BIG MIRACLE (PG)

Saving the whales with humor and charm

In last year’s A Dolphin Tale, Ashley Judd, Harry Connick, Jr and Morgan Freeman saved the dolphins. Now, in Big Miracle, Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski and Dermot Mulroney save the whales. Somewhere, the manatees are thinking “What about us?” This disarming family film, which recounts the 1988 international rescue effort to free three gray whales stranded in the ice in Alaska, is warm and soft-edged in all the expected ways — the sort of live-action picture the Walt Disney Co. used to crank out in the 1960s and 70s. But much like the book that inspired it — Tom Rose’s Freeing the Whales: How the Media Created the World’s Biggest Non-Event — the movie balances its sentimental side with a healthy dose of cynicism.

A SEPARATION (PG-13)

In Iran, a marriage implodes, with consequences

At the start of A Separation, an Iranian couple appears before a judge to request a divorce. Simin (Leila Hatami) and Nader (Peyman Moadi) have irreconcilable differences: She wants to move abroad before their exit visas expire for the sake of their daughter Termeh (Sarina Farhadi). He is unwilling to relocate because his father is ill with Alzheimer’s and cannot take care of himself. But Simin would rather break up their marriage than stay put, because she doesn’t want her child to grow up under what she calls “these circumstances.”

MAN ON A LEDGE (PG-13)

Standing on the edge of nonsense

In Man on a Ledge, a man named Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) checks into the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, orders a champagne lunch and then climbs out of the window of his room on the 21st floor, threatening to jump.

THE GREY (R)

Stranded on the ice, with wolves

In The Grey, Liam Neeson once again plays a man who is separated from his loved ones, just like he did in Taken and Unknown. Only this time, there are wolves! Neeson may be pushing 60, but he cuts such a commanding action-hero figure, it’s hard to begrudge the actor for abandoning the sort of ambitious pictures he used to make ( Schindler’s List, Kinsey) in favor of schlock like Clash of the Titans.

Oscar nominations play it safe

The Academy Awards will celebrate the tried and true, not the fresh and new

Movies

Worlds apart

As Iran cracks down on filmmakers, ‘A Separation’ rakes in the awards

EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE (PG-13)

‘Extremely Loud’ is incredibly bad

You need lots of gifted people chasing after the same bad idea to make a movie as colossally misguided as Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. This sort of train wreck is not the result of ordinary hackwork or mere incompetence. This is a failure on a much larger, deeper scale, an example of what can happen when artists view themselves as superior to ordinary people and decide to impart their wisdom on the masses.

Haywire (R)

Going through the motions, with style

Steven Soderbergh has been telling interviewers that he’s planning to take a sabbatical from filmmaking because he has lost his inspiration. His lack of interest is palpable in Haywire, a rote exercise in action filmmaking that is sleek and polished and instantly evaporates from memory. More unusual for Soderbergh is that the movie isn’t even all that fun to watch: Once you get over the novelty of watching mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano beat up her male co-stars, the film has practically nothing else to offer.