By ANGELA DAWSON

Front Row Features

Movies

Aalto (Documentary)

The fascinating new documentary “Aalto” is available now on DVD, from Film Movement.

Journey into the life and work of the defining figure in Scandic design and one of the greatest modern architects, Alvar Aalto.

Recounting the intimate yet tragic love story he shared with his architect wife, Aino, the film provides a cinematic tour of their creative process and iconic buildings all over the world—from their most stunning buildings in Finland and a library in Russia to a student dormitory at MIT, an art collector’s private home near Pris, and many other unique places.

The Aaltos maintained a profoundly humanist vision that put people at their center of design, and their wide-ranging projects spanned work in furniture and home goods design through to huge international architectural projects. They mixed with and influenced major figures of modernist art and design including Le Corbusier, Gropius, Moholy-Nagy and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Narrated by experts in the field, “Aalto” features never-before-seen archival footage, family photographs, diagrams and painstaking research.

“Aalto” is in German, Italian, Russian, English, Finnish and French, with English subtitles. The DVD is available for a suggested retail price (SRP) of $24.95.

Casanova, Last Love (Romantic Drama)

“Casanova, Last Love,” the latest romantic ravishment from director Benoit Jacquot (“Farewell, My Queen”), arrives on Blu-ray Tuesday Oct. 12, from Cohen Media Group.

London, 18th century. Casanova (Vincent Lindon), famous for his taste of pleasure and gambling, arrives from Paris, forced into exile. In this city he knows nothing about, the libertine meets on several occasions a young prostitute, Marianne de Charpillon (Stacy Martin). She attracts him to the point he starts disregarding all other women. The legendary seducer is ready to do anything to get her, but La Charpillon always escapes under various excuses. She challenges Casanova, “You will only have me if you stop desiring me!”

The film, released in theaters in 2019, also stars Valeria Golino, Julia Roy, Nancy Tate and Anna Cottis.

Crime Story (Crime Thriller)

“Crime Story” arrives on DVD Tuesday Oct. 12, from Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment.

Starring Academy Award winners Richard Dreyfuss (“The Goodbye Girl”) and Mira Sorvino (“Mighty Aphrodite”), the plot centers on an ex-mob boss Ben Myers (Dreyfuss) targeted in a home robbery, who then goes on a deadly rampage of vengeance. But with his family caught in the crosshairs, Myers must finally face the consequences of his dark past in this action-packed crime thriller.

Dark Shadows and Beyond: The Jonathan Frid Story (Documentary)

“Dark Shadows and Beyond: The Jonathan Frid Story,” is available now on digital platforms, on MPI Home Video DVD and Blu-ray.

An unlikely daytime TV hit that became a cultural touchstone for generations of viewers, the gothic serial Dark Shadows continues to cast a spell on fans old and new. Jonathan Frid, the actor who played the series’ tormented vampire Barnabas Collins, is profiled in this compelling new film.

Soon after its debut on ABC-TV in 1966, “Dark Shadows” gained devoted fans, who thrilled to the eerie goings-on at the haunted Collinwood estate in Maine. The series broke the rules of traditional soap operas by blending stories of gothic romance, horror and the supernatural. Storylines centered on ghosts, witches, demonic possession, and time travel. The breakout character was Barnabas Collins, a 175-year-old vampire who, after being unintentionally released from his chained coffin, arrives at Collinwood to begin a new life.

Frid’s portrayal was a key reason the series, which ran until 1971, became must-see TV for 20 million daily viewers. Dark Shadows, which spawned two theatrical films starring its original cast—as well as a 2012 reimaging with Johnny Depp—has been cited as a key influence for contemporary genre films and TV series. Almost six million DVD’s of the original series have been sold.

This documentary is the first devoted to the Canadian-born star, and covers the fascinating life and career of the Shakespearean actor, who became a TV icon in the role of Barnabas Collins. The feature-length film reveals the man beneath the vampire’s cloak, exploring Frid’s personal and professional struggles, artistic triumphs and rise to fame in part through his personal letters read by actor Ian Buchanan.

“Dark Shadows and Beyond: The Jonathan Frid Story” is from producer Mary O’Leary, a multi-Daytime Emmy winner for “General Hospital” and “The Young and the Restless.”

Among Frid’s family, friends and colleagues, who offer fresh views are veteran talk show host and Yale Drama School classmate Dick Cavett, actresses Marion Ross (“Arsenic & Old Lace,” “Happy Days”) and Christina Pickles (Oliver Stone’s “Seizure”), San Diego National Shakespeare Festival associate Anthony Zerbe, and Dark Shadows co-stars David Selby, Lara Parker, Nancy Barrett, Marie Wallace, Kathryn Leigh Scott and James Storm.

Special features of the DVD and Blu-ray include rare performance footage; archival material from Frid’s private collection; a PBS-TV discussion with Frid; promotional pieces with the actor; Frid reading an excerpt of Washington Irving’s classic tale “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and the compilation video, “The Best of Barnabas,” rounds out this expanded and collectible release.

Free Guy (Action Comedy)

20th Century Studios’ “Free Guy” debuts on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on Oct. 12. The action-comedy also is available now on all major digital platforms.

A bank teller who discovers he is actually a background player in an open-world video game, decides to become the hero of his own story—one he rewrites himself. Now, in a world where there are no limits, he is determined to be the guy who saves his world his way before it is too late. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Joe Keery, Utkarsh Ambudkar and Taika Waititi, “Free Guy” is directed by Shawn Levy from a screenplay by Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn and a story by Lieberman.

Viewers can enjoy never-before-seen bonus material including two deleted scenes, an extended scene, bloopers and making-of featurettes.

High Sierra (Crime Drama)

The classic 1941 class “High Sierra” arrives for the first time on Blu-ray and DVD Tuesday Oct. 12, from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

Marking the moment when the gritty gangster sagas of the 1930s began giving way to the romantic fatalism of 1940’s film noir, “High Sierra” also contains the star-making performance of Humphrey Bogart, who, alongside top-billed Ida Lupino, proved his leading-man mettle with his tough yet tender turn as Roy Earle. A career criminal plagued by his checkered past, Earle longs for a simpler life, but after getting sprung on parole, he falls in with a band of thieves for one last heist in the Sierra Nevada. Directed with characteristic punch by Raoul Walsh—who makes the most of the vertiginous mountain location—Roy and Lupino’s Marie, a fellow outcast also desperate to escape her past, hurtle inexorably toward an unforgettable cliffside climax and a rendezvous with destiny.

The film comes with a restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray. Other special features include “Colorado Territory,” director Raoul Walsh’s 1949 western remake of  High Sierra;” a new conversation on Walsh between film programmer Dave Kehr and critic Farran Smith Nehme; “True Adventures of Raoul Walsh,” a 2019 documentary by Marilyn Ann Moss; “Curtains for Roy Earle,” a 2003 featurette on the making of High Sierra;” “Bogart: Here’s Looking at You, Kid,” a 1997 documentary aired on “The South Bank Show;”  an interview with film and media historian Miriam J. Petty about actor Willie Best; a new video essay featuring excerpts from a 1976 American Film Institute interview with “High Sierra” novelist and co-screenwriter W. R. Burnett; a radio adaptation of “High Sierra” from 1944; trailers and more.

The two-disc Blu-ray edition will be available for 39.95 (SRP) and the two-disc DVD edition will be available for $29.95 (SRP).

Inglourious Basterds (Revenge Fantasy)

Brad Pitt takes no prisoners in Quentin Tarantino’s high-octane WWII revenge fantasy “Inglourious Basterds,” arriving on 4K, Blu-ray and Digital Tuesday Oct. 12, from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

As war rages in Europe, a Nazi-scalping squad of American soldiers, known to their enemy as “The Basterds,” is on a daring mission to take down the leaders of the Third Reich.

The 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray includes more than two hours of bonus features including extended and alternate scenes, “The New York Times” Talks roundtable discussion with Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt and NYT correspondent Elvis Mitchell, Nation’s Pride, Full Feature: The Making of Nation’s Pride, The Original Inglorious Basterds, a conversation with Rod Taylor and more.

Survive the Game (Crime Thriller)

“Survive the Game” arrives in select theaters, on Apple TV and everywhere movies can be rented, Tuesday Oct. 12, from Lionsgate.

The crime thriller stars an ensemble cast of Chad Michael Murray (“Riverdale”), Bruce Willis (“Pulp Fiction”), Swen Temmel (“In Time”), Simon Phillips (Amazon Prime’s “Age of the Living Dead”) and Sarah Roemer (“Disturbia”). The film is directed by James Cullen Bressack (“Beyond the Law”) and the feature screenplay debut of Ross Peacock.

When cop David (Willis) is injured in a drug bust gone wrong, his partner, Cal, pursues the two criminals who shot him to a remote farm owned by troubled vet Eric (Murray). As Cal and Eric plot their defense, more of the gang arrives—along with a wounded David—and, outnumbered, the three heroes must use stealth, smarts, and marksmanship to take down the drug-dealing mob.

Sweet Thing (Drama)

“Sweet Thing” arrives on DVD/Digital Tuesday Oct. 12, from Film Movement.

Two children spend an eventful summer at a beach house in Alexandre Rockwell’s poetic, uplifting celebration of childhood in this endearing film that won the Berlinale Crystal Bear award.

Set in New Bedford, Mass., two children spend an eventful summer in a beach house with their mother and her boyfriend. Starring Rockwell’s own children, the story centers on Billie (Lana Rockwell, “Little Feet”), a 15-year-old girl who fantasizes Billie Holiday as a sort of fairy godmother, is forced to navigate the evolving challenges of her life while she plays surrogate mother to her 11-year-old brother, Nico (Nico Rockwell, “Little Feet”). They soon meet another adolescent, a runaway, and together they roam the area free from their parents’ watchful gaze.

Discovering freedom and enchantment among New Bedford’s boats and railway tracks, the trio fantasize about a life of luxury when they break into a posh home, and are able to carry the taste of affluence into their adventures. An ode to that trying age when young people prepare to take their first steps into adulthood, “Sweet Thing” also stars Karyn Parsons (“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”) and Will Patton (“Minari,” “The Forever Purge”) in an intense but ultimately uplifting, portrait that captures the essence of that time in live when a day can last forever.

“Sweet Thing” on DVD/Digital will be available for $24.95 (SRP).

Witkin and Witkin (Documentary)

“Witkin and Witkin” arrives on DVD/Digital Tuesday Oct. 12, from IndiePix Films.

Dysfunction and high art are the themes explored in this compelling and intimate documentary portrait of identical twin brothers, both celebrated artists, and their lifelong estrangement. From acclaimed director Trisha Ziff (“The Man Who Saw Too Much, “Chevolution”) comes the deep and resonant story of the Witkins brothers, identical twins born in Brooklyn in 1939—painter and lifelong educator Jerome and renowned photographer Joel-Peter.

The two become celebrated and highly controversial personalities who couldn’t be more different from one another. Joel-Peter is inspired by Caravaggio and Dali, and his photographs often are constructed with cadavers and body parts, both transgressive and macabre. Jerome, meanwhile, is a renowned figurative painter, whose work explores political, social and cultural themes. For all their artistic abilities, for much of their 80 years, the Witkins have willfully chosen to remain apart.

Filmed over four and a half years at five locations across the U.S., including the Brooklyn home where they grew up, as well as Joel’s home in Albuquerque and Jerome’s home in Syracuse, NY, near the university, where he teaches fine art, “Witkin and Witkin” chronicles the brothers’ decidedly separate paths as artists and as people until, at their first-ever joint exhibition, they encounter an unexpected change in their artistic trajectories and self-perceptions as well as their relationships with each other.

Ziff’s intimate and intensely human film explores the themes of love, loss and distance, while showcasing the Witkins’ fascinating bodies of work.

The “Witkin and Witkin” on DVD/Digital will be available for $24.95 (SRP).

TV Shows

The Flash: The Complete Seventh Season (Action Fantasy)

The Flash is back to protect Central City with his lightning-fast reflexes as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases “The Flash: The Complete Seventh Season” arrives on Blu-ray and DVD Tuesday Oct. 12.

It’s time to escape the Mirrorverse, resurrect the Speed Force and make every second count as the seventh season of “The Flash,” the highest-rated series on The CW arrives just in time. After last season’s cliffhanger which saw the brilliant and powerful Eva McCulloch victorious and still-at-large in Central City, Barry Allen/The Flash must regroup in order to stop her and bring back his missing wife. With help from the rest of Team Flash, Barry will ultimately defeat Mirror Monarch and reunite with Iris West-Allen. But in doing so, he’ll unleash two more devastating threats: one that could tear his marriage apart … and another that will lay siege to Central City and change the future forever.

With Blu-ray’s unsurpassed picture and sound, “The Flash: The Complete Seventh Season” Blu-ray release will include 1080p Full HD Video with DTS-HD Master Audio for English 5.1. Featuring all 18 episodes from the seventh season in high definition, as well as a digital code of the season (available in the U.S. only).

The Flash stars Grant Gustin (“Arrow,” “Glee”), Candice Patton (“The Game”), Danielle Panabaker (“Sky High,” “Friday the 13^th”), Carlos Valdes (“Arrow,” “Once”), Danielle Nicolet (“Central Intelligence”), Kayla Compton (“Making Moves”), Brandon McKnight (“The Shape of Water”) and Jesse L. Martin (“Law & Order”). Based on the characters from DC, “The Flash” is produced by Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Speedwatch all 18 episodes from season seven, plus never-before-seen bonus content including deleted scenes and a gag reel.

“The Flash: The Complete Seventh Season” will be available for $39.99 (SRP) for the DVD ($44.98 in Canada) and $44.98 (SRP) for the Blu-ray ($49.99 in Canada), which includes a Digital copy (U.S. only). “The Flash: The Complete Seventh Season” is also available to own on Digital via purchase from digital retailers.

The Haunting of Bly Manor (Horror)

“The Haunting of Bly Manor” arrives just in time for Halloween on Blu-ray and DVD Tuesday Oct. 12, from Paramount Home Entertainment.

From “The Haunting of Hill House” creator and showrunner Mike Flanagan and executive producer Trevor Macy, “The Haunting of Bly Manor” is the next installment in “The Haunting” anthology series.  Returning cast members from “The Haunting of Hill House” include Victoria Pedretti (“Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood”), Oliver Jackson-Cohen (“The Invisible Man”), Henry Thomas (“E.T.: The Extra-terrestrial”), Carla Gugino (“Night at the Museum”) and Kate Siegal (“Oculus”).

The three-disc Blu-ray and DVD sets each feature all nine episodes, along with exclusive bonus content, including behind-the-scenes featurettes and in-depth audio commentaries with series creator and director Mike Flanagan, and directors Liam Gavin and Axelle Carolyn.

After an au pair’s tragic death, Henry Wingrave (Thomas) hires a young American nanny (Pedretti) to care for his orphaned niece and nephew (Amelie Bea Smith, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) who reside at Bly Manor with the estate’s chef Owen (Rahul Kohli), groundskeeper Jamie (Amelia Eve) and housekeeper, Mrs. Grose (T’Nia Miller). But all is not as it seems at the manor, and centuries of dark secrets of love and loss are waiting to be unearthed in this chilling gothic romance. At Bly Manor, dead doesn’t mean gone.

“The Haunting Collection” two-pack featuring “The Haunting of Hill House” and “The Haunting of Bly Manor” also will be available on both Blu-ray and DVD on Oct. 12.

Calling all Quentin Tarantino fans. Front Row Features is delighted to announce a giveaway of a 4K Ultra HD edition of his phenomenal alt-universe epic “Inglourious Basterds.” The prize will be given away to one lucky winner. To enter, just email frontrowfeatures@gmail.com and include the movie title and your name. We will pick and notify the winner on Oct.20, 2021. Good luck!