Tom Norton

When does a trilogy become a quadrilogy? (Is there such a word? There is now.) When they release the third sequel, of course. And the Spider-Man films have been such a rousing success that you can be sure another one is in the pipeline.

I confess to a serious weakness for <I>The Last Starfighter</I>. Even by 1984 standards, the year of its release, it wasn't a great science fiction film. But there is something immensely appealing in its old-fashioned innocence.

When it was released in 1998, <I>Elizabeth</I> (HD DVD) was nominated for a bushel of awards, but most of them went to a competing Elizabethan drama, <I>Shakespeare in Love</I>. The latter was more accessible, crowd-pleasing, and fun. <I>Elizabeth</I> on the other hand, was a dark take on the early years of Elizabeth I, with the emphasis on the international intrigue and court politics that both preceded and followed her accession to the throne.

The Epson Ensemble HD home theater system is a skillfully assembled package consisting of a control center/DVD player (shown here) with two HDMI inputs, a 720p or 1080p Epson LCD projector, a screen, and a speaker/amplification package from Atlantic Technology. The front speakers are integrated into a sleek cabinet that sits at the top of the retractable screen, the surrounds are built into the sides of the projector case (visible in the following entry), and the amplification for the entire system is built into the subwoofer cabinet. The entire package sells for $5000 with a 720p projector and $7000 with 1080p.The overall performance was very impressive and will blow away most consumers with its performance and slick, elegant design and setup. Equal to a more upscale system? No, but a lot closer to it than even the best home theater in a box can manage.