Category Archives: Film

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

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Alice Lowe, Jo Hartley, Kayvan Novak, Gemma Whelen, Kate Dickie, Tom Davis, Dan Renton, Eileen Davies, Tom Meeten, Mike Wozniak, Sara Dee, Grace Calder, Marc Bessant, Leila Hoffman, Delia Moon, Jaqueline Wright, David Puckridge, Elen Rattenbury.

The happiness in pregnancy can sometimes be overshadowed by emotions that in others could be seen as causes for concern, for some it is a joy, for others it can be the start of a nightmare, a march down a road in which nobody is safe; especially not the male population to whom a single wrong word or accidental view point can see them metaphorically beaten.

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

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

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

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Denzil Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson, Saniyya Sidney.

Pittsburgh is not a place the traveller normally finds themselves in when they go to the United States of America, a city that was largely forgotten outside of its sporting achievements before and after World War Two, a city built on steel and coke, iron and cobalt, many to whom the atmosphere of the city was enough to seek out on their adventures, perhaps more convivial places of interest. It is a shame for Pittsburgh is by far one of the most interesting and vibrant cities in North America and its people are, along with New York, perhaps the most down to Earth you could ever meet.

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

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

The Lego Batman Movie, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Will Arnett, Ralph Fiennes, Zach Galifianakis, Rosario Dawson, Michael Cera, Jenny Slate, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Jermaine Clement, Ellie Kemper, Adam Devine, Kate Micucci, Seth Green, Jason Mantzoukas, Mariah Carey, Billy Dee Williams, Riki Lindhome, Eddie Izzard, Conan O’Brien, Doug Benson.

There is nothing like a good Batman film in which to soak up a few hours, Bob Kane’s gift to comic book fandom has had its ups and down, whilst enjoyable in a kitsch, clique ridden way, the 60s television and subsequent film didn’t add much to the mystique of the Dark Knight, whereas Michael Keaton’s and Christian Bale’s interpretation of the man and the myth was completely and beautifully captured by their respective directors.

The Lego Batman Movie, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(423 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

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

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Spall, Andrew Scott, Jack Lowden, Caren Pistorius, Alex Jennings, Harriet Walter, Mark Gatiss, John Sessions, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Pip Carter, Jackie Clune, Will Attenborough, Maximilian Befort.

In a time when such things are being questioned, that the extreme right have hijacked once more the very ground of what should be decency and respect and turned into a quagmire of ignorance and sick attitude, Denial is perhaps one of the most sensitive and timely films to come to cinema in recent years.

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

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

T2 Trainspotting, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Ewan Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Steve Robertson, Shirley Henderson, Kelly McDonald, Gordon Kennedy, Anjela Nedyalkova, James Cosmo, Katie Leung, Thierry Mabonga, Scot Greenan, Irvine Welsh, Pauline Turner, Eileen Nicholas, Kyle Fitzpatrick.

T2 Trainspotting, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

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

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

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, John Hurt, Richard E. Grant, Casper Phillipson, Beth Grant, John Carroll Lynch, Max Casella, Sara Verhagen, Hélène Kuhn, Deborah Findlay, Corey Johnson, Aiden O’ Hare, Ralph Brown, David Caves, Penny Downie, Georgie Glen, Julie Judd, Peter Hudson, John Paval, Bill Dunn, Vivienne Vernes, Craig Sechler, Rebecca Compton, David DeBoy, Stéphane Höhn, Serge Onteniete, Emmanuel Herault, Gaspard Koenig.

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

(569 words, estimated 2:17 mins reading time)

Assassin’s Creed. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating *

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson, Charlotte Rampling, Michael Kenneth Williams, Denis Ménochet, Ariane Labed, Essie Davis, Matias Varela, Callum Turner, Carlos Bardem, Javier Gutiérrez, Hovik Keuchkerian, Crystal Clarke, Michelle H. Lin, Brian Gleeson, Julio Jordán, Rufus Wright, Angus Brown, Kemaal Deen-Ellis, Aaron Monaghan, Thomas Camilleri, Marysia S. Peres, Jeff Marsh.

Not everything has to make sense in the world of cinema, it is the illusion after all many felt happy to fall in love with, however when it comes to making a good film, one that captures the imagination, the best way to engage with the audience is not to offer it something that is so unrealistic it hurts to watch and it is painful to conceive the planning meeting in which it was approved.

Assassin’s Creed. Film Review. full post

(419 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

A Monster Calls. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Lewis MacDougal, Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones, Toby Kebbell, Ben Moor, Oliver Steer, Liam Neeson, Dominic Boyle, Jennifer Lim, Max Gabbay, Morgan Symes, Max Golds, Frida Palsson, Wanda Opalinska, Patrick Taggart, Geraldine Chaplin, Lily Rose Aslan Dogdu.

The prospect of losing someone so very close to us is perhaps the most primal feeling we can possess, it consumes us inside and out, it makes us say words we don’t mean and commit actions that are beyond what we would normally consider respectable. To face up to that day when we lose a parent is perhaps even more consuming, never mind if we actually get along with them, whether we love them or haven’t spoken for years, to lose the ones that brought you into the world has a devastating effect, especially on a young impressionable mind.

A Monster Calls. Film Review. full post

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

Manchester By The Sea, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Lucas Hedges, Kyle Chandler, Gretchen Mol, Kara Hayward, Heather Burns, Anna Katerina Baryschnikov, Tate Donovan, Matthew Broderick, C.J. Wilson, Heather Burns, Erica McDermott.

People, like places, can hold their secrets for as long as possible, the strange ways in which a village ticks can also manifest itself in the way that a person’s mind can become; closed off, unable to deal with a certain moment in the past to the point where it just no longer acknowledges the Time ever existed, till it becomes hearsay, rumour, dismissed gossip in the next generation coming through.

Manchester By The Sea, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

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

La La Land, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, J.K. Simmons, John Legend, Amiée Conn, Terry Walters, Callie Hernandez, Jessica Rothe, Sonoya Mizuno, Rosemarie DeWitt, Jason Fuchs, Olivia Hamilton, Finn Wittrock, Josh Pence.

If you don’t understand the language then Jazz might leave you cold, the same could be said for musicals, the rituals, the spontaneity, the drama and the freedom, all are entwined in a system that may seem uncoordinated, clumsy to the naked ear, but let it flow over you, lose your inhibitions and don’t talk through it, don’t talk above it and it will grab your interest. It is in that freedom of expression that the two genres, Jazz and the American Musical come together to make something beautiful in La La Land.

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

(427 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)