The Grey

In The Grey, Liam Neeson plays a rifleman at North Slope oil operation. His job: shoot the large, fearsome wolves of Northern Alaska before they attack men out working on the equipment. For reasons that will be explained later in the film, he is deeply depressed and contemplating suicide.

On a charter flight from the North Slope down to Anchorage, his plane goes down. It falls to Neeson to rally the survivors and lead them first to shelter, then to home. This will pose challenge enough, until the wolves show up.  Now Neeson, without his rifle, must fight them for the survival of his pack.

What follows is an exciting, action-packed hour and a half of survivalist, wolf-battlin' action in the Frozen North. Neeson has both the acting and action chops to hold the film together, the set-pieces are both gripping and understandable, and the whole thing works. Will it provoke deep thought and long conversations? No. But it's a pleasant diversion and can make 90 minutes of your flight back in coach whiz right by.

Smokin' Aces

Y'know what I liked best about the structure of SMOKIN' ACES? It finished act one during the opening credits, spent about ten minutes going through act two, then used the rest of the movie to give us one long third act. From the beginning of that third act, it's non-stop jokes, gunshots, and chain saws. What's not to like?

SMOKIN' ACES reminds me of SNATCH in that it isn't so much about story as execution. This movie tries to dazzle us with playful, snappy and memorable characters, and general quirkiness. Overall, it succeeds, though I agree that the film could have done without its twist and the ending is a bit of a letdown. Had I seen this one in a theater, I would have been disappointed. As a time-filler during a long overwater flight, it was just the thing.

Narc

Joe Carnahan's NARC is a very well acted, rather overdirected, and ultimately satisfying procedural.

In NARC, Jason Patric returns to a character that seems right out of his criminally underappreciated RUSH. Det. Sgt. Nick Tellis is a cop in rough shape. He used to be an undercover narcotics officer, but he accidentally hit a pregnant woman in a gunfight and he's barely hanging on the paycheck from his administrative leave. Oh, and he may have been a drug addict, to boot. Tellis is given a chance to return to active duty to solve the murder of another undercover narc, and he's teamed with the always unpredictable (and possibly psychotic) Ray Liotta.

The story has its usual twists and turns, betrayals and redemptions. What makes it stand out are the subtle, finely tuned performances of Patric and Liotta. We come to believe in these guys and their journeys, and the actors bring a much needed reality to a film that might otherwise succumb to its love of blue filters, jump cuts, and dazzling feats of editing.

This movie has some strong positives and some mild negatives. Overall, I'd say it's worth the rental.