This week’s DVD Releases

Dark Skies **½ Keri Russell, Dakota Goyo, J.K. Simmons, Josh Hamilton, Annie Thurman, Myndi Crist. A couple has trouble convincing friends and neighbors that an alien is entering their house each night to terrorize their children. It’s a passably chilling bit of nonsense that builds on the past, the tropes of the genre, and relies on them for the odd jolt and the occasional ironic laugh.

The Numbers Station ½* Malin Akerman, John Cusack. Directed by Kasper Barfoed. A CIA black ops agent and the young woman he’s assigned to protect fight for survival after a team of heavily armed assailants attack the top-secret remote CIA base where she works as a code operator. This dreary spy drama is as flat and airless as the concrete bunker in which it unfolds. Sits awkwardly between shoot ‘em up and psychological thriller without offering the excitement of either.

Lore **** Saskia Rosendahl, Nele Trebs, André Frid, Mika Seidel, Kai-Peter Malina, Ursina Lardi, Hans-Jochen Wagner. Directed by Cate Shortland. Left to fend for themselves after their SS officer father and mother, a staunch Nazi believer, are interred by the victorious Allies at the end of World War II, five German children undertake a harrowing journey to reach their grandmother in the north that exposes them to the reality and consequences of their parents’ actions. I’m not sure this film holds up to repeated viewings — Shortland’s style is so feverish it could quickly turn precious — but it demands to be seen at least once. The images captured by cinematographer Adam Arkapaw are more dreamy than nightmarish as if his camera — like the children — doesn’t fully understand the dangers.

Generation Um… No stars Keanu Reeves, Bojana Novakovic, Adelaide Clemmons, Daniel Sunjata. In the wake of an all-night party in New York City, John and his beautiful friends Mia and Violet, have a series of frank conversations. The levels of insight provided into the characters are exactly commensurate with any conceivable viewer’s interest in learning more about these nonentities. What does it add up to? Um ... I have no idea and don’t really care. Just because the characters waste their time doesn’t mean you should waste yours watching them circle the drain.

Dorfman in Love ** Sara Rue, Elliott Gould, Haaz Sleiman, Johann Urb, Scott Wilson, Catherine Hicks. Directed by Brad Leong. Twenty-seven-year-old Deb Dorfman is uprooted from the beige comfort of the suburban San Fernando Valley and caught up in the whirlwind of a newly revitalized downtown Los Angeles. Features a winning performance by Rue as its titular heroine but otherwise has little to recommend it. Playing a wallflower who blossoms when she finally meets the right guy, the actress has charm to spare.