Action Picks

David Ayer directs Brad Pitt as a Special Forces officer stranded in the Alaskan wilderness after a plane crash, fighting the elements alongside his combat dog. At 7.5 on IMDb it delivers a tight, man-versus-nature grind with constant threat and no wasted time, and J.K. Simmons adds weight to the cast. It runs a lean 101 minutes in English in Berlin, so the tension never sags.

Ryan Gosling is a stuntman and getaway driver pulled into a heist that goes lethally wrong, forcing him to fight back against the men behind it. It lands 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.8 on IMDb, with Bryan Cranston and Oscar Isaac backing a coiled, violent crime thriller that pays off hard. Screenings are thin this week, so if kinetic crime is your thing, grab it in English in Berlin while you can.