What with The Departed coming out on video a couple of weeks ago, and, you know, winning that Best Picture Oscar and all, you might do well to go back and check out where it all started, Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s excellent thriller Infernal Affairs. Of course it’s no secret that the 2002 film (which was also released in Hong Kong with the heartbreakingly yearning English title I Want to Be You) was the inspiration for Scorsese’s Boston-set adaptation. Less known, though, are the film’s two sequels, Infernal Affairs 2 and 3, helmed by the original directors. The second film is actually a prequel, and the third returns to fill in the events of the original. All three are now available on DVD in Alliance Atlantis’s just-released The Infernal Affairs Trilogy.

Another box set from Alliance that’s unfortunately pretty hit-and-miss is The Robert Altman Collection. There’s nothing really new here, as the set features almost all of his films since 1992’s The Player up until his last, A Prairie Home Companion—a period that has some real highlights, but hardly the late, great director’s creative peak. For every Gosford Park there’s a Ready to Wear; for every Short Cuts there’s a Cookie’s Fortune. Still, if you want a serious shot of Altman, it’s reasonably priced, though you might just want to pick up the highlights on their own.

by MARK SLUTSKY