Innehållsförteckning för August/September 2023 från Sound & Vision

Remixed Reality IT’S AUGUST, and things sure are heating up in the AV world. No news sparked as much discussion as the announcement of Apple’s forthcoming Vision Pro mixed reality headset, which promises to do many cool things but was met with some skepticism from the home theater crowd. Given that it is a VR helmet and costs $3500, immediate widespread adoption seems unlikely. However, one big hint is in the word “Pro”. It leaves room for Apple to release something less expensive, perhaps a Vision Air. The reason I’m discussing it at all is that Apple’s presentation specifically mentioned you could use the Vision Pro to watch 3D movies. It’s reasonable to guess that the ultimate way to watch Avatar: The Way of the Water will be while wearing…

Classical music has a problem. A tiny company, and the world’s largest technology company, both think they have the answer. They are strapping on their powdered wigs and stepping onto the podium. May the best baton win. If you want to listen to Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” it’s an easy matter to pull up a menu and you’ll immediately see the artist, album, and song title. That’s true of most pop music because most pop songs can be categorized in a straightforward manner. Classical music is much harder to categorize. On a recent flight on Omega Airlines (not the real name so I don’t get sued), the menu for their classical music “Mixtape” was virtually undecipherable. The first several listings read something like: 1. Piano Concerto No. 5, Ozawa…

BEAR WAS NOT HAPPY. As the 1970s began to unfurl, live engineer Owsley “Bear” Stanley was increasingly frustrated with the quality of the live sound he was in charge of mixing night after night for San Francisco’s multi-genre jam stalwarts the Grateful Dead. Seeing how the Dead had been quite steadily cultivating a reputation for creating a somewhat participatory multimedia live experience truly unto itself ever since they burst out of the Bay Area scene and vaulted into national prominence in the mid-1960s. And now, Bear had to address the growing pains. One big reason was the Dead’s proclivity for insisting upon higher sound-quality standards for their studio recordings, as they were amongst the earliest bands to lay down their grooves with 16-track recording equipment—and Bear was adamant about how…

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 is the latest installment in the popular action film series starring Keanu Reeves in the titular role. This story picks up with John on his way to uncovering a path to finally defeat The High Table, to whom he is beholden for his past choices. But before he can earn his freedom, he must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe, turning old friends into foes. Like its predecessors, Chapter 4 adheres to the same formula, with a slick style which feels much like a graphic novel brought to life. Truth be told, these aren’t films that are truly meant to be about the story, rather they’re aimed at adrenaline-fueled action, the type of which die-hard genre fans feed on. As you…

WHILE SOME marvel at Showgirls’ “density of failure” and the poor decision-making that led to a none-too-shabby eight Razzie Awards, others see deeper meaning and mythic overtones (which may or may not actually be present), even viewing it as a modern fable of female empowerment. Love it, hate it or both, it’s a trippy journey through the sleaziest corners of Las Vegas as the world’s angriest stripper navigates hard luck and the surprising downside of sudden success. The characters are cartoonish, the dialogue is worse and the story stinks like last week’s garbage, yet we keep coming back. Surely we must give much of the credit to star Elizabeth Berkley as Nomi, gyrating and convulsing her way into our hearts with an earnestness that belies the dubious script. It’s not…

TO GENERATIONS of fans the world over, Christopher Reeve simply was Superman. His look, his manner, his commitment to the dual role of lovable oaf Clark Kent of Smallville and Kal-El of Krypton defined the character and set the bar, perhaps impossibly high, for all who dared follow. And while these movies might not have always achieved that same high standard, Reeve et. al. have left a substantial cinematic legacy, commemorated in Warner’s Superman 5-Film Collection. The saga begins with a richly realized retelling of Kal’s origin: escaping a doomed planet to begin a new life on Earth, and assuming the guise of a socially awkward but fleet-fingered journalist when he’s not serving as our god-like protector. The first sequel sees three fellow refugees follow him to his new home, using…

After scoring big last year with his stellar Atmos mix of The Beatles’ seminal August 1966 album Revolver, producer Giles Martin was more recently tasked with giving the Atmos treatment to The Beach Boys’ benchmark May 1966 release, Pet Sounds, which is now available for streaming via Apple Music, Amazon Music Unlimited, and Tidal. In a recent Zoom interview, Martin and I discuss what his approach to dealing with all those infamous Beach Boys vocal stacks entailed, how he guaranteed his Pet Sounds Atmos mix stayed true to the music’s “real” intent, and how he made sure “God Only Knows” comes across as being nothing short of heavenly in its Atmos incarnation. (A longer version of this interview appears in my monthly Spatial Audio File column on the S&V site.)…

Q Dear S&V team, I hope you are well. First of all, thank you for the quality of your reviews and articles, I live in France and I read your website at least twice a week. I am writing to you as I have a follow up question to a previous question of one of your readers “What’s the best way to connect a subwoofer to a stereo receiver?” By reading several forums and articles about subs, I understood that a subwoofer is a clear benefit in a stereo system. However it needs to be set up properly otherwise the listening experience could be badly impacted. So my question is: once the sub is correctly connected to the integrated amp, how do you make sure that it is set up…

THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE is based on the popular ‘90s video game series and tells the story of a pair of Brooklyn plumbers who also happen to be brothers: brave Mario and the more reserved Luigi. When we meet them, Mario and Luigi are trying to find ways to keep their struggling plumbing business afloat. While exploring the city’s sewer system, they stumble across the secret entrance to the Mushroom Kingdom, a magical place where they will discover the adventure of a lifetime. Along the way we’ll encounter a host of familiar, lovable characters, all of whom will have to band together to defeat the power-hungry villain, Bowser. I never seem to grow tired of animated family entertainment and, after hearing positive feedback on this film, I was all in…

FUNNY HOW some movies debut to great negativity; either due to controversy or harsh criticism, possibly both; and yet possess that certain something that enables them to transcend over time. Water world is a fine example, plagued by countless production woes and subsequent budget overruns (it was allegedly the most expensive film in history at the time), considered a flop despite its big box office, and now years later a great many folks appreciate its charms and have even granted it cult status. It endures less as an aquatic, overblown Road Warrior retread and more as an epic adventure on the post-apocalyptic high seas. This time, the old civilization has ended with the melting of the polar ice caps, flooding the entire surface of the Earth, although legend tells of…

I hesitate using trendy acronyms when writing reviews—but in this case, saying I had a clear-cut case of FOMO when Eric Clapton’s slightly misnamed 24 Nights 2 CD clamshell collection first came out in October 1991 actually might be an understatement. The 15 tracks on that release—five culled from E.C.’s 18-night 1990 Royal Albert Hall residency in London, and the remainder from his 24-night 1991 stretch there—seemed more like a tease, considering I’d also seen and heard numerous other performances from both historic runs. Hence, I resigned myself to being somewhat content with what we got officially—at least, I did so at the time. But now, E.C.’s 1990-91 live largesse at “The Hall” has gotten considerably fuller, thanks to Reprise—via their ongoing, and quite fruitful, partnership with Rhino—having recently released…

When you think of “entertaining” with your AV system, chances are the first thing that comes to mind is your home theater or media room. And while having friends over for dinner and a movie is a great use of your system, it’s really just the tip of the iceberg. While distributed audio and video systems, along with killer automation can make for a fun and entertaining home, it’s important to remember the spaces outside your walls, and that when it comes to summer entertaining, the outdoors often sees the most action. Nowhere is outdoor entertaining more prevalent than the backyard. This is where barbecues happen, where lounging by the pool happens, where hanging out with some cold ones around the grille happens. If there’s gonna be a summertime party,…

I RECENTLY upgraded from traditional box speakers to in-wall speakers after delving into the world of in-walls with my recent review of the SVS 3000 In-Wall Subwoofer, which I installed in my den. My wife never liked the aesthetics of the entertainment system because the first thing you saw walking through the door was a wall-mounted bookshelf speaker, which stuck out a good 8 inches from the wall. Despite the great sound, it wasn’t so easy on the eyes. After receiving approval from the CFO, I had to decide which in-wall speakers to purchase. The decision was pretty simple: I chose RSL (Rogersound Labs) because the company offers a tremendous value proposition and is built on a compelling story. AN AMERICAN TALE RSL started making speakers back in 1970 and…

ROB HAHN is an American film director of photography and a name you should be familiar with if you love movies. He worked as cinematographer for acclaimed director Frank Oz on The Stepford Wives, The Score, and In & Out. Working as a camera operator for Academy Award-winning cinematographers Conrad Hall (American Beauty) and Owen Roizman (The Exorcist) influenced Rob’s style. With a keen eye and love for exceptional sound and projection—and with help from Keith Yates Design—he built The Hahn Theater which I named Home Theater of the Decade in 2019. In this exclusive interview, we discuss Rob Hahn’s motivation to build The Hahn Theater and get detailed insights into his career, which inspired his Kaleidescape Filmmaker Spotlight—a new series of movie collections that focuses on the featured filmmakers…

A Are we officially in the post-originality era of film? Is everything now based on, inspired by or an homage to something else? When Avatar premiered in 2009, critics sussed it as a sci-fi riff on Dances with Wolves, an observation which writer/director James Cameron apparently accepted, compliment or not. Here’s the thing, though: Does the story even matter here? The script--while certainly clever in places--served its purpose to set up a new generation of visuals effects that utterly dazzled audiences, making Avatar the highest-grossing film in history, for a time. In the 22nd century, humans have set up shop on Pandora, a strange moon far from our overpopulated planet, in order to plunder its natural resources. The indigenous people are a race of tall, blue warriors who resist the…

SOME SPORTS movies are simply about baseball, boxing, hockey or whatever, while others manage to be about something else, and maybe even something more. Such is the case with The Longest Yard, which adds layer upon layer of subtext to the game of football until we can’t help but feel deeply invested in the final score. Screen legend Burt Reynolds stars as Crewe, a disgraced former quarterback who’s been shrugging his way through life, until he finds himself behind bars with a nasty head guard, a self-important warden and a yard full of inmates who universally resent the hell out of him. He reluctantly agrees to assemble a bunch of his fellow convicts into a ragtag team for an exhibition game against the guards, in exchange for special privileges and…

TIME BANDITS is a time traveling adventure set in an off-kilter world that is director Terry Gilliam’s signature. A frenetic story that skips through various vignettes, it follows a young boy drawn into a journey with a group of renegade dwarves who use a special map to travel to different periods in time and steal treasures. In hot pursuit of the dwarves is the Supreme Being (Ralph Richardson) from whom the map was stolen. During their journey, the time travelers cross paths with Napoleon (Ian Holm) who is suffering a severe case of ennui, the powerful King Agamemnon (Sean Connery) and a surprisingly snooty Robin Hood (John Cleese). They even have an encounter on the ill-fated Titanic. But famous historical figures and moments aside, the visual presentation of Time Bandits,…

TEARS FOR FEARS vaulted into the international big leagues with the take-no-prisoners layered-sound approach to their February 1985 sophomore album, Songs From the Big Chair. It was a calculated production leap from the aural cocoon of their more minimalistic, electronic-leaning debut, March 1982’s The Hurting—and it was a move that paid off handsomely with multiplatinum sales and upper-echelon chart domination around the globe. “Once we had dipped our toe in the water, it set us on a course to have a much bigger, much more robust, and not-so-introspective sound,” TFF guitarist/vocalist Roland Orzabal told me while we were discussing the album’s 30th anniversary edition reissues back in late 2014. Orzabal and his TFF partner in creativity, bassist/vocalist Curt Smith, had each taken special note of the giant-sized production values Trevor…