Tag Archives: John Sessions

James Bond: Thunderball. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Toby Stephens, Tom Conti, Alfred Molina, Janet Montgomery, John Sessions, Lisa Dillon, James Callis, Josh Stamberg, Ian Ogilvy, John Standing, Janie Dee, Julian Sands, Nigel Lindsay, Matthew Wolf, Alan Shearman, Darren Richardson, Aaron Lyons, Simon de Deney.

A film that suffers under the weight of its writer’s history is one that finds itself developing the human disorder of duel personality, and whilst Thunderball is film that sparks the imagination, it also leaves the fan wondering how the series could hope to capture the brilliance of the previous film, Goldfinger.

James Bond: Thunderball. Audio Drama Review. full post

(454 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

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.

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

(516 words, estimated 2:04 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)

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)

We’re Doomed! The Dad’s Army Story. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Paul Ritter, Richard Dormer, Stuart McQuarrie, Sarah Alexander, Sally Philips, Charlotte McDougall, Harry Peacock, Keith Allen, Amy Hughes, John Sessions, Amy O’ Dwyer, Ralph Riach, Michael Cochrane, Mark Heap, Julian Sands, Kevin Bishop, Kieran Hodgson, Shane Ritchie, Roy Hudd.

We’re Doomed! The Dad’s Army Story. Television Review. full post

(456 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

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

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, Taron Egerton, Paul Bettany, David Thewlis, Christopher Eccleston, Colin Morgan, Paul Anderson, Aneurin Barnard, Chazz Palminteri, Tara Fitzgerald, Kevin McNally, Charley Palmer Rothwell, Sam Hoare, Shane Attwooll, Samantha Pearl, Jane Wood, John Sessions.

 

There was nothing glamorous about the Krays, not in the strictest sense of the word and yet they held the East End of London in such a thrall that glamour took on a completely different meaning. It was physical allure of charm personified to an area of London that had been treated for too long as the personal plaything of the destructive and warped; so why should the Swinging Sixties be any different.

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

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

Jonathan Strange And Mr. Norrell, Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Bertie Carvel, Eddie Marsan, Marc Warren, Charlotte Riley, Alice Englert, Samuel West, Enzo Cilenti, Paul Kaye, Edward Hogg, Brian Pettifer, Ariyon Bakare, Vincent Franklin, John Heffernan, Richard Durden, Robbie O’ Neil, John Sessions, Clive Mantle, Lucinda Dryzek, Ronan Vibart.

 

For all the other channels and subscriber based ways of watching television, for all the smoke and mirrors of television programmes being played out endlessly and arguably without diligence and care for the viewers intelligence, when the B.B.C. gets something completely right it normally becomes the best thing to have been seen in the comfort of your armchair all year and in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell such worthy praise and lofted heights is needed.

Jonathan Strange And Mr. Norrell, Television Review. B.B.C. full post

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

Mr. Holmes, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, Milo Parker, Hattie Morahan, Patrick Kennedy, Frances de la Tour, Hiroyuki Sanada, Roger Allam, Philip Davis, Nicholas Rowe, Madeleine Worrall, Sarah Crowden, Takako Akashi, Zak Shukor, Michael Culkin, Sam Coulson, Frances Barber, John Sessions, Colin Starkey.

There is perhaps a question of whether age diminishes the achievements that have been made in youth or whether to be seen as fallible, to be seen as mortal actually enhances the great strides made when life was to be moulded, when Time was not feared and the weakness that must come to us all as frailty and memory forsake the owner.

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

(516 words, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Mummy On The Orient Express. Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Samuel Anderson, Frank Skinner, David Bamber, John Sessions, Daisy Beaumont, Janet Henfrey, Christopher Villiers, Foxes, Jamie Hill.

Death stalks the Orient Express, an unseen killer picking of the passengers one by one and with the bodies starting to stack up, it can only be time for the stiff upper lip and slightly lunatic outlook of a madman in a blue box and the mysterious beautiful companion to address the situation and tie up the loose ends.

Doctor Who: Mummy On The Orient Express. Television Review. B.B.C. full post

(558 words, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)