Big Miracle Directed by Ken Kwapis One film this week has noteworthy political content and the most surprising thing is which film it is. From a casual distance, “Big Miracle” looks like a very generic animal rescue story, essentially “Free Willy” x2.5, as assorted people try to help two adults and one juvenile whale escape from behind an ice barrier in the Beaufort Sea. It’s based on a true story of an event that captured national attention in 1988, and the film makes use of news footage from that period, with every major network anchor commenting on the situation as it unfolds. It also embellishes the story with various formulaic characters and circumstances, including a love story, a

The Woman in Black Directed by James Watkins Daniel Radcliffe has made nine theatrical movies in the last decade and eight of them have been episodes in the “Harry Potter” saga. So it’s hardly surprising that when he first appears onscreen in “The Woman in Black,” you find yourself expecting his Hogwarts sidekicks to show up, or a wand to appear in his hand (not helped by an early train journey). But that slight disorientation passes and he turns in a fairly solid performance as the young father who has been sent by his London firm to settle the paperwork of a dead woman who lived in a fabulously spooky house on the far side of a remote tidal causeway. Outside of the “Potter” films, he’

INTERVIEW: DIRECTOR JOE CARNAHAN AND ACTOR FRANK GRILLO [NOTE: THE INTERVIEW CONTAINS SOME MILD PLOT SPOILERS FOR “THE GREY”.]   Recently, in San Francisco, I had a chance to chat with co-writer and director Joe Carnahan and actor Frank Grillo about their new release “The Grey” which opens this week. The film, which is reviewed in a separate article, tells the story of a group of oil workers whose plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness, where they find themselves stalked by a pack of almost mythically large wolves. Joe is a Sacramento native and we’ve known each other for several years through the local film community and the Sacramento Film and Music Festival. As we were setting up f

The Grey Directed by Joe Carnahan The promotional materials for “The Grey” would probably cause you to believe that this is a “Jaws”-like adventure, with sharks replaced by wolves. And that’s certainly an easy way to sell a movie – but the truth is somewhat more complicated and worthy of greater respect. This isn’t just a movie about men and wolves, and the conflict between them after a plane of oil industry workers crashes in the Alaskan wilderness. Underneath that surface, it’s more about life and death and our ability to determine our own fate. Liam Neeson plays Ottway, a man whose job is to shoot wolves and remove other threats to the men who work in this desolate place. But he’s als

The Forbes magazine list of dirtiest cities, with respect to air polution, is out and Sacramento is #10, with 6 other CA cities in the top 10.  Here's the list with comments taken directly from the source material (including an unfortunately worded remark about San Diego) - more details can be found here. #10 Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Yuba City, CA-NV A little better than Bakersfield and Fresno, but Sacramento still suffers stagnant air stuck in the San Joaquin Valley. #9 San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA There's no dirty coal plants here, and you'd think the ocean breeze would keep the air clean, but San Diego has a big port and busy highways that lead to and from Mexico. #8 Phoenix-M