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Land of Bad Movie Review
by Cas Harlow
Improbably turning what sounded like a low budget straight-to-video 'lite' version of Bat 21 meets Lone Survivor - replete with a questionable cast - into a minor gem of a military survival thriller, Land of Bad is a genuine surprise winner.
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8
Movies & TV Shows
Blood on Satan's Claw 4K Blu-ray Review
by Simon Crust
There's a demon in the fields, let's get the kids to kill each other - a bit extreme? Not for Blood on Satan's Claw, now in 4K.
Early access
9
Movies & TV Shows
City of the Living Dead 4K Blu-ray Review
by Mark Costello
The second of Lucio Fulci’s classic Gates of Hell splatter trilogy to get a UK 4K release, Arrow deliver their usual strong technical presentation with an almost overwhelmingly excellent array of extras…
This week we ask if home theatre/home cinema is still a popular addition to homes or are people consuming music, movies, sports and TV in different ways in their living spaces. Is Home Cinema or Home Theater as we used to know it, now dead?
Brosnan and Baccarin afford this cheap low-rent 'thriller' from Dead Calm's Phillip Noyce a distinctly YMMV justification for sitting through its amateurish hijinks.
Never have the words ‘Based on a True Story’ had such a profound effect on a generation…and never have they been such a lie, with the controversy around Stuart Rosenberg’s seminal haunted house classic proving to be almost as interesting as the story of the Lutz Family themselves. And with 88 films releasing the 1979 classic on a brand new 4K UHD, we can decide for ourselves what actually happened and what didn’t…
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor's Version) (Disney+) Movie Review
by Cas Harlow
The concert epic that shook the blockbuster landscape to the tune of a quarter of a billion, Eras is a thoroughly grand and impressively choreographed celebration of the sheer star power of Taylor Swift.
This annual update offers up some welcome refinements over 2K23, but with a few pre-existing flaws still pinning it against the ropes can the franchise once again be named king of the ring?
Shooting for Bottoms meets Pulp Fiction, this cheap, tonally awry, distinctly un-funny, try-hard, sack-full-of-dildos romp utterly misfires, clearly coming from the wrong solo Coen Brother, and both awkwardly and shamelessly wasting the talents of a couple of good actresses.
Samsung’s flagship soundbars have for generations now delivered the most immersive audio performances in the soundbar world with their huge amounts of power, four components (including real rear speakers) and massive channel counts. So, can Samsung’s new HW-Q990D - which sticks again at 16 channels - keep the improvements coming?
Lyngdorf MXA-8400 Eight Channel Power Amplifier Review
by Martin Dew
Lyngdorf Audio finally offers an 8-channel power amplifier to complement its MP- surround processors. That puts them right in line with its super high-end home cinema competitors. The MXA-8400 certainly looks the part, but does it sound like it as well?
Another month, another superb release schedule for little known gems from the boutique labels that continue to do the Lord’s work. This month, some hugely fun Asian actioners (and one sadly not so…), some brutal British kitchen sink dramas and Alain Delon being cool in knitwear. What more do you want? UPDATED WITH 6 COMPETITIONS!
After a long and uncertain three year wait, Denis Villeneuve's Magnum Opus continues with this epic second chapter in his staggering realisation of Frank Herbert's Dune - UPDATED WITH IMAX REVIEW.
Continuing her run of Netflix starring vehicles, Stranger Things' Millie Bobby Brown takes on a competently designed CG dragon in a flabby, frivolous piece of perfectly tolerable night-in entertainment.
The mainstream horror rut continues as Blumhouse follows up its last dull, dreary, multiplex horror with… another dull, dreary, multiplex horror. Who’d have imagined that?
Nuts and bolts Statham doing what he does best; it's trashy, it's hilariously OTT, but it's also a frequently viscerally satisfying piece of revenge action carnage. UPDATE - NOW ON SKY/NOW TV
Starman (Columbia Classics Vol. 4) 4K Blu-ray Review
by Mark Costello
John Carpenter’s most emotional film still radiates charm and warmth despite its underlying tone of sadness and loss. And it's all the more beautiful on this stunning new 4K restoration from Sony as part of their ongoing Columbia Classics boxsets…
Sharply witty and sublimely satirical, and providing a much-deserved, tour-de-force lead for the excellent Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction is definitely worth catching whilst it's still on the Big Screen. UPDATE - Now on Amazon Prime UK.
Somewhat insanely, Guy Ritchie's created/written/directed TV spin-off to his 2019 movie of the same name is great fun, chock full of colourful characters, bursting with witty dialogue, and utterly bingeworthy.
Astell & Kern has taken the company's considerable knowledge of digital and separated it from its portable players. Is the HC4 the best way to enjoy the A&K sound?
This long-awaited sequel to the 2020 remake of the original classic RPG adds a fresh twist, both in terms of its storyline and gameplay, but can it live up to the weight of expectation?
A loose adaptation of Alasdair Gray's novel, Poor Things is a perfect confluence of art and message, idea and execution, writing and design, Yorgos Lanthimos follows up his Oscar winning film 'The Favourite' with a bona fide masterpiece. UPDATE - Now on Disney+ in 4KDV/DA
After a slew of defining 80s action classics, Schwarzenegger shifted to a decade of alternating action with comedy, with mixed results on both sides. But at least Arnie fans get to come one step closer to completing their 4K collection courtesy of Kino's US disc.
Want to know how to transport highly explosive nitro-glycerine over treacherous terrain safely? BFI's wonderful native 4K restoration of The Wages of Fear shows you how (not to).
The Q Acoustics M40 speaker system could be described as 'Big', 'Wireless’ and 'Affordable'. Of course, these are all relative terms - so what is the company's specific take on how they should all be interpreted and combined. We find out...
Left to languish on Netflix’s shelves for three years after its completion, Adam Sandler and Carey Mulligan’s trip to just a couple of clicks on past Solaris is an admirable failure that may find a second life as a cure for arachnophobia…
At least avoiding the lowest-hanging fruit, Ridley Scott’s breathtaking command of scenes of historical warfare distract from but don’t negate the core problem with the depiction of the French emperor: that he is ultimately unknowable. UPDATE: Available now on AppleTV+
Decades in the making and still somewhat late out of the gate, Michael Mann's Ferrari is all about the characters and the drama, but are valiantly Award-baiting performances enough?
Francis Ford Coppola’s audacious musical failure still doesn’t right all of its wrongs after over 40 years… but there’s no failure like a Coppola failure, especially now in a dazzling 4K restoration from Studiocanal, complete with a huge number of extras to at least soften the blow somewhat… 4K COMPETITION LINK ADDED.
The AX3120G soundbar/subwoofer combo doesn't sport any impressive nicknames like Hisense's HS2100 'The Beast' soundbar yet it comes across well on paper and price wise. So, does the 3.1.2 channel AX3120G prove to have its own set of audio teeth... we shall see.
Disney+’s lavish and brutal new adaptation of the James Clavell novel hits our screens with its beautiful sense of blood-soaked intrigue and fog-shrouded mystery apparent from the very first frames…
Perlisten Audio tells the T-Rex to move over. It is time for the next apex predator, the Dominus Rex, to take shape in the form of the Perlisten D15s subwoofer. Read on to find out how Perlisten’s nature found a way.
A Holiday Special of a Marvel movie, it's unsurprising to find the 33rd MCU entry amidst the three lowest rated, and once again Disney display a complete disdain towards the very physical media that might help this flop break even, releasing it on 4K HDR after its streaming bow, and without the Disney+ trappings of Dolby Vision and IMAX Enhancement.
Indie director John Sayles' finest feature, the Neo-Western, Lone Star, is a richly crafted mystery drama, and a fine addition to the Criterion Collection.