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Movie stars: capsule reviews

THIS STORY APPEARED IN

February 10, 2012

Drew Barrymore stars opposite some imposing gray whales in the drama Big… (darren michaels/universal…)

Previously released

★★★ Albert Nobbs As the title character, a woman passing as a male butler at an upper-crust hotel, Glenn Close skulks through Edwardian-era Dublin like a eunuch on a stealth mission. Rodrigo Garcia’s drama is cautious to the point of stodginess. Close (who co-wrote the script) gives a fascinating performance, even if Janet McTeer steals the film. (113 min., R) (Ty Burr)

★★★ Big Miracle If this movie is to be believed, the most riveting and important story of the late 1980s was three migrating California gray whales stranded beneath miles of ice far above the Arctic Circle. Luckily the film needs only to entertain, and that it does thoroughly, with minimal preaching. Praise be. Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski star - along with those animatronic whales, of course. (103 min., PG) (Janice Page)

★★ ½ Chronicle A found-footage superhero movie about three high schoolers who videotape the aftermath of their encounter with a glowing space-rock. Pieces of this are downright brilliant, but the filmmakers can’t decide whether they’re making fun of the genre or just going overboard with it. Paging John Hughes or Gus Van Sant. (84 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr)

★★★ Crazy Horse The 39th film from the legendary documentarian Frederick Wiseman prowls the Paris nude-revue nightclub of the title, watching the ways human beings manufacture the art of desire. His fly-on-the-wall approach yields insights into process from everybody but the dancers themselves. In French, with subtitles. (134 min., unrated) (Ty Burr)

★★ The Grey It’s cheap the way this movie wants to be both a Liam Neeson “Quit Taking My Stuff’’ movie and an existential thriller about survival. We’ve come to see Neeson danse-macabre with wolves. Instead, we get a lot of scenes of men being sad because they have no idea where they are and there are no women to have sex with. Those moments aren’t bad, but they’re not enough, either. (117 min., R) (Wesley Morris)

★ ½ Man on a Ledge People cheer the plot twists in this lousy movie about a fugitive (Sam Worthington) threatening to jump off a building. None of the actors have anything to do. You could cast this movie with potato chips and still get cheers when one of the bad guys is cuffed. With potato chips, you understand. With Elizabeth Banks, Jamie Bell, and Ed Harris. (102 min., PG-13) (Wesley Morris)

★★ The Woman in Black How frustrating to be Daniel Radcliffe. One movie after Harry Potter vanquished Voldemort, and it’s like he’s anticipating having to do it all over again. Here he is in this blah ghost story searching a big, dreary house for the source of off-screen sound effects. Radcliffe has an exuberant side, and some of us are getting desperate to see it. (95 min., PG-13) (Wesley Morris)