Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2021 i Home Cinema Choice

TCL C82 Series→www.tcl.com/uk Bowers & Wilkins zones out New to B&W's custom install-focused product range is the CDA-16, a slim-line 16-channel power amp suited to multizone audio. Priced £1,800, and intended for rack installations, this Class D power pusher delivers a claimed 50W per channel into 8 ohm loads (up to 200W in bridged mode). A bank of line-level stereo analogue inputs allows for independent sources to feed eight audio zones, but there's also the option for one input to be selected as a 'global' source. www.bowerswilkins.com Two-channel digital diva Cambridge Audio has launched a pair of networked stereo amplifiers based around Hypex's NCore Class D technology. Both the £1,800 Evo 75 and more powerful £2,250 Evo 150 are fully-featured, with a spec list including the brand’s StreamMagic platform and…

Cruella May 28: There’s a whiff of DC ‘bad girl’ Harley Quinn about Emma Stone’s wannabe-fashion-designer-turned-dog-napping criminal Cruella de Vil in this live-action prequel to 101 Dalmatians. Catch it in cinemas or via Disney+ Premier Access. A Quiet Place Part II June 4: Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmons and Noah Jupe return for a second slice of silent shocks when the Abbott family ventures into the outside world in search of a new place to call home. Freaky June 25: Get ready for a ‘Freaky Friday the 13th’ when teenage high school student Millie (Kathryn Newton) inexplicably swaps bodies with serial killer The Butcher (Vince Vaughn) in this slasher comedy from the creator of Happy Death Day.…

May 31 Backdraft 4K The Birds 4K Chaos Walking 4K Duel: 50th Anniversary Edition Lake Mungo: Limited Edition Smokey and the Bandit 4K Sound of Metal The World of Wong Kar Wai Zombi 5: Killing Birds June 7 Indiana Jones: 4-Film Collection 4K 36 Hours: Premium Collection Dogs Don’t Wear Pants Escape to Victory: Premium Col. The Sea Wolf: Premium Collection Shockwave: Destruction Hong Kong The Stylist: Limited Edition The Whalebone Box June 14 Basic Instinct 4K Flowers of Shanghai Godzilla vs Kong 4K The Hands of Orlac In the Line of Fire 4K Merrily We Go to Hell Waterloo: Special Edition June 21 The Babadook 4K But I’m a Cheerleader: Director’s Cut Eye of the Cat Hammer: Volume Six Judas and the Black Messiah One of Our Aircraft is…

On the Indiana Jones 4K Blu-ray boxset… I don't think 4K will improve the last one! Dan Mann I hope these have the original audio mixes. I won't buy if they don't. Mike Wadkin I have the DVD and Blu-ray boxsets, so I can revisit them for the original mix and compare them with the 4K discs. Looking forward to seeing them. Dirk de Sagher What you're watching on your home cinema… Beauty and the Beast on my trusty PJ via UHD disc. Really enjoyed it so time to revisit a few of the others I have. Stef Neo Not much as my AV amp started playing up. It's old and can’t accept HDMI audio and the converter box I have blew up and that was that! Time for a…

In ditching cannibal hillbillies for a secret community devoted to avoiding the corruption of modern society, this reboot of the 18-year-old horror franchise may have taken its own ‘wrong turn’ for some die-hard fans, but this mash-up of traditional backwoods thrills, Midsommar-style folk horror and The Hill Have Eyes-esque moral conflict is still fun. Signature’s Blu-ray delivers a gritty 2.40:1 encode and bone-crunching DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack. A commentary, Making of… and deleted scenes are included.…

→ THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY Released in 1966, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly builds upon the look and feel established by Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For a Few Dollars More (1965), but ups the scale significantly. Some might prefer his later Western Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), but a slower pace and elegiac tone makes that film less accessible and a lot less fun than this genre classic. Leone is at the top of his game here, enlivening a story of a trio of gunslingers hunting for buried Confederate gold with extreme close-ups, whip-pans, fast zooms, brutal violence and artfully composed shoot-outs. And the director is ably supported by his leads: Clint Eastwood at his coolest, Lee Van…

Admirers of Gasper Noé’s controversial 2002 shocker are well-served by this superb two-disc Limited Edition. As well as a pleasing restoration of the ‘Original Theatrical Cut’, Indicator's set includes Noé’s new ‘Straight Cut’, which retools the film into chronological order (the events play out in reverse order in the original version). Even better is the quantity and quality of extra features: you get a director’s commentary, a retrospective documentary, archival interviews, deleted scenes, trailers, music video, 78-page booklet, and a video essay exploring the two different versions of the movie.…

→ WORLD OF WONG KAR WAI Like Criterion Collection's earlier Jacques Demy box-set, World of Wong Kar Wai isn’t meant as a complete collection of Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar Wai’s movies. But the seven included here – As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love and 2046 – represent the bulk (not to mention, the best) of his filmography. In sequence, they also showcase the development of his unique visual style, and the refining of the themes of love, loneliness and the passage of time that dominate his work. Picture: All seven Full HD encodes have been sourced from 4K restorations of the original 35mm negatives. However, according to Wong’s notes on the process: ‘We were caught in…

Writer-director Jill Gevargizian’s stylish and oddly affecting 2020 horror stars Najarra Townsend as Claire, a socially awkward but talented Kansas City hairstylist who takes her scissor skills a step too far. When she befriends a customer who asks her to help with her wedding, will Claire be able to leave her murderous ways behind? Arrow's good-looking Blu-ray presentation is supported by copious extras, including a commentary, video essay, short films, featurettes and a CD soundtrack.…

Sam Peckinpah bid farewell to the clearcut morals of the classic Western and sowed the seeds of the genre’s future with this 1962 gem. Joel McCrea stars as a former lawman transporting gold from a mining camp to a small-town bank, unaware that an old friend (Randolph Scott) plans to betray him. Sourced from a 2K restoration, this BD makes the most of the film’s at times gorgeous CinemaScope photography. Good extras include a commentary and Peckinpah documentary.…

John Archer: The experienced TV tester cut his teeth as an early HCC staffer Jon Thompson: Film producer and post-production expert delves into Hollywood and AV Steve May: HCC’s former Ed. is one of the UK’s most respected AV journos Anton van Beek: Our avid movie watcher and disc collector cut his teeth on Total DVD Richard Stevenson: Former Editor of the UK CE trade journal ERT Ed Selley: Audiophile Ed mixes his home cinema passion with a love of vinyl Steve Withers: Movie fan, display calibrator and object-based audio obsessive…

Sony has launched two new native 4K home cinema projectors, both utilizing its advanced X1 for Projector picture processor. The high-end VPL-VW890ES (£25,000) is a laser model, with premium All-Range Crisp Focus (ARC-F) lens, while the VPL-VW290ES is an entry-level (£5,500) lamp model. Like the rest of Sony’s 2021 projection fleet, they're built around Sony’s 4K SXRD panel, which supports resolutions up 4,096 x 2,160. The duo replace the previous VPL-VW870ES and VPL-VW270ES beamers. X1 for Projector, already seen on the VW590ES [HCC #317] and VW790ES [HCC #316], supports Reality Creation upscaling and packs a Dynamic HDR Enhancer, which analyses scenes frame by frame for optimum contrast, saturation and fine detail. 'We're boosting the highlights, and lowering the black level. We're widening that dynamic range,' explains Chris Mullins, home cinema…

For the most part, LG's new season soundbar lineup looks like a continuation of what's come before – a bevy of models beginning with conventional 3.1.2 and 5.1 options and topping out with a premium 7.1.4-channel system. Yet the company has also confirmed a small-form 'bar designed to be an easier fit in space-starved environments. Dubbed the Eclair QP5, presumably due to its curvy chassis, it's described as a 'break from conventional soundbar design.' Measuring less than 30cm across (around a third the length of a typical model), the Eclair's soundbar element still manages to incorporate separate LCR drivers accompanied by a pair of upfiring Dolby Atmos units. The left and right drivers are mounted at an angle to aid the creation of a wide soundstage. Joining it is a…

Stolen title? Viggo Mortensen, Kristen Stewart and Lea Seydoux have signed on to star in David Cronenberg’s next feature film, Crimes of the Future. It’s not yet known if the movie is related to the director’s 1970 short of the same name. Mortensen previously starred in Cronenberg's A History of Violence (pictured) and Eastern Promises. Cindy to stream Sony Pictures has off-loaded its live-action 2021 Cinderella movie to Amazon Prime Video. The musical film, which casts Frozen singer Idina Menzel, Pierce Brosnan and Billy Porter alongside newcomer Camila Cabello in the title role, was due for a July cinema release. One cut or two? Production has begun on a French remake of the brilliant Japanese horror-comedy One Cut of the Dead. The do-over is being directed by The Artist helmer…

YOU KNOW THE famous George Lucas quote: when it comes to movie-watching, ‘sound is half the experience.’ And in your home cinema setup, it’s quite likely you’ve spent more than half your budget on everything that goes towards creating that experience – speakers, subwoofer(s), an AV receiver or processor/amplifier combo. Of course, buying the equipment is only one part of the journey. To get the best from your multichannel setup, consideration of speaker placement is key, before you get into system EQ and the effects of your room environment. Spend time getting it right (or as right as you can), and you'll be on the path toward a sound performance that perhaps Mr Lucas would be proud of. Before we get into the dos and don’ts of sonic setup, however,…

Gunsmoke (1955-75) The first TV Western series to take a more ‘realistic’ approach to the genre, this televised saga of Dodge City Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) clocked up a remarkable 635 episodes over its 20-year run. The entire series was released across 34 DVD boxsets in the US. Maverick (1957-62) James Garner and Jack Kelly starred in this rather more comedic show as brothers whose love of gambling and ladies keep getting them into trouble. When Garner left after three seasons, a cousin played by Roger Moore was introduced. Five DVD boxsets are available in the US. Rawhide (1959-65) Remembered for giving Clint Eastwood his first major role, this cinematic Western series followed the exploits of a team of cowboys on an epic cattle drive. While the first five…

FOCAL'S CELESTEE HEADPHONES take some of the design attributes of the brand's £2,900 Stellia model and brings them down to a (vaguely) more normal price – although at £1,000 we're still way above the £350 spot populated by wireless, noise-cancelling cans. Full-size, closed-back and with only a wired connection, these are aimed at serious audiophiles. Much emphasis is put on the proprietary 40mm dynamic drivers; M-shaped inverted aluminium and magnesium alloy domes housed in an enclosure that's designed to absorb unwanted sound reflections, leaving them to top operate unfettered. They look premium, too, adding flair to the same basic industrial design of other Focal headphones with a blue and copper colour scheme and material choices that make them lighter and more comfortable than the size might suggest. The only slight…

After its recent appearance on BBC, this chilling 10-part historical horror series now finally weighs anchor on UK Blu-ray. Inspired by the mystery surrounding the failed Franklin expedition to the Arctic in 1845, The Terror follows the crews of two ships struggling with both harsh conditions and a mysterious creature hunting them on the ice. While this strikingly shot show cuts a fine figure in HD, this UK outing bafflingly opts for vanilla DTS 5.1 audio alongside an optional LPCM 2.0 presentation, whereas the 2018 US BD featured Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mixes.…

Returnal Housemarque/Sony Interactive Entertainment → PS5 → £70 Sony is usually king of the triple-A console exclusives – Uncharted, The Last of Us, Horizon Zero Dawn, the list goes on. Yet the PS5 has been relatively starved of them since launch – Spider-Man: Miles Morales and the Demon’s Souls remake being prominent exceptions. Up steps Returnal then, a PlayStation exclusive – only available on the PS5 – published by Sony itself, much like the aforementioned titles. Yet this isn't your typical big-name game. Developer Housemarque is best known for indie retro-style, twin-stick shoot-em-ups titles, and Returnal itself has a strange, complex concept that oozes imagination and creativity. It can loosely be described as a third-person 3D shooter, but it’s so much more than that. It has survival horror elements, exploration…

With its gorgeous restorations of the movies genre giant Boris Karloffshot for Columbia between 1935 and 1942 – The Black Room, The Man They Could Not Hang, The Man With Nine Lives, Before I Hang, The Devil Commands and The Boogie Man Will Get You – this double-disc release is a must-buy for fans of vintage horror (okay, The Boogie Man… is a bit of a dud). The films are supported by some fine extras, including commentaries, image galleries and four Inner Sanctum Mystery radio plays featuring Karloff.…

‘Pale Rider meets Killer Klowns from Outer Space’ is how leading man Nicolas Cage describes this enjoyably daft 2021 B-movie horror-comedy, which casts him as a silent drifter taking a night job cleaning an abandoned family fun centre, only to get caught up in a life-or-death battle with the possessed animatronic critters that reside there. This Blu-ray packs a deliberately desaturated 2.40:1 Full HD encode and reasonably involving DTS-HD MA 5.1 track, along with three short behind-the-scenes featurettes.…

Filmmaker Henry Blake draws on his experience as a youth worker for this story of a 14-year-old boy (played by Conrad Khan) drawn into the world of trafficking drugs. While the plot hits all the expected story beats, Blake’s social-realist style and Khan’s excellent performance imbue it with a powerful authenticity. This 1.66:1 Blu-ray encode is a suitably gloomy affair that finds small areas of intense detail in its shallow depth of field photography. Extras include a chat-track and Blake’s original proof-ofconcept short film.…

A retired sheriff and his wife (Kevin Costner, again, and Diane Lane) try to free their grandson from the clutches of his step-dad’s dangerous family in this gripping modern Western thriller adapted from the 2013 novel. Let Him Go had the misfortune to hit UK cinemas just as they were closing their doors last December, but hopefully it will fare better on Blu-ray. While light on extras — there are just three short featurettes — Universal's impressively sharp 2.40:1 Full HD encode and dramatic DTS-HD MA 7.1 soundtrack don’t disappoint.…

→ TOM CLANCY'S WITHOUT REMORSE Having struck streaming gold with Jack Ryan, Amazon is clearly hoping to secure another Tom Clancy franchise with this generic action thriller. Loosely based on the author's 1993 novel of the same name, it casts Michael B. Jordan as John Kelly, a Navy Seal embroiled in a deadly game of Cold War tit-for-tat. For this update, Clancy’s original 1970s Vietnam backdrop has been swapped for modern-day Syria. Kelly finds himself waist-deep in conspiracy when his special forces buddies are assassinated. The thing is, unlike nerdy CIA analyst Ryan, Kelly is an engine of vengeance who thinks nothing of trapping a dodgy Russian diplomat in a car, setting it alight, and then jumping inside to conduct a toasty interrogation. Supporting players include Jamie Bell (as slippery…

Man of Steel (4K BD) After Justice League and Batman v Superman… how could we resist a return trip to the bombastic origin of the 'Snyderverse’? Nomadland (Disney+) Frances McDormand’s stunning lead performance ensures Chloé Zhao’s episodic Oscar-winner is a road trip worth taking. ZeroZeroZero (BD) The thrilling eight-part cocaine-smuggling crime saga makes a welcome leap from Sky Atlantic to HD disc. Uncle Peckerhead (BD) Unexpectedly good-natured and very funny horror-comedy about a struggling punk band and their demonically possessed roadie. The Undoing (BD) Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman bring plenty of star power to HBO’s gripping and beautifully shot six-part whodunnit.…

A trio of Bluetooth speakers have broken free of Sony's R&D lab and want to shake up your next BBQ, or keep your kids occupied while you commandeer the cinema room. The splashproof SRS-XP500 (£320) and SRS-XP700 (£450), and fully waterproof SRS-XG500 (£380), all have a similar, purposeful design, with carry-handle and lighting effects. X-Balanced driver technology (also found in Sony's TV range) combines with Mega Bass and Live Sound settings to give the X-Series models a 'powerful and wide-spreading sound,' says the brand. The entry-level XP500 model partners its LF units with two front-firing tweeters, while the XP700 adds an another tweeter for an omnidirectional array. The XG500 goes bigger on bass thanks to twin passive radiators. As well as integrated Bluetooth, the rechargeable battery-powered speakers feature a USB…

Seven years after Legendary Pictures kicked off its MonsterVerse with Godzilla (see p90), the killer lizard faces off against fellow franchise icon King Kong in the imaginatively titled Godzilla vs Kong. Hitting 4K Blu-ray on June 11, the box office smash will get distributor Warner Bros.'s now customary choice of HDR10+ and Dolby Vision HDR grades, plus Dolby Atmos sonics. Accompanying the kaiju slugfest will be a commentary by director Adam Wingard and ten featurettes. Classic JBL speaker now smaller JBL's 4309 is the latest in its range of 'heritage' style Studio Monitor loudspeakers. A considerably smaller, more affordable alternative to the previously launched 4349, it scales down the bass/mid driver from 12in to 6.5in, and drops the price from £7,000p/p to £1,800p/p. JBL's 'signature' sound again comes from a…

Gravity An early standard bearer for the format, Alfonso Cuaron's sci-fi relishes the genuine 360-degree soundstage its space-set narrative affords. We'll probably never tire of using its opening scene as demo-fodder. JT Midway In a film that covers Pearl Harbor, the Doolittle raid and the titular battle, this Atmos track is just non-stop object-based mayhem. Planes zoom all around, flak peppers the soundstage, gunfire tears through the room and explosions rattle your subs. SW Roma Another Alfonso Cuaron flick, and one that proves his belief that 'the real use for Atmos is […] intimate films.' In place of a traditional score, you get a mix jam-packed with distinct, individual details that brings a rhythm to the drama. Artful and intoxicating. AvB Aquaman Crash, bang, wallop. Aquaman's Dolby Atmos track is…

With its own history of settlers, wild frontiers and outlaws, is it any surprise that Australia has its own take on the Western genre? This Antipodean strain of cinema got its big start with Charles Tait's silent flick The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), which ran for a then whopping 70 minutes and is considered to be the world’s first full-length narrative feature film. Sadly, only fragments survive today. Films about bushrangers (outlaws) were banned soon after by authorities worried about their affect on audiences. The Australian Western eventually re-emerged in the 1970s with the likes of Ned Kelly (1970, starring Mick Jagger), Inn of the Damned (1975), Mad Dog Morgan (1976) and The Man from Snowy River (1980). As well as frequent returns to the story of real-life…

There’s a particular sequence in Shadow and Bone, the hit new Netflix fantasy series based on Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse books, that neatly sums up the talents of LG’s C1 OLED TV. When the sand boat enters the The Fold, a stygian expanse created by dark magic, the demonic Volcra, winged creatures with a bad attitude, swoop down onto a sailor foolishly brandishing a brightly burning lamp. Leathery wings cut through the dark – and then the Sun Summoner lets rip… Deep black level, revelatory shadow detail, cinematic motion, HDR peak highlights and halo management are all ticked off in a matter of minutes. Job done. It really doesn’t take long at all to confirm that the C1 is a ludicrously accomplished OLED flatscreen. It could even be, pound for pound,…

Once upon a time there were televisions and there were projectors, and never the twain shall meet. Here, though, in the shape of the 100L5FTUK-A12, we have increasingly innovative brand Hisense bringing these two disparate AV technologies together with a solution designed to give you the best of both worlds. Yes, the 'Laser TV' moniker is a bit odd, but I'm prepared to cut Hisense some slack. The idea behind the 100L5FTUK is deceptively simple: Combine a rigid high-gain, 100in projector screen with an ultra-bright 4K laser projector, so that home cinema fans can enjoy a king-sized TV-like experience for a fraction of what an actual 100in TV would cost. The screen part of the 100L5FTUK equation is a narrow-framed design with a wall bracket. As well as using a…

1. Go big. Set your camera to take images at the largest possible size, and at the highest resolution. Don't worry about cropping or resizing – we will make them print-ready. 2. Get in focus. Make sure your photos are as sharp and clear as possible. If you have one, use a tripod, or place your camera on a flat, steady surface and take pictures on a delay. The sharper they are, the bigger we can print them. 3. Let some light in. While we tend to watch movies in the dark, our cinema systems look their best when they are lit. If you can shoot with natural daylight, do so. If your room doesn't get a lot of light (a garage conversion, for instance) then switch on whatever lights…

This fact-based tale of a group of Chinese soldiers battling overwhelming Japanese forces from inside a warehouse during World War II was 2020’s biggest global box office hit (taking over $100m more than Tenet). It's thick with overt nationalism and action scenes delivering plenty of thrilling spectacle, and looks fabulous on Blu-ray, no doubt aided by its IMAX camera shoot (although the framing is 2.40:1). The punishing DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio is equally impressive, but extras (promo featurettes, music video and trailers) are lightweight.…

→ BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE – ULTIMATE EDITION [REMASTERED] Popular opinion has it that Zack Snyder’s 2016 superhero slobberknocker is either a work of almost operatic genius or a total train-wreck. Really, it's both, swinging back and forth between those two positions as it struggles to marry Snyder’s epic mythologising and dazzling visual spectacle to a script obviously crippled by studio demands (Answer Man of Steel’s critics! Reboot Batman! Set the stage for Justice League!, etc). At times it's brilliant, but should have been better. Picture: Snyder was recently given the chance to show the world his original concept for this film's Justice League sequel; here he's given the chance to give the 4K Blu-ray release of Batman v Superman… a tweak. And the changes are purely visual,…

The Last Action Hero's selfreflexive action movie satire plays better today than it did back in 1993, but this infamous Arnold Schwarzenegger flop still fails to really deliver on its meta setup. A huge step up from its lacklustre Blu-ray release, this UHD platter partners 4K HDR10 visuals with an Atmos remix that laps up the hard rock soundtrack — there's also a DTS-HD MA 5.1 rendering of the theatrical SDDS mix. A commentary from director John McTiernan joins deleted scenes (and an alternate ending) in the improved array of extras.…

Low-budget 1987 fright flick Spookies is a bit of a stinker, thanks to a nonsensical plot concerning friends trapped in a house full of monsters while an ancient sorcerer attempts to reanimate his beautiful young wife. In its own uniquely awful way, it can be quite entertaining, though. This lavish double-disc release features an unexpectedly lovely restoration, a fascinating documentary about the film’s troubled production, and a second doc focused on the infamous UK video label Vipco among its extras.…

Taylor Sheridan (Sicario) pens this neo-Western series starring Kevin Costner as a sixthgeneration Montana rancher who will do whatever it takes to protect his family and — more importantly — his land from outside forces. An uneven mix of compelling crime saga and silly soap opera melodrama, it at least looks lush on BD, with these 2.00:1 encodes capturing the expansive beauty of the locales. This six-disc set corrals some reasonable bonuses, including deleted scenes, featurettes and interviews.…

→ Sky Cinema Promising Young Woman has been the critical hit of 2021, championed at the Academy Awards with five nominations, including a Best Screenplay gong for writer/director Emerald Fennell. And it's certainly not the usual Oscar-bait. Fennell's earlier career includes a stint as showrunner on the second series of Killing Eve, and there's a parallel of sorts between that show's blackly comic vibe and Promising Young Woman's often razor-sharp wit. Yet of the two, it's this that has the darker subject matter and odder tone, swapping Killing Eve's comic book world of international espionage for a rape-revenge thriller, and then peppering it with elements of rom-com. In short, it's different, and knowingly so. Actress Carey Mulligan (British, like Fennell, but in full-on American accent mode here) steals the show.…