in The Hunger Games series, the bloated sense of being overfed and swollen resonates deep within the heart of Mockingjay Part One.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part One, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(448 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

The Boy Who Kicked Pigs, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound & Vision Rating: * * * * *

Cast: David Cumming, Natasha Hodgson, Oliver Jones, Zoe Roberts.

Kill The Beast Theatre Company have only been on the scene for a mere three years, but are already proving their worth as one of the best inventive new theatre companies around. Their latest show is packed full of grotesque, over the top characters based on Tom Baker’s children’s book The Boy Who Kicked Pigs. Written in 1999, Baker’s truly grotesque story still has a strong following today and is as popular as ever.

The Boy Who Kicked Pigs, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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