Tag Archives: Liverpool

The Jungle Book (2016), Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Neel Sethi, Ritesh Rajan, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, Giancarlo Esposito, Christopher Walken, Garry Shandling, Brighton Rose, Jon Favreau, Sam Raimi, Russell Peters, Madeline Favreau.

There are remakes of films in which the audience should always ask the question, why did they do this, what point does it serve, what on Earth did they do that was any different? The feeling of a sacred bond between cinema and film lover being shattered by the gnawing pain that it comes down to money and conceit, never an easy feeling to shake off; however, in the live action remake of one of Disney’s finest films, The Jungle Book is a film of absolute beauty and fine film craft and much of it comes down to Jon Favreau direction and flag waving cause.

The Jungle Book (2016), Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(471 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

Eye In The Sky, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman, Richard McCabe, Barkhad Abdi, Jeremy Northam, Monica Dolan, Iain Glen, Babou Ceesay, Phoebe Fox, Aaron Paul, Faisa Hassan, Aisha Takow, Armaan Haggio, Gavin Hood, Ebby Weyime, Lex King, Andrew Ahula, Ali Mohamed.

There are many reasons in which to take Eye In The Sky for a simple film about choice, its after effects and the consequences of decision; there are many reasons in which to understand that sometimes the greater good is served by the action of several bad and potentially evil people being taken out and one good person losing their life because of it; what it doesn’t prepare you for is the harrowing nature in which some decisions are formed.

Eye In The Sky, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

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

Moggies The Mewsical, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Lesley Butler, Maximillian Chase, Peter Grant, Susan Hedges, Samuel Raymond Heller, Mark Lacey, Edwina Lee, Steve Macfarlane, Robert Southworth, Peter Turner, Ozzie Yue.

Life on Lark Lane is purr-fect for the Moggies, everything they could ask for, all they desire, is there to be enjoyed. All the furry feline’s nine lives are spent doing what cats do best, taking a stroll through the park, fine dining, watching the world go by with good friends and the only blot on the social calendar is having to deal with the squirrels, who are to be avoided just because they’re nuts.

Moggies The Mewsical, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(434 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

Welcome To Paradise Road, Theatre Review. Page To Stage Festival. Small Cinema, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Sarah Maher, Emily Heyworth, Alun Parry.

If Paradise was half as nice…we would probably sleep in our beds not with worry but with comfort, not with concern but with joy and certainly not with the idea that at any given time in a world of seven billion souls were we being watched, every move undertaken scrutinised and studied, dissected just in case of any misappropriation of feelings or of possible conflict with the state. If paradise was half as nice then writer Brian Coyle would have no need to write a play that gripped the soul and gave it steely resolve to not allow the world to come down to this Pinter-esque dystopia.

Welcome To Paradise Road, Theatre Review. Page To Stage Festival. Small Cinema, Liverpool. full post

(446 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

An Everyday Apocalypse, Theatre Review. Page To Stage Festival, Small Cinema, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Harriet Wilson, David Ward, James Dorman.

When the inevitable breakdown in society comes, would you be searching for the best place to hide and wait it out till the authorities find a way to exert control back or would you spend it in a locked room talking about the breakdown in your personal life and that of those you love. It is a question many will hope to never answer but as Thomas Oléron Evans explores in his play to stage production An Everyday Apocalypse, sometimes the end of the world is a lot closer to home than we ever imagine.

An Everyday Apocalypse, Theatre Review. Page To Stage Festival, Small Cinema, Liverpool. full post

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

Resurrection Half Price, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Simone Tani, Carmen Arquelladas.

Monty Python lives and breathes, you just got to look for it under different names and be wary of the ones that don’t so much leave you having enjoyed the surreal nature of the event unfolding as more than open to thrash a pretend animal on its behind.

For budding Python, for the life of Brian or Jesus you didn’t see, Simone Tani’s and Carmen Arquelladas’ Resurrection Half Price is a blast of surreal moments put together so well that each segment is bordering upon genius and fully embraces madness.

Resurrection Half Price, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(398 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

A Girl Is A Half Formed Thing, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Aoife Duffin.

The stigma of certain actions undertaken when young never truly leave you, certain deeds done against you are always apt to bark in the dark and the misery or the grief reaped is enough to send you spiralling if there is nothing to stay your hand or guide you away from the water’s edge. In a time when particular individuals in Ireland could almost get away with anything because of who they were and what they represented, Eimear McBride’s A Girl Is A Half Formed Thing is a play of terrifying beauty and compassion.

A Girl Is A Half Formed Thing, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(394 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Brakin’ Pad, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Donna Lesley Price, Richie Grice, Mick Colligan, Shaun Fagan, Tony James, Craig McGrath, Barry Mason.

The local garage, a realm in which to enter is arguably at your own risk, a place where language seems to change and the understanding of how life works can immediately be thrown out of the arena, a place in which perhaps certain modes of behaviour still exist and in which to find female company should not only be applauded but one that might bemuse in some way.

Brakin’ Pad, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Jeff Lynne’s E.L.O., Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It might have been shock, it was more than likely reverential, but the early applause for some of rather ear catching songs played by Jeff Lynne’s E.L.O. was certainly building up to the cascade, the utter crescendo of wall to wall sound that would eventually come pouring down upon the Echo Arena, would be one that would have justified completely the decision by the much loved man from Birmingham to bring back his version of E.L.O. to the arenas and venues of the country.

Jeff Lynne’s E.L.O., Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

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

The Feeling, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Opening up for legends might be the finest double edged sword possible, not so much a weapon of Damocles, the weight of the movement swaying precariously and with a semi inclination towards amusement, but one that comes out of the lake held aloft by a woman with excellent lung capacity and with all the drama of Camelot at her disposal; The Feeling may not have been anointed Kings of Pop in Liverpool for the night but they did a damn marvellous job of opening for the regal elect inside the Echo Arena.

The Feeling, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

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