Bryce Dallas Howard

Review: 50/50

You can always judge an 'illness' movie on how hard it makes you cry. Depending on the genre, it may also make you laugh or think or empathise, but when it comes down to it, the tears tell the story – it's the one emotion that informs all others, the one that can't lie. So what saltiness level are we talking for 50/50, Jonathan Levine's buddy comedy based on writer Will Reiser's own cancer treatment? When it comes to the crunch, it's quite likely there'll be "something in your eye", with possible cheek wiping needed, and a fair chance of a little dry-sobbing at the end. It's unlikely to have you bawling, but 50/50 is smartly written and well acted enough to have you fully invested once it's time to find out if those titular odds come good.

Review: Hereafter

Hereafter opens with a tsunami. Despite some occasionally shaky CG effects (correction: occasionally shaky Oscar-nominated CG effects), it's a powerful, harrowing scene, particularly in light of the recent worldwide floods. It's also quite apt, as the following two hours of Hereafter can only be described as a tsunami of boredom - you'll be helpless as waves of indifference crash down on you and you're overcome by a strong torrent of sludgy dialogue. Before long, the afterlife starts to sound pretty damn appealing.

Review: Terminator Salvation

Terminator Salvation is explosive - not in the sense that it'll blow your mind, more in the sense that it'll burst your eardrums. Pound for pound, it features more explosions than any other movie I've seen - there's literally something detonating or collapsing or being shot or catching fire every 30 seconds. Even in quiet scenes...