Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2023 i Home Cinema Choice

Back in ye olde days, by which I mean about 20 years ago, home cinema was a fairly simple idea. You got an amp, some speakers and a DVD player, added a TV or lamp-based projector, and enjoyed the show. These days home cinema is much more fluid. In our last issue we discussed Apple's forthcoming Vision Pro headset, which aims to be your own personal IMAX, and this month Sony has launched a portable, personal multichannel sound system (see p9). To these innovations you can add Mini LED TVs from TCL (p42) and Hisense (p64), Yamaha's True X soundbar system that does away with nearly every cable (p46), and – again from Sony – an AV receiver featuring advanced phantom speaker processing (p54). Not to mention that home cinema…

The Fabelmans It took its time, but Steven Spielberg’s beguiling movie memoir can finally be enjoyed on Ultra HD Blu-ray in the UK. Vanilla Sky A beautiful new 4K Dolby Vision do-over makes Cameron Crowe’s melodramatic psychodrama more entrancing than ever. Tulsa King: Season One Don’t have Paramount+? You can now enjoy Sylvester Stallone’s gripping fish-out-of-water crime drama on Blu-ray. Skinamarink The deliberately low-fi visuals are hardly demo fodder, but that doesn’t make this Blu-ray chiller any less unnerving. Weird Science There’s nothing weird about wanting to check out Kelly LeBrock in 4K courtesy of this UHD BD update of the '80s teen classic.…

Less is definitely more with the new Denon S-Series of home cinema amplifiers. While the brand is arguably best known for its multichannel behemoths, this new line sets out to address the real world requirements of more regular users, where massive amplification and bulk are often seen as reasons not to buy into home cinema. Instead, this trio promises a surround sound experience that’s more easy to live with – indeed, only one of the three has Dolby Atmos decoding on board. Gamer-friendly The AVR-S770H (£699) is Dolby Atmos/DTS:X ready, with seven channels of amplification, but the AVR-S670H and AVC-S670H are conventional 5.1 designs, with Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio codec support. That’s not to say their specification has been left wanting. All Denon's newbies have HDMI v2.1…

August 14 Babylon 5: The Road Home 4K Dual The English Surgeon A Night at the Opera One Fine Morning The Passionate Stranger Rachel, Rachel Rattle of a Simple Man Roman Holiday 4K The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan The Truth About Women The Wandering Earth II August 21 American Graffiti 4K Bloodsport 4K Brannigan Commedia all’Italiana: Three Films by Dino Risi Gregory’s Girl 4K A Moment of Romance The Night of the Hunted: Limited Edition 4K The Skyhawk: Limited Edition Three Ages: Limited Edition Twin Town Weird Science: Limited Edition 4K August 28 Black Magic Rites: Ltd Ed 4K Crimes of the Future: Ltd Ed 4K Double Impact The Flash: Complete Ninth Season It Follows: Limited Edition 4K The Postman Fights Back Stephen King On Screen Taxi Hunter The Thomas Crown…

The 39 Steps ITV Studios, Blu-ray Before he carved out a lengthy (but non-Oscar winning) career in Hollywood, Alfred Hitchcock directed a run of British spy thrillers, and sandwiched between The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) and Secret Agent (1936) came 1935's The 39 Steps, one of his earliest masterpieces. A prototypical example of the 'wrong man' template that Hitchcock would return to again and again, this masterfully constructed mix of suspense and comedy stars Robert Donat as the hapless chap accused of murder who must go on the run in order to bust a spy ring and clear his name. Madeleine Carroll plays the whip-smart blonde along for the ride (willingly or not). Atomic Blonde Universal Pictures, 4K Blu-ray After debuting as a director with some (uncredited) work…

➜HARDWARE YAMAHA True X soundbar system with wireless rear speakers SONY Seven-channel TA-AN1000 AV amp has Spatial Sound skills TCL 65in C845 Mini LED TV BENQ W4000i 4K HDR home cinema projector Q ACOUSTICS 5010 5.1 loudspeaker package EVERSOLO Multi-talented music streamer NANOLEAF Add smart lighting to your TV & MORE! Not the biggest subwoofer in Perlisten's range, but the D212s still partners two 12in drivers with a 3,000W-rated amplifier stage and a dollop of clever DSP. So does this £7,000 bassmaker live up to its high-end promise? See p50. All prices quoted are approximate and may have changed HCC RATINGS KEY……

AV INFO PRODUCT: 2 x12in subwoofer with THX Dominus certification POSITION: One rung down from Perlisten's D215s range-topper PEERS: REL No.31; KEF Reference 8b; SVS PB16-Ultra We've already looked at – and loved – Perlisten's top-flight S series speakers (HCC #331), the step-down R series (HCC #338), and its flagship D215s subwoofer (HCC #334). Of course, that latter model, at over 800mm tall and weighing in at a hefty 92kg, isn't for everyone; certainly no one who is not into power-lifting or, like myself, owns a projector screen mounted only 700mm above the floor. Enter the D212s, auditioned here. This subwoofer is very similar to the D215s, just scaled down a bit. It again features two drivers, run in-phase as a push-pull configuration, but this time they are 12in designs,…

WWW.LOEWE.TV/£999 LOEWE'S NEWEST SOUNDBAR has the high-end price of a feature-packed model, but its specification isn't quite what you might expect. While rivals seem concerned with offering more and more channels, Loewe has opted for a 3.1 design... but there's a lot more to this single-enclosure sound system than meets the eye. The German manufacturer's current entry-level soundbar, the klang bar3 mr looks pretty slick parked underneath a TV. Apart from its quite chunky 16cm depth, the chassis size is otherwise accommodating (95cm wide and under 7cm high), and the finish is high-quality. There's a lovely fabric wrap to its front and sides, plus a removable cover over the connections bay to keep everything neat and tidy. The soundbar's driver array features tweeter and full-range pairings for the L/R channels,…

2023 WAS MEANT to be a big year for Hollywood. With the pandemic bounceback complete, a crammed slate of high-profile movies would have box office tills ringing. Only it hasn't quite worked out that way. Admittedly we're only just over halfway through the year, and business overall hasn't been disastrous. Yet wherever you look there are failing franchises and bad reviews, plus seemingly no hope of takings reaching their pre-pandemic 2019 levels. Both the heavyweight Marvel and DC superhero franchises have taken something of a beating, the latter in particular. Lukewarm responses to DC's Black Adam, Shazam: Fury of the Gods and The Flash would seem to vindicate the studio's decision to bring in James Gunn as a new overseer and completely reboot the DCEU idea – but the fact…

Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves 4K A thief assembles a band of adventurers to retrieve a lost relic and save his daughter in this hilarious, action-packed romp based on the popular role-playing game. Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves is available to own now on Download & Keep, DVD, Blu-ray™, 4K UHD™ and 4K UHD™ + Blu-ray™ Steelbook®, courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment. We have two copies of Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves 4K UHD™ to give away! Question: Which of these is a genuine 'Dungeons & Dragons' monster? Answer: A) Gloopy Sphere B) Viscous Rhomboid C) Gelatinous Cube Carmen Melissa Barrera and Paul Mescal star in this modern-day retelling of one of history’s most famous love stories. Helmed by choreographer-turned-director Benjamin Millepied, Carmen is out now on…

➜ DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOUR AMONG THIEVES There are two types of people in this world. Those who spent their teenage years playing Dungeons & Dragons, and those who thought the people who played Dungeons & Dragons were weird. What's remarkable about Paramount's new movie is that it caters perfectly to both groups. In place of the po-faced fantasy saga audiences might have been expecting, co-writer/co-director duo Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (creators of the hit 2018 comedy Game Night) deliver a lively fantasy romp, packed with enough nods and winks to keep D&D fans smiling, and enough action and japes for everyone else. Where the film really scores a critical hit, however, is with its cast. Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith and Sophia Lillis bring life to the party…

Bigscreen home entertainment isn't just about movies anymore. Rik Henderson checks out a videogame vying for time on your home cinema system... Final Fantasy XVI Square Enix ➜ PS5 ➜ £70 There's always a hatful of hype surrounding a Final Fantasy release but they invariably deliver. Such is the case once more with this latest entry, although those looking for any of the series' trademark role-playing elements might be disappointed. Final Fantasy XVI is more action than action-RPG. We've long since lost the turn-based combat of yesteryear, but FF XV at least retained some kind of strategy in its fisticuffs. Not so here – the fighting in XVI owes more to the likes of Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry than its own heritage. Something to note if you're…

➜It Follows Sex and death have long been linked by the horror genre, but rarely as effectively as in writerdirector David Robert Mitchell’s unsettling 2014 supernatural chiller It Follows. Its deceptively simple story casts Maika Monroe as the young woman who – after having sex with a new boyfriend – finds herself forever pursued by a mysterious entity only she can see... Picture: This 2014 digital feature was captured using Arri Alexa Plus cameras and finished as a 2K digital intermediate. For this Ultra HD debut, Second Sight has overseen the creation of a new director-approved 4K master ‘produced in conjunction with the original postproduction facility’. Whatever that involves, improvements in image detail in this 2.39:1-framed 2160p encode, over the original Blu-ray release, are marginal – but that simply speaks…

➜News highlights DENON Entry-level S Series AVRs unveiled B&W Flagship speaker given a Signature overhaul MONITOR AUDIO Three-model Anthra subwoofer range SONY HT-AX7 'personal theatre' BENQ GP500 projector adds 360 sound THE PLEX This month's cinema releases A TOUCH OF EVIL Orson Welles' noir classic is coming to 4K Blu-ray! & MORE Klipsch R-40PM/R-50PM ➜ www.klipsch.com The Reference range from American loudspeaker marque Klipsch has been strengthened by two powered bookshelf models. Both the R-40PM (£499 p/p) and R-50PM (£599 p/p, pictured) feature upgraded Tractrix horn-loaded aluminium tweeters above 4in and 5.25in bass/mid drivers respectively, with low-end performance said to be boosted by new, deeper cabinet designs. Connectivity ranges from Bluetooth and USB to optical digital for a TV hookup and MM phono for a turntable. HCC ONLINE… For…

Immersive audio has become a lot more personal with the Sony HT-AX7, a portable all-in-one surround sound solution – with designer good looks – for use with smartphones and tablets. This £499 system comprises a main stereo unit with two detachable wireless rear disc speakers that can be placed behind you, maybe on the back of a sofa or a nearby table. They charge their built-in batteries when they’re docked to the main unit, which itself will run for a claimed 30 hours when untethered from the mains. This has physical controls on its top surface, but deeper settings are offered by Sony's Home Entertainment Connect app. No wires and phantom speakers Befitting its smartphone aims, there are no physical connections at all on the HT-AX7. It’s Bluetooth only and…

Gran Turismo August 11: Inspired by a true story, Neil Blomkamp’s coming-of-age drama focuses on a fan of the Gran Turismo game series (Archie Madekwe) who aspires to become a real race driver. David Harbour and Orlando Bloom co-star. The Equalizer 3 September 1: Denzel Washington reunites with director Antoine Fuqua for a third and final outing for vigilante Robert McCall. This time out McCall’s search for a quiet life in southern Italy comes a cropper when he butts heads with the Sicilian Mafia. The Nun II September 8: The ninth(!) film in The Conjuring franchise shifts the setting to a French boarding school in the 1950s for another supernatural showdown. Expect plenty of spooky jump scares.…

Monitor Audio has launched a new three-model subwoofer line called Anthra, with 10in, 12in and 15in driver sizes. Described as a standalone offering, the series is the brand's only one not tied to one of its loudspeaker ranges. Positioning can be considered mid-to-premium, with the smallest Anthra W10 selling for £1,650, and the W12 and W15 priced £1,900 and £2,500 respectively. All three are available in Satin White and High Gloss Black finishes. C-CAM cones Monitor Audio says its Anthra series has been engineered 'with a focus on musicality and control... through the expert application of sound acoustic knowledge and solid design principles.' Such acoustic knowledge includes the use of the company's familiar driver technologies. The 10in, 12in and 15in woofers of the Anthra subs are C-CAM (Ceramic-Coated Aluminium/ Magnesium)…

When it comes to high dynamic range, tone mapping is vital as it optimises HDR playback based on the capabilities of a TV or projector. This is only possible thanks to metadata encoded in the content, which contains values relating to minimum and maximum luminance, and the colour gamut. The HDR10 format uses 'static' metadata, meaning the information is a single set of numbers applied to the entire running time of the content. As a result, when a TV or projector maps HDR to its inherent capabilities, certain scenes can appear overly dark with limited contrast and crushed blacks. The solution to this problem is dynamic metadata, where the encoded information changes on a scene-by-scene, and even frame-by-frame basis. A display that supports dynamic metadata benefits from superior tone mapping…

The features and price of TCL's 65C845K just don't seem compatible with each other. Here we have a 65in TV that boasts more than 2000 nits of brightness, uses Mini LED lighting and 576 separately controlled local dimming zones, and supports all the latest and greatest gaming features, yet the price tag attached to it reads just £1,049. To put this into context, Hisense's 65in 65U7KQ set elsewhere in this issue (p64) costs £1,499, while Sony's 65in 65X95L is £2,200 and Samsung's QE65QN90C is £2,500. And some of those Mini LED models don't have as many dimming zones as this TCL telly either. The brand obviously has no intention of moving away from its strategy of somehow offering Mini LED TVs (a technology it has been at the forefront of…

Sony's mapping tech is designed to shift the position of physical speakers in virtual space, to create a more immersive soundstage, and compensate for any enclosures you might be lacking. There are actually two iterations of this model. The 'TA' unit is exclusive to the UK and Europe, while its stablemate, the STR-AN1000, can be found in the US and Australia. The only apparent difference between them is the provision of a radio tuner on the STR-AN1000 receiver. The apple hasn't fallen far from the AV tree when it comes to design. The TA-AN1000 looks much like its now venerable predecessor, the STR-DN1080 (HCC #277). So much so that in a dark movie theatre you would be hard pressed to tell them apart. The front fascia of the amp is…

FUN & GAMES Dungeons & Dragons... scores a critical hit on 4K BD p88 HISENSE MADE A rather disappointing Mini LED TV debut in 2022 with its U8HQ range, so the first model from the brand's second UK Mini LED generation, the 65U7KQ, arrives in our test room with plenty to prove. Especially as the U7KQ is actually not Hisense's flagship Mini LED model for 2023; rather it sees the company bringing Mini LED down to a level in its TV range that was previously based around standard LED technology. AV INFO PRODUCT: 65in 4K TV with Mini LED lighting and local dimming POSITION: Middle of three new Mini LED series, between the U8KQ flagship and U6KQ PEERS: LG OLED65C2; Sony XR-55A80L; Sony XR-65X95L Attractive addition The 65U7KQ's design is…

WWW.ELAC.COM/£529 ELAC'S DEBUT CONNEX is a compact powered stereo system of considerable charm. Priced £529, it adopts the normal design for such things, with one speaker fitted with all the inputs, and a pair of 50W Class D amps to power it and its passive partner. Both enclosures have a 0.75in soft dome tweeter and 4.5in bass/mid driver, augmented by a rear-facing slot port. Connectivity is excellent. You get HDMI ARC, a USB input that supports PCM to 96kHz, an optical connection, RCA that can be switched between line level and a phono stage, and aptX HD Bluetooth, all selected by a remote control. There's also a subwoofer preout, physical volume knob on the rear panel and the ability to select whether the main speaker acts as the left or…

EARLIER TODAY, I took myself out for a haircut. Upon arrival at the barbers, I found two of its staff yelling frantically at the shop's Echo speaker, in order to prevent it from playing Bon Jovi's hair metal anthem 'Livin' On a Prayer' at a volume level I'd put between 'lively' and 'teetering on the edge of self-destruction.' Their efforts were in vain; this particular Echo had little interest in what they had to say and was intent on continuing its power balladry. After a few fruitless minutes, the power lead was yanked and the device reset. When I left, it seemed to be behaving itself again. The one thing the staff couldn't do is something I generally take for granted. They couldn't turn it off. Lulled into the idea…

Welcome to the AV-Holic Hall of Fame – introduce yourself! Hi everyone, my name is Patrik Etschmayer. I'm 57 and from St. Gallen in eastern Switzerland. How long have you been into home cinema? I got into this whole mess about 30 years ago when I connected the hi-fi video recorder to a hi-fi system that consisted of Celestion SL700 speakers, an Infinity subwoofer, Audio Research preamp and a Krell KSA-100 power amplifier. I switched course from stereo fanatic towards home cinema and started with projectors and add-on surround speakers (via a Sherwood amp) not long after. A succession of Mirage speakers, Onkyo processors, NAD amps, US-made LaserDisc players, and tube amps followed. I should have kept a ledger. Pointing to a first setup is not really possible. It is…

➜ Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest: Limited Edition This lavish 10-disc UHD/BD boxset from Arrow Video collects the five movies Bruce Lee starred in during the early 1970s – The Big Boss (1971), Fist of Fury (1972), The Way of the Dragon (1972), Enter the Dragon (1973) and the posthumously revised Game of Death (1978). It even adds the subsequent cash-in Game of Death II (1981) for good measure. Arrow has also rounded up as many alternate cuts of the films as it can. There are four versions of The Big Boss, two each for Fist of Fury and Way of the Dragon, and five different edits of Game of Death. All are in 4K bar three of those alternate versions of the latter. Even Game of Death II, which…

ON DEMAND ➜ Bird Box Barcelona Not a remake of Netflix's hit Sandra Bullock horror thriller from 2018, but a companion piece that relates what was happening at roughly the same time in Europe, Bird Box Barcelona puts a faith-based spin on this weird ongoing apocalypse. The original movie posited a world where you couldn't use your peepers when out and about because the merest glimpse of unworldly invaders would be enough to persuade you to gleefully commit suicide in the most ghastly way imaginable. Here some twisted logic is offered as to why, but you'll still be none the wiser by the end. In this largely Spanish-language expansion of the birdi-verse, we learn that as well as the alien invaders, there are human Seers, able to operate without blindfolds,…

We've seen projectors from BenQ with integrated speaker systems before (including its W4000i, reviewed p58), but the GP500 goes a step further by incorporating a four-directional driver array for a 360-degree listening experience. Priced £1,699, this DLP model is therefore billed as both an all-in-one smart projector and a living room Bluetooth speaker. Its channel outputs can be switched depending on room positioning, therefore retaining stereo imaging. Picture-wise, the GP500 supports HDR10 and HLG, and has a 1.3x zoom to craft 100in images from a distance of 2m-3m. BenQ's Cinematic Colour technology claims a performance covering 90 per cent of DCI-P3. Brightness is rated at 1,500 ANSI Lumens from its 4LED engine. Installation is designed to be simple, thanks to automatic focus, keystone correction, screen fit, and object avoidance technologies.…

Priced £349 per pair, Wharfedale's Diamond 12 3D is the brand's first speaker module for Atmos height delivery. An addition to the Diamond 12 series that launched in 2020, this angled-baffle design has a two-way driver complement of a 1in textile dome tweeter and 4in bass/mid hewn from Wharfedale's polypropylene/mica 'Klarity' composite. Finish options are black, white and the walnut and light oak pictured here, to match those of the Diamond lineup's six other loudspeakers. These include centre channel, standmount and floorstander options, with the size of the D12 3D cabinet making it an ideal topper for the £249 Diamond 12.1 and £499 Diamond 12.3. Rear fixings also support a wall-mount installation. www.wharfedale.co.uk…

'I'M THE SORT of person, who when they first look at a property, is thinking "where do the speakers go?" That's literally the first thing I'm thinking,' says composer Max Richter, guest of honour at Marantz's 70th anniversary shindig in New York City. 'When I move in, the first thing that happens is that the speakers go in the right places. For me, it's really important to be able to experience the full dimensionality of music.' The composer is holding court, talking about his influences and inspirations, and the way he likes to listen to music. He's surrounded by a veritable museum of Marantz hardware that stretches back to the brand's humble 1950s origins in Kew Gardens, New York. 'I'm wide open to all types of music – utility music,…

'A novel and compelling home cinema proposition that makes immersive audio irresistibly easy to achieve' AV INFO PRODUCT: Dolby Atmos soundbar system with wireless rears POSITION: Yamaha's top-ofthe-range model PEERS: JBL Bar 1000; Sony HT-A5000 Samsung HW-Q800C Yamaha actually offers several different configurations for its new True X range, so you can buy the entire system as a package, or piecemeal. The full-fat iteration, reviewed here, consists of the SR-X40A soundbar, matching SW-X100A subwoofer and two WS-X1A portable rears, priced together at £999. Sold separately, the sound soundbar costs £529 and the sub £289 – or you can buy them paired together for £779. The WS-X1A rears are an additional £139 each. A fresh approach Yamaha made a name for itself with its YSP sound projector models featuring a multiplicity…

And, now that we have the W4000i on our test bench, first impressions haven't dimmed our excitement. It has a form factor that, while not 'compact' at 42cm wide, is still appealing slim and stylish. The black bodywork (there's no white option once you get to this level of BenQ PJ) feels robust, and the unit's lightly textured finish and rounded edges tread the line well between serious home cinema and coffee table-friendly aesthetics. You could use this model in a living room environment, as its high brightness makes it better equipped to punch through ambient light than most dedicated home cinema projectors. But the more I used the W4000i, the more I felt its brightness is actually about unlocking its colour and HDR talents than it is about bigscreen…

WWW.ZIDOO.TV/£750 YOU WILL BE forgiven for not being immediately familiar with the Eversolo brand. It is in fact, the audio-focused wing of Zidoo, the Chinese company whose media boxes – including the EISA award-winning Neo S (see HCC #330) – have been carving out a formidable reputation in that category. Zidoo's ‘Neo’ players boosted the audio side of its entry-level hardware but kept the video functionality, now the Eversolo DMP-A6 arrives to strip out the video section, boost the audio side even further and lower the price tag. This is in an extremely well-connected music streamer, built around a DAC stage using two ESS ES9038Q2M chips, allowing it to run fully balanced if your partnering amp is compatible. As well as its XLR outs, there are unbalanced RCA options, in…

'These loudspeakers look exceptionally pretty, with curved cabinet edges and modest dimensions' Okay, that's not quite true, as a look back at my review of the Concept 50 5.1 package in HCC #329 reveals I said that system was also filling a gap. But, in fairness, then I was talking about new, more affordable additions to the Concept series, but here it's am entirely new product line. And as the manufacturer itself insists its 5000 series is positioned between the 3000 Series and the Concept options, who am I to argue? Under pressure Anyway, what you really need to know is that Q Acoustics' 5000 Series comprises six speakers, which – as is often the way in the loudspeaker world – pilfer some of the technological developments of their pricier…

Apple catches my eye Hi, my name is Jamie. I read your piece about Apple Vision Pro (Digital Copy, HCC #343) and agree with most of it. I can understand that some people would prefer to go to a cinema to see IMAX or 3D films. I, however, do not have that luxury as I suffer from agoraphobia and anxiety so cannot go to the cinema. This device is all I need. I was planning on getting a Mac computer but with this all-in-one package I am already saving to hopefully get one. I had no idea Apple was even looking into it so imagine my surprise on the WWDC 23 livestream when the Vision Pro was unveiled. I cannot wait to find out more. Jamie, Essex Mark Craven replies:…

➜Software highlights AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER Aquatic sci-fi spectacular floats our boat on 4K Blu DUNGEONS & DRAGONS... Paramount rolls the dice on a new swords-n-sorcery caper BRUCE LEE Martial arts classics on UHD BD THE ITALIAN JOB 2003 remake rescued from the vault SECRET INVASION Nick Fury returns via Disney+ & MORE! Dead and loving it Evil Dead Rise➜Warner Bros.➜ 4K Blu-ray Original creator Sam Raimi produces this fifth feature film in the Evil Dead franchise, with up-andcoming director Lee Cronin behind the camera and the action moving out of the woods and into the city. We spin the 4K disc on p89. All prices quoted are approximate and may have changed…

➜ Avatar: The Way of Water James Cameron's Avatar sequel delivers a plot that's surprisingly low-key when compared to its record-breaking predecessor. The Way of Water offers more of the same slick sci-fi but the emphasis is on family with the stakes very personal for both protagonists and antagonists. The story deliberately repeats beats from the first film, but also feels like a Cameron greatest hits package with elements of The Abyss, Aliens and even Titanic all filtered through the stunning CGI. It's long, at three hours, and sometimes feels self-indulgent, sagging towards the middle, although the last hour is an exciting, action-heavy thrill-ride that's sure to please. The majority of the original cast are back, some in surprising new roles, and the technical aspects of the production are all…

IN AN ERA when streaming services are willing to blow $200m on a Ryan Gosling action-thriller, or hand Adam Sandler $250m for a quartet of comedies, there's nothing unusual about movies being made specifically for TV broadcast. Go back a couple of generations, though, and things were altogether different. The idea of the 'TV movie' was born in the 1960s, when major US networks NBC, CBS and ABC realised that instead of paying the large fees Hollywood studios demanded for the broadcast rights to their movies, they could make their own for less money. In 1969, a deal between ABC, The Fugitive producer Roy Huggins and Universal led to the creation of ABC's 'Movie of the Week'. Between September 1969 and May 1975, this anthology delivered 250 made-for-TV movies, some…

WHEN IT COMES to movies, I'm not particularly social. I'll go out of my way to avoid busy cinemas, preferring mid-week afternoon showings to crowded weekends, when it's usually just me and a few like-minded curmudgeons. The mere sight of someone scrolling their smartphone nearby, even before the house lights have gone down, is enough to provoke an anxiety attack. Even in my own home theatre, I'll give a family member the snake-eye if they dare to double-screen when I hit play. So Sky Live probably isn't designed with me in mind. This diminutive smart camera, made for Sky Glass, is all about social viewing. I've been living with one for a while, and while my general aversion to bigscreen bonhomie remains undimmed, I've got to admit this gregarious tech…