TAGGED AS: Certified Fresh
This week at the movies, we’ve got icy survival (The Grey, starring Liam Neeson and Dermot Mulroney), a tense negotiation (Man on a Ledge, starring Sam Worthington and Elizabeth Banks), and a bounty hunter (One For the Money, starring Katherine Heigl and Jason O’Mara). What do the critics have to say?
Liam Neeson is carving out a nice little niche as a middle-aged action hero, and critics say the smart and suspenseful The Grey offers further testament to his authoritative presence as a man locked in combat with nature. When a plane carrying a group of oil-drillers crashes in the unforgiving Alaska wild, Ottway (Neeson) must lead the survivors to safety through a stretch of wilderness that’s home to a particularly aggressive and bloodthirsty pack of wolves. The pundits say The Grey (which is Certified Fresh) is a visceral, sometimes unbearably tense survival tale with a surprising amount of emotional heft and existential angst, and even if it’s occasionally too talky, Neeson is typically awesome. (Check out our feature on Certified Fresh survival movies.)
Many thrillers require audiences to suspend their disbelief, but critics say the trouble with Man on a Ledge is that its plot is too convoluted and implausible to generate suspense. Sam Worthington stars as Nick Cassidy, a disgraced ex-cop who climbs out on a hotel ledge with the expressed purpose of jumping. However, as police psychologist Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) tries to talk him down, she suspects he may be part of a larger undertaking. The pundits say Man on a Ledge features some decent performances and plenty of twists, but it’s also overly busy and contrived. (Check out this week’s Total Recall, in which we count down co-star Ed Harris’s best-reviewed movies.)
It appears the folks behind One For the Money are afraid it isn’t one for the ages, since it wasn’t screened for critics prior to release. Based upon Janet Evanovich’s bestselling novel, the movie stars Katherine Heigl as a Jersey girl who takes a job as a recovery agent for a bail bondsman; soon, she’s tasked with bringing in a murder suspect who happens to be her ex-boyfriend. Kids, it’s time to guess the Tomatometer!
Declaration of War, a based-on-true-events dramedy about a young couple whose child is suffering from brain cancer, is at 85 percent.
How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?, a documentary about unconventional British architect Norman Foster, is at 47 percent.
After Fall, Winter, a drama about a pair of damaged souls who find love in Paris, is at 20 percent.
And finally, mad props to RedTuna for coming the closest to guessing Underworld Awakening‘s 30 percent Tomatometer.
