Tith its library of Disney Classics, Star Wars, Marvel and Pixar, Oscar-winning movies, original TV shows and documentaries, Disney Plus is a real rival to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and the rest. Even better, most of it is available in 4K, HDR10, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, ensuring an audiovisual experience that’s befitting the House of Mouse.
ANDOR
The latest Star Wars spin-off – a prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – is a surprisingly ‘grown up’ take on the franchise’s epic IV-VI story-arc. It follows Cassian Andor’s intrigue-laden journey to being a Rebel spy, and is also a hitherto untold story of just what it means to be under the heel of the Empire’s boot. For Star Wars fans, the epic Rogue One and brilliant genre-hopping romp The Mandalorian, which gets its third season in March, are almost worth the subscription to Disney alone.
SOUL
Wholesome and heartwarming, Soul follows a musician and school band teacher who’s lost his passion for music and is transported to another realm in order to find it again, with the help of an unborn soul. It’s a moving and contemplative story full of imagination, underpinned by a powerful message. The jazz soundtrack is simply marvellous, as is the Dolby Atmos sound placement.
THE LION KING
Jon Favreau’s live-action, (almost) scene-for-scene remake is one of the most visually spectacular films we have seen. Its technical accomplishment alone makes the film compulsory viewing for anyone with a capable home cinema. It’s not a bad remake, either; there are some playful additions, not to mention Beyoncé’s magnetism, even voicing a lion.
GET BACK
The restoration of the sound and picture is perhaps the most impressive element of this typically Peter Jackson-length six-hour documentary, and is crucial in conveying the feeling of being slap bang in the middle of the studio with the Fab Four – and in the middle of their creative process, and fall-out – in a way that we’ve never experienced before. Essential viewing. All of it.
THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER
With its killer ’80s rock soundtrack, a flying Viking ship pulled by screaming goats and Russell Crowe’s Greek accent, the latest instalment of the Marvel cinematic universe (expect Wakanda Forever any day) delivers all the audio goods with an epic soundtrack that begs to be experienced in all its bonkers, guitar-shredding, rainbow-shooting, Dolby Atmos glory. All the MCU films are a blast, and visually spectacular in HDR too.
NOMADLAND
Having won Best Cinematography (one of six Oscars), this is a great film for showing-off wha
