Helen Mirren delivers another outstanding performance as Maria Altmann, the real life naturalized American citizen who took on the Austrian government in her 80s and won despite their efforts to stall the court case until she died. She would live to be 94.

At issue was a painting of her aunt Adele Bloch-Bauer, painted in 1912 by Gustav Klimt, stolen by the Nazis during World War II, placed in the Austrian state gallery in Vienna, and renamed Woman in Gold, the title of Simon Curtis’ film about Altmann’s quest to reclaim it.

Ryan Reynolds is the American lawyer who helps her and Daniel Bruhl the Austrian investigative reporter who turns up key evidence in her favor. Bruhl discovers that the painting was not willed to the museum as claimed, but to the museum only if she preceded her husband in death. Since he lived two years after her, and the painting, along with other valuables were stolen in the interim, the Austrian arbiters eventually ruled in her favor. The case took eight years. The painting, which Altmann then sold to an American investor for $35 million, now hangs in a prestigious New York gallery.

Woman in Gold is available on Blu-ray and standard DVD.

Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton play a long-time married couple who have lived in their Brooklyn fifth floor walk-up apartment for over forty years. Keaton’s niece (Cynthia Nixon), a typically pushy real estate agent, has convinced them that she can sell the apartment for $1 million. Their efforts to sell and find a new apartment in an elevator building in either Brooklyn or Manhattan form the crux of the plot of Richard Loncraine’s 5 Flights Up.

The film will appeal mostly to older viewers who have found themselves in Freeman and Keaton’s position and recognize the myriad of eccentrics as well as serious lookers who frequent open houses. Anyone who has owned an aging pet will identify with Freeman and Keaton’s anxiety over their suddenly ill ten-year-old dog. Anyone who lives in a volatile neighborhood will identify with their having to cope with a televised police action on the Brooklyn Bridge which can be seen from their kitchen window. Those who’ve followed the careers of Freeman and Keaton will relish the performances of Korey Jackson and Claire van der Boom who perfectly capture the essence of the actors’ younger selves in the delightful flashback sequences.

5 Flights Up is available on Blu-ray and standard DVD.

The feature film debut of musician and short filmmaker John Maclean, Slow West, is a deliberately paced western about a 16-year-old Scottish lad who travels the Colorado Territory of 1870 in search of his own true love.

Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In, The Road) provides another finely etched portrayal as the bright but naïve young man whose heart is in the wrong place. Michael Fassbender (Shame, 12 Years a Slave) provides another brilliant characterization as his mentor and protector. Ben Mendelsohn stands out in the supporting cast as one of the bounty hunters in pursuit of the object of Smit-Phee’s affection (Caren Pistorius).

A co-production of New Zealand the U.K., the 2015 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner was filmed entirely on location in Scotland and New Zealand.

Slow West is available on Blu-ray and standard DVD.

New Zealand is also the location of the latest internationally acclaimed mystery series in the tradition of the U.K.’s Midsomer Murders. Like that series and others, The Brokenwood Mysteries takes place in a small rural community that seems to have more than its share of grisly murders.

There are just four feature length episodes that comprise the series’ first season, but each one is a winner. Neill Ray is the seasoned detective who gravitates toward the small town atmosphere of Brokenswood to get away from his four ex-wives in Queensland. Fern Sutherland is his highly capable assistant, Pana Hema Taylor his enterprising vintner neighbor who doubles as a private investigator, and Nic Sampson his goofy constable. Other recurring characters include a sharp-tongued Russia-born medical examiner played by Christina Ionda, and a witness protection client played by Miriama McDowell,

The Brokenwood Mysteries, Series 1 is available on Blu-ray and stand DVD.

Ernest Hemingway’s short story The Killers was filmed twice, first as a provocative film noir in 1946, then as a made-for-TV gangster film that was released theatrically instead. As with most films that are remade, the original is the superior one. Robert Siodmak’s 1946 version, which made stars of Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner, was nominated for four Oscars. Don Siegel’s 1964 version, which ended Ronald Reagan’s film career, received no nominations.

The 1946 version opens with Lancaster as a small town gas station attendant awaiting the arrival of two professional killers who will end his life. Edmond O’Brien, whose character is not in the remake, is an insurance investigator who looks into Lancaster’s murder to follow a money trail that leads to two-timing Gardner.

The 1964 version, deemed too violent for TV, thus released theatrically instead, opens with John Cassavetes and Angie Dickinson in the Lancaster and Gardner roles, meeting at a race track where she entices him into driving a robbery car for her boss (Reagan). In this version, it’s the hired killers (Lee Marvin, Clu Gulagher) who follow the trail of the money which leads to Reagan and Dickinson.

As with Criterion’s previous DVD release, both versions are available on the same Blu-ray.

Henry Levin, who directed Dolores Hart in her biggest hit, 1960’s Where the Boys Are, also directed her in the last film she made before becoming a nun, 1963’s Come Fly With Me.

Hart, Lois Nettleton and Pamela Tiffin play airline stewardesses way before their job title became flight attendant. The film, though no classic, is an enjoyable take on what flying was like fifty two years ago. It also serves as something of a travelogue of Paris and Vienna as the three women find love and heartbreak with Karl Boehm (Peeping Tom), Karl Malden (Patton) and Hugh O’Brian (TV’s Wyatt Earp).

Come Fly With Me is a Warner Archive release available on standard DVD only.

This week’s new releases include Ex Machina and The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.