Joe Carnahan's The Grey falls in line with an intimate, frequently grueling genre of films that serve as potent reminders of why humankind builds cities. Pitting eternally grizzled survivor Liam Neeson and a dwindling crew of compatriots against a vicious, unrelenting nature, the film gets off to a strong start before mooring itself in thinly sketched character development. It's a major departure for Carnahan, whose last two films, “The A-Team” and “Smokin’ Aces,” have been bombastic mid and big-budget affairs, a man vs. nature film that achieves surprising subtlety despite a script (by Carnahan and Ian Mackenzie Jeffers) that sticks to proven thrills.

Neeson continues this sustainably kick-ass portion of his career, playing Ottway, handy with a sniper rifle and willfully stranded out in the middle of ice-cold nowhere. Surrounded by and working to protect what a stereotypical aristocrat would deem human refuse, Ottway is losing the ...

Red Dog is a real charmer of an Aussie movie. Directed by Kriv Stenders, the film is based on the true story of a Kelpie who won the hearts of Western Australia during the ’70s. With its myriad of heart and soul, the movie is a heart-warming, endearing, humorous and affecting portrayal of a mining town’s love for the titular canine. The film’s astute depiction of the relationship between man and dog, on top of the strong filmmaking and charming screenplay ensure that Red Dog can immediately join the canon of great dog flicks.

An adaptation of Louis de Bernières’ book of the same name, Red Dog tells the true story of a dog that befriended the mining community of Dampier. The film is predominantly spent in flashback, as it begins in 1979. A trucker named Tom (Ford) arrives in Dampier on a fateful night, and stops at the local pub ...

The first major Hollywood effort to document Margaret Thatcher’s life made a strategic error. Instead of focusing on the “Iron Lady” kicking butt in the 1980s in the extremely male dominated arena of global politics, The Iron Lady instead chose to focus on Margaret’s mid-stage dementia with haphazard flashbacks to the major themes throughout her life. Casting the world’s greatest living actress, Meryl Streep, was a very wise decision but even she cannot make up for the dreadful script which spotlights the wrong era in the Prime Minister’s long and eventful life.

Margaret Thatcher was Great Britain’s first female Prime Minister when she entered 10 Downing St. in 1979. Her beginning as a grocer’s daughter, a rare female parliamentarian, and finally Conservative Party leader are briefly examined in the film, but only superficially. Instead, an older Thatcher putters around her apartment conversing with her dead husband, Dennis ...

Casting for Steven Soderbergh’s latest film, Haywire must’ve started with an all-star poker match. Inviting talents like Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Michael Fassbender, and Ewan McGregor for beer and gambling, the director, confident with his hand, decided to raise the ante. "How about we make this interesting? Relativity Media dumped me with a script. It’s written by Lem Dobbs, he’s nobody really. It’s basically the Bourne series, but with a sexy female lead. So, let’s say, if I win this round, you’ll all have to star. Sound fair?" Too much booze and a bad bet are the only explanations for the talent attached to this embarrassment.

Through its entirety, I couldn’t shake the feeling I was watching a well-financed student film. With its dated score and amateur editing, Haywire looks and sounds like something crapped out the bowels of The New York Film Academy. And although it’s Soderbergh “paying ...

“Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.” ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The ability to see events from different perspectives is one of the most important elements of a successful relationship, whether it involves a married couple, a parent and child, or a group of nations. Warring parties are always convinced that they have right or, in some cases, God on their side. To them, every action they take is fully justified and every act the other party takes is sinister. The failure to see other people’s perspectives is in full view in Asqhar Farhadi’s brilliant A Separation, winner of the Best Foreign Film award at the Golden Globes and nominated for an Oscar in the same category. Farhadi does not ask us to choose sides but to observe how decisions made with good intentions and for the alleged benefit of others

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