Capsule reviews of the next week’s video releases, on DVD and Blu-ray

July 7

“Woman in Gold”

PG-13, 11o minutes, in English and German with subtitles, The Weinstein Co.

The film is based on the true story of Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren), an Austrian woman who fled the Holocaust and, many years later, sued the Austrian government for the return of family-owned artworks that had been looted by the Nazis. It takes its title from the informal name of a 1907 portrait of Maria’s aunt by the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt. Stirring at times, soggy and overly sentimental at others, the film moves surprisingly slowly, even though its action, which takes place over many years of legal maneuvering, has been condensed for narrative expediency. “Woman in Gold” really tells two stories. The first takes place in the recent past, and covers Maria’s pursuit of restitution from her home in Los Angeles, using the services of an untested American lawyer (Ryan Reynolds). The second is told in flashback, showing us Maria’s childhood and early life in Vienna, from which she escaped after the annexation of Austria by the Germans. One of the film’s small pleasures is the sometimes contentious relationship between Randy, Reynolds’ earnest whippersnapper of an attorney, and his somewhat starchy senior-citizen client. Contains anti-Semitism and brief crude language. Extras include commentary with director Simon Curtis and producer David M. Thompson, a making-of featurette and the “Stealing Klimt” documentary trailer. Also, on Blu-ray: footage of the Neue Galerie New York press conference.

“Maggie”

PG-13, 95 minutes, Lionsgate

This unusual zombie drama starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a taciturn farmer is not your typical Hollywood blockbuster. If Schwarzenegger at first looks out of place in an indie arthouse film, he quickly settles nicely into the role of an introspective, tortured dad whose teenage daughter Maggie (Abigail Breslin) has been bitten but so far shows no symptoms. (Here, the transformation to flesh-eating ghoul takes place not in seconds or minutes, but in six to eight weeks.) Though Wade does dispatch a handful of zombies over the course of the film, “Maggie” is more of a family drama than an action film. Directed by first-timer Henry Hobson, the movie has an artfully washed-out look, with sounds of distant, rumbling thunder repeatedly reminding us of Maggie’s impending doom. Contains grisly images, scary sequences and some coarse language. Extras include commentary with Hobson, a making-of featurette, deleted scene and cast and crew interviews.

“ ’71”

R, 99 minutes, Lionsgate

The early 1970s were bloody in Northern Ireland, building toward a fever pitch of bombings, riots and shootings. It makes for an explosive backdrop in “ ’71,” director Yann Demange’s gripping feature directorial debut about a British soldier who gets left behind by his unit in Belfast following a chaotic riot in 1971. Up-and-coming actor Jack O’Connell (“Unbroken”) plays the hero in peril, whose survival depends not just on his instincts, but on a complicated web of people, including two factions of the Irish Republican Army, British loyalists and undercover agents. The film succeeds as an action thriller, but with enough complexity to keep the brain engaged. Contains strong violence, disturbing images and language. Extras include commentary with Demange, producer Angus Lamont and writer Gregory Burke.

“Merchants of Doubt”

PG-13, 96 minutes, Sony

This documentary by Robert Kenner (“Food, Inc.”) takes up where “An Inconvenient Truth” (2006) left off, probing the dubious annals of climate-change denial and the unholy alliance between corporations, partisan politics, pseudo-science and marketing that has given it traction despite clear scientific evidence and consensus. Kenner lures viewers in with a brisk, bold visual look and engaging narrative techniques — in this case, beginning with a magician who, while explaining the art of misdirection, adds that at least he and his brethren are “honest liars.” The filmmaker neatly juxtaposes that observation with the pundits, proxies and front organizations he’s investigating. Kenner traces the roots of their deception to the 1950s and early ’60s, when DDT manufacturers and the tobacco industry began pushing back their critics by falsely insisting that no consensus existed regarding the harmfulness of their products. With the help of public relations companies such as Hill &Knowlton, these campaigns gained “other side of the story” legitimacy due to an unquestioning press eager to amplify in the name of fairness and balance. Nearly half a century later, the playbook invented by Big Tobacco and perfected by food and chemical companies was exploited by energy firms resisting government regulation. But what’s disheartening about “Merchants of Doubt” is that the strategy still works so effectively. Contains brief strong profanity. Extras include commentary with Kenner, deleted scenes and a Toronto International Film Festival Q&A with Kenner.

Also: “5 Flights Up” (Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton as a married couple no longer suited to their beloved Brooklyn five-floor walk-up, Universal), “Slow West” (Western drama starring Michael Fassbender and Kodi Smit-McPhee, Lionsgate), “Tooken” (spoof of the “Taken” action-film franchise, Cinedigm), “Deli Man” (documentary looks at the Jewish delicatessen in America), “The Road Within” (film festival winner, with Robert Sheehan, Dev Patel and Zoë Kravitz), “No Way Jose” (comedy co-written, directed by and starring Adam Goldberg), “Absolution” (a k a “Mercenary: Absolution,” with Steven Seagal), “Kill Me Three Times” (with Simon Pegg), “Echoes of War” (post-Civil War drama set in Texas, with James Badge Dale and William Forsythe), “The Killers” (two adaptations of Ernest Hemingway’s noir tale, a 1946 version starring Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner and a 1964 remake with Lee Marvin and Angie Dickinson, The Criterion Collection), “Underdog Kids” (family action-martial arts-comedy), “Awaken” (suspense thriller won a lot of festival accolades as “A Perfect Vacation,” stars Natalie Burn), “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” (remake based on the 1976 cult horror classic), “For the Emperor” (South Korean crime thriller) and “Samuel Goldwyn Collection Vol. II” (1937-47).

Television series: “House of Cards: The Complete Third Season,” “Archie Bunker’s Place: Season 1” (1979-80), “Masterpiece: Poldark” (PBS) and “The Brokenwood Mysteries, Series 1” (crime/mystery drama set in New Zealand, Acorn).