Take a step into our home cinema test room right now and you will be met with the controlled chaos that comes with our annual Awards testing. From Dolby Atmos soundbars to premium UST projectors, there's been a huge range of products coming in and out of our doors.
Those home cinema products need to be challenged by the best films out there for picture and sound. We make sure to keep different movies and TV shows in rotation, but there are always a few classic discs that we turn to.
In our monthly Now Showing column, members of the What Hi-Fi? team select their top watches for testing, and you will find this month's choices below. What do you think we should add to our watchlist? Drop your recommendations in the comments.
The Last Duel (2021)
Words by Harry McKerrell
Ridley Scott has to be one of the most maddeningly unpredictable directors of his age. Over the past 40 or so years, he’s given us the greatest sci-fi horror movie ever in the shape of Alien, the increasingly relevant masterpiece Blade Runner, and the ever-quotable historical epic that is Gladiator.
He’s also no stranger to a dud, as confirmed by the baffling Exodus: Gods And Kings, the laughably erratic Napoleon, and his lukewarmly received recent effort, The Dog Stars. Worse still, every time Scott has a property of which he can be rightfully proud, he fouls the proverbial by adding an unnecessary sequel – or sequels – that no one asked for.
Amid the ever-fluctuating peaks and troughs of Ridley’s varied filmography, The Last Duel stands out proudly as a modest, if not sky-scraping, peak. Returning Scott to his historical roots, The Last Duel uses a triple-perspective narrative to tell the story of Marguerite de Carrouges and her alleged assault at the hands of knight Jacques le Gris in 14th-century France.
Handling of medieval gender politics aside, The Last Duel makes for a handy test disc if you’re keen to see how your TV or projector conveys colours and contrast. Where Gladiator chooses a palette of warm oranges contrasting with imperial greys and silvers, The Last Duel seems to be almost perpetually bathed in a frosty blue-grey filter, giving the entire production – through a competent screen – a chilly, unforgiving bleakness.
That’s the Middle Ages for you.
Buy The Last Duel on 4K Blu-ray at Amazon
Stream The Last Duel on Disney Plus
Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)
Words by Daniel Furn
Fresh off starring in the other record-breaking smash of summer 2026, Tom Holland, Zendaya and Jon Bernthal reteam for the similarly successful Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Successful is putting it mildly, however – at the time of writing, Brand New Day is sitting on a whopping $2.45 billion worldwide, going so far as to become the highest-grossing film domestically in the US, where it has even surpassed heavyweights such as Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
All of which may seem a bit over-the-top, but it helps that this is arguably the strongest Marvel offering in years. Finally stepping out of the shadows of Iron Man and the Avengers, Brand New Day strips back the high-tech suit and multiverse shenanigans for a broke, overworked and isolated Spider-Man that harks back to the character’s street-level roots. Spider-Man is always at its best when Peter Parker is struggling to balance his two lives, and here we see the consequences when Peter prioritises his superhero identity in an exploration of loneliness, grief and sacrifice.
There’s still plenty of fan service and cameos for Marvel buffs – Spider-Man’s chemistry with the Punisher is a highlight, and honestly, seeing the two together in a movie (alongside the Hulk and Sadie Sink’s mystery character) is rather mind-blowing and seemed an impossible pipe dream just a few years ago.
A new director, Destin Daniel Cretton, also brings a grittier visual palette as well as his combat expertise after previously helming Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings. I’m excited to see how the film’s many set pieces look on 4K Blu-ray, as well as to hear the film’s great soundtrack through a good Atmos system – Loser by Tame Impala and Oh Yeah? by Steve Lacy have been doing the rounds on social media since the film’s release, while Michael Giacchino’s understated score is surprisingly catchy.
Bumblebee (2018)
Words by Robyn Quick
While not all of the Transformers films have been met with critical and audience acclaim, Bumblebee is argued by many to be the best in the franchise. I'm not a huge fan of the sentient robots, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the 2018 entry is a thoroughly charming and entertaining watch.
Set in the 1980s, the film follows the titular Transformer Bumblebee as he lands on Earth and promptly gets his voice box ripped out. In his disguise as a Volkswagen Beetle, he befriends Hailee Steinfeld's plucky teen.
You only need to watch the turbulent opening scene to understand why this film is a go-to for sound testing in our room. When an army training exercise is interrupted by Bumblebee arriving as a fiery comet, it's a great test of your system's bass.
Explosions should be well-placed around the soundfield, and the planes flying overhead will go above the TV screen or projector with the right audio set-up. If you want to test your sound system while watching a teen make friends with a sentient car, then this is the film for you.
Buy Bumblebee on 4K Blu-ray at HMV
Metal Lords (2022)
Words by Alastair Stevenson
I’ll admit, I am a little late to this one, as it came out all the way back in 2022. But this month, one of the standout films that’s stuck with me long after the credits rolled was Metal Lords, by Peter Sollett.
Telling the story of school kids Hunter and Kevin as they try to recruit classical cellist Emily to the dark side (specifically, to play in their heavy metal band), it’s one of the most heartfelt and funny films I’ve seen in quite some time.
Whether it's Hunter’s perfect on-the-nose portrayal of that kid in every school who makes metal their whole identity, or its classic battle of the bands ending – which will give you Bill and Ted-level goosebumps – any music fan will find something to enjoy.
It's far from a technical masterpiece but, as a hi-fi nerd, I love how it conveys the passion people feel for music, and the steps they take during their formative years finding their groove.
So if you love music, it’s still well worth giving it a watch – especially if you’re a metalhead, as you’ll spot more than a few cameos from the likes of Tom Morello, Scott Ian, Kirk Hammett and Rob Halford.
Slow Horses, Season 6 (2026)
Words by Lewis Empson
“Circle of Life” is a particularly gloomy episode, even by Slow Horses standards. Yes, the Emmy-winning spy drama/comedy series has returned for a sixth season, and its first episode is about as edgy, dry and grey as you’d expect; and if you’ve seen any of the previous seasons, then you’ll know this isn’t a bad thing.
The Apple TV series stars Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, and What Hi-Fi? Team AV’s favourite new Bond frontrunner, Jack Lowden, alongside an ensemble of complex and, quite frankly, barely functioning MI5 rejects that operate out of a safehouse above a Chinese takeaway.
They’ve tackled international terrorist threats and assassination plots, but the motive for this season seems more personal – this time there’s a hit out on all of the Slow Horses, so expect tension, action and some particularly dry humour.
I’ve already mentioned that this episode is especially gloomy; however, I mean that in both a narrative and physical sense. Most of this episode takes place on an overcast and rainy day (standard UK weather, essentially), and colour seems intentionally washed out here to emphasise that drab, drizzly setting.
Furthermore, the spies spend a fair amount of this episode literally sneaking around in the shadows. Therefore, a TV that can handle black depths without crushing shadow detail is essential for this episode, or else you’ll be spending a fair amount of time squinting to figure out who is talking.
And as this is an Apple TV show, you can expect Dolby Atmos; now, this isn’t the cinematic showcase we’d usually highlight to demonstrate these features, but the bustle of London streets feels even more immersive with the 3D sound format enabled.
Stream Slow Horses on Apple TV
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