NEW YORK –– When an ex-cop is falsely convicted of stealing a multimillion-dollar diamond and sentenced to 25 years in jail, there's just one course for him to follow: Break out of prison, check in to Manhattan's landmark Roosevelt Hotel, order lobster – then clamber out onto a cornice hundreds of feet above street level.Sam Worthington stars in a scene from the movie "Man on a Ledge." The Catholic News Service classification is A-III – adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. (CNS photo/Summit)

Such, apparently, is the logic of Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington), the protagonist of the tedious thriller "Man on a Ledge" (Summit).

Sent up the river for stealing the fabulously valuable Monarch Diamond from morally stained, cigar-smoking moneybags David Englander (Ed Harris), Nick settles on a convoluted plan to vindicate his innocence. While he distracts a crowd of New Yorkers from his high-story perch, his brother, Joey (Jamie Bell), and Joey's girlfriend, Angie (Genesis Rodriguez), will crack open Englander's vault and prove that the putatively purloined jewel is still in situ.

NEW YORK –– "The Grey" (Open Road) respectfully obeys the immutable law of all story lines in which an aircraft crashes in the Arctic: Some folks are bound to get eaten. Liam Neeson stars in a scene from the movie "The Grey." The Catholic News Service classification is L – limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R – restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.(CNS photo/Open Road)

This film, however, with its slight spiritual bent, ducks the cannibalism cliche and makes wolves the hungry ones. The animals are doing what they're supposed to do by nature, stalking the survivors to thin out the human herd – the better, in the end, to kill them all.

Liam Neeson plays oil-rig worker John Ottway. He leads an ever-dwindling handful of men – Hendrick, Diaz, Talget, Burke and Flannery (Dallas Roberts, Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney, Nonso Anozie and Joe Anderson, respectively) – through howling winds, deep snow, fatigue and their own anxieties after their plane crashes while en route to Anchorage, Alaska.

That misfortune is significantly compounded by the fact that they've come down too close to the wolves' den, leaving them targeted as invaders.

NEW YORK –– The British market a brand of yeast spread called Marmite. Due to its overwhelmingly strong taste, its label carries the slogan "Love it or Hate it."Meryl Streep stars in a scene from the movie "The Iron Lady." The Catholic News Service classification is A-III – adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. (CNS photo/Weinstein)

As a result of the visceral reactions, both pro and con, stirred by her controversial 1979-1990 tenure in office, former U.K. leader Margaret Thatcher – now Baroness Thatcher – has been described as the Marmite of prime ministers.

With critics describing her as nothing less than evil, and supporters naming her the greatest prime minister ever, it seems unlikely, in theory at least, that a fair portrayal of Thatcher's life on screen would even be possible. Yet, with the touching biopic, "The Iron Lady" (Weinstein), director Phylidda Lloyd has overcome the odds to achieve exactly that.

The film shuttles between the present day – with the elderly Thatcher (Meryl Streep) suffering from a combination of dementia and short-term memory loss – and a series of flashbacks recounting significant passages in the handbag-wielding ex-leader's life. The latter take in her humble beginnings as a provincial greengrocer's daughter, her romance with future husband Denis (Jim Broadbent) and her eventual expulsion from office at the hands of scheming opponents within her own Conservative Party. They're led by the stealthy Michael Heseltine (Richard E. Grant).

Along the way, Thatcher survives an assassination attempt, reclaims the Falkland Islands, and becomes the longest serving British premier of the 20th century. Events are portrayed in an evenhanded, nonpartisan manner, though some incidents are sensationalized for cinematic effect.

These are the covers of "Hispanic Ministry in the 21st Century: Present and Future" edited by Hosffman Ospino and "Latino Catholicism: Transformation in America's Largest Church" by Timothy Matovina. The books are reviewed by Agostino Bono. (CNS)"Hispanic Ministry in the 21st Century: Present and Future" edited by Hosffman Ospino. Convivium Press (Miami, 2010). 445 pp., $22.99.

"Latino Catholicism: Transformation in America's Largest Church" by Timothy Matovina. Princeton University Press (Princeton. N.J., 2011). 312 pp., $29.95.

Ministering to Hispanic Catholics in the United States is a work in progress. Defining it is like trying to pinpoint the elusive colors of a chameleon leaping through autumn foliage. While much attention is focused on the challenges posed by the massive flow of Spanish-speaking immigrants crossing the southern border in recent decades, Hispanic Catholics are far from a monolith.

They include second- and third-generation bilingual families struggling to scamper into the middle class and adapt to U.S. traditions while retaining ties to their ancestral culture and language. Added to the mix are predominantly English-speaking Hispanics who trace their families back centuries to the Spanish colonial era, before their ancestral lands passed to Mexico and then the United States. And let's not forget Hispanics who have intermarried in the growingly multiethnic, multicultural and multilingual United States.

When it comes to developing ministerial approaches, one size does not fit all. Nor is there agreement among Hispanics as to what are the best roads to evangelization.

Back in May of 2011, when the weather was much nicer, I applied for the ISSR Library grant for Salzmann [...]