How to host the perfect at night??? I s there anything better than movie night? The perfect seat; the perfect screen; all your favourite f...
How to host the perfect at night???
Is there anything better than movie night? The perfect seat; the perfect screen; all your favourite food and drinks at hand and a few hours free to share with friends, family, kids or your other half. Nothing beats it. You just need something amazing to watch.
If it’s one of the latest releases you want, you’re in luck. Because when you Download & Keep, the very latest hits – like Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (available to Download & Keep from 12 November) or Avengers: Infinity War – are available for you to buy from the digital store of your choice.
Unlike subscription streaming services, when you purchase films and shows, either from your regular online retailers or your broadband and TV service providers, they’ll be placed in your digital library for you to enjoy from the day of release – which is sometimes weeks ahead of Blu-ray and DVDs going on sale.
When you buy a digital movie it can either be stored in the cloud and streamed via the internet, or downloaded to any device and watched offline. So you can buy the latest blockbuster on your smartphone and watch it that night on the way home, feeling well ahead of the pack.
But while it’s great to watch films on the move on tablets, laptops or phones, the real fun starts when you settle down.
The kit bit
For a home cinema night you’ll want to make sure you’ve got your big TV – full HD, 4K HDR, LCD or OLED (the choice is down to you and the depth of your wallet) – armed with a good Wi-Fi or a broadband connection.
That can either be built into the TV or in the form of peripherals like a Sky or Virgin box, an Amazon Fire Stick, Google Chromecast or Apple TV – anything that lets you download.
In terms of tech, that’s really all you need. Although you might want to invest in a sound bar to boost the audio. They range from around £100 to £1,000.
If you’re indulging in a solo movie night – and why not? – a decent pair of headphones is a great idea for razor-sharp sound.
At the other end of the scale, for an everyone-back-to-mine home cinema party, consider a projector. You can buy portable little ones for around £50 that will project up to a whopping 130in or more.
You can plug laptops, tablets and even phones into them, making portable projectors a great solution for outdoor cinema parties. Although you will need to remember decent bluetooth speakers, as sound can get lost outdoors.
So that’s your set-up. Now what to watch? With such a range to Download & Keep – all the classics alongside the latest releases – you can play with expectations, moods and themes to create a memorable movie night.
Inspiring and empowering
Battle of the Sexes with Steve Carell and Emma Stone is a brilliant choice to kick an evening off. The inspirational true story of a 1973 tennis match between world champ Billie Jean King and male chauvinist Bobby Riggs, it’s a debate-sparker that’s full of character comedy and proper sporting tension.
Just as inspirational and with the added emotional weight of a powerful message from history that might cause some eye-dabbing is the story of the black women crucial to the moon landings in the civil rights era, Hidden Figures.
Then there is Only the Brave, a real-life drama about firemen who laid down their lives to save a small town from raging bushfires. It’s another emotionally intense true story with real heroes, not fake ones.
The romantic route
If you need the mood dialled down, get yourself a bottle of bubbly, and test the temperature of love with the quadruple Oscar-winning The Shape Of Water, the most romantic film about a mute girl and a fish-man ever made.
The heartwarming Finding Your Feet has Imelda Staunton rediscovering life, love and spirited adventure amid a star-studded cast, while The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is about a book group with a difference – a civilian resistance force plotting against the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands.
There are hundreds of other great romantic movies and romcoms to choose from when you Download & Keep. Just dim the lights and let the mood take you.
High on horror
For a dark-cabin-in-the-woods kind of vibe, either to raise your friends’ heart rate or to pleasurably clutch your other half through the scary bits, there’s a whole archive of horrors to Download & Keep, from the Scream, Saw, and Hostel franchises to classic titles from the Hammer House of Horror archives.
If Halloween’s on the way, why not add some pumpkin pie and a couple of Bloody Marys?
Hard and loud
The sheer range of options with Download & Keep means you can find thrilling action for all tastes. Popcorn and adrenaline for the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Done. Or one of the biggest superhero films of the year, Black Panther? Easy!
For peerless monster action, there’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the fifth thrilling instalment in the dino-series, while Ocean’s Eight exchanges cool dudes for even cooler, kick-ass dudesses – with fantastic results.
And then there’s Kingsman: Golden Circle for a boundary-pushing modern twist on the superspy genre. It’s a jump-up-and-down kind of film, so be careful with those drinks.
Serious contenders
When critics go mad for a film, you want to see what they loved about it. The best way is to turn your home into a screening room. (Insider tip: not everyone at a film festival is stone cold sober, just saying.)
Sicario 2 made a huge critical impact for its hard-edged look at the Mexican drugs war, with Benicio Del Toro on the form of his life. And Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was the film everyone was talking about even before Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell won their Oscars for it. Both are worth your full attention.
Family fun
Sometimes you want a film the whole family will enjoy together. Sometimes, let’s be honest, you want one you can park the kids in front of while you get a couple of hours to yourself.
The Incredibles is the perfect movie for either set-up: full of action and slapstick for the kids with enough knowing humour to keep parents laughing too; while the new Peter Rabbit film, with the voice of James Corden, is as mischievous as it is adventurous.
And talking of classic children’s fare, how about the original Mary Poppins, ahead of the eagerly awaited sequel coming for Christmas? Because the classics are perennials that never lose their colours – whether that’s The Wizard of Oz or Toy Story.
Go on, give ’em a whirl.
Teens and Tweens
Children grow up and turn adolescent, and it’s the same for films, too, which means we’re not talking child’s play any more, but action, excitement, humour and even romance, taking their first steps into the adult world.
So a night in with tweens, teens and a screen could mean Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, a thrilling sci-fi adventure set in the futuristic world of an all-consuming virtual reality; Show Dogs, a tween-tastic canine adventure featuring a rottweiler sent undercover to prevent calamity at a prestigious dog show; or Coco, a Pixar extravaganza about a 12-year-old boy who must enter the Land of the Dead to break a family curse that forbids him to make music.
Whatever you want to watch tonight, the fun starts with the planning and it won’t end till the final credits roll, the snacks are cleared, and the lights come up again.
The washing up? Leave it ’til tomorrow.
Download & Keep
This Telegraph article, brought to you by the British Association for Screen Entertainment (BASE), is all about Download & Keep, or buying digital copies of films and TV shows to own.
Buying digitally is easy and lets you own your favourite films and TV shows forever, to watch at home and on the go, with or without an internet connection.
Video download services including Sky, BT, Virgin, iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and Rakuten (there are many more) all offer a Download & Keep option
No comments