Hello my fellow Obsessed! It gives me great pleasure to introduce you to the inaugural Obsessed With Film Christmas Gift Guide and boy was it a long and testing journey to get here! What you are about to consume in this lengthy article (seriously bookmark it for when you have spare time... because this one is epic!!) and a further three more coming soon is the product of countless numbers of sleepless nights from myself and my evil sidekick Simon Gallagher as we have begged, negotiated and occasionally slain those in power to secure much of what is on this guide as comp prizes. Without a doubt, this article is comprised of the most work I have done for a single feature in the four and a bit year history of Obsessed With Film but we had an awful lot of fun putting it all together and I just know that when it comes to you guys entering in your droves to get your hands on all this cool stuff, our efforts will feel like they have been duly rewarded. A big thank you to all the PR contacts, the retailers (such as
HMV,
Forbidden Planet and
Play.com who worked with us over the weeks) and
The Blu-ray Association who helped us secure much of what we wanted and thank you guys most of all out there in OWF Land who left comments and emailed me the suggestions specifically for this list. The list is made up of Simon and myself's personal geek interests and love of things we hope our girlfriend's or extended families might have bought us, and most of the time they are things we own and have consumed at first hand. The majority of the links will be directed to the U.K. retailers in question but there's lots of reasons to read in America as the majority of this stuff you can get over in the States also as long as you know the right places. Here's
Part One - solely dedicated to the thing I enjoy consuming the most at this time of the year. Blu-rays and DVDs...
Where else would I begin this Blu-ray guide but with the film that defines the reason why I run a website known as Obsessed With Film? In the years to come when biographers are writing about the legacy of iconic Brit director Chris Nolan - this cerebral, outrageous, inventive and complex summer blockbuster will be cited as being that moment in time when he became the Stanley Kubrick or the Alfred Hitchcock of his generation. This is what he was all about... a ten year passion project that raised the bar of what we should expect from our major talents year in/year out. Inception is a movie with so many complex ideas that it of course demands repeat viewings. Triple play Blu-ray priced at
">£14.99 at Amazon or the Limited Edition Case
is gorgeous at £30. (
Matt's Pick) Undoubtedly the TV event of the year, and a Blu-ray release that inspires hyperbole and confirms effortlessly the value of moving whole-sale to the high definition format. A more than worthy follow-up to the sprawling epic that was Band of Brothers, which combines the ultra-high production values with a mesmerising amount of detail and a biting, darker undertone of discontent that gives it a tonal edge over its slightly more straight-forward predecessor. It is clearly a labour of love, with incredible performances and will grow in stature and appreciation as the years go by, just as Band of Brothers did before it. An essential purchase from
Amazon at £33.93. (
Simon's Pick).
Comp - We have 1 Blu-ray copy of The Pacific to give away to our U.K. readers. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading 'The Pacific' with your name and address to enter.
Boy, did I go through a rollercoaster of emotions during the pre-production on this one. Initially I was psyched about a North by Northwest style globetrotting action rom-com that would re-team the two major stars who enjoyed that rare movie star chemistry with each other in Vanilla Sky - but then...
that trailer hit and it completely turned me off seeing it. But you know what - the movie was not representative of that reel at all. Tom Cruise is not the obnoxious asshole he appears in the trailer but instead a character who you quickly become to like - he's basically all traits that have irritated you about Tom Cruise over the years mixed together in one parody movie and his charming charisma makes it all work. I could watch these two make movies together for years. This is one entertaining movie that I can't wait to revisit. Don't get me wrong the film is far from perfect. The over-use of CGI filled action sequences over the quieter, character moments is to the film's determent and whilst the movie is good, very good in parts - it's not quite the classic it could have been. But it's way better than Mr. and Mrs. Smith and even this year's Red which attempted to walk that comedy/parody line.
£17.93 at Amazon. (
Matt's Pick)
Comp - We have 3 Blu-ray copies of Knight & Day to give away to our U.K. readers. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading 'Knight & Day' with your name and address to enter.
Yes it might be a great big blue Fern Gully, and it might have attracted a lot of negativity thanks to its proximity with the video game world, but Avatar is about as close to this decade's defining cinematic event as possible. And not only that, this is the Extended Collector's Edition - one of the easiest of my picks for the list thanks to the eight hours of unseen footage and forty five minutes of deleted scenes that make up for the "Extended" and "Collector's Edition" portions of the title. Added to that is a raft of Extras and the small matter of the three separate cuts of the feature film, spread across three discs. Sadly minus a James Cameron commentary track, the Special Extended Collector's Edition is a good reason to get excited, and definitely justifies the need to shell out the very reasonable cover price- but if you are going to pick it up, do yourself a favour, pick it up on Blu-ray: while it looks good on DVD, it is a whole level above on the high definition format. Just think of it this way- you wouldn't put a Ferrari engine in a station wagon. (Simon's Pick)
Comp - We are giving away two Blu-ray copies of Avatar over on this page - HERE. It's amazing how long forgotten film prints are still being discovered, even now. I was reading the other day about how a 35MM old print of King Kong had been found and the double whammy of that revelation along with this cut of Metropolis just makes me hope that one day somebody will stumble across London After Midnight and Lon Chaney's supposedly terrifying performance will live again. This complete Metropolis cut... reconstructed and restored is magnificent. A movie that is stunningly epic, beautiful but devastatingly visceral in it's class struggles and capitalism theme that is still an issue that plagues us today. This is a landmark film that any film buff should study and appreciate.
First of all... this is incredibly well priced. At £13.98, you get the 2 Disc Blu-ray and the DVD version of this film, and if you've being sampling the Pixar blu's of recent years (and of course you own Wall*E and Up, right?) then you will know the quality on display here is worth three times as much as that. Hell, even the exhaustive extra's alone could keep you busy until Christmas day... but what you also get here is one of the finest films of the year. I love the Toy Story franchise, and I love this movie more than any of them. It's the most emotional and the Pixar boys really succeed at toying your heartstrings. I will admit, I cried like a blubbering child throughout and I think I under-estimated how much affection I have for these characters during those final two acts. A triumph for Pixar and nothing would make me happier than seeing it go all the way at the Oscars. (Matt's Pick)
Comp - We have 1 Blu-ray of Toy Story 3 to give away to our U.K. readers thanks to The Blu-Ray Association. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading 'Toy Story 3' with your name and address to enter. The best animated Disney film ever released. A bold statement in light of the film's stable mates, but no other addition to the Disney canon combines charm, humour and a compelling, layered narrative to such profoundly impressive effect. The perfect mix of elegance, grand theatricality and good old fashioned entertainment that wonderfully also wed classic illustration and the new wonders of modern technology - just think back to the first time you clapped eyes on that ballroom scene, and the long sweeping shot through the chandelier. It's still enough to get the hairs standing up on my neck. Oh and you can forget The Lion King, Beauty & The Beast has features easily the best soundtrack and collection of songs in the Disney Vault. The Blu-ray is astonishingly beautiful, and the high-definition format adds a further gleam to the already enchanting film. Just breath-taking. (Simon's Pick)
The second from the vault Disney release to make the list, Fantasia had a profound effect on me as a child, and it has remained a personally important film as I have aged. Finally, the Disney film that would always have been best served by the high definition treatment has been given exactly what it deserves, and the result is visually arresting as well as sounding luxurious and gripping. The manner in which the animations add a tangible narrative value to the musical accompaniment is irresistible and thanks to the added gloss that blu-ray provides, everything seems to stand out that extra mile. Its a pricey £17.99 at Amazon, but recommended for it's quality.
Comp - We have 2 Blu-ray copies of Fantasia to give away to our U.K. readers. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading 'Fantasia' with your name and address to enter.
If I had my way, this beautiful film would make it on to every recommended list I was ever asked to contribute to. It's not merely that the blu-ray version for a long time ranked as the best example of the format (until Wall-E usurped it), or that the extra features are stand-out; it's all to do with the quality of the film itself. Who would have ever thought that stop-motion animation could be so grand, and so compelling? And who could have speculated that a skeleton and a rag-tag collection of ghouls stealing Christmas- and in musical form no less!- would be such an enchanting filmic experience. Tim Burton has never been able to make his artistry manifest more perfectly than in Nightmare... with his nightmarish designs able to take their place as the stars of the film, rather than overly elaborate and occasionally distracting background elaborations (see Alice in Wonderland), and the film plays as a window into his imagination. Not subject to the restrictions of conventional film-making, the creative element runs rampant, and everything is framed deliciously by some very iconic songs forged by the mastery of long-time Burton collaborator Danny Elfman. For me, this is the must have geek set for Christmas - more so than the Back to the Future Blu-ray set that Simon is going to laude, and quite rightfully so, below. Because it's the Alien series that has the stronger films - Ridley Scott's original claustrophobic nightmare is the director's finest achievement and then all the subsequent sequels are so much a product of their respective auteurs and are all so widely different that the franchise (until it meets those Predators) never feels tired. It's always growing, always changing, always moving forward. Every different film has an agenda with fascinating stories and unique film styles. I'm looking forward to spending Christmas with this set and lapping up the bonus material. £37.99 means each meaty Alien disc is under £10, so the pricing is good and let's be thankful they didn't try and fob us off by attaching those two Alien vs. films to this release. (Matt's Pick) That's the power of love! All of us here at Obsessed Towers still very much have BTFF fever from the recent re-release and for those of you who stupidly didn't revisit the film in theatres (I don't need to speak to those who did, as you've already bought this right?) this blu-ray is the definitive celebration of the trilogy, and in all honesty eclipses every other that has come before it. The sheer depth of the Extra Features included make it more than worth the cover price, and that is to say nothing of the quality of the films- a factor that has bred twenty five years of rabid fan-appreciation to the point where BTTF has become a kind of sub-culture all to itself. The high-definition transfer in places shows up the deficiencies of the original (age is a terrible window into the mystery of film-making), but is still a marked improvement on almost every front over every DVD release so far: the sound in particular has been given a huge injection of quality across the trilogy. All in all it is a triumph of substance- the additional level of quality afforded by the high-definition platform gives the film a major boost, but the real value of the release is in the marriage of a huge selection of essential extra features with three of the greatest, most entertaining films of my generation. (Simon's Pick) Comp - We have 1 Blu-ray of BTFF to give away to our U.K. readers thanks to The Blu-Ray Association. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading 'BTFF' with your name and address to enter.
Yes, I am a massive geek, but there is something about Warhammer that still turns my grizzly head. Whether its the memory of almost going blind painting my Ultra Marine figures, or the odd occasion I ventured into the smelly local Games Workshop (deodorant free zone). This release - the special steelbook edition of the Ultramarines movie- was recommended by an OWFer, and I have to say it got me excited. I mean, just look at how cool it is! Exceptional, if very specialist extra features as well. Not for everyone, but the presence of Dan Abnett as writer might make it more mainstream than other Warhammer releases. This one is an EXCLUSIVE to this website and ships from Nov 29th. (Simons Choice)
Given a ridiculously hard time when it came to cinemas earlier this year, Iron Man 2 was not the crawling monstrosity that some might have you believe and whilst it may not be a classic film per say, it has its moments of excellency (if occasionally rather silly). It's a fine comic book movie; never descending into the po-faced, self-important fare of certain other super- and post-super-hero movies. And Robert Downey Jr is still an utter joy to watch as Tony Stark. Ignore the silly Iron Man/War Machine fight, and the terrible Black Widow fight scene joke involving a decidedly portly John Favreau, and there is a great deal to enjoy. Oh, and the soundtrack is classic filthy ACDC- so thats another point scored with me. £14.93 at Amazon, with gorgeous Blu-ray cover. (Simons choice) Comp - We have 1 Blu-ray of Iron Man 2 to give away to our U.K. readers thanks to The Blu-Ray Association. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading 'Iron Man 2' with your name and address to enter. This is an hilarious set and the strangest travel show you will ever watch in your life - the reason being it has that round-headed buffoon Karl Pilkington as the titular Idiot Abroad - a presenter who doesn't care to be in any of the stunning places he gets to visit. Watch in envy as he wants to be anywhere other than the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China or Machu Piccu - the later he doesn't even manage to reach. If you know the podcasts or the audibooks, you will know that Pilkington's ignorant rants about the world are just comedy dynamite, especially with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant nagging him on. But this show actually shows him in a new light, he might not be as ignorant as you think - he's very witty, can be smart - sometimes. Not to missed, you can pick this up for £15.93 at Amazon. (Matt's Pick) Comp - We have 1 Blu-ray of An Idiot Abroad to give away to our U.K. readers. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading 'Idiot Abroad' with your name and address to enter. Monster/animal movies take a lot of bashing, and a lot of it is deserved, as a high percentage of film-makers who add to the genre chose to do so on a shoe-string, with aspirations no grander than bargain DVD bins and no manifesto beyond regurgitating tired old cliches without any real self-awareness. Thankfully, Piranha 3D, a surprise hit (for critics at least), changed things by trying to reclaim the genre from the hacks and by injecting some self-awareness crucially. The result is like Jaws with its tongue in its cheek, whereby the cliches of the genre are lovingly celebrated, rather than just being retrotted out with no fanfare, where the gimmicks are the stars of the show (and what better a way to enrich that experience than by teaming it up with the tecnoligcal advance that so many people still refer to as a gimmick in the shape of 3D?) Comp We have 1 copy of Piranha 3D on Blu-ray to give away to our U.K. readers. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading Piranha 3D with your name and address. A more than worthy sequel to Forgetting Sarah Marshall - in fact it's funnier and side-splittingly so. In fact, it might be the funniest film I've seen in years. I understand I raised a few eyebrows earlier this year when I said that Jonah Hill was the funniest man on the planet right now but I stick by it. He makes me laugh so hard my health is often in danger as I feel like I'm going to spontaneously combust with chuckling. And say what you want about the acting ability of Russell Brand but with this Aldous Snow character, he's found his perfect segue-way into filmstardom. £15.93 at Amazon. (Matt's Pick).
Is it a pastiche of the Golden Age of the action movie? Or a self-indulgent bloated monster; the final narcissistic hurrah of a group of has-beens trying to show that despite how the evolution of film had cast them aside, they were still somehow the best? Regardless of what you think of the motive, The Expendables is an essential purchase because of its ensemble credentials. You don't get on a train like this without first acknowledging that you probably wont visit the familiar stations of plot, or narrative structure or even finesse, but that doesn't mean the thrill of the ride can't be enough. I never thought I would say it, but The Expendables is a lot like The A-Team would have been without a brain, and the glorious self-awareness, and the tongue-in-cheek camp that has to be read into the film is the key to the high octane enjoyment. I do wish to a degree that the film-makers had done more with the "talent" after getting them all in the same room together, but all the same, the Steel-Book Special edition would be a wonderful edition to any film collection, and a cracking way to spend a couple of brainless hours. Comp - We have 3 Blu-ray copies of The Expendables to give away to our U.K. readers. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading 'Expendables' with your name and address to enter. Ah, I miss this show. My girlfriend and I have been periodically making our way back through this series, surely the best written and most consistently great Sitcom of the 20th century? What you are buying here, for an almost steel at £39.95 is 20-odd minutes worth of joyous laughter with people you'd like to hang around with everyday. An essential purchase to have on your shelf when you want some guaranteed entertainment and with E4 planning to end it's daily syndication of the show next year... you can't possibly understand how vital this set is going to be in your household. (Matt's Pick) Comp - We have 1 copy of this glorious Friends box set to give away to our U.K. readers. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading 'Friends' with your name and address to enter. The third and presumably final addition to the Family Guy Star Wars trilogy re-imagining, which ranks as the most genius of all of Seth McFarlane's offerings to date. This is very much an affectionate homage, as well as a redo, with an injection of the same humour as the regular TV show and the ingrained familiarity of using the same characters. The incredibly clever juxtaposition of what seems to be inane, immature comedy and popular culture as accessible as Star Wars is wonderfully successful (and indeed explains exactly why Robot Chicken is so popular as well). Family Guy is effectively the inappropriate raconteur comedian who revels in his own roguish charm, but does it with such a disarming smile (or a callous, but irresistible fart joke) that it becomes impossible to do anything but forgive and embrace. And that spirit is on show in pints for this the best of the trilogy. The triple-play special edition, like those of its predecessors, includes a hugely collectible t-shirt, trade cards and a copy of the script. A must have. (Simon's Pick) Comp - We have 1 copy of Family Guy: It's A Trap on Blu-ray to give away to our U.K. readers. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading 'Family Guy' with your name and address to enter.
Are you a pissed off Whedon fanboy like me who is fumming with anger over Warner Bros' disgusting decision to reboot the character as a feature film? Well we shouldn't be angry. As Yoda says - "anger leads to fear, pain and suffering". Let's instead celebrate what we have and right now Amazon have this at a ridiciously low £42.97 for the whole set - that's less than 30p per one of it's 144 episodes! An absolute steel. (Matt's Pick) Honestly, if you are one of those who have never gotten into Lost or even watched a single episode, I envy you. To think that you can now purchase the complete seven seasons of Lost on Blu-ray, well it boggles my mind. I envy anyone who can watch this program for the first time, episodes by episodes, back-to-back. What an extraordinary show. (Matt's Pick). As a fan of The Polar Express, the prospect of Robert Zemeckis' motion capture take on the perpetually-re adapted Dickens' tale tickled my festive fancy long before it ever made it to the big screen. And A Christmas Carol is certainly beautiful, combining an arresting aesthetic with a story that we already knew was solid gold and a wonderfully appropriate performance by Jim Carrey as Scrooge (among others) The blu-ray is great, though I would suggest holding out for the 3D Blu-Ray release when your home-tech catches up to the format: the simplest reason being that Zemeckis clearly planned and shot several scenes specifically to show off the 3D aspect. Without the intended format, some of those scenes seem a little contrived and gimmicky- and worse than that, they do seem a touch forced at times. (Simon's Pick). It's simply the perfect Christmas film. I can't imagine spending a festive season without going on that journey to the darkest depths of the human soul that George Bailey embarks upon in It's A Wonderful Life - both Frank Capra and James Stewarts' finest hours. However I've never fully been able to embrace the 'commercial' message of the film. It's A Wonderful Life celebrates the ordinary, it's hero is a man who gives up on his dreams to settle for the family life and for a woman I'm not sure he loves as much as he should. Throughout the movie his one wish is to leave Bedford Falls for the spirit of adventure and to make something of himself but poor George Bailey is never allowed to achieve this (either from hopping onto the next train or going to the front line in WW-II, or comitting suicide!!) - he is strictly not the master of his own fate and this rather passive hero, is the victim of events he can't control. Including the bail out at the end. I find It's A Wonderful Life alongside Chinatown, The Mist and Vertigo to be the most gloomiest endings in film. But it's a wonderful film and kudos to Capra for fooling EVERYONE into thinking this was a happy, post-War film. (Matt's Pick). Comp - We have 3 copies of It's A Wonderful Life on Blu-ray to give away to our U.K. readers. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading 'It's A Wonderful Life' with your name and address to enter.
A dream of a film thanks to the dream musical link-up of Irving Berlin, Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, Holiday Inn is a beautiful, theatrical reminder of another cinematic time. Full of effervescence, flamboyance and grand musical set-pieces, and with a story that holds the songs together without ever imposing itself in more main-stream narrative terms it might not have the same depth as other films of the periods, but it still works as one of the finest musicals of the Golden Age. As with It's A Wonderful Life, there is something darker lurking under the high-gloss surface that makes it even more compelling. A veritable Christmas treasure, and a classic musical to boot. (Simon's Pick) Comp - We have 3 copies of Holiday Inn Special Edition DVD to give away to our U.K. readers. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading 'Holiday Inn' with your name and address to enter. It's Woody Allen and Larry David.... what more needs to be said? I've seen Whatever Works twice now and it holds up as one of the better recent Allen pictures and in Larry David - he has finally found his perfect on screen doppelganger. Fine performances, funny script and a overall message that is worth listening too. Shame there's no U.K. Blu-ray on offer though.
Comp - We have 3 copies of Whatever Works on DVD to give away to our U.K. readers. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading 'Whatever Works' with your name and address.
This is a blind recommendation but our very own Mike Edwards, in his glowing review said;
Restrepo is one of those rare war films that has the power to put audiences in touch with deeper meaning: outside of the artifice, outside of the politicking and, in this instance, directly inside the war zone itself. Good enough for me! Restrepo is released on Monday 6th December and is retailing at £8.99. Comp - We have 3 copies of Restrepo on DVD to give away to our U.K. readers. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading 'Restrepo' with your name and address. It could have been a mess given the track-record of 80s TV shows translating into modern features, but the new A-Team offering turned out to be a surprisingly self-conscious brainless actioner (albeit with way too many shots of Face with his top off) with an actual story-line and largely believable characters. Its not going to leave many heads being scratched, but as a simple thrills and spills fest that channels the same adrenaline-injected spirit as Taken, you cant get much better from this years picks. The blu-ray is easily the best way to enjoy the film, since the added sound quality makes the whopping great action sound-track stand out incredibly. Comp - We have 1 copy of The A-Team on Blu-ray to give away to our U.K. readers. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading 'The A-Team' with your name and address to enter. It's been a long time coming, and finally one of my top five anticipated transfers has arrived. Baz Luhrmann surely invented his Red Curtain Trilogy with one eye on the advancing technological revolution of the high-definition format. Each film is resplendent, luxurious in filmic texture and aesthetic: everything is dialled up to the maximum, embracing an hyperbolic theatricality that is the perfect embodiment of the escape factor of the cinema. And on Blu-ray the film is given back some of the occasion that was lost between cinema and DVD. It sounds astonishing, with the El Tango de Roxanne song particularly benefiting from the touch-up thanks to its richness and the emotive melodic nature of the composition. And visually, there are actually very few transfers that have gained so much in the transfer- the exuberant palette was already a notch above, but now the red's are positively edible and the tonal depth really shows off Luhrmann's creative use of light and dark to frame his scenes. Just beautiful. £14.78 at Amazon. Comp - We have 1 copy of Moulin Rouge on Blu-ray to give away to our U.K. readers. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading 'Moulin Rouge' with your name and address to enter. The pick of the TV releases this year, and still the most confusingly addictive show on any network. Okay it is jarringly candied in the way it over-dramaticises events, with faux-theatricality supposedly adding an extra compelling level to the real-life events of the frozen landscapes, but it is utterly compelling thanks to the sincere way it portrays its subjects. The series, as with the first two seasons, lives and dies on the charm and idiosyncracies of the characters in the driving seats of the many wheeled machines, and the very special type of bond that exists between people who consciously choose to put their lives on the line for their living. It's like perfect reality television, without the exploitation of the tragedy of blinding narcissism that usually spoils that whole genre. Comp - We have 1 copy of Ice Road Truckers Season 3 on Blu-ray to give away to our U.K. readers. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading 'Ice Road Truckers Season 3' with your name and address to enter. An incredibly accessible new history of America, originally aired on The History Channel which is beautiful looking, packs some dramatic zing and features a wonderfully luxurious voice-over by Liev Schrieber- I tell you if it were possible to make sweet dirty love to a voice... It will probably frustrate traditionalist historians, but the inclusion of celebrity talking heads, as well as that voice-over and high accessibility factor make this one of the most essential history purchases for the casual enthusiast. It is also surely the first to herald a new development in the production values of historical documentaries (outside of HBO who have been doing it for ages), so good does it look. Comp - We have 1 copy of America: The Story of the US on Blu-ray to give away to our U.K. readers. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading 'America The Story of the US' with your name and address to enter. Another History Channel release makes the list as Individual tales of heroism and courage from the Pacific theatre of WWII are told on stunning location in The Pacific: Hell On Earth' From Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Tarawa and Saipan to Guam, Leyte, Okinawa and Iwo Jima, this series brings the most fierce and fiery battles to the screen vividly thanks to rare archive footage, surprisingly good CGI and interviews with surviving soldiers. As enthralling documentary mini-series as has been released recently, The Pacific: Hell On Earth feels like a very appropriate accompaniment to HBO's The Pacific, as it features a bonus disc: Unsung Heroes: Sledgehammer Old Breed Marine, telling the true story of Private Eugene B. Sledge whose personal accounts of his experiences on the pacific front form part of the basis for the show. The book is largely hailed as the finest account of an enlisted mans war ever written, and to have his account in depth here is a wonderful edition to the HBO show. £13.39 at Amazon. Comp - We have 1 copy of The Pacific: Hell on Earth on Blu-ray to give away to our U.K. readers. Simply like us on facebook, or email contest@obsessedwithfilm.com with the heading 'The Pacific: Hell on Earth' with your name and address to enter. U.S. imports Ok, so if you are living in the U.K. - you are going to have to do a little work to secure these titles. These are, to date, American released only titles but all of these are on my personal Christmas list because I can't imagine them existing on Blu-ray without being in my possession. I won't spend much time on these ones but I thought I must bring them to your attention, if nothing else. Axel Music are my retailer of choice in the U.S. - so click on the covers to be taken there. Look for Part II (Books, Clothing & Merch) to come sometime over the weekend!