Category Archives: Film

Jungle Cruise. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Jack Whitehall, Edgar Ramirez, Jesse Plemons, Paul Giamatti, Veronica Falcón, Dani Rovira, Quim Gutiérrez, Dan Dargan Carter, Andy Nyman, Raphael Alejandro, Simone Lockhart, Pedro Lopez.

The adventurous romp, the quest for something more than we can conceive in the everyday avenue of life, has always been one to draw cinema crowds in to the darkened room, but it remains, it a post-Covid world, something that the producers of such films might have to look at with a finer eye if they are to keep the thrill of the chase paramount and not relegated to that of a mere show, of  whimsy without the necessary spectacle.

Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Simu Liu, Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Awkwafina, Ben Kingsley, Meng’er Zhang, Fala Chen, Michelle Yeoh, Wah Yeun, Florian Munteanu, Andy Le, Paul W. He, Jayden Zhang, Elodie Fong, Arnold Sun, Stephanie Hsu, Tsai Chin, Jodi Long, Dallas Liu, Ronny Chieng, Stella Ye, Fernando Chien, Michael-Anthony Taylor, Zach Cherry, Raymond Ma, Benedict Wong, Jade Xu, Shelley Xu, Alistair Bates, Dee Bradley Baker, Brie Larson, Tim Roth, Mark Ruffalo.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ruairi O’Connor, Sarah Catherine Hook, Julian Hillard, John Noble, Eugenie Bondurant, Shannon Kook, Ronnie Gene Blevins, Keith Arthur Boldon, Steve Coulter, Vince Pisani, Ingrid Bisu, Andrea Andrade, Ashley LeConte Campbell, Sterling Jerins, Megan Ashley Brown, Mitchell Hoog, Paul Wilson, Charlene Amoia.

The darker the days, the more we seem to look to omens, signs, and wonders to see us through our existence. We may believe we have reached a point in our evolution, in our collected history and ability to weave stories, that the unexplained is by its own insistence, is rationalised, efficiently excused, and our reasoning enhanced…and yet there are mysteries that continue to confound, that cannot be explained by cold logic, nor blamed upon human irrationality.

Free Guy. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Joe Keery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Taika Waititi, Aaron W Reed, Britne Oldford, Camille Kostek, Mark Lainer, Mike Devine, Sophie Levy, Vernon Scott, Naheem Garcia, Anabel Plamenco, Kenneth Israel, Michael Malvesti, Colin Allen, Michael Tow, High Jackman, Dwayne Johnson, Tina Fey, John Krasinski, Alex Trebek.

The inevitable love child of The Truman Show and Tron, with more than a little help in being raised by the house of mouse; and yet despite having the backing, the insight and imagination, as well as the decades in the advancement in studio techniques to pull of such a daring story, Free Guy does not have the same appeal to all as its more illustrious parents had when they first hit the cinema screens.  

Black Widow. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, Rachel Weiz, David Harbour, Ray Winstone, William Hurt, Olga Kurlenko.

It was the film the franchise needed, it just seemed to come at the wrong time.

Marvel have barely put a foot wrong in over a decade’s worth of film and television serials which have caught the public’s attention and imagination, and if looked upon as a stand-alone film within the franchise, Cate Shortland’s Black Widow has all the hallmarks of being a heavy hitter within the ranks; not only for the dynamic framed between Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh as Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova respectively, but for the way that the film is not afraid to tackle the murky waters of young children being groomed for war.

Superintelligence. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Melissa McCarthy, James Corden, Bobby Cannavale, Brian Tyree Henry, Sam Richardson, Ben Falcone, Michael Beach, Rachel Ticotin, Jessica St. Clair, Karan Soni, Jean Smart, Ken Griffey Jr., Octavia Spencer, William Daniels, Steve Mallory, Courtney Patterson, Usman Ally, Jenna Perusich, Carolyn Trahan, Jay Lay, Sarah Baker, Mac Alsfeld, Damon Jones, Eduardo Franco, Patrick Bristow.

Gunpowder Milkshake. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Karen Gillan, Lena Hedley, Paul Giamatti, Paul Ineson, Carla Cugino, Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeoh, Chloe Coleman, Mai Duong Kieu, Michael Smiley, Samuel Anderson, Jack Bandeira, David Burnell IV, Ivan Kaye, Joanna Bobin, Freya Allan, Ed Birch, Adam Nagaitis, Joshua Grothe, Hannes Pastor, Billy Buff, Lee Huang.

Women with attitude and girls with guns, not the combination so cinema goers or film buffs of a certain persuasion will find room for in their lives, but a subject of perspective that is always fascinating, and in many ways necessary.

Bombshell. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, John Lithgow, Allison Janney, Malcolm McDowell, Kate McKinnon, Connie Britton, Liv Hewson, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Rob Delaney, Mark Duplass, Stephen Root, Robin Weigert, Amy Landecker, Mark Moses, Nazanin Boniadi, Ben Lawson, Alanna Ubach, Andy Buckley, Brooke Smith, Bree Condon, D’Arcy Carden, London Fuller, Sedina Fuller, Kevin Dorff, Richard Kind, Michael Buie, Marc Evan Jackson, Anne Ramsey, Holland Taylor, Jennifer Morrison, Ashley Greene, Ahna O’Reilly, Lisa Canning, Elisabeth Röhm, Alice Eve.

Cruella. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser, John McCrea, Emily Beecham, Mark Strong, Kayvan Novak, Kirby Howell-Baptiste Jamie Demetriou, Leo Bill, Tipper Seifert-Cleveland.

For all the great characters that the Disney studios have created or adapted in their time as one of the influential film makers of the last 100 years, it is perhaps the incredible villain Cruella de Vil who stands out alongside the likes of Captain Hook and The Evil Queen as ones who give children and adults alike their glimpse of how the twisted nature of humanity can be taken down a road of self-indulgence, possessed by want, and turned ugly within by their greed.

Tom and Jerry: The Movie. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Michael Peña, Jordan Bolger, Rob Delaney, Patsy Ferran, Pallavi, Colin Just, Somi De Souza, Patrick Poletti, Janis Ahern, Ken Jeong, Camilla Arfwedson, Bobby Cannavale, Nicky Jam, Joey Wells, Harry Ratchford, Will Horton, Na’im Lynn, Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudaker, Tim Story, Joe Bone, Edward Judge, Christina Chong, Daniel Adegboyega, Craig Stein, Edward Dogliani.

For anyone over a certain age, Tom and Jerry could be conceivably looked upon as one of the great double acts of the 20th Century.