Tag Archives: Michael Smiley

Ragdoll. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Thalissa Teixeira, Lucy Hale, Michael Smiley, Sam Troughton, Angus Wright, Samantha Spiro, Phil Davies, Natasha Little, Clive Mendus, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Perry Jaques, Amita Dhiri, Douggie McMeekin, James Barriscale, James Tarpey, Robin Weaver, Camilla Beeput, Tim McDonnell, Ava Masters, Oriana Charles, Cannon Hay, Eric Raymond Lim, Paul McEwan, Dave Hart, Peter Bottley.

The sense of the extraordinary comes from out of nowhere and hits you where you least expect it.

Ragdoll. Television Review. full post

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

Gunpowder Milkshake. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Karen Gillan, Lena Hedley, Paul Giamatti, Paul Ineson, Carla Cugino, Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeoh, Chloe Coleman, Mai Duong Kieu, Michael Smiley, Samuel Anderson, Jack Bandeira, David Burnell IV, Ivan Kaye, Joanna Bobin, Freya Allan, Ed Birch, Adam Nagaitis, Joshua Grothe, Hannes Pastor, Billy Buff, Lee Huang.

Women with attitude and girls with guns, not the combination so cinema goers or film buffs of a certain persuasion will find room for in their lives, but a subject of perspective that is always fascinating, and in many ways necessary.

Gunpowder Milkshake. Film Review. full post

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

Luther (Series Five). Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Idris Elba, Ruth Wilson, Patrick Malahide, Dermot Crowley, Wunmi Mosaku, Lex Daniel, Enzo Cilenti, Hermione Norris, Anthony Howell, Michael Smiley, Paul McGann, Lewis Young, Sonita Henry, Luke Westlake, Lex Daniel, Michael Obiora, Delroy Atkinson, Gary Hailes, Katherine Orchard, Jami Reid-Quarrell, Roberta Taylor.

The cruelty of life is such that those who should stay dead, sometimes never do, the mayhem of their life interferes with any possible peace that may come your way, their presence, long after you thought you had buried them, somehow returns to cause chaos, to bring you pain, a pain arguably always born out of misplaced loyalty, memory and love.

Luther (Series Five). Television Review. full post

(440 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

Death And Nightingales. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Matthew Rhys, Ann Skelly, Jamie Dornan, Valene Kane, Charlene McKenna, Martin McCann, Sean McGinley, Michael Smiley, Francis Magee, Des McAleer, Ciaran Flynn, Aoibheann Mullan, Paul Kennedy, Eugene O’Hare, Pip Torrens, Conor MacNeill, Frankie McCafferty.

Against the backdrop of the fight for radical Irish independence from Britain in the 19th Century, a story of corruption, betrayal and tragedy is neatly interwoven through a 24 hour period in the life of Beth Winters, a condensed down reflection of what was happening across the Irish Sea, the pride of individuality and freedom from what was arguably seen as a distant master, one who made all the rules but wanted to keep the people in chains, if not physically, then at least metaphorically.

Death And Nightingales. Television Review. full post

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

Tulip Fever. Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Alicia Vikander, Dane DeHaan, Jack O’ Connell, Holiday Grainger, Tom Hollander, Matthew Morrison, Kevin McKidd, Douglas Hodge, Joanna Scanlan, Zach Galifianakis, Judi Dench, Christopher Waltz, David Harewood, Alexandra Gilbreath, Cara Delevingne, Sebastian Armesto, Michael Nardone, Cressida Bonas, Daisy Chadwick, Michael Smiley.

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

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

Free Fire, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Enzo Cilenti, Sam Riley, Michael Smiley, Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Armie Hammer, Sharlto Copley, Babou Ceesay, Noah Taylor, Jack Reynor, Mark Monero, Patrick Bergin, Sara Dee, Tom Davis.

A film in which so much happens in the space of 90 minutes can either leave you so breathless that it will make you forget most of what has transpired on screen or reeling from the shock of it all that it stays with you forever; imprinted into your mind like a seared brand and smouldering long into the memory. These are the films that you want to see again because you know deep down that in between each involuntary blink, you missed so much, so much reference to the greatness that has unfolded; these are the films to absolutely love and defend to the death.

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

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

Doctor Who: Into The Dalek. Television Review, B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Nicholas Briggs, Zawe Ashton, Michael Smiley, Samuel Anderson, Laura Dos Santos, Ben Crompton, Bradley Ford, Michelle Morris, Nigel Betts, Ellis George, Barnaby Edwards.

For anyone who ever wondered what it would be like to be placed within the very heart of the most dangerous creature in existence, then the latest episode of Doctor Who, Into The Dalek almost provided the answer to that fantastic question. Until they find a way to see into the very soul of the Time Lord, seeing inside a Dalek who has discovered the point of existence beyond the blasted horizon by the Denisons of destruction encased in Dalekanium ranks almost as high.

Doctor Who: Into The Dalek. Television Review, B.B.C. full post

(498 words, estimated 2:0 mins reading time)

Black Mirror, White Bear. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Tuppence Middleton, Lenora Crichlow, Michael Smiley, Ian Bonar, Elisbeth Hopper, Nick Ofield.

The world of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror takes a look at the dystopian future of voyeurism and the gratified spectacle of continued mob justice through the almost incestuous and baying eyes of television.

White Bear is the antidote to any viewer who may have been under the misapprehension that the previous week’s offering was in anyway diluted because of the very nature of love was at its heart. What better way to get rid of any feelings of nagging heartache than by watching a young lady slowly reach breaking point as all around her are filming her every move.

Black Mirror, White Bear. Television Review. full post

(387 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

Ripper Street, Episode Two. Television Review. B.B.C. Television.

Picture from B.B.C. Television.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, Adam Rothenberg, MyAnna Buring, Charlene McKenna, Amanda Hale, Jonathon Barnwell, David Wilmot, Michael Smiley, Hugh O’ Conor, Giacomo Mancini, Joe Gilgun.

 

When it comes to British crime drama, you don’t get much better than basing the story on real events or authentic people and by placing in it in the sometimes squalid and mean streets of late Victorian era Whitchapel, it surely should be a ratings winner. Ripper Street continues the superb start it made in episode one and brings the claustrophobic, disease ridden and above the law contempt even closer to home in the second episode, In My Protection.

Ripper Street, Episode Two. Television Review. B.B.C. Television. full post

(364 words, 1 image, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)