DVD previews: ‘Dark Skies,’ ‘Lore’
Coming May 28
“Dark Skies” (PG-13, 97 minutes, Dimension Films/Anchor Bay): This is a workmanlike piece of suspense, despite its reliance on several tired tropes of the genre. The movie starts slowly, as a suburban couple (Keri Russell and Josh Hamilton) and their two young sons start to notice odd things happening around the house, such as finding a towering construction of precariously piled food containers in the kitchen. From there, the weirdness keeps getting weirder. The film works its way to a satisfying enough conclusion, even allowing for one fairly ridiculous inconsistency: Despite the fact that whoever (or whatever) is terrorizing this family initially seems to walk through walls, there are several scenes where it appears to prefer conventional doors. The malevolent force actually has to remove wood screws from the barricades that the family has erected over their windows. Oh well. It’s nice to know there are some things you can pick up at Home Depot that will, at the very least, slow down your nightmares. Contains obscenity, drug use, brief sensuality and scary, violent imagery. Extras: commentary with writer-director Scott Stewart, producer Jason Blum, executive producer Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and editor Peter Gvozdas; alternate and deleted scenes.
“Lore” (unrated, 108 minutes, in German and some English with English subtitles, Music Box Films): The protagonist of “Lore,” a haunting drama set in Germany after the country’s defeat in World War II, is a teenage girl. Lore (pronounced “Laura”) is just old enough to have learned to fear and hate Jews. It’s a sick lesson imparted to her by her Nazi parents who are being taken into custody by Allied troops. Lore begins to unlearn that lesson, and pick up a few new ones, as she and her four younger siblings make their way to a relative’s house. The carved-up countryside they travel through resembles the setting of a latter-day Brothers Grimm tale. Death and moral ambiguity litter the roadside. Lore and her brood encounter a young man named Thomas (Kai Malina). Thomas becomes their protector and benefactor when they are all stopped by American troops. It is his yellow star, marked “Jude” (Jew), that allows him safe passage. There is an immediate sexual attraction between Thomas and Lore but also a deep mistrust. They need each other: Lore needs Thomas to deflect attention from her group and Thomas needs Lore’s baby brother to cadge food from sympathetic strangers. “Lore” is a story of healing and of how breaking, sometimes painfully, is often necessary before that process can begin. Contains obscenity, nudity, sensuality, violence and disturbing images and thematic material. Extras: making-of featurette, “Memories of a German Girl” featurette. alternate ending, deleted scenes and “Reel Talk” panel discussion.
“Dorfman in Love” (R, 92 minutes, Vigil Films): This romantic comedy starring Sara Rue (TV’s “Less Than Perfect”) and Elliott Gould didn’t ascend beyond the festival circuit. It follows the relationship adventures of Deb Dorfman, a 20-something who discovers her true self after moving from the comforts of suburbia into the exciting hubbub of downtown Los Angeles.
Also: “The Loving Story” (documentary about the then-illegal 1958 interracial marriage between a white man named Richard Loving and his part-black, part-Cherokee fiancee Mildred Jeter that triggered a landmark Supreme Court ruling, Docurama); “The Numbers Station,” “Hellbound?,” “Shoot First, Die Later “(1971, Italy/France), “Life Is Sweet” (1990, The Criterion Collection), “Swimming to Cambodia” (1978, The Criterion Collection), “Dead Mine,” “The Ultimate Guide to the Presidents,” “NOVA: Mind of a Rampage Killer” (PBS) and “2013 Men’s NCAA Championship Game Starring Michigan Basketball and Louisville Basketball.”
Television Series: “Suits: Season Two,” “George Gently Collection: Series 1-4” (2007-11, 11 mysteries from the BBC series starring Martin Shaw includes behind-the-scenes featurette, text interviews with Shaw, co-star Lee Ingleby and writer/executive producer Peter Flannery; notes from producer Johann Knobel; biography of Shaw, Acorn Media); “George Gently, Series 5” (four mysteries and behind-the-scenes featurette, Acorn Media); “Longmire: The Complete First Season” (A&E), “Doctor Who: Series Seven, Part Two” (BBC), “Doctor Who: The Snowmen” (PBS), “Covert Affairs: Season Three” and “Bubble Guppies: Sunny Days!” (six episodes, Nickelodeon/Paramount).