Reviews

The inscrutable and horrific dystopian bugfest that is Naked Lunch comes to 4K UHD in a typically lavish set from Arrow  

Propulsively paced and dynamically edited, Guy Ritchie's latest follows suit from The Gentlemen and Wrath of Man, reteaming with a game Stath, adding a fun Plaza, and with Hugh Grant once again stealing the show.  

Horror-movie royalty and a cinematic game changer that ushered in a new age of grindhouse grot and art-house smarts, Tobe Hooper’s seminal classic gets one of Second Sight’s ultra-lavish 4K UHD sets and delivers one of the likely physical media sets of the year…  

Damien Chazelle's brazenly debauched Box Office bomb, Babylon, is an extravagantly excessive exercise in excess, but it cleans up nicely in 4KDV with Atmos.  

Master Gardener continues Paul Schrader's loose thematic trilogy following on from First Reformed and The Card Counter, providing a solid indie lead role for Joel Edgerton with juicy, slimy, support from Sigourney Weaver.  

Wes Craven's 2005 thriller has perhaps dated a little more than many fans might have hoped for, still providing a decent 85 minutes of taut night-in entertainment, and shaping up well in 4K.  

The Swiss metal maestros turn their attention to wireless 2.1 and have produced a compact system that promises big sound - does it deliver?  

Kiefer Sutherland's back in spy-action-thriller mode, sort-of, turning in an intriguing pilot episode that will hopefully make for a solid 8-episode first season of glossy twisty thrills.  

Somewhat impossibly shot over 12 years, using the same cast, Richard Linklater's Boyhood is another authentic, moving and compelling piece from the writer/director, reminiscent of his "Before" trilogy, only even more audacious in its ambitions.  

Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s fantasy steampunk masterpiece finally comes to disc in a manner that does justice to its sublime art and award-winning production design - UPDATED FOR STUDIOCANAL'S UK RELEASE  

The Amazon Fire TV Cube (3rd Gen) combines a healthy set of streaming features with great performance and a slick new design, making for a nice upgrade over the 2nd Gen device. But is Amazon pushing the price envelope a little too far?  

If you had a blast with the previous John Wick outings, spending the best part of three hours watching him kick, stab, shoot and nun-chuck his way through another cast of increasingly grandstanding players will be a similarly fabulous ride.  

Stylish Korean hit-man tale that just about gets by on its very good looks. Rote plotting and bland characterisations be damned, as surely all us action junkies need is slick and quick choreography and lashings of the red stuff, amiright?  

Between Night and Dawn, there was Martin. A confused young man who may or may not be a vampire. George A Romero’s haunting character study finds a new lease of life on a lavish new 4K limited edition boxset from boutique superstars Second Sight…and it’s been well worth the wait.  

The Dual is a rare thing in 2023; a fully automatic turntable. What does this extra helping of convenience mean for the performance?  

Brandon Cronenberg's third feature lands with justified fanfare, pushing boundaries, and blending horror and dark sci-fi themes like only a Cronenberg would.  

There's no doubting the build and specification of Astell & Kern's flagship A&ultima SP3000 DAP - the South Korean specialist has gone to town, come back, and then gone even further back into town - but can it justify the asking price?  

Batman's latest imaginative animated outing adapts the 1920s-esque DC Elseworlds comic by Mike "Hellboy" Mignola for some H.P. Lovecraft-inspired gothic mutant madness.  

One of the mainstays of the Sennheiser range goes under the knife for update and revision. Is this still all the headphone you’d ever need?  

Regular Soderbergh writer-collaborator Scott Z. Burns showruns this all-star anthology of snapshots into an environmentally-challenged future.  

David Bowie and Nic Roeg dream team on Walter Tevis’ scathing attack on everything from cold war paranoia to existential loneliness to the nihilistic acceptance that to be human is an ever downward spiral of addiction, and deliver a wonderful cult-classic that gets more prescient as time goes on…  

‘Family’ is seemingly the theme of March’s Blu-ray release schedule – be they loved (syrupy Sirk melodramas), hated (post-War British social taboo explorations), awkwardly distanced from (elegant remakes of classic humanist introspections) or even just dead (grotty LA revenge jams), there’s something for everyone this month, regardless of how you feel about your own… EDIT - Updated with new competitions!  

The best Emmerich disaster flick that Emmerich didn't direct (and better than some of the ones he did), 2003's The Core is blissful so-bad-it's-good hokum.  

Keira Knightley continues her succession of historical/biographical leads with this sobering Zodiac-esque look at the reporter who exposed the killing spree of the Boston Strangler.  

The sub-£300 soundbar market is a crowded one. Each manufacturer has its own take on how best to get your TV to sound fab. And there are some respectable solutions out there. Is Yamaha ready to join the fight?  

The welcome blast of fun and humour into the dour DC Cinematic Universe that was the first Shazam! continues with this sequel from returning director David F. Sandberg. And while still charming thanks to the family dynamic and its core cast, it sadly doubles down on the worst aspects of the first film… namely everything else…  

Despite an award-winning director, award-winning star and award-winning writer, Marlowe - foolishly not based upon an actual Raymond Chandler / Philip Marlowe book - is a frustratingly banal neo-noir crime thriller that feels like one big, fat missed opportunity.  

The Alpha iQ powered loudspeaker pair represent PSB's first foray into the world of wireless streaming speakers. It's a crowded market but with 50 years of experience under its belt has the company managed to hit the ground running?  

Antoine Fuqua's 2001 crime thriller earned a powerhouse Denzel Washington his first and only Best Actor Oscar, and remains an intoxicating, tense 24 hours on the violent streets of LA, landing on a stunning native 4K disc with outstanding Atmos.  

Goldring has an impeccable pedigree in affordable cartridges; can the Eroica HX do the brand proud and make your turntable sing?  

Concluding our look The Knockout Collection we come to the final instalment but this time in two flavours - seconds out - Rocky IV and Rocky Vs Drago.  

A Quiet Place co-writers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods pull off a surprisingly engaging, blisteringly lean sci-fi survival flick on a comparative nothing of a budget, and it's better than anything 'jurassic' in years.  

What do you get if you cross every film ever made about a possessed child, a dash of quasi-Christian mythos that desperately wants to be something other than barely concealed marketing material, acting that would make wood embarrassed for the comparison and an auteur who thought the greatest villain in the history of humanity should look like a bald-headed Italian football referee? Two hours of your life you won’t get back…  

Forget Dolby Atmos, 40 built-in drivers and all the other fuss. Many people just want clean dialogue from their TVs and a bit of audio heft on the occasions they dip into their MCU movie catalogue. Can Creative Labs achieve all this with a soundbar for under £100?  

Martin Campbell's 1998 swashbuckling action romp does a damn fine job at bringing Zorro back to the Big Screen, with Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta Jones on fine form.  

Idris Elba's DCI Luther makes a belated Big Screen debut, delivering a preposterous but bloody entertaining serial killer thriller that's perfect for night in viewing now it's landed on Netflix.  

The names Bruno Mattei and Claudio Fragasso are synonymous with a whole range of Italian schlock trashterpieces from the 80s and 90s and this cut-and-paste zombie effort of recycled footage, ideas and music is a perfect example of how something so terrible can be so uproariously entertaining…  

Every great horror icon needs a holiday. And Ghostface decides The Big Apple is going to be his destination de jour for this sixth entry in the classic slasher franchise. So shorn of Woodsboro and so much legacy iconography, this Ghostface is altogether a different beast. A better beast. But a beast that just can’t quite shake off the baggage of the past just yet...  

Jamo’s latest home cinema package provides a well-built, room friendly surround system. But does it sound as good as it looks?  

Sofia Coppola's mesmerising directorial debut takes an ethereal look at the unthinkable, putting her on the indie road map for life, gifted a US Criterion-rivalling set from Studiocanal in the UK.