KICK BACK!

AT YOUR OWN OUTDOOR CINEMA

You might have already added the pizza oven and fire pit in an effort to upgrade your enforced surroundings over the last year, so what’s next? Well, if winter reignited your film addiction, surely the least you can do this summer is take that habit outdoors.

Home projector technology has really come on in recent years, making an atmospheric and hassle-free al fresco viewing of Casablanca more realistic than ever. All right, Con Air, if you must.

While super-high-end 1080P or 4k indoor projectors are tempting, they’re also bigger and more complex and can require some serious setting up. Let’s face it, roadie-on-the-Pyramid-Stage is not the hosting vibe you’re going for as your guests hit that second bowl of popcorn. Plus, the resolution offered by the very best projectors might be wasted outdoors anyway.

A small, simple, portable 720p projector like the BenQ GS2 (£590) can connect with your streaming service of choice, has built-in speakers and is splash-proof, shock-proof and dinky enough to bring on holidays, not just out the back door. If you don’t have a perfect whitewashed wall to act as the screen, there are lots of options from the stand-mounted to the no-frills white bed sheet. Just make sure it can be tethered as an antidote to that British wind.

Which just leaves the decision of the film itself: something summery, entertaining and easy enough to follow when you’re also on drinks duty. With this brief, it all points to a 30th anniversary screening of Point Break. Just pray you don’t have to contend with a 50-year storm of your own. benq.eu