King of Devil's Island

The actual Norwegian film of the week is not "Norwegian Wood," which is, of course, Japanese, but rather "King of Devil's Island," an odd little movie, not badly made, about a real-life boys' correctional facility located on an island outside Oslo (or, when the film is set early in the 20th century, Christiania). The movie has a strong sense of place; it's just not a place you particularly want to be.

Hell and Back Again

One of the Oscar-nominated documentaries, Danfung Dennis' "Hell and Back Again" shows us the war in Afghanistan through the eyes of Marine Sergeant Nathan Harris, first while Dennis was embedded with Harris' unit battling the Taliban and later when Harris, badly injured from his hip down his leg, returns to life in North Carolina. (Dennis several times conveys Harris' difficulty living in the present by overlapping the audio as he segues between events in Afghanistan and back home.)

Haywire

Steven Soderbergh's "Haywire" is yet another head-scratcher from the talented but often nomadically adrift director. I do admire Soderbergh's willingness to take on all different kinds of material, rarely repeating the same genre twice, but he's made an action thriller with no thrills and not much action, either. 

The Grey

"The Grey" is a geek show, a gruesome game of Ten Little Indians with nothing more on its mind (contrary to a number of reviews by critics who must have just filed out of Phil 101) than having wolves pick off Alaskan oil-rig workers one by one like Julie Brown's homecoming queen. To give the appearance of slightly loftier ambitions, they've paid Liam Neeson to lead the expedition, lecturing on lupine behavioral patterns like Clarissa explaining it all.

Miss Bala

Mexico's entry for the Best Foreign Film Oscar tells the story of Laura Guerrero (Stephanie Sigman), a young woman whose girlfriend is among those killed at a club party by henchmen of a druglord terrorizing the country's north. Laura, who has vague aspirations of entering the state's beauty pageant, sees too much and finds herself an unwilling participant in the gang's deadly trafficking operations.

Oscar Nominations Reaction

It's been a long time since every one of the Best Picture nominees has been a thumbs-down picture, but even with nine choices, this year's unappetizing menu is just such a least-of-evils dilemma.

If I had a ballot, I'd mark it for the halfway decent "Moneyball," or perhaps (as a protest vote) the trifling "Midnight in Paris."

Contraband

Mark Wahlberg stars as Chris Farraday, a Mark Wahlberg-esque Mark Wahlberg and top international smuggler who, not wanting to rot in stir with Pops now that he's married to Kate Beckinsale and has two athletic young sons, has gone straight installing alarm systems. But Kate's kid brother owes a whacked-out hood (Giovanni Ribisi, typecast) seven hundred large, so Chris has to make one last run to Panama for the huge score that'll solve everyone's problems. He enlists best bud Sebastian (Ben Foster) to reunite his team and watch over Kate and the kids (Sebby's also trying, but failing, "to bring you a show with no intoxication").