On the couch

The Grey
****
Directed by: Joe Carnahan
Starring: Liam Neeson, Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney, Dallas Roberts

Project X
Directed by: Nima Nourizadeh
Starring: Thomas Mann, Oliver Cooper, Jonathan Daniel, Brown, Kirby Bliss Blanton

Currently the hardest-working man in Hollywood, Liam Neeson has been carving out a niche for himself as the brooding badass at the centre of a number action movies and revenge thrillers of late.
The Grey is a similar creature to some of these but with a whole load more acting than is generally required. Think Cliffhanger with a brain or The Way Back with wolves. Lots of wolves.
Neeson stars as John Ottway a professional hunter at an oil refinery deep in the wilds of Alaska. While the rest of the rag-tag bunch of employees busy themselves in the tundra, Ottway snipes the local lupines who, left unchecked, would view the workers as a sort of convenient alternative to brunch.
Heartbroken over the loss of his wife – it’s unclear what the cause of the separation is – and suffering from depression, he’s clearly a man on the edge.
The action gets underway when the plane Ottway and his co-workers are taking back to Anchorage crashes. The few survivors are left in the middle of nowhere with no other option than to make their way back to civilisation.
The only problem – beyond the miles of snow plain, infighting, the group’s distinct lack of food, proper equipment or the fact that it’s blizzard season – are the wolves.
Without the protection offered by Ottway’s sniper rifle, the boys are at the mercy of the hairy hoard that inhabit the tundra. And they have no fear of man – to them we’re just a delicious alternative to caribou.
Director Joe Carnahan is a man who knows how to handle gritty action and The Grey is a super example of making a little go a long way.
Like Spielberg did in Jaws, the wolves are a constant threat, rather than a regular presence on screen. The howls, growls and occasional appearances to drag one of the party off for an unscheduled dinner date make them a far more terrifying adversary than the ambulatory carpets that populate the Twilight universe.
While The Grey doesn’t provide action at every turn, the atmosphere of dread created by the constant threat of wolf attack, combined with the privations of the wilderness and the survivors’ ebbing spirits makes it compelling viewing.
If you’re of a masochistic bent or simply feel like atoning for some unspecified sin you could do worse than inflict Project X on yourself.
A found footage flick about a bunch of high school nerds looking to improve their social stock by throwing the party to end all parties, the film is as unimaginative as it is offensive.
First in line to be offended should probably be the teenagers it’s clearly aimed at. Every single kid in the film is horrendous in some way, an affront to their age-group. After the pubescent target market comes anyone that’s ever watched a comedy, laughed at a joke or done something funny, because what is presented as laughworthy here is, well, laughable.
There are only two things worse that the tired dross that is Project X – the fact that they’re almost certainly going to make a sequel and the fact that it has inspired people to throw similar parties for real.
Both things must surely be signs of an impending apocalypse. Repent! REPENT! Failing that get Superbad. At least that’s funny.