Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Jamie Dornan, Cillian Murphy, Toby Jones, Brian Caspe, Karel Hermánek Jr., Sara Arsteinova, Sean Mahon, Jan Hájek, Marcin Dorocinski, Alena Mihulová, Bill Milner, Charlotte Le Bon, Pavel Reznícek, Anna Geislerová, Justin Svoboda, Harry Lloyd, Václav Neuzil, Jiri Simek, Detlof Bothe, Jan Budar, Mish Boyko, David Bredin, Roman Zach, Sam Keeley, Alexander van der Groeben, Andrej Polak.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *
Cast: James Allen McCune, Callie Hernandez, Brandon Scott, Valorie Curry, Corbin Reid, Wes Robinson.
Going down to the woods used to be such a peaceful, indeed a much anticipated past time, whole weekends would be spent deep in the interior, no other human, except for the hardy souls whose company you keep and whose tent erecting skills you knew would come in handy, would be anywhere near you for miles around and the closest scare you might receive is that of somebody warbling uncontrollably the theme to the Teddy Bear’s Picnic when the midnight bells rang out far into the distance. The woods were the best thing about camping, then along came The Blair Witch Project and all that changed.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Comedy is all about interpretation, like music it can transcend across boundaries, international borders and the pain of the language barrier; comedy is the reason to laugh at the world when the world has destroyed almost everything else you have lived for. Whilst some words or actions can become lost, drift in another fruitless direction, translation is the key and it is one that the Shaved Dog Comedy duo of Danny Bradley and Michael Burton decode with genuine honest appeal and superb flair.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Nostalgia, the driving force that reminds us that Time is not always a kindly benevolent force, that the moment we find ourselves in must be seized upon, fully explored and the point between the tick and tock is all to fleeting; love, if it is found in that moment, should be dived into regardless of the consequences. Nostalgia, it is what keeps the brain coming back for more of what it needs and the soul for what it loves. In the music of Fleetwood Mac, in whatever form and guise across the decades, is the love that brings many people together and it is with a nostalgic glint in their eyes that Fleetwood Bac play to the audience at the Epstein Theatre with.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Sam Neil, Julian Dennison, Rima Te Wiata, Rachel House, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne, Oscar Kightley, Stan Walker, Mike Minogue, Cohen Holloway, Rhys Darby, Troy Kingi, Taika Waititi, Hamish Parkinson, Stu Giles.
In Sam Neil the cinema has had one of strongest and most consistent actors of the last 50 years, a man who can easily transfer himself between the rigours of being part of a great film and the sideshow that television sometimes provides. It has always been something of an honour to watch his complex character unfold, and even in films that haven’t quite hit the mark, he still retains that genuine affection from the forgiving cinema goer.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, George Mackay, Samantha Isler, Annalise Basso, Nicholas Hamilton, Shree Crooks, Charlie Shotwell, Trin Miller, Kathryn Hahn, Steve Zahn, Elijah Stevenson, Teddy Van Ee, Erin Moriarty, Missi Pyle, Frank Langella, Ann Dowd, Rex Young, Galen Osier, Thomas Brophy, Mike Miller, Louis Hobson, Hannah Horton.
It is on the face of it a seemingly small moment in cinema but Matt Ross’ intelligent and superbly argued script for Captain Fantastic captures the point of individualism and socialism in a world that only wants you to be a drone, a consumer, a person to whom history means nothing and whose appetite for the material and the edible is verging on obese and dangerously unhealthy. It is with a touch of grace that Captain Fantastic turns that rotten ideology on its head and offers a different view on how to live.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Adraina Ugarte, Emma Suárez, Michelle Jenner, Daniel Grao, Rossy de Palma, Inma Cuesta, Dario Grandinetti, Nathalie Poza, Pilar Castro, Susi Sánchez, Augustin Almodóvar, Blanca Parés, Mariam Bachir, Tomás del Estal, Joaquín Notario, Ramón Aguirre.
We may make the decisions that guide us, or at least we may think we do, but ultimately at the end fate may have other ideas and no matter how much try, we cannot be in control of what happens to us or those we hold close.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
Cast: Jessie Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carell, Ken Stott, Blake Lively, Sheryl Lee, Jeannie Berlin, Todd Weeks, Paul Schackman, Richard Portnow, Sari Lennick, Stephen Kunken, Corey Stoll, Edward James Hyland, Anna Camp, Parker Posey, Howard DiMaria, Kat Edmondson.
Life is built upon scandal and gossip, it requires no payment, it needs no encouragement, like a whisper in the dark, rumour and the chit chat between people is enough to send misinformation around the world quicker than a click of the send button on a keyboard; it is what the world skates around the universe upon and everybody at some point in their lives actively takes part.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Geraint R Williams, Cameron Steen, George Trier, Geraldine Moloney Judge, Josephine Dalton, Lily Almond, Vicky Lodge, Nigel Goodwin.
It is all about being true to yourself, even when pretending to be someone else; if you can master that illusion then those around you will only see what you wish them to see, they will see the truth in the elaborate pretence and relish the opportunity to feel the sincere and intense emotions that it brings up; there is nothing better than understanding The Importance of Being Earnest as being part of life’s beautiful farce.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The sound of Vienna, the last days of grand empire in a city that would remain forever associated with fine music and beautiful venues in which to play them, could not sound more opulent or desirable than being able to relish in the alternative Folk Rock guitar sound driven by The Good Host. The whirl of Vienna, the mood of the Danube slowly winding itself down through Europe and the psychological musings of Freud as the ghosts of the Habsburgs looked on; none of that splendour matches being in the company of the band that makes music just something you yearn for the company of a fine port and a roaring Christmas fire for.