Tag Archives: Hugh Grant

The Regime. Television Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Danny Webb, Andrea Riseborough, Guillaume Gallienne, Henry Goodman, David Bamber, Rory Keenan, Louie Mynett, Martha Plimpton, Stanley Townsend, Alasdair Hankinson, Michael Colgan, Patrick Fusco, Pippa Haywood, Hugh Grant.

Regimes never fall, they just undergo a personality change.

In truth all revolutions ultimately fail because the void they leave is too immense for anything other than the status quo to fill it; it is why you arguably only ever have extremes of government in so called democratic countries, never a middle of the road leadership, a third party truly doing anything other than playing to the conscious of the crowd.

The Regime. Television Drama Review. full post

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

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Hugh Grant, Chloe Coleman, Daisy Head, Spencer Wilding, Will Irvine, Nicholas Blane, Bryan Larkin, Sarah Amankwah, Colin Carnegie, Georgia Landers, Sophia Nell Huntley, Clayton Grover, Bradley Cooper, Hayley-Marie Axe.

Dungeons & Dragons is a phenomenon of our time, more than a game, it is an icon, an industry masquerading as a competitive pastime. It is equally adored and derided, but there is no doubting the seriousness in which those who immerse themselves into the fortunes and constructed tales take as they don the imagination and furnish the creativity, and to those who watch from the sidelines, they cannot help themselves but wish to join in.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Film Review. full post

(468 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

The Undoing. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant, Noah Jupe, Donald Sutherland, Edgar Ramirez, Lily Rabe, Matilda De Angelis, Edan Alexander, Michael Devine, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Jeremy Shamos, Madeline Faye Santoriello, Irma-Estel LaGuerre, Noma Dumezweni, Billy Lake, Douglas Hodge, Fala Chen, Tarik Davis, Maria Dizzia, Vedette Lim, Janet Moloney, Jason Kravits, Matt McGrath.

If the year has taught television audiences anything it that the court room drama, if handled and written with care and objectivity, can still grip the viewer and have them on the edge of the seat; and if you can get past the search for the face of the suspect and concentrate on the why rather than the who, then the investment will have been worth it.

The Undoing. Television Review. full post

(564 words, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)

A Very English Scandal. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Hugh Grant, Ben Whishaw, Alex Jennings, Patricia Thorpe, Naomi Battrick, Jason Watkins, Alice Orr-Ewing, Monica Dolan, Blake Harrison, Michelle Dotrice, Eve Myles, David Bamber, Jonathan Hyde, Rhys Parry-Jones, Dyfan Dwfor, Lucy Briggs-Owen, Susan Woolridge, Peter Gardiner, Michael Culkin, Paul Freeman, Adrian Scarborough.

The Establishment has a way of winning every war it comes across, no scandal it seems is big enough to truly able to topple a Government, no outrage large enough to permanently harm the elected body that are there to supposedly look after the nation, its interests and its people; it is not the done thing and no matter who gets hurt, or whose reputation comes under fire, the party, the machine, the leadership continues, even if the face changes.

A Very English Scandal. Television Review. full post

(520 words, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

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.

Paddington 2. Film Review. full post

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

Florence Foster Jenkins, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Helberg, Nina Arianda, John Kavanagh, David Haig, John Sessions, Mark Arnold, Aida Garifullina, Christian McKay, Thelma Barlow, Nat Luurtsema, David Mills.

It seems that in the more cynical days of the 21st Century, to offer yourself up as having creativity run through you is too paint a target on your back and shout loudly, please kick me, please bring me down. Regardless of your ability, if you have the courage to offer a piece of your soul in the name of art then surely you should be allowed the brief respite of illusion.

Florence Foster Jenkins, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

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

The Man From U.N.C.L.E, Film Review. Plaza Cinema, Waterloo.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki, Luca Calvani, Hugh Grant, Sylvester Groth, Jared Harris, Christian Berkel, Misha Kuznetsov, Guy Williams, Marianna Di Matino, Simona Caparrini.

It’s almost impossible to dislike what Guy Ritchie brings to the world of film, he is at times the epitome of what great British cinema should be viewed as and his latest venture, a suave and sophisticated remake of the classic 1960s television programme The Man From U.N.C.L.E, is up there with RockNRolla, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and the excellent Robert Downey Jnr. versions of Sherlock Holmes in terms of high pace, intelligent, creative independence and stylish cinema.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E, Film Review. Plaza Cinema, Waterloo. full post

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

Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists. Film Review.

Originally published by L.S.Media. April 15th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating *****

Cast: Hugh Grant, David Tennant, Imelda Staunton, Salma Hayek, Martin Freeman, Lenny Henry, Brendan Gleeson, Brian Blessed, Russell Tovey, Ashley Jensen, Jeremy Piven.

So the truth is out, Queen Victoria was a lover of fine dining of exotic endangered animals including panda bear. Charles Darwin looked suspiciously related to his manpanzee Mr. Bobo and pirates are just as nice and thoughtful, well-spoken people who plunder their way across the high seas only because there is a shiny trophy at the end of the year. At least this is how it works in the utterly absorbing world of Aardman Animations and the world of stop-motion film.

Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists. Film Review. full post

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