“THE GREY”

★★★ (out of four)

As director Joe Carnahan has noted in recent interviews, Liam Neeson has established himself as one of the last true “men” in a Hollywood system choking on an influx of preening sissies trying to pass themselves off as action stars. But Neeson is a true man’s man, and his very particular set of skills are put to effective use in “The Grey,” a borderline-existentialist survival thriller that pits Neeson and a handful of other plane crash survivors against a pack of hungry wolves in the Alaskan wilderness. The film has been billed as an action thrill-ride, but don’t be fooled: Despite the sudden bursts of violence that pepper the movie, this is largely a mood piece, tackling the Big Issues of life and death and the psychological processes people go through when faced with the prospect of their imminent demise.

“WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN”

★★★★

The film is essentially an examination of pain (focusing not on the processes of healing or the pursuit of closure or true catharsis, but rather the fruitless search for “meaning” in senseless human tragedy), and as such could have easily fallen into the usual trappings that often render such projects more self-important than socially relevant. But Ramsay strikes the perfect tone throughout the film, alternating between brief flashback scenes depicting the nightmarish relationship between mother and son (starting at birth), and “present day” sequences that show us the mother’s vain attempts to reclaim some sense of normalcy following the high school massacre for which her son was responsible. 

“TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY”

★★

“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” is based on the classic novel of the same name by John le Carre, which is widely considered to be the greatest spy story ever told. It is the sophomore directorial effort of Tomas Alfredson, who gave us the beautifully realized “Let the Right One In” just a few years ago. It boasts one of the most impressive casts of any movie last year, including Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Ciaran Hinds, John Hurt, Toby Jones and Tom Hardy. And it’s a gorgeous film visually, perfectly capturing the look, feel and all-encompassing paranoia of the Cold War at its apex.