Opening in theaters on January 27th is the new action-packed, wilderness-survival thriller from director Joe Carnahan (The A-Team) called The Grey. The movie features an exceptional cast of veteran actors including Liam Neeson (Taken), Dermot Mulroney (Abduction), Frank Grillo (Warrior), James Badge Dale (Shame), Dallas Roberts (3:10 to Yuma), Joe Anderson (The Crazies), and Nonso Anozie (Conan the Barbarian).

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had an opportunity to sit down with actors Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo, James Badge Dale, and Dallas Roberts to discuss their work on The Grey. The exceptional group of actors talked about the new film, their characters' arcs, working with director Joe Carnahan, the movie's physically taxing demands, and why Frank Grillo actually got himself arrested to research his role.

Opening in theaters on January 27th is the new action-packed, wilderness-survival thriller from director Joe Carnahan (The A-Team) called The Grey. The movie features an exceptional cast of veteran actors including Liam Neeson (Taken), Dermot Mulroney (Abduction), Frank Grillo (Warrior), James Badge Dale (Shame), Dallas Roberts (3:10 to Yuma), Joe Anderson (The Crazies), and Nonso Anozie (Conan the Barbarian).

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had an opportunity to sit down with director Joe Carnahan to discuss his work on The Grey. Carnahan talked about the new film, why he chose to depict the wolves as abnormally large, human nature's willingness to adapt and survive, reuniting with Neeson after The A-Team, and the production's extremely difficult weather conditions. 

Opening in theaters on January 27th is the new action-packed, wilderness-survival thriller from director Joe Carnahan (The A-Team) called The Grey. The movie features an exceptional cast of veteran actors including Liam Neeson (Taken), Dermot Mulroney (Abduction), Frank Grillo (Warrior), James Badge Dale (Shame), Dallas Roberts (3:10 to Yuma), Joe Anderson (The Crazies), and Nonso Anozie (Conan the Barbarian).

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had an opportunity to sit down with Academy Award-nominated actor Liam Neeson to discuss his work on The Grey. Neeson talked candidly about the new film, human nature's willingness to survive, his character's own sudden desire to live; the mantra that kept him going, what Neeson learned about himself from making the movie, and why in his opinion Joe Carnahan was the only man capable of directing the film. 

You may not recognize actor James Hong by name but trust me, if you were to take one look at his fifty-year long resume you would definitely know him from his over three hundred and fifty film and television appearances. In addition to appearing on some of the most popular TV programs of all-time including All in the Family, The A-Team, and Seinfeld, the Asian American actor has also performed in such classic films as Chinatown, Blade Runner, Big Trouble in Little China, Airplane!, and my personal favorite … The In-Laws starring Oscar-winner Alan Arkin and the late great Peter Falk. But modern audiences know Hong best from his voice over work on the animated series Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, as well as the feature films Mulan, and Kung Fu Panda. Last summer the actor returned to the big screen once again as Jack Black’s adopted father Mr. Ping in the extremely popular Kung Fu Panda 2, which is available on Blu-ray and DVD beginning December 13^th.

In Kung Fu Panda 2, Po (Black) must take on an archenemy that he didn’t even know he had when he meets the evil Lord Shen (Gary Oldman). Along with the Furious Five, our fearless Dragon Master fights off a pack of wolves working for the villainous peacock and soon realizes that Shen has a connection to his true past. Always aware that he was different from his goose father Mr. Ping (Hong), Po finally asks his dad to tell him the truth about where he came from. When Po learns that he was adopted, he sets off on a journey with his friends to confront Lord Shen and stop his plans for world domination. In the process, Po finds out the truth about where he comes from, who his birth parents were and what happened to them. In the end, Po returns to Mr. Ping realizing that is where he belongs, but the film concludes with a cliffhanger regarding Po’s birth father that could lead into the inevitable Kung Fu Panda 3.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with actor James Hong about his work on Kung Fu Panda 2. The veteran screen actor discussed the film, how he got his part, the role he was originally cast in, playing Jack Black’s father, the art of voice acting, working with director Jennifer Yuh Nelson, the movie’s theme of adoption, and a possible Kung Fu Panda 3.

Joe Carnahan, who directed the underwhelming The A-Team, recently spoke with the Wall Street Journal; the interview yielded some interesting statements, to put it mildly.

According to Carnahan, he knew the film would not be the hit studio execs had hoped for, “We kind of fell victim to a marketing misstep in that there wasn’t necessarily an understanding of what the show was," he said. "We didn’t do an adequate enough job of telling people what the movie was, if you know what I mean.”

The box office this summer has been, to put it mildly, disappointing. The last two weeks, however, are setting things on the right track, putting audiences and studio execs alike in a happier frame of mind. At least, for now.

The number one film this weekend is Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 3 (was there ever any doubt?). The third film in the lovable franchise gives Pixar its best opening ever, grabbing approximately $109 million from 4,028 locations, including 2,463 3D screens. The opening topples the number set be Pixar's previous opening weekend champ, The Incredibles, which made $70 million when it debuted in November of 2004. Worldwide, the film - which scored a 99% Fresh Rating over at Rotten Tomatoes - gobbled up an additional $153 million; it should have no problem catching up to Toy Story 2's $485 million worldwide gross. Reaching the heights of Pixar's worldwide champ Finding Nemo ($867.9 million) will be a much more difficult task.