Tag Archives: Liverpool

Blade Runner: The Final Cut. Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, M. Emmet Walsh, Daryl Hannah, William Sanderson, Brion James, Joe Turkel, Joanna Cassidy, James Hong, Morgan Paull, Kevin Thompson, John Edward Allen, Hv Pike, Kimiko Hiroshige, Bob Okazaki, Carolyn DeMirjian.

Classics never die, they may slowly start to rust away or fade into the obscurity afforded all things great and small, but like the Mona Lisa, Concorde or a 40 year old bottle of Balvenie, if someone is still thinking of them then like a replicant caught doing a Marilyn Monroe pose over a steam vent in a future New York City, then the image will remain forever.

Blade Runner: The Final Cut. Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T, Liverpool. full post

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

Sad. Man. Smiling, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Paul Carmichael, Chris Chapman, Thomas Williams, Siobhan Crinson, Adam Sheldon, Arron Hussein, Thomas Atkinson, Dan Haydock, Hannah Gill, Hevv Jamieson, Talulah Pritchard, Sarah Allen, Naomi Lambert, Sarah Moore, Louise Froggatt, James Keysell, Jack Mitchell, Philip Milor, Olivia Murphy, Steven Quinn, Martin Williams, Dan Broom, Kate Bleasdale, Connor Lawler, Sian Woods, Denise Webb, Angela Wilkins, Brittany Macrae, Simone Murphy, Lisa Symonds, Jackie Jones, Sam Liu, Lee Burnitt, Daniel Mugan, Dorcas Sebuyange, Anthony Scott, Rebecca Eve, Philip Laing, Caitlin Clough, Freya Balchin, Alison Philips, Aaron Kehoe, Jack Spencer, Rhea Little, Tasha Ryan, Thomas Whittaker, Jean Paul Marie, Jamie Peacock, Fleet Sumner, Stewart McDonald.

Sad. Man. Smiling, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

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

Call Mr. Robeson: A Life, With Songs, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Tayo Aluko. Music performed by Martin Robinson.

The 20^th Century is littered with the notion of celebrity, arguably even more so in the image conscious/obsessed world of the 21^st Century. As time moves on though, that celebrity becomes more about wanting to be known rather than what for and more importantly what you are willing to take a stand for and willing to sacrifice over. How many people, how many modern day celebrities would stand firm in the eye of the American public and be resolute against the evil that the McCarthy Hearings, America’s political low point at the time, were setting out to destroy for example? For a handful of men and women, notably Arthur Miller and his dramatic response in the exceptional The Crucible and Paul Robeson, a man ahead of his time but a true trailblazer in the fight for equality in the lives of Black Americans, stand out.

Call Mr. Robeson: A Life, With Songs, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(523 words, estimated 2:06 mins reading time)

The Boy In The Stripped Pyjamas, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Helen Anderson, Lisa Bird, Eva Bell, Andrew Bone, Ed Brody, Phil Cheadle, Kit Lessner, Marianne Oldham, Robert Styles, Eleanor Thorn, Rosie Wyatt, Javez Cheeseman, Colby Mulgrew.

Some pieces of literature are perhaps arguably not intended to be envisigned in anything other than cinema’s light, some perhaps are so sensitive that to try and show that singular emotion on the stage is to invite crass remarks and tactlessness in return.

The Boy In The Stripped Pyjamas, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(550 words, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

Dior And I, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The art of the documentary is to give you a glimpse into a world that you may never have imagined being drawn into. To step so far out of your comfort zone, to truly take in what is being said about a subject that you may have absolutely no interest in whatsoever and to give you an appreciation, a glimmering of insight and comprehension in the complex lives of others. It is to thank inwardly the documentary makers for their diligence; even if at the end of it you are still none the wiser for the fascination of said subject.

Dior And I, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(456 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Gretchen Peters, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It’s not often Liverpool has a member of the prestigious Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame within its midst. The rare occurrence, as uncommon as the sight of solar eclipse without it being obscured by both dark threatening clouds and forethought in positional judgement, is one that should be relished. In Liverpool terms it is like going across to Nashville and finding the great Pete Wylie delivering a monumental set to wild enthusiastic Country music lovers, it is a set many in the city would dearly love to happen for the auspicious and celebrated lover of Merseyside.

Gretchen Peters, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Me And Deboe, Gig Review. Constellations, Threshold 2015, Liverpool.

Me and Deboe, Threshold 2015. Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

To perform in unison when the weather is perfect is to be expected. To perform with an air of gliding ease indoors with the natural ambiance afforded to you, and the audience smiling with a sense of satisfaction, that is almost a given.

Me And Deboe, Gig Review. Constellations, Threshold 2015, Liverpool. full post

(552 words, 1 image, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

Wild Tales, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Ricardo Darín, Oscar Martínez, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Érica Rivas, Rita Cortese, Julieta Zylberberg, Darío Grandinetti, María Onetto, María Marull, Mónica Villa, César Bordón, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Walter Donado, Nancy Dupláa, Oscar Martínez, Germán de Silva, Diego Gentile.

There are films that come along that just take your breath away. Whether it is for the scenery, the sheer animal magnetism between protagonists and leading artists, the story line or the images that seem ahead of their time; film has the power to shock, to captivate and to believe that anything is still possible. In the world of cinema and for the first time in what seems an interminable age, Spanish language film Wild Tales does everything you want it to and perhaps with great sincerity, some things you don’t want it to.

Wild Tales, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(491 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

Cinderella, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Cate Blanchett, Lily James, Helena Bonham Carter, Richard Madden, Stellan Skarsgård, Nonso Anozie, Sophie McShera, Holiday Grainger, Derek Jacobi, Ben Chaplin, Hayley Atwell, Rob Brydon, Jana Perez, Alexander MacQueen, Tom Edden, Gareth Mason, Paul Hunter, Eloise Webb, Joshua McGuire, Matthew Steer, Mimi Ndiweni, Laura Elsworthy, Ella Smith, Ann Davies, Gerard Horan, Katie West, Daniel Tuite, Anjana Vasan, Stuart Neal, Adetomiwa Edun, Richard McCabe, Joseph Kloska, Andy Apollo, Craig Mather, Jonny Owen-Last, Nari Blair-Mangat, Michael Jenn, Josh O’ Connor.

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

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

The Absence Of War, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Reece Dinsdale, James Harkness, Cyril Nri, Maggie McCarthy, Amiera Darwish, Charlotte Lucas, Gyuri Sarossy, Theo Cowan, Barry McCarthy, Helen Ryan, Don Gallagher, Ekow Quartey.

History could have been so different but it is the joy of speculation that only makes the subject interesting, for the time the events take place, the winner and the loser are only remembered for being in the same race. It is up to the historians, the journalists and the playwrights to put flesh on the bones and the gloss of pallor of imagination on the cheeks of the long since departed. History though is not quite viewed in the same way when there is The Absence of War dictating the proceedings.

The Absence Of War, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(673 words, estimated 2:42 mins reading time)