Universal Pictures

John Krasinski and Drew Barrymore star in the mawkish whale tale Big Miracle.

Big Miracle will pull at your heartstrings. But, unfortunately, that seems to be about all that it does. Ken Kwapis directed Big Miracle, and he touches all of the expected emotional spots, with three stranded whales fighting for survival while humans bicker among themselves to either save the whales or to make themselves look good trying.

Open Road Films

Liam Neeson stars as a man who must stand his ground in the face of fearsome threats in The Grey.

The Grey is an exhausting movie. Before completion, it confronts a series of frights and fears conjured not by the demonic, computer-generated sort, but instead by dangers both natural and man-made. Joe Carnahan (Narc, 2010’s The A-Team) co-wrote, with Ian Mackenzie Jeffers (author of the source short story Ghost Walker), and directs The Grey, filling it with with realistic obstructions for its main group of plagued characters. Carnahan and Jeffers set up the basic premise and then drag a dwindling party of seven through some gruesome encounters with an array of fierce predators.