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Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington star in “Safe House.”

Updated: March 19, 2012 8:05AM

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★★★★ Superior ★★★ Recommended ★★ OK ★ Time-waster
NR Not rated NA Not available

Big Miracle ★★1/2

At this movie’s center are three gray whales — a mother, father and baby who found themselves trapped within the quickly forming Arctic ice near Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost point in the United States, in 1988. The effort to free them in the open water brought together a disparate alliance of environmental activists, oil executives, journalists, native people and even the Soviets toward the end of the Cold War. John Krasinski plays Adam, the boyishly enthusiastic local TV reporter who breaks the story. He gets some help from his idealistic ex-girlfriend, Greenpeace leader Rachel (Drew Barrymore). (PG, 107 min.)

The Grey ★★

Liam Neeson, as the grizzled, morose sniper John Ottway, is among a roughneck band of Alaskan oil refinery workers who, while being shuttled by plane to Anchorage for vacation, crash violently in a storm, stranding them in the snowy tundra. Ottway, the alpha dog, takes charge among the seven survivors whose predicament severely worsens when a pack of wolves announce themselves by their eerie, glowing eyes on the dark fringes of their campfire. (R, 117 min.) Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

★1/2

Dwayne Johnson stars as stepdad to a youth (Josh Hutcherson) whose family has discovered Verne’s sci-fi stories were true. Joining them as they rush from giant lizards and electric eels are Michael Caine, Luis Guzman and Vanessa Hudgens. (PG, 94 min.)

Joyful Noise ★1/2

Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton co-star as longtime enemies battling for control over a small-town Georgia church choir. Keke Palmer and Jeremy Jordan play teens sharing a forbidden love ... through song. Graff jumps around awkwardly among catfights, performances and surreptitious snuggle sessions between the two young stars. (PG-13, 118 min.)

Safe House ★1/2

Denzel Washington plays the notorious Tobin Frost, a brilliant former CIA operative who’s turned traitor, selling secrets to any nation or enemy cell willing to buy them. After years on the run, he’s captured and brought to an agency safe house in Cape Town, South Africa. (R, 115 min.)

The Woman in Black ★★1/2

James Watkins’ thriller summons ornately crafted, old-fashioned suspense. Daniel Radcliffe stars as the struggling, widowed London lawyer Arthur Kipps. Still grieving the loss of his wife in childbirth, Kipps — leaving his 4-year-old son behind — is dispatched to a remote British village to put in order the estate of the recently deceased Alice Drablow. The town is thick with suspicion and foreboding. So well do the townspeople know the tragedy of lost children (their deaths always accompanied by a dark, mysterious character), that whimpering comes even from their parrots. (PG-13, 95 min.)