"Actor: Otto Henn"

• Heimat: A Chronicle Of Germany (Blu-Ray) | Blu Ray | (30/04/2018) from £68.05   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Highly acclaimed eleven-part series directed by Edgar Reitz, originally produced for German television over a two-year period at the beginning of the 1980s. The series chronicles over 60 years of turbulent German history from 1919 to 1982, including the economic meltdown that followed World War 1, the rise and fall of the Nazis and World War 2, and the subsequent rebuilding of Germany in two halves, East and West. The tale unfolds in a small fictional rural village and follows the fortunes of a woman called Maria (Marita Breuer) who at the start of the series is a young girl, and by the end is an old woman who has lived to tell the tale of some of history's harshest moments. The series won the International Critics' Prize at the 1984 Venice Film Festival.

• Alien Quadrilogy | DVD | (08/12/2003) from £20.99   |  Saving you £39.00 (185.80%)   |  RRP £59.99

  The Alien Quadrilogy is a nine-disc box set devoted to the four Alien films. Although previously available on DVD as the Alien Legacy, here the films have been repackaged with vastly more extras and with upgraded sound and vision. For anyone who hasn't been in hypersleep for the last 25 years this series needs no introduction, though for the first time each film now comes in both original and "Special Edition" form. Alien (1979) was so perfect it didn't need fixing, and Ridley Scott's 2003 Director's Cut is fiddling for the sake of it. Watch once then return to the majestic, perfectly paced original. Conversely the Special Edition of James Cameron's Aliens (1986) is the definitive version, though it's nice finally to have the theatrical cut on DVD for comparison. Most interesting is the alternative Alien3 (1992). This isn't a "director's cut"--David Fincher refused to have any involvement with this release--but a 1991 work-print that runs 29 minutes longer than the theatrical version, and has now been restored, remastered and finished-off with (unfortunately) cheap new CGI. Still, it's truly fascinating, offering a different insight into a flawed masterpiece. The expanded opening is visually breathtaking, the central firestorm is much longer, and a subplot involving Paul McGann's character adds considerable depth to the story. The ending is also subtly but significantly different. Alien Resurrection (1997) was always a mess with a handful of brilliant scenes, and the Special Edition just makes it eight minutes longer. On the DVD: Alien Quadrilogy offers all films except Alien3 with DTS soundtracks, the latter having still fine Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation. All four films sound fantastic, with much low-level detail revealed for the first time. Each is anamorphically enhanced at the correct original aspect ratio, and the prints and transfers are superlative. Every film offers a commentary that lends insight into the creative process--though the Scott-only commentary and isolated music score from the first Alien DVD release are missing here--and there are subtitles for hard of hearing both for the films and the commentaries. Each movie is complemented by a separate disc packed with hours of seriously detailed documentaries (all presented at 4:3 with clips letterboxed), thousands of photos, production stills and storyboards, giving a level of inside information for the dedicated buff only surpassed by the Lord of the Rings extended DVD sets. A ninth DVD compiles miscellaneous material, including a Channel 4 hour-long documentary and even all the extras from the old Alien laserdisc. Exhaustive hardly beings to describe the Alien Quadrilogy, a set which establishes the new DVD benchmark for retrospective releases and which looks unlikely to be surpassed for some time. --Gary S Dalkin

• Alien Quadrilogy | DVD | (10/09/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Heimat | DVD | (25/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £99.99

  Heimat is Edgar Reitz's epic tale of family life in a small German village which spans across the generations from the end of the First World War. The epic 11 episode series first shown on BBC television in the 1980's tells the story of the German village Schabbach through the years 1919-1982...