Jurassic World (2015)

They're Back!: Dinosaurs are on the loose again in "Jurassic World."

After more than a decade of rumors and false starts, “Jurassic World,” the latest in the “Jurassic Park” series, finally hit screens over the summer. This fourth installment is more of a reboot than a sequel, which explains why it always seems less like a movie than one long, extended beginning.

The seamless, computer-generated special effects are striking, but the new dinosaur epic—helmed by director Colin Trevorrow, taking over for the reins from Steven Spielberg—ultimately lands with more of a thud than a roar, done in by familiar, well-worn characterizations and a shallow screenplay (stitched together by four writers) that has some interesting ideas but lacks the ambition to pull them off.

The action returns to the remote island where the dinosaur theme park from the original has been refurbished and reopened, showing two distinct sides—the outside, where bright, sunny spaces are flooded with kids and excited crowds; and a dark, cavernous inside, where a team of employees control things through a huge electronic wall of monitors and blinking lights.

This, of course, is necessary to manage the toothy, prehistoric beasts roaming beyond the towering concrete walls. The fearsome T-Rex ruled the earlier pictures, but the star this time is the formidable and mysterious Indominus-Rex, a one of a kind species with a few tweaks—it can change color and sense heat—that suggest a massive carnivore crossed with the creature from “Predator.”

Trouble starts when the white coats underestimate the high intelligence of the Indominus, and by the time they finish connecting the dots, the Frankenstien-osaur has escaped and begun a dangerous rampage. It’s up to Navy man turned dinosaur whisperer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), and park operations manager Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) to save the day. Those seeking a jolt of romantic tension to go along with the mayhem, don’t worry, Claire is also Owen’s mercurial girlfriend.

For the most part, Trevorrow keeps the movie humming along like a genre machine, but certain Spielbergian derivations—like an overly sentimental subplot involving a troubled marriage, a pair of young siblings, and sappy family bonding during crisis—suggest a director playing it safe rather than expressing a style of his own.

Some of the best moments include the ostensible villain, Vic Hoskins, colorfully played by a thankless Vincent D’Onofrio. As head of security operations for the park, Hoskins seeks to harness dinosaurs, especially the powerful and versatile Indominus, as secret military weapons, a notion that strikes the animal-loving Owen as appalling and immoral.

Eventually, D’Onofrio is chomped by one of his snarling, would-be agents of war, but not before he lends a smarmy, sinister edge to a movie populated by mostly hollow, generic do-gooders. Even an evil soul is better than no soul at all.

Safelight (2015)

Juno Temple and Even Peters in "Safelight."

Much of “Safelight” takes place somewhere in the remote corners of Southern California’s desolate Mojave Desert, where a lonely 17-year-old named Charles (Evan Peters, his messy, curly hair making him reminiscent of Jessie Eisenberg) limps to school during the day and helps run a dusty truck stop at night. Born slightly crippled, he walks by dragging one foot, a shortcoming that leaves him painfully self-conscious as well as a target for random—and manipulative—ambushes by sadistic bullies.

Charles’ only apparent happiness comes with his passion for photography (the title is a reference to lighthouses, his favorite subject), but that changes when he meets Vicki (Juno Temple), the proverbial hooker with a heart of gold occupying one of the dingy motel rooms next door. Vicki surprises Charles by looking beyond his physical appearance and treating him with compassion and sensitivity, two things sorely lacking in her current arrangement with a drunken, sleazy pimp (Kevin Alejandro) who abuses her.

The wholly inauspicious debut of writer-director Tony Aloupis, “Safelight” is extensively clichéd and mind-numbingly predictable. At the middling center, Vicki and Charles’ tentative friendship grows—she drives him to lighthouses to take pictures—but too often along the fringes, a well-worn series of familiar subplots dominate.

Charles’ single father (raspy-voiced Jason Beghe), weak and suffering from an unknown ailment, dies; middle-aged Peg (Christine Lahti), a divorcee and Charles’ boss at the truck stop, steps in to provide motherly comfort and encouragement; Vicki, desperate to reconnect with family, has an uncomfortable reunion with her two younger sisters; and the ugly, misogynistic pimp, who has no friends, increasingly seethes with jealousy and rage, setting the table for an inevitably violent showdown.

“Safelight” is one of those movies meant to be watched after the late, late show. The one-dimensional characters and predictable story make it easy to follow even if the viewer, lulled by the sleepy setting and languid pace, repeatedly dozes off on the couch. Although, falling asleep altogether would be the much more logical outcome.

How I Live Now (2013)

Saoirse Ronan (l.) and Harley Bird in "How I Live Now."

Sex with a cousin rarely qualifies as an erudite strategy to address raging teenage hormones, but for problematic Daisy, the young protagonist in the nuclear war drama “How I Live Now,” falling in love is, surprisingly enough, the least of her worries.

As portrayed by the Irish actress Saoirse (pronounced ‘Sersha’) Ronan, Daisy is a troubled 16-year-old American from a fractured family (her mother died and she’s not close with her father) who goes to live with her aunt and three cousins at their home in the sprawling English countryside. The friendly trio of cousins consist of a laconic elder brother named Eddie (George MacKay), his more energetic younger brother, Isaac (Tom Holland), and their spirited little sister, Piper (Harley Bird).

The pretty but irascible Daisy brings along some additional baggage in the form of excess cynicism and an unhealthy addiction to diet pills, but for the most part remains just an archetypal moody teenager, depressed and distant. Gradually, she gives in to her cousins’ relentless attempts at socializing, first by opening up to the pleasures of the landscape and then by developing a relationship with the gentle, quietly fascinating Eddie.

But you get the sense during the opening credits—in which Daisy is seen slowly making her way through security at Heathrow airport and the TV is covering the latest terror attack—that this fragile utopia won’t last. Indeed, world problems eventually haunt “How I Live Now,” when word arrives that war has begun.

Moments after a nuclear bomb is set off, the film’s bright, lush milieu—with its acres of rolling green hills, tree-lined forests, and fresh, unblemished swimming ponds—is darkened by radiation fallout, smoke from explosions, machine gun fire and death. The family is separated but during the chaos of martial law, Daisy and young Piper are able to escape. From here, the film largely follows their quest for survival and search for their cousins.

Directed by Kevin MacDonald, “How I Live Now” is well made and visually polished—the stark lighting, by cinematographer Franz Lustig, is impressive, with its mix of warm ambers and icy blues—but the horrors-of-war story is dreary and familiar territory.

More depressing is the way the script assigns a teenager to fight for her life against dangerous forces, a tactic that sounds a lot like a crass attempt to hitch a ride on the success of the recent blockbuster, “The Hunger Games.” (Also like “Hunger Games,” “How I Live Now” is based on a young adult novel by Meg Rosoff.) And while the platinum blonde, blue-eyed Ronan does what she can as the plucky heroine, it’s not enough to escape from the shadow of the formidably resourceful Katniss Everdeen.

But then again, give her a bow and arrow and who knows?

Unexpected (2015)

Cobie Smulders (l.) and Gail Bean in "Unexpected."

Directed and co-written by Kris Swanberg, wife of indie filmmaker Joe Swanberg, “Unexpected” is a surprisingly deft and unassuming slice of life tale of two simultaneous, unplanned pregnancies involving a teacher and one of her students.

Filmed in Chicago, the movie stars the regal and appealing Cobie Smulders—establishing herself as a legitimate movie star after a long run on TVs “How I Met Your Mother”—as Sam Abbott, an ambitious and successful high school science teacher working at a public school located in West Englewood, one of the city’s impoverished, minority neighborhoods. Shortly after realizing she’s pregnant, Sam lets her students in on the secret by affiliating a classroom garbage can with an episode of morning sickness.

Meanwhile, one of Sam’s best students is a bright and promising senior named Jasmine (newcomer Gail Bean, in a wonderful and strikingly polished performance), who has also found herself dealing with an unanticipated baby bump. The timing is unfortunate; Jasmine has a stellar GPA and a chance to study at the University of Illinois, but she can’t afford to live off campus and the school can’t accommodate her needs.

The film is largely about how a deeper bond grows between Sam and Jasmine as they each confront difficult decisions and wholesale life changes. Their relationship begins as teacher and student and evolves into one between two mature, intelligent adults.

Having been a Chicago public school teacher herself before becoming a filmmaker, Swanberg—who studied film at Southern Illinois and earned a Master’s in education at DePaul—seems uniquely qualified to tell a story about a foundering inner city school, an idea no doubt inspired by the highly controversial, real-life account of 50 underperforming CPS schools being recently shuttered or consolidated as a cost cutting measure.

Swanson has collaborated with her husband on some prior projects, but this is one of her first solo efforts as a director. Though “Unexpected” deals with some complex, underlying socio-economical themes, Swanson confidently steers the film in a way that rarely feels heavy-handed or manipulative.

However, especially considering the film is so timely when it comes to its education headlines, the one glaring omission is some hint at the plague of gun violence that haunts the south side of the Windy City. It sounds cynical, but without a subtle allusion to this dark, dangerous reality—a shriek of distant bullets, the wail of an ambulance siren, a few slowly patrolling police cars—the film loses some verisimilitude.

But putting aside its inexplicably overblown idealism, the movie is brimming with honesty, warmth and life. There are also the fine performances, especially from Bean and the suddenly expressive and touching Smulders, who recovers nicely from a mean-spirited turn in “Results,” the lifeless would-be rom-com about fitness trainers also released this year.

True to its title, “Unexpected” is a refreshing surprise.