By ANGELA DAWSON

Front Row Features

Movies

Airplane!

A masterpiece of off-the-wall comedy, “Airplane!” celebrates the 40^th anniversary of its release in theaters with a brand-new Blu-ray in the Paramount Presents line, as well as a Limited Edition Blu-ray Steelbook now available. Originally released in July 1980, the comedy was a major hit and become a pop culture touchstone. The film continues to be widely referenced and quoted four decades after its theatrical debut.

The Paramount Presents Blu-ray and limited edition Steelbook each includes the newly remastered film from a 4K transfer supervised by writers/directors Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, a new Filmmaker Focus on the directors, a new Q&A with the directors recorded at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood in January 2020, and an isolated music score by Elmer Bernstein. The discs also include previously released audio commentary with the directors and producer Jon Davison.

Robert Hays stars as an ex-fighter pilot forced to take over the controls of an airliner when the flight crew succumbs to food poisoning. The all-star cast also includes Julie Hagerty, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Leslie Nielsen and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The outrageous comedy spoof skewers airplane disaster flicks, religious zealots, television commercials, and everything else in its path.

City Dreamers

Joseph Hillel’s “City Dreamers,” explores how four trailblazing architects—all women—have helped transform the skylines of cities. The documentary is available Tuesday July 28 on DVD and on Amazon Instant and Apple TV, from First Run Features.

Phyllis Lambert, Blanche Lemco van Ginkel, Cornelia Hahn Oberlander and Denise Scott Brown have collaborated with some of the leading figures in architecture, from Le Corbusier to Louis Kahn and Mies van der Rohe, while finding their own voices in a male-dominated profession.

Through interviews, archival material and stunning cinematography, Hillel uncovers how each of these independent thinkers has been working, observing and thinking about the transformations shaping the city of today and tomorrow. The DVD includes the bonus “Conversations with Denise Scott Brown: ‘My Pritzker’ & ‘Nowhere Stairs.’”

The DVD is available for a suggested retail price (SRP) for $24.95.

Home from Home

Celebrated German filmmaker Edgar Reitz, who recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2020 German Film Awards, continues his visionary sweep through history with this black-and-white prequel to his “Heimat” juggernaut, returning to the fictional Hunsrück village of Schabbach and the Simon family in “Home from Home: Chronicle of a Vision,” available on Tuesday July 28, from Corinth Films.

In the mid-19th century, hundreds of thousands of Europeans emigrated to faraway South America in a desperate bid to escape the famine, poverty and despotism that ruled at home. Their motto was: “Any fate is better than death.” In the sweeping, epic evocation of the mass exodus of the German farmers and craftsmen to the New World, Reitz chronicles a domestic drama and love story set against the backdrop of this forgotten tragedy.

The film focuses on two brothers who realize that only their dreams can save them. The younger of the two, Jakob (Jan Dieter Schneider), reads every book he can lay his hands on, and dreams about leaving his village, Schabbach, for adventures on an far away continent and the freedom of the wild South American jungle. He studies the languages of the native South Americans and records his heroic attempts to escape the rural confines of the Hunsrück in an astonishing diary that not only tells us his story but reflects the aspirations and philosophies of a whole era.

Everyone who encounters Jakob is drawn into the maelstrom of his dreams: his parents, bowed by the unremitting toil involved in making a living from the soil; his belligerent brother Gustav (Maximilian Scheidt); and above all Henriette (Antonia Bill), the comely daughter of a gem cutter who has fallen on hard times.

After having his heart broken following Gustav’s return from military service, Jakob is not content to be stuffed into the mold of a young laborer, so he rebels by assaulting the local marshals in an attempt to stand in solidarity with a fellow revolutionary; both are sent to prison where they nearly die. For a time, Jakob finds a new home after his release, then another, before events beyond his control finally reunite him with his family in Schabbach. It is here that Jakob’s colorful and magnetic influence is most strongly realized, and he realizes his place in the world is not that of his dreams in sweeping drama.

“Home from Home” was nominated for Best Feature Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay at the German Film Awards. The DVD/Digital will be available for $24.95 (SRP).

James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction

RLJE Films, a unit of AMC Networks, will release the sci-fi documentary series “James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction,” Tuesday July 28, on DVD and Blu-ray.  The series originally aired on AMC Networks in 2018 as part of the AMC Visionaries series.

The series is hosted by Academy Award winner James Cameron (“Avatar,” “Titanic”) and features interviews with the who’s who of science fiction movies and television, including Steven Spielberg (“Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”), George Lucas (“Star Wars” franchise), Ridley Scott (“The Martian,” “Blade Runner”), Christopher Nolan (“Tenet,” “Interstellar”), Will Smith (“Men in Black,” “I Am Legend”), Arnold Schwarzenegger (“Predator,” “Terminator”), and Bruce Willis (“Die Hard,” “The Sixth Sense”).

Cameron takes viewers on a journey of discovery and exploration, helping us understand where science fiction’s ideas came from, and where they’re taking us.

“James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction” will be available on DVD and Blu-ray for $34.97 (SRP).

You Should Have Left

The mind-bending psychological thriller, “You Should Have Left,” from writer/director David Koepp (“Stir of Echoes”), becomes available to own for the first time on DVD and Digital Tuesday July 28, from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

Kevin Bacon (Patriots Day,” “Hollow Man”) and Amanda Seyfried (“Mamma Mia!” films, “Les Misérables”) star in this terrifying tale where a father fights to save his family from a sinister force that demands a reckoning for secrets of the past based on the novel from prize-winning German literary sensation, Daniel Kehlmann. The thriller is produced by Jason Blum (“The Invisible Man,” “Us”).

TV Shows

Deadwater Fell

On Tuesday July 28, the thrilling and dark British miniseries “Deadwater Fell” will arrive on DVD, from Acorn.

The series stars BAFTA and NTA award-winner David Tennant (“Broadchurch,” “Doctor Who”) and award-winning actress Cush Jumbo (“The Good Fight”). Created and written by Daisy Coulam (“Grantchester,” “Humans”), this four-part psychological mystery drama explores the cause and aftermath of a horrific crime in a small Scottish community.

When a seemingly perfect and happy family is murdered by someone they know and trust, those closest to the family begin to question everything they thought they knew about their friends. “Deadwater Fell” was the second-highest rated drama (total audience) in the past year for Britain’s Channel 4 and one of Acorn TV’s most popular series of the year.

Now on DVD ($34.99, Amazon.com), it also includes a behind-the-scenes featurette.

Orange is the New Black: Season Seven

Netflix’s original flagship series comes to an end when “Orange Is the New Black”: Season Seven arrives on DVD and Digital Tuesday July 28, from Lionsgate.

The Litchfield prison inmates face circumstances that take drastic and unexpected turns. After being granted early release, Piper struggles with the demands of parole and life on the outside, while other inmates—some in Litchfield and others in immigration detention facilities—experience a mix of disappointment, redemption and hope in this compelling conclusion of the dark-humored, genre-defining series.

The award-winning series has garnered six Golden Globe nominations, 20 Primetime Emmy nominations, and four Emmy wins throughout its run.

“Orange Is the New Black: Season Seven” stars Taylor Schilling, Kate Mulgrew, Uzo Aduba, Danielle Brooks, Laura Prepon and Natasha Lyonne.

The “Orange Is the New Black: Season Seven” DVD will include three never-before-seen featurettes, and will be available for $34.98 (SRP).