Category Archives: Film

Listen Up Philip, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Jonathan Pryce, Elisabeth Moss, Krysten Ritter, Joséphine de La Baume, Jess Weixler, Dree Hemingway, Keith Poulson, Kate Lyn Sheil, Yusef Bulos, Maïté Alina, Lee Wilkof, Eric Bogosian.

It is said that writing is the closest occupation to resemble death that is possible. The ability to sit at a type writer and keep perfectly still as the brain searches for the tired muse for hours is enough to drive the sane to such introspection that their world becomes one that could be seen out of step with the rest of humanity.

Listen Up Philip, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(579 words, estimated 2:19 mins reading time)

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

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 5/10

Cast: Jördis Triebel, Tristan Göbel, Alexander Scheer, Jacky Ido, Anja Antonowicz, Ryszard Ronczewski, Andreas Nickl, Polina Voskresenskaya, Hendrik Arnst, Tony Dunham.

The battles in Europe may have been won but the war for hearts and minds in the ideological minefield was gathering pace and with Berlin divided in a more brutal fashion than even Germany as a whole suffered, so the divisions between East and West grew, hatred was stoked up and paranoia was increased.

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

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

Queen And Country. Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Callum Turner, Caleb Landry Jones, Pat Shortt, David Thewlis, Richard E. Grant, Vanessa Kirby, Tasmin Egerton, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Sinéad Cusack, David Hayman, John Standing, Brian F.O’ Byrne, David Michael Claydon, Julian Wadham, Tom Stuart, Alfie Stuart, Gerran Howell, Simon Paisley Day, Maria Flacau, Constantin Florescu.

The life of Bill Rohan was always going to be exceptional, especially when he is the alter ego of British film maker John Boorman, it just always seemed a shame that the account of his life seemed to stop in mid flight in the superb 1987 British film Hope and Glory.

Queen And Country. Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(495 words, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

Second Coming, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Nadine Marshall, Idris Elba, Kai Francis Lewis, Sharlene Whyte, Seroca Gideon, Llewella Gideon, Larrington Walker, Nicola Walker, Janelle Frimpong, Gershwyn Eustache Jnr, Carol Been, Nick Figgis, David Fernandez, Tosin Cole, Arinder Sadhra, Yemi Adenle, Anna Brooks Beckman.

Being allowed into the mind of someone is both a privilege and a curse and this is perhaps encapsulated to its fullest potential in Debbie Tucker Green’s film Second Coming.

The life of Jax is in turmoil, she is harbouring a secret so intense that it is bleeding through into her sleepless nights and in the end could just threaten the safety and sanity of her well being and that of her family.

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

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

Jurassic World, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Irrfan Khan, Omar Sy, B.D. Wong, Jake Johnson, Judy Greer, Andy Buckley, Jimmy Fallon.

Humanity never learns, it assumes control and mastery over all and in the end it seems both nature and the beast will always win through. It’s a good job really, for if humanity ever truly learned from its mistakes, films like Jurassic World would never get made and cinema would be poorer for it.

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

(565 words, estimated 2:16 mins reading time)

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

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Jude Law, Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Miranda Hart, Raad Rawi, Jessica Chaffin, Sam Richardson, Katie Dippold, Jaime Pacheco, Romain Apelbaum, Rose Byrne, Richard Brake, Steve Bannos, Morena Baccarin, Carlos Ponce, Wil Yun Lee, Bobby Cannavale, Michael McDonald, Julian Miller, Adam Ray, Lukács Bicskey, 50 Cent, Nargis Fakhri, Peter Serafinowicz, Jamie Denbo, Zach Woods.

 

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

(509 words, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

A Royal Night Out, Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 5/10

Cast: Rupert Everett, Sarah Gadon, Bel Powley, Emily Watson, Jack Reynor, Roger Allam, Anastasia Harrold, Ruth Sheen, Jack Laskey, Jack Gordon, Emma Connell, Maria Lee Metheringham, Laurence Spellman, Jessica Jay, Geoffrey Streatfield, Sophie Di Martino, Jack Brady.

If a story is worth telling then perhaps it doesn’t matter how much it strays from the actual version of events, however when the truth of a significant moment in time for a person, regardless of the stature or place in the history books, is distorted and warped, it can hardly be a surprise when half the world suddenly believes it to be the truth and legends grow and falsehoods spread.

A Royal Night Out, Film Review. full post

(495 words, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

The Connection, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Jean Dujardin, Gilles Lellouche, Céline Sallette, Mélanie Doutey, Guillaume Gouix, Benoît Magimel, Bruno Todeschini, Moussa Maaskri, Féodor Atkine, Pierre Lopez, Éric Collado, Cyril Lecomte, Jean-Pierre Sanchez, Georges Neri.

The dark side of humanity’s consumption and need for stimulus has arguably always been close to cinema’s heart. From the days of early film to the golden age of the art form in which the Noir became king and through to the 1970s when humanity was under the pressure of unease and the drug culture became more apparent as Heroin became the narcotic choice, cinema has always reflected this darkness and given stark warning to the after effects of such crimes and punishments.

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

(415 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Danny Collins, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Al Pacino, Annette Bening, Bobby Cannavale, Christopher Plummer, Jennifer Garner, Josh Peck, Melissa Benoist, Nick Offerman, Aarti Mann, Katrina Cas, Anne McDaniels, Brian Smith, Eric Lange, Giselle Eisenberg, Michael Patrick McGill, Scott Lawrence, Eric Michael Roy.

Every actor has one film in them which the plaudits and the cinema goer attaches great stock and faith in, some have more than one. For Al Pacino, they seem to have come with never ending force and for even those who might not see the appeal of his film career over say Robert de Niro or Jack Nicholson, they have to concede that the man is adored the world over.

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

(542 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Marshall Manesh, Mozhan Marnò, Dominic Rains, Rome Shandanloo, Milad Eghbali, Reza Sixo Safai, Ray Haratian, Ana Lily Amirpour, Pej Vahdat.

There are some films that may be viewed with the long eyed lens and intrigue and you still will find it hard to justify what about it exactly catches your imagination and the sense of thrill that shimmers down your spine. Then there is the top one percent of the cinematic experiences that really have you salivating at the unknown and wondering why such a film has not been made before.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(459 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)