Tag Archives: Eileen Atkins

Wicked Little Letters. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision * * * *

Cast: Jessie Buckley, Olivia Colman, Hugh Skinner, Timothy Spall, Anjana Vasan, Lolly Adefope, Eileen Atkins, Alisha Weir, Joanna Scanlan, Jason Watkins, Gemma Jones, Malachi Kirby, Richard Goulding, Paul Chahidi, Grant Crookes, Adam Treasure, Jamie Chapman, Susie Fairfax, Ryan Mann, Neil Fox-Roberts, Paul A Munday.

The act of a keyboard warrior who takes great delight in taking down people online is one of extreme cowardice, the mark of the scoundrel; but it is not one that is new to us in society, and since the advent of communication, since the ability to send letters in near anonymity, the scope of bringing distress and harm to others has been more invasive, terrible, cruel, and even pushed many to a place where death/suicide is an outcome the, the cowards, are hoping for.

James Bond: From Russia With Love. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Toby Stephens, Eileen Atkins, John Sessions, Tim Pigott-Smith, Mark Gatiss, John Glover, Aileen Mowat, John Standing, Janie Dee, Julian Sands, Matthew Wolf, Olga Fedori, Micky Stratford, Nathaniel Parker, Martin Jarvis.

It could be argued that the fan and the listener alike have been short changed when it comes to adaptations of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels for the radio; whether this is down to the estate not wishing to decry from the scores of films or because it has been long thought that such books cannot be captured with just a voice rather than the dramatic sequence that film provides is for another debate, and yet there is something to be said for being able to see 007 aim his trilby at the hat stand, to see the devastation of his actions take place, rather than just match your imagination to the actor’s voice.

Paddington 2. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Michael Gambon, Imelda Staunton, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters, Noah Taylor, Peter Capaldi, Brendon Gleeson, Joanna Lumley, Eileen Atkins, Ben Miller, Tom Conti, Meera Syal, Samuel Joslin, Madeline Harris, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Simon Farnaby, Jessica Hynes, Richard Ayoade, Tom Davies, Cal McCrystal.

It is through the eyes of the innocent that we perhaps see beauty and good in the world, that we don’t just tolerate the storms and the fire that surround us but that we embrace it, we seek out the violence not to get a thrill from the fight but to hopefully offer a solution, a kind word spoken can make the difference in a day and in a person’s life.

Suite Française, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Michelle Williams, Kristin Scott Thomas, Matthais Schoenaerts, Sam Riley, Ruth Wilson, Margot Robbie, Harriet Walter, Eileen Atkins, Lambert Wilson, Tom Schilling, Clare Holman, Deborah Findlay, Eric Godon, Simon Dutton, Diana Kent, Juliet Howland, Nicholas Chagrin.

 

As the 21st Century grumbles on and the further we move away from the period of time in which our grandparents gave up on almost everything except hope, the more the apathy to maintaining the struggle against oppression grows more weary. In some cases it is possible to hear some people state out loud, “Shouldn’t we forget all this now?” Yet stories from the Second World War continue to surface and perhaps none more startling in recent years than that of Irène Némirovsky and her posthumously published unfinished novel Suite Française.