Live Or Die On This Day

The Grey (2011) / US / Out on DVD now / Directed by Joe Carnahan / Written by Joe Carnahan and Ian Mackenzie Jeffers / Starring Liam Neeson, Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney, Dallas Roberts, Joe Anderson, James Badge Dale, Ben Bray / 117 mins.

Of late, Liam Neeson has made a name for himself as a go-to action guy who has you sorted with his special skills. Taken seemed to have Neeson in a career path that would lead him straight up to being in The Expendables 3. However, we mustn't forget that Neeson made his name with an Oscar nominated performance in Schindler's List, and since then, he's shown a remarkable range of versatility that has been whittled down to action fodder. The Grey may not be a drama set up for Oscars, but it shows Neeson doing what he does best - not just ass-kicking, but carrying a film from start to end with dedicated conviction instead of using supposed invincibility as a mask. And through this, we get an utterly terrifying man vs. wild film that doesn't ramp up anyone's skills when faced with a challenge, instead examining how they deal with it.

Addiction Eating Away at Normalcy.

Film: Shame
Year: 2011
Director: Steve McQueen
Written by: Abi Morgan and Steve McQueen
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale, Nicole Beharie, Lucy Walters, Elizabeth Masucci, Amy Hargreaves.
Running time: 102 min. 
WARNING: The film is discussed at length, so there'll probably be spoilers. My suggestion is, if you haven't seen the film, see it, and then come back and gush over it with me.

Ever since October last year, I've been looking forward to seeing Shame. I watched the trailer and I couldn't shake the feeling that it made me want to make a film of my own. For months now, I've been going on about it, talking about what it was rated, how I was pissed that Michael Fassbender didn't get an Oscar nomination even though I hadn't seen it...I've been obsessed with this movie for ages. Because of this obsession, I no longer had expectations. I felt like I had already seen the film. But boy, when I sat down to watch it on Tuesday night, I was taken to places that I hadn't expected to go. I was given this whole new perspective of film that either I'd never bothered to look for, or has been missing from my recent film-watching. It had such an immediate effect on me that I knew would happen, but not as strongly or as powerfully as it did. Shame was responsible for one of those rare occasions where I've been so overpowered by a film that I just sit in my seat, frozen, with my eyes locked on the screen as the credits roll, and then find it necessary to tell everyone in the world that I've just seen a film that changed my life. It may sound hyperbolic - especially coming from a 16 year old girl who is legally deemed two years too young to see this film - but Shame had such an effect on me, which gave me just the wake up call I needed.