Sky 4K: 22 best things to watch in 4K on Sky Q, Sky Glass or Sky Stream
Stuff’s pick of Sky’s best Ultra HD bits. From classics to recent hits and all in glorious Sky 4K
Got Sky Q, Sky Glass or Sky Stream 4K TV? Ultra HD comes as standard with your Sky Multiscreen Sky Q subscription, and costs just £5-a-month extra with Sky Glass or Sky Stream, and while it doesn’t extend to everything available, the catalogue is steadily growing all the time. Here’s Stuff’s pick of the best that Sky 4K has to offer…
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Ferrari
Is there a more respected and romanticised name in the world of motoring than Ferrari? The Prancing Horse is revered across the globe for its luxury sports cars and highly decorated racing teams – but it hasn’t always been that way.
Michael Mann’s imaginatively-named Ferrari tells the story of a troubled period in the company’s history, when its survival depended on a victory in the 1957 Mille Miglia – a dangerous endurance race from Brescia to Rome and back again. No prizes for guessing the ending, then, but this is also a tale of love, death, dedication and why you should avoid getting on the wrong side of Penelope Cruz.
For a film about cars there’s perhaps not quite enough four-wheeled action, and it can be difficult to pick up some of the heavily accented dialogue at first, but when those elegant machines do grace the screen it’s impossible not to fall in love with them.
True Detective: Night Country
It’s 10 years since True Detective first combined a complex whodunnit with occult weirdness in such a compelling way that it earned a place in the TV hall of fame, but none of the subsequent anthologies have managed to match it. Despite being littered with references to the original series, True Detective: Night Country doesn’t reach the same heights either, but if you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to combine The Thing with Fargo, here’s your chance.
Set during the almost perma-darkness that falls in the depths of an Alaskan winter, Night Country investigates the disappearance of a group of scientists from a remote research station, with Jodie Foster and Kali Reis playing the uneasy pair of cops working a case that opens all kinds of old wounds for the remote town of Ennis and its people. There’s more reliance on classic horror tropes here than in previous instalments, and some key moments in the climactic sixth episode don’t quite stand up to interrogation, but the performances from its leads and the hugely atmospheric setting make it a very watchable addition to the franchise.
Asteroid City
The thing about Wes Anderson films is that while you pretty much know exactly what you’re getting before you press play – weaponised whimsy, symmetrical shots, deadpan dialogue, and an ensemble cast that includes at least one of Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, and Tilda Swinton – they’re so meticulously crafted that it’s hard to hold it against him.
Set in a remote desert town during a junior stargazer convention, Asteroid City is actually a movie about the making of a documentary about a play, with narrative threads that weave between the lot. Even if you get lost among all that (and nobody will blame you if you do), the contrast between the pastel-coloured town and black-and-white scenes make for a brilliantly contrasting 4K experience.
The reasons why some people love Wes Anderson films are the same as the ones that cause others to hate them. Chances are you already know which camp you fall into, and if it’s the latter, Asteroid City will do nothing to change your mind, but one thing’s for sure: you’ve never seen a Jeff Goldblum cameo quite like this one.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
As an exercise in cinematic one-upmanship, is there a better example than the Mission: Impossible series? Each new addition goes bigger, higher and faster – and Dead Reckoning is no different.
It’s longer, too (just 11 minutes short of three hours if you watch all the credits), during which time Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt runs very fast, drives even faster, jumps off very high stuff, and puts a lot of very disposable baddies in hospital. It’s all in the name of a fairly ridiculous plot that centres on a self-replicating AI that’s powerful enough to allow whoever possesses a special two-part key to either destroy or control the whole world.
In a way, Mission: Impossible films are just like Wes Anderson ones, in the sense that you know exactly what you’re going to get before you watch one. But instead of Bill Murray being quirky, you get Tom Cruise saving the world – and when it’s this adrenaline-pumpingly enjoyable, who cares?
Sisu
If John Wick had been set in Lapland towards the end of the Second World War, it’d be a lot like Sisu – 90 blood-soaked minutes of very silly but highly entertaining Nazi-bashing.
Rather than following a Sami hitman called Juhani, the double-hard bar steward at the centre of Sisu is Aatami Korpi, who we first meet quietly digging for gold accompanied by his horse and dog. It’s not long before he runs into a bunch of German soldiers – and soon afterwards the massacre begins.
Bullets fly, blades pierce bone, and landmines get tossed like frisbees as more and more fascists become mincemeat at the hands of this near-silent but deadly prospector. If you like your violence bloody but cartoonish, Sisu is a 24-karat hit.
Brian and Charles
Most films featuring robots are set in space or long into the distant future, but Brian and Charles live among the rolling hills of rural Wales. Brian is the reclusive inventor and Charles is his household Frankenstein, cobbled together using a washing machine, a mannequin’s head and various bits of scrap from Brian’s shed (aka his “infamous inventions pantry”).
At first Brian tries to keep Charles a secret, and the pair develop an unlikely bromance (or should that be robromance?) over playing darts and watching travel shows on the telly. But it’s not long before some of the other villagers discover the seven-foot, cabbage-eating android living up the road.
The plot here is nothing special but the film has a uniquely British spirit and sense of humour that makes it so charming, a bit like if Shane Meadows made a live-action Wallace and Gromit film.
Nope
There’s no shortage of films about encounters with extraterrestrials – but none of them are quite like Jordan Peele’s Nope. Set on a ranch in the California desert, Daniel Kaluuya stars as OJ, a man who trains horses for Hollywood but soon finds himself attempting to tame something much more exotic.
As with all films of this kind it’s best to discover Nope’s secrets alongside OJ, rather than finding out too much in advance, but this is a spectacular film that will make you suspicious of every single cloud in the sky. Oh, and you’ll never look at the PG Tips monkeys the same way again.
The Last of Us
Tomb Raider, Silent Hill and Max Payne are all proof that good games don’t necessarily translate well to film, but The Last of Us always felt perfect for television. The story of Joel and Ellie’s journey across a post-apocalyptic America was so emotionally powerful and morally complex that, in the right hands, it had the potential to be a truly great series – and Craig Mazin, the man behind HBO’s harrowing Chernobyl, has definitely delivered.
The show’s Cordyceps-ravaged world is instantly recognisable as the one from the game, full of flesh-hungry Infected and ruthless gangs of survivors, and while its nine episodes stay faithful to the main narrative arc of the game, it brilliantly fleshes out some of the more secondary characters and adds a few extra tasty plot nuggets for fans to sink their teeth into. The real triumph, though, is the portrayal of Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and the way their relationship develops right up to that devastating ending.
Top Gun: Maverick
It’s been more than 35 years since Tom Cruise’s first Top Gun outing – not that you’d know it from the almost identical opening sequence to this long-awaited sequel (or its star’s seemingly ageless appearance).
The story is hardly a million miles away either, with Cruise’s Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell returning to prepare a squadron of hotshot recruits for a deadly new mission. But what has changed massively is the technology, with cameras placed inside real fighter jets with the actors. The result is some of the most breathtaking action sequences ever filmed – and not even a truly dreadful Lady Gaga song over the end credits can spoil it.
The Batman
Gotham City is hardly known for its delightful weather and friendly locals, but in Matt Reeves’ The Batman the sun never seems to rise and there’s yet another psychopathic killer on the loose. Making his debut as the Caped Crusader is Robert Pattinson, who mopes around in the dark like he’s just missed out on tickets for the My Chemical Romance reunion tour, while Paul Dano’s depiction of the Riddler is about as far away from Jim Carey’s as you can possibly imagine – all unhinged video messages and army surplus chic.
At three hours long, The Batman might be a slog for some, but it rewards patience with some exhilarating set pieces. And for those bored of glossy superhero movies its grittier tone will be a welcome change; if its main protagonist didn’t spend so much time dressed as a bat it’d pass as a Fincher-esque serial-killer thriller.
The Northman
If you think Hamlet would be improved if it included more Vikings, wolf hats and farting, you should probably spend two-and-a-half hours with The Northman. Based on the same Old Norse tale that inspired Shakespeare, it tells the story of Alexander Skarsgård’s Amleth, the son of a king who’s on a mission to get revenge for his father’s brutal murder. The twist? His uncle is the killer and is now married to Amleth’s mum. And you thought your family was dysfunctional.
Fortunately, this quest is made somewhat easier by the fact that Amleth looks like he should be competing in Asgard’s Strongest Man. He hacks, stabs and bludgeons his way through villages and forests, over mountains and across seas, but what sets The Northman apart from other mythical blockbusters is how beautifully shot it is. Bashing heads has never looked so good.
Ambulance
Like a two-hour GTA mission that’s been edited together by a YouTuber after too many cans of Red Bull, Ambulance is never going to win any awards for subtlety or nuance, but that’s not what anybody watches Michael Bay movies for.
Most of the film takes place inside the titular emergency vehicle, as brothers Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Will (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) flee the scene of a Heat-esque bank robbery with a paramedic (Eiza González) and an injured cop in the back, while what seems like the entire LAPD (and some of the FBI) try to stop them.
Obviously it’s too long – all blockbusters are these days – and every fifth shot seems to have been filmed by a drone for no apparent reason, as if the director hired one for the day and needed to get his money’s worth, but if you’re looking for some brainless Friday night entertainment it very much ticks all the right boxes.
Gangs of London
With possibly the highest body count of any show on TV, series one of Gangs of London was a more-than-a-little-bit-ludicrous mixture of Eastenders and The Raid. Similarities to the latter were no coincidence – the series was conceived by that film’s creators, Gareth Evans and Matt Flannery, whose adrenaline-pumping, bullet-riddled set-pieces made the first series of Gangs of London so mindlessly watchable, even if it was a touch ‘Guy Ritchie by Waitrose’ at times.
The pair were less involved in this follow-up season – and it shows. While it still has plenty of blood-spattered moments – the shootout in a posh Paris nightclub and an assault on one of the big cheese’s mansions spring to mind – it can’t quite reach the thrilling heights of series one, spending a bit too much time being all serious and not enough cracking skulls. Oh, and the name’s still rubbish.
Gomorrah
Sky Italia’s Gomorrah returns for its fifth and final season – and those who’ve followed the lives of Gennaro, Ciro and co since the beginning will not be disappointed by how this story ends.
Genny ended season four by going into hiding, but with Naples threatening to boil over and an old acquaintance apparently coming back from the dead, his self-imposed exile doesn’t last long.
Gomorrah’s appeal has always lied in its twists and turns, unfiltered violence and outrageous interior design – and there’s plenty of all three on offer here.
Interstellar
Christopher Nolan’s films have never lacked scope, but Interstellar goes to places the others can’t reach.
Matthew McConaughey plays Coop, a widowed astronaut-turned-farmer who blasts off into outer space in search of a new planet for humanity to settle on after blight causes a global famine and Earth starts to die. Of course, it’s not as simple as flying to the nearest wet rock and setting up camp, so prepare yourself for wormholes, gravity equations, and extra dimensional communication, but with a surprisingly human core.
Promising Young Woman
With its bubblegum colour palette and pop soundtrack, Promising Young Woman might look like a happy-go-lucky rom-com, but just like its lead character it has a hidden agenda. Carey Mulligan plays a 30-year-old medical school dropout called Cassandra, who pretends to be drunk on nights out in order to teach the self-confessed ‘nice guys’ who try to take advantage of her a thing or two about consent.
It’s this ambiguity that makes Promising Young Woman so watchable, especially when Cassie bumps into a former classmate and her unusual hobby escalates to something more personally vengeful. Of course, there are more wide-reaching, societal targets being skewered here too, not least the tendency to value a man’s career over a woman’s safety, but unfortunately it’s going to take more than one promising young woman to change that.
ZeroZeroZero
Drug cartels and the Mafia are hardly underrepresented when it comes to movies and TV, but both together in one? Now we’re talking. ZeroZeroZero links the two groups together via a multimillion-dollar transatlantic drug deal, with a family of American brokers caught up in the middle – and the result is one of the best new series in years.
From the mountains of Calabria to the sprawling slums of Monterrey, via the oceans and deserts in between, this globe-trotting, time-hopping eight-parter is bleak but often breathtaking. Among the Heat-esque gunfights and deadly power struggles there’s also a surprisingly human touch, largely thanks to the excellent Andrea Risborough, with a pulsing soundtrack by Mogwai to top things off.
Avenue 5
Imagine writing a sitcom about an interplanetary cruise that goes wrong and discovering that, according to experts from NASA, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, one of the best things for protecting a spaceship against galactic radiation is human plops. With gags like that being dropped into your lap, who needs to write any others?
Fortunately, series creator Armando Iannucci isn’t that lazy, so Avenue 5 is full of the typically inventive dialogue, memorable characters and couldn’t-make-it-up scrapes familiar from his previous work on The Thick of It and Veep. The first episode isn’t the strongest but once it gets into its stride Avenue 5 is much more than just Red Dwarf for the Tesla generation.
Chernobyl
Unless you work for The Sun, you’re probably well aware that Chernobyl is based on a true story. Unlike a lot of other major tragedies, though, the events of 26 April 1986 have largely avoided dramatisation – and with this five-part series HBO has absolutely nailed it.
Depicting a paranoid and secretive state in a crisis like nothing seen before or since, Chernobyl reconstructs the disaster with exquisite attention to detail. From the accident at the power plant itself to its devastating and far-reaching consequences, this is masterfully made TV. You’ll never look at a cement mixer in the same way again.
Bad Boys II
However you feel about a third installment of Bad Boys being made, the first one was a bonafide ‘90s classic. And while its sequel has its fair share of issues, it also has a few moments of exhilarating brilliance, not least the bit when the bad guys launch cars from the back of a transporter at Will Smith’s pursuing Ferrari.
Sure, the script is massively cliched but the chemistry between Smith and Martin Lawrence still fizzes and it arguably captures Michael Bay at his brainless peak, blowing stuff up just because he can. In a time when everyone seems obsessed with superheroes and CGI, this guilty pleasure almost feels nostalgic.
Jurassic Park
If you were to make a list of movie scenes worth remastering in 4K, the meme-tastic bit in Jurassic Park when Jeff Goldblum’s injured Ian Malcolm unbuttons his shirt and reclines on a table in an apparent attempt to seduce Richard Attenborough would easily make the top five.
Fortunately for everybody involved, the whole of Spielberg’s classic dino ‘em up has had its pixels buffed up, not just that one sequence, so one of the greatest blockbusters ever made is available in Ultra HD. In fact, its two immediate sequels are there too, but they’re rubbish.
Billions
Now into its third series (with all three available in Ultra HD), Billions is about a grumpy US Attorney (Paul Giamatti’s Chuck) and his nemesis: a charitable-but-devious hedge fund manager called Axe, played by Homeland’s Damian Lewis.
But wait! Come back! It’s not all spreadsheets and interest rates. Yes, there’s a fair amount of baffling finance talk but it’s much funnier than you’d imagine, with the drama coming from the power struggle between these two big-bucks heavyweights. It’s classic cat ‘n’ mouse stuff, but on this occasion both animals are so rich they’re almost untouchable. Almost…
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Tom Wiggins
Contributor 
