Indholdsfortegnelse for Autumn 2022 i Home Cinema Choice

Epic fantasy TV series are like buses. No sooner had we sat down to feast on HBO's House of the Dragon, we were gearing up for Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Both shows are gorgeous, high-budget drama, although it's the Tolkien adaptation that most astonishes. Of course, this series' success won't be judged on it making a profit. It just needs to keep Amazon's subscriber numbers ticking over. The world of cinema is more fickle. Consider 1997 sci-fi Event Horizon (p94). Made for a reported $60m, its studio panicked when the first cut was deemed too long and too scary, and insisted on a severe edit. Box office takings for the finished movie then fell short of expectation, earning it, and director Paul W.S. Anderson, the dreaded…

SHUTTERED IN 2020 due to the Covid pandemic, and then announced but cancelled again in 2021, the IFA technology show finally opened its doors to both the trade and paying public in early September this year. Held at the sprawling Messe Berlin complex in the German city, the pre-show talk was of a return to business as usual. The actual experience wasn't quite that. Some attendees, including major brands such as Harman International, Hisense and Sony, were notable by their absence. There was also less of a buzz around new flatscreen TV technology than at recent events, although LG did raise some eyebrows with a new OLED gaming monitor with a twist (see p24). But if you want one takeaway from IFA 2022, it's this: the soundbar market is booming.…

Possibly more thought, effort and research went into the projector screen than any other piece of kit in this install, with the main debate centred around whether I go acoustically transparent (AT) or not. An AT model would allow for a much bigger screen size with speakers installed behind, but my ‘audiophile’ sensibilities suggest putting anything in front of a loudspeaker should be avoided if necessary. Would a smaller screen and speakers to the sides and below be better sonically, while compromising on visual scale? Looking into AT screens meant reading a lot of white papers to discover, as I suspected, that they are not truly transparent to audio. Pretty clear in the best cases but not 'see-through'. Perforated screens are the worst due to the much higher ratio of…

Of the many areas that got ‘out of hand’ in this project, lighting was the most visually obvious. Yet the end result was actually pared-back from my original design, which included ceiling downlighters, perimeter LED strips high and at skirting level, an RGB LED loop around the screen and two RGB wall lights to highlight freestanding stereo speakers should they creep back into the room. With my electrician offering helpful advice like ‘that is just ridiculous’, the lighting plan got shaved back to just the higher LED ambient strip and RGB downlighters (although I am still considering experimenting with bias lighting around the screen). The room going from bright, white plaster primer to ‘cinema noir’ was a shocker, and I began to wonder whether my down-scale lighting would be bright…

ANIMAL CHARM Top-quality 'toon The Bad Guys steals the show on 4K BD, p89 INSTALLER BESPOKE HOME Cinemas faced something of a challenge with this custom project designed for UK singer/songwriter James Arthur. Firstly, the room dimensions of 4.3m x 3.8m, with viewing only possible across the shortest axis, ran counter to Arthur's desire for a ‘huge’ cinematic 2.35:1 screen. Secondly, initial contact was made in October 2021, with the job needing to be finished by Christmas. And the brief was for it to be 'a fun room.' The company got to work, speccing a Barco Bragi CinemaScope projector with short-throw lens, and a 3.3m fixed screen. Artcoustic on-wall/ in-ceiling speakers and subs are used for the 11-channel sound system, with amplification, processing and EQ handled by an Anthem MRX…

HARMAN KARDON IS well known in the soundbar world for its work with Samsung (its ultimate parent company since 2017) on much of the Korean brand’s widely acclaimed range. Yet it also continues to design and manufacture its own audio products, something it's been doing since launching an FM tuner all the way back in 1953, followed by everything from stereo and multichannel receivers, CD recorders and computer speakers in the intervening years. Its wares now are split between in-car systems, a bevy of Bluetooth speakers, and its extensive Citation range. A resurrection of a name the company used in the 1950s, Citation is a multiroom ecosystem based around the Google Home platform, and currently comprises 12 products. There are desktop and tower speakers, an amp for connecting legacy hardware,…

GETTING TO GRIPS with TCL's C935U soundbar is a bit like playing pass-the-parcel. The longer you carry on, the more gifts it delivers. What's on offer here for just £499 is quite remarkable. The key spec is that this is a Dolby Atmos/ DTS:X-equipped system, with physical upfiring drivers on the soundbar and a wireless 8in subwoofer for deep bass. Measuring over 1m wide, the main enclosure is a match for TVs 50in and above. Connectivity is very generous, with two HDMI inputs and an eARC output enabling both an easy TV hookup (there's also an optical audio input) and playback from external hardware. Bluetooth (v5.3) is another option, but even better is the inclusion of DTS Play-Fi. This multiroom streaming platform is seeing some growth, being adopted recently by…

AFTER PREVIOUSLY UPGRADING to Purifi's Eigentakt Class D amplification technology for its M28 multichannel power amplifier (HCC #316), M33 streaming amp, and entry-level C 298 stereo amp, Canadian marque NAD has at last gotten around to releasing a new, Eigentakt-toting stereo power model in its high-end Masters series. Aimed both at well-heeled music lovers and owners of the M28 who need more than that model's seven channels, it comes to market with a hot £3,399 price tag and cool-as-a-cucumber styling. Seriously, the looks of the M23 should not be brushed over. In a market where many power amps are content to opt for a black boxy chassis, NAD's two-tone design is gorgeous. As soon as you lift this 9.7kg amp from its box, your eyes are drawn to the ultra-slick…

YOU WILL OWN nothing and be happy! These are the words of World Economic Forum leader Klaus Schwab in his book The Great Reset. Well, streaming seems to accept that ideology. In what can be seen as ‘the great upset’, there was recently a demonstration of how fragile this brave new world can be, and that you will own nothing and be unhappy! The online PlayStation Store, which has already announced an end to movie and TV downloads and rentals, has said it is losing the rights to films from Studiocanal in Germany and Austria. Those who had previously paid to own content from the studio were told that they would no longer be able to view it, and it would be removed from their video library. This means potentially…

➜ SOFTWARE HIGHLIGHTS MEN Director Alex Garland swaps sci-fi for folk horror THE BAD GUYS Criminally good DreamWorks 'toon EVENT HORIZON Fan-fave Paul W.S. Anderson flick is back from the dead on 4K THE RINGS OF POWER Prime Video's mega-budget LOTR prequel series THE OUTFIT Well-dressed crime thriller STAR TREK Six-film 4K set & MORE! Totally roarsome? Jurassic World Dominion ➜ Universal ➜ Ultra HD Blu-ray Nearly thirty years on from Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park, the franchise has (apparently) come to a close. Does Jurassic World Dominion give it the send off it deserves on 4K Blu-ray? See p90 for our verdict. All prices quoted are approximate and may have changed…

THE DEATH OF Bruce Lee in 1973, at the age of just 32, left a gaping hole in the Hong Kong film industry. But spurred on by the international attention Lee had brought to martial arts movies, it was a hole that local producers quickly set about filling, casting around for the next action superstar and bringing to cinemas a host of Lee-alikes, such as Bruce Lai (Chang Yi-Tao), Bruce Le (Won Kin Lung) and Bruce Leung (actually his real name). A young Jackie Chan was among those actors who suddenly found themselves given a shot at stardom. A Peking Opera School graduate, Chan had worked regularly as a film stuntman and extra throughout the early '70s, even appearing in very minor roles in Lee's own Fist of Fury (1972)…

➜ NEWS HIGHLIGHTS REL Two more premium subwoofers from the bass specialist PRIMARE Swedish corp is back in the AV receiver game PSB Synchrony speakers mark brand's 50th anniversary BLUESOUND Compact Powernode Edge amplifier AT THE PLEX This month's cinema releases TOP GUN: MAVERICK 4K Blu-ray will ride back into the danger zone & MORE! Philips says its new OLED+907, which will launch at 48in, 55in and 65in screen sizes, shows it has listened to popular demand – the TV, which integrates a 3.1-channel Bowers & Wilkins sound solution 'within the overall silhouette of the set', mirrors the design of the 2018-era OLED+903 model. Bass weight is provided by four rearmounted woofers, while the Ambilight iteration is three-sided. The screen also gets the 'Royal' flavour of OLED EX panel,…

Earlier this year (HCC #331) we looked at the A35.8, an eight-channel power amplifier from Primare that was its first multichannel model in nearly a decade. Although also targeted at hi-fi fans seeking to make use of its flexible amp configuration, did it perhaps show the Swedish brand returning to the home cinema arena? It certainly looks that way now, as Primare has announced a new AV receiver model, the SPA25, coming to market this November. It also says there are dedicated multichannel processors on the roadmap for 2023. Dressed up to the nines The receiver copies the 'elegantly simple design' of the rest of Primare's current models, the A35.8 amplifier in particular. It also shares that model's flavour of UFPD2 (Ultra Fast Power Device) Class D amplification, rated in…

Yamaha’s latest soundbar hopes to craft a big sound from a small chassis – with a little help from a partnering ported subwoofer. The main enclosure of the SR-C30A (£299) is just 60cm long and 6.4cm high, while the wireless sub – with 5in woofer – is a fairly svelte 16cm wide, so the system should be easy enough to accommodate. Yamaha envisages it doing duty in TV setups, bedrooms and games dens. Dolby Digital decoding, virtual surround processing and Compressed Music Enhancer are featured, plus four preset sound modes (standard, stereo, game and 3D movie). Yamaha says the SR-C30A has been engineered with a focus on the reproduction of clear and natural dialogue. Control of the 'bar is via Yamaha's app, supplied remote, or on-body buttons. Connections are HDMI…

Buy cheap, buy twice. Or in this case, buy cheap, buy twice, then see something even better and buy thrice. Upgrading from my old JVC DLA 1080p projector transpired to be far less straightforward than anticipated, even though it started way back at the beginning of the project. Arguably, the desire to move to a 4K projector was the event that started this whole snowball rolling (well, more like that ball out of Raiders of the Lost Ark), and even before the old projector was down, I had jumped at an Optoma UHZ65 laser model at a bargain price. This PJ's performance was razor-sharp and punchy. Yet compared to the outgoing JVC it was considerably noisier, colour tones appeared less natural and the shortish lens throw meant shunting the projector…

The Stevenson family is a four-unit household, but as two of those bark, leave hair everywhere and insist on chewing bones throughout movies, they are not allowed into the new room. This is a cinema strictly for two, which made choosing the seating a whole lot easier – Ihad no raised area or second row to deal with. I could have gone for a regular sofa, but wanted something with more style, not to mention electric recline and cup-holders. Valencia Seating, actually from Italy, seemed to have all the right ingredients, including motorised head restraints that can be tilted forward electrically when reclined to aid viewing. But being an international Direct To Consumer company there is no way of seeing or trying out wares before buying, so it was a…

REVIEWS ➜HARDWARE SONY VPL-XW5000ES 4K HDR laser projector EMOTIVA Affordable BasX series five-channel power amp HARMAN KARDON Single-box Dolby Atmos soundbar TCL Mid-range QLED TV ACURUS High-end immersive audio processor SAMSUNG HW-Q700B soundbar VELODYNE 8in Deep Blue subwoofer XGIMI Compact Full HD projector & MORE! Philips' top-flight OLED+937 TV marries the company's best-ever OLED panel with upgraded Dolby Atmos audio from a Bowers & Wilkins speaker enclosure, plus next-generation Ambilight system. See p48 for our review. All prices quoted are approximate and may have changed…

Its BasX A5 is a power pusher rated at a solid 95W per channel into 8ohms (20Hz-20kHz measurement, less than 0.1% THD), and 130W into 4ohms (1kHz, <0.1% THD). It sells for the bargain price of £749. Sure, its five-channel complement might appear to some to be outdated, but it will equally likely appeal to others. This is partly because multichannel power amplifiers remain something of a niche device, despite their relative simplicity to manufacture compared to integrated amps/receivers. Anyone in need of a five-channel, three-channel or four-channel amplifier will find choices a bit limited, and many of those that are available, including models from the likes of Arcam and Marantz, come in a good way higher than the £1,000 mark. That Emotiva's BasX A5 is more affordable shouldn't surprise,…

XGIMI'S ELFIN IS an ultra-portable projector designed to deliver a built-in smart system and home entertainment-grade picture and sound quality from a device that’s not much bigger than your average 4K Blu-ray box. Its LED light system is rated at 800 Lumens – high for such a small projector – and should last for 25,000 hours, while Xgimi’s X-VUE 2.0 image engine is on hand to enhance the colour and clarity of its native 1080p pictures. There’s HDR10 and HLG HDR support, too. The Elfin's built-in Wi-fi and Android smart system are handy for a ‘use anywhere’ product like this, but do note that some apps aren’t optimised for the projector. In fact, my Netflix account wouldn’t work at all. A single ARC-capable HDMI 2.0 port caters for external devices.…

MY ELDEST SON has finally reached that age where every film he watches doesn't have to be a day-glo animation with talking animals or comedy robots. He's enjoyed the Harry Potter series and the Iron Man films (well, not the second one), and will watch anything with The Rock in it that I let him. A recent screening was of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (pictured) the 2012 sequel to 2008's Journey to the Center of the Earth where Dwayne Johnson comes aboard to bring some extra muscle to the franchise. It's goofy, family-friendly fun – even I enjoyed watching it while waiting for my lad to go to bed so I could stream Prey. What stood out to me, though, was that Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is a…

CinemaScope projection As a regular reader and somebody that's grown up using 8mm projectors, early LCD projectors (and more recently having installed a Sony VPL-VW295ES into a home cinema), I have a question that's always puzzled me. Why, with the vast majority of movie enthusiasts continually watching 2.39.1 movies, do manufacturers not develop an LCD projection panel in this format? Obviously this will then use all pixels for the actual film content rather than wasting many of them projecting black bars. I also still own an excellent Philips 21.9 widescreen TV which, in addition to presenting movies in their original aspect format, does an incredible job stretching standard 16.9 format TV shows into full widescreen. It's a great shame similar technology can't be created for home cinema projectors. Be good…

➜ MEN Still struggling to deal with the aftermath of her abusive husband's apparent suicide, Harper Marlowe (Jessie Buckley) take a holiday in the picturesque English village of Cotson. Her idyllic break soon sours when, after a walk in nearby woods, she is followed back to her rented home by a naked man (Rory Kinnear) covered in cuts. While this mysterious figure is soon apprehended by the police, it's only the first in a series of increasingly uncomfortable and aggressive interactions with the local menfolk (all also played by Kinnear) that transform a peaceful getaway into a surreal and violent nightmare. It's plain to see that Alex Garland has something to say with his latest film, Men. But as the writerdirector admits in the accompanying featurette, the movie was designed…

Saints Row Volition/Deep Silver ➜ PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC ➜ £59.99 The first Saints Row game was mainly a Grand Theft Auto clone, albeit with a few interesting ideas, such as satnav-style direction arrows and turf battles to take control of the map. However, subsequent sequels saw the focus and gameplay change dramatically, each becoming more comical and bonkers. In Saints Row IV, for example, the head of The Saints took on an alien invasion. It had strayed from its crime syndicate roots somewhat, so we were thrilled when we learned that developer Volition was (mostly) taking Saints Row back to basics. Thus, we have the all-new Saints Row, with an all-new cast of Saints, in the all-new setting of San Ileso – and it’s…

➜ THE SWIMMER 'I am a very special human being. Noble and splendid,' announces Burt Lancaster’s Ned Merrill in The Swimmer. And it’s a view you may well share when, at the beginning of the film, Ned first steps out of a forest wearing only a bathing suit and embarks on a mission to ‘swim’ several miles back to his house through the swimming pools of his affluent neighbours in an upscale Connecticut suburb. But as his somewhat surreal journey continues, so our view of Ned is corrupted. Each encounter with old acquaintances proves increasingly harrowing, as hints about the failures that haunt his life, and the harm he has caused those around him, are revealed. Ned himself refuses to acknowledge any of it. At its core The Swimmer seems…

LOOKING FOR A NEW AV RECEIVER? Our Top 10 guide is here to help All prices quoted are approximate and may have changed Philips 55OLED807 ➜ £1,700 ★★★★★ With its exemplary performance and comprehensive spec, this 55in 4K OLED TV marks another step forward for Philips. New panel tech adds an extra level of dynamism to OLED's customary strengths. HCC #333 TOP 5 New releases The Batman [UHD Blu-ray] Gotham’s Caped Crusader is dropped into a Se7en-esque serial killer plot with thrilling results in this fab new take on the legendary superhero, which lands on disc with top-tier AV and informative extras. HCC #333 ★★★★☆ Moonfall [UHD Blu-ray, US import] Roland Emmerich delivers another hysterically entertaining slice of popcorn cinema with this disaster epic. Give the UK Blu-ray a pass…

After revisiting its moviefocused, feature-stripped 'Predator' series this summer with the HT/1510 model (HCC #333), REL has now trained its heat vision on high-end systems, announcing two new Reference Series subs with premium specifications. The No.31 and No.32 replace the outgoing No.25, REL's flagship since its launch in 2016. Both models update the aesthetic design, but retain the big and bold vibe. The No. 32 flaunts the description 'edge of the art design,' referring to its claimed position as REL's best ever sub. An 85kg beast, measuring 743 x 540 x 816mm (whd), it debuts a new 15in carbon fibre driver, with inverted carbon fibre centre cap to improve stiffness and self-damping. Like its predecessor, power comes from a 1,000W (RMS) Class D amp with high-current power supply. The No.31,…

Auro-3D is the brainchild of acoustic wiz Wilfried Van Baelen, who conceived of an audio format built around three layers of sound. The idea was inspired by human aural perception, and the results are claimed to deliver a more realistic sense of immersion. Van Baelen developed Auro-3D at his Galaxy Studios – astate-of-the-art complex of recording studios, research facilities, Foley stages and mixing suites that’s hidden away in the Belgian countryside. It’s basically a Benelux version of Skywalker Ranch. The format is based around three distinct layers of sound, with the first composed of a traditional ear-level multichannel layout. The second is a series of height speakers, while the third is an overhead channel, often dubbed the ‘Voice of God’. The logic behind this approach is that humans have evolved…

PART TWO WITH THE DUST settling, quite literally, on the main rip-out and room rebuild (see HCC #334) it was time to reflect on the choices of kit going in. Large boxes had been arriving in fits and starts over the previous weeks – delivery times during/after the Covid lockdown were always a bit fingers-crossed, but I'd been lucky to not experience any delays that would cause the project to grind to a halt. My old 7.1.4 setup was a bit ‘frankensystem’. It had 20-year-old Tannoy floorstanders at ground level, four Tannoy pro speakers bolted to the ceiling for Dolby Atmos/DTS:X, and a pair of Velodyne DD18+ subwoofers. It wasn’t pretty, and the seven massive stereo power amplifiers on the floor didn’t exactly aid the svelte look either. Sprinkle in…

While an installed rack of equipment out of sight in an adjacent room would have been ideal, Mrs S said no. She used more words, some of them unprintable, but that was the gist of it. Therefore all the AV hardware – including my prized Michell Orbe turntable and hi-fi equipment – had to remain in the cinema room and look presentable. With the budget in melt-down, some basic Monoprice racks were enlisted for a couple of hundred quid. At the heart of the new system was meant to be the one item ported over from the old one, a Marantz AV8802A processor. However, earlier this year Audyssey launched MultiEQ-X, a new, far more in-depth and granular platform, which I wanted to use as my EQ system de jour, and…

AV INFO PRODUCT: Direct LED 4K HDR TV with Quantum Dot colour POSITION: C735K line is TCL’s mid-range for 2022 PEERS: Philips 50PUS8807; Samsung UE50BU850; Panasonic 65LX650B Not surprisingly for its money, it does lose the Mini LED backlighting and multi-zone local dimming features of its step-up sibling. However, it retains a potentially contrastfriendly direct-lit VA panel; a Quantum Dot colour system; TCL’s AI-boosted PQ 2.0 picture processing silicon; an Onkyo-designed sound system (2.0-channel rather than the 2.1-channel implementation of the C835K); and support for the key HDR formats of HDR10, HDR10+, HLG and Dolby Vision. Slim and trim The 55C735K’s keen price is reflected a little more obviously in its design. The chassis is fairly lightweight and plasticky, and the simple black outer frame and silvery bottom edge are…

SPECIFICATIONS DRIVE UNITS: 1 x8in 'high-excursion' woofer with four-layer voice coil ONBOARD POWER (CLAIMED): 300W Class A/B amp ENCLOSURE: Sealed FREQUENCY RESPONSE (CLAIMED): 32Hz-180Hz (-3dB) REMOTE CONTROL: No DIMENSIONS: 280(w) x 260(h) x 290(d)mm WEIGHT: 9kg FEATURES: RCA LFE input/output; stereo RCA input; speaker-level input; variable phase; gain control; 50Hz-180Hz crossover; on/off/auto power WHILE VELODYNE IS probably most famous for its alarmingly large LFE air-moving devices, the brand does ‘small’ rather well too. Several incarnations of its little MicroVee series included some of the smallest, fastest and, dare I say, cutest subwoofers I ever had the pleasure to clap eyes and ears on. Having recently evicted a pair of Velodyne DD18+ subwoofers (with dustbin lid-sized 18in drivers) from my cinema room (see p26), the DB-8 looks absolutely minuscule. The smallest…

IF YOU’VE JUST picked up a new Samsung telly, then this feature-laden mid-range Dolby Atmos soundbar could be the ideal upgrade. A derivation of last year’s Q800A model, this 3.1.2 sound system has Q-Symphony support and SpaceFit room calibration. We’ve seen Q-Symphony before, but this iteration uses all the speakers in a compatible screen to augment the soundbar's performance, rather than just those positioned at the top of the panel. Not that you need a Samsung TV for the HW-Q700B to shine. Its Dolby Atmos performance is a big upgrade on last year's 700 Series bar. Out goes the Acoustic Beam tech used for heights, to be replaced by twin upfiring tweeters which bring clear benefits in clarity and soundstaging. In addition to HDMI eARC/ARC, this 1.1m-wide bar packs an…

WITH HALLOWEEN JUST a matter of weeks or days away (depending on when you picked up this mag), I thought I’d use this space to recommend a quartet of film-related books ideal for fright fans looking for some spooky bedtime reading. Kicking things off is Sir Christopher Frayling’s Vampire Cinema: The First One Hundred Years (£40, Reel Art Press). Essentially a book of two halves, this coffee table tome begins with a knowledgeable and authoritative exploration of the history of vampires in social and cultural history, from their mythological origins, through the earliest literary examples, and onwards to stage and screen. After this, the bulk of the book is a gallery of posters, stills, press books and other imagery relating to Frayling’s favourites from the last century of vampire cinema…

Highlander: 4K UHD Collector's Edition Who wants to live forever? We have two copies of the Highlander: 4K UHD Collector’s Edition up for grabs! Making its 4K BD debut on October 31 via Studiocanal, this limited edition of the '80s classic packs badges, art cards and poster, a 64-page booklet, 'Way of the Sword #1' prequel comic, and new extra features including The Immortal Attraction of Highlander, an in-depth look at four decades of Highlander magic. Question: Highlander’s soundtrack features several songs by which British rock band? Answer: A) Status Quo B) Def Leppard C) Queen Eurotrash Revisit the outrageous late-night TV magazine show that guided viewers around a surreal world of the weird and the wonderful with this bumper release featuring all 16 series of the cult favourite. The…

➜ STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE COLLECTION Having given fans a taste of the original run of Star Trek movies in 4K with last year’s Star Trek: The Original 4-Movie Collection boxset (HCC #325), Paramount has gone the whole hog and rounded up 4K versions of all six feature films starring Kirk, Spock, Bones and co, including Star Trek: The Motion Picture -The Director’s Edition. Debuting on DVD in 2001, director Robert Wise’s re-edit of the first Star Trek has essentially been missing in action ever since due to the fact its updated VFX were only rendered in SD. However, thanks to the Paramount+ streaming service stumping up the cash to redo the film’s CG visuals, it’s finally returned to disc. If only any amount of new VFX and…

➜ LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER A sumptuous treat for the AV senses, this prequel to Peter Jackson’s cinematic fantasy blockbusters, delivers on all fronts. Astonishingly, Prime Video's inaugural eight-episode season manages to match Jackson’s epics for grandeur and spectacle. If the streaming service needed a new hero to lead its battle with Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+ and others, ...The Rings of Power is it. Based in part on J.R.R. Tolkien’s posthumously published collection The Silmarillion, the series is set thousands of years before The Hobbit, yet looks remarkably familiar: it’s the Second Age of Middleearth, and there’s a bewildering array of races and protagonists to keep track of. Immortal warrior Elf Galadriel (Morfydd Clark, taking over the feature film role from Cate Blanchett) seeks to avenge…

➜ HOUSE OF THE DRAGON Did you hear me sigh? It was deep and heartfelt – an exhalation born of the fact that HBO's House of the Dragon is every bit as good as Games of Thrones was at its peak. Dense, political, subversive and icky, this prequel based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood is set two hundred years before Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister first exchanged barbs, and recounts the early reign of House Targaryen. The series opens with a dragon soaring through clouds, returning its rider to Kings Landing. Showrunners Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan Condal aren’t reinventing the wheel here, they’ve just got the bandwagon flying high again. Even the Game of Thrones theme has been retained, accompanied by a new stylised opening, and there’s a…

HOW DO YOU listen to music? More often than not, I just bark a command at a smart speaker while doing something else… because I can. My favourite artists are relegated to background muzak. Of course, back in the day, music on demand wasn’t a thing. Playing albums was more of a ritual. I remember preparing snacks, even rearranging furniture to ensure I was listening in the sweet spot. A recent visit to a Pitchblack Playback session made me realise how much I missed those days. If you’ve not come across it before, Pitchblack Playback is a new way to enjoy albums. You buy a ticket to an event, rock up to the appropriate venue (invariably somewhere with a kick-ass sound system, commonly a Dolby Atmos equipped cinema), and then…