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Set in 1921 England The Awakening is a ghost story chiller starring Rebecca Hall, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton. The film opens to a seance filled with all the customary claptrap:  dark lighting, bizarre symbols, an overabundance of candles, a run down almost decaying room, and creepy looking characters wrapped in shawls that wouldn’t stand out in a crowd of zombies. Cue a little bit of ritual sacrifice and these supernatural pedlars have their show fully underway, summoning spirits from the ‘other side’, the tension builds as the ghost of a girl appears as a reflection and then bam it’s grabbed by Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall) and revealed for the farcical charade that it is – designed to grotesquely manipulate the weak, grieving, post World War one public’s need for contact with those lost.

The Awakening’s protagonist, Cathcart, is a renowned disapprover of the spiritual and she spends her time using science and reason to reveal the shallow artifice of events such as the opening seance. To try and dethrone her from her carefully constructed seat of reason school master Robert Mallory (Dominic West) arrives to summon her to what is purported to be a ‘real’ ghost, haunting his boarding school. He regales her with a tale of frightened children and a persistent ghost child backed up by a set of class photographs each with an additional stereotypically blurred face, one that usually signifies that the individual has recently watched a certain ominous video tape. Not one to back down from a challenge and armed with an antiquated Ghostbuster kit she returns with Mallory to the boarding school determined to disprove his story, and naturally this is where all the darkly lit corridors, tense music, and eccentric ‘bump in the night’ sounds we would expect begin.

A good ghost story is usually one where very little happens (in an action sense) as it is in that expectation of something that tension and therefore fear happen. The Awakening, rather like the recent Woman in Black, is an attempt to return to this classical horror vehicle – as opposed to the blood and guts gore-fest approach that is more frequently employed these days. In someways it is successful, it slowly builds in tension with simple scenes that often isolate the main character in empty spaces or surround her with darkness. The scenes are carefully constructed with peculiar elements appearing in backgrounds or in the periphery to create worry or anxiety in the viewer. There’s a reference early on to a Caravaggio painting on the wall, and the movie clearly references the dramatic contrast of light that the artist so frequently used, with some scenes being lit entirely by Cathcart’s personal torch. This all works to create a very claustrophobic atmosphere and there are certainly a couple of moments that will make you jump – there is a particularly marvellous scene involving a dollhouse that was genuinely spooky, if not slightly distressing. It’s also nice that the chills aren’t confined to the dark of night with a great deal of the ghostly goings on taking place in the, usually safe, daylight.

But then, in counterbalance to the good, there’s a parade of the vapid cliches that are usually rife in ghost stories; like hands reaching out through water, shadows and reflections on glass, the closing of a door to reveal a figure stood behind it, and looking through a hole to be abruptly confronted with someone else watching back, that it all becomes a bit trite and predictable. Moreover there’s the ghost itself which works well when it’s lurking in the background or is otherwise disembodied but there are scenes where a tedious pale CGI ‘horror’ face (the aforementioned video tape face from The Ring) rushes into shot and it’s just a bit too obvious and at odds with the slow and simple build up elsewhere in the movie.

Also the story begins to get overly convoluted, rather like The Others, it starts to add a more complicated backstory involving Maud (Imelda Staunton) and whilst there’s something inherently creepy about both a primly dressed boarding school governess and Imelda Staunton as an actress, it all begins to detract from the tension and fear factor. The movie also muddies the water with a love story development between Cathcart and Mallory which given her characters troubled, slightly vulnerable nature seems more that a bit unnecessary. Cathcart, whilst having made a career from disproving ghosts and over worldly beings, we find out is really just searching for proof of their existence – she wants to believe. What starts out as a fairly subtle, well thought out movie becomes very heavy handed by the end, as we’re taken through Cathcart’s realisation of lost memories and her need to reconcile the past.

Unfortunately, the final scene ends with rather infuriating ambiguity as to the fate of the main character(s) and rather than being a twist calling into question our assumptions about the story it just comes across as being unfinished, or rather that the writers simply didn’t know how they wanted to end it. All in all The Awakening is by no means a terrible movie, it’s very deliberately and beautifully framed and for at least the first half it builds mystery and tension very well, but then it gets bogged down in a succession of overly complex or entirely superfluous ‘twisty’ plot strands. Watch it for Rebecca Hall’s well rounded portrayal of a person stuck between the scientific and spiritual worlds, but don’t expect too much from the ending.

50/50 is a ‘dramedy’, along the lines of recent awkward, character focused comedies from the likes of Seth Rogen, Judd Apatow, etc. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Adam a man who at 27 years old is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, the reaction of his family and friends along with the bizarrely naive musings of his assigned councillor provide a black comedic tone. This is a movie where the laughs largely come from an appreciation of the irony, or the laughable tragedy, of life. If it sounds like this is less obviously funny than say Superbad or Knocked Up that’s because it is, but it’s a more rewarding comedy for it.

Gordon-Levitt continues his stellar rise, one that started long ago on Third Rock from the Sun and most recently saw him appearing in the brilliant Inception and (500) Days of Summer, to provide a really genuine performance of someone having to deal with a mountain of shit. Seth Rogen as Adam’s horny, crass, best friend Kyle provides his typical, and at this point expected, performance as the same character he is in everything (i.e. himself). Adam’s girlfriend Rachel, played Bryce Dallas Howard, is an instantly hate-able, selfish and constantly grating character somewhat similar to her turn as pure evil in The Help. Whilst Seth Rogan’s character is somewhat funny the real laughs are generated by Anjelica Houston as Adam’s needy mum Diane, and Anna Kendrick as Katherine the councillor who is still working on her Doctorate. Katherine is hilariously underprepared to be able to provide a stable system of support and there are some wonderfully awkward attempts at empathy, and Kendrick really nails it in a performance that is funny and sweet with some truly cringe-worthy moments.

Given the gravity of potentially life threatening illness the movie plays it fast and loose with the idea of comedy, it doesn’t shy away from the pure unrelenting reality of the situation – in fact it does just the opposite and focus’s on how awful it is to deal with this type of situation. What is funny is how people simply don’t know how to act around Adam when they find out, some of the things people say to him are so ridiculous that he often ends up comforting them; it’s almost always about how other people react to his cancer and how it effects them rather than Adam, again highlighting a dramatic irony. There are moments that you have to laugh at them or you’ll cry from their shear awfulness. It’s honest, and in that it is hilarious.

Will Reiser’s script is sharp and witty, and given that it’s based on the true story of him dealing with cancer (apparently with Seth Rogan fulfilling the same role he did in real life) he really knows how to astutely write for this situation to highlight the myriad of emotions and tensions, trying to pick out the ludicrous black comedy that life can sometimes be. Gordon-Levitt steals the show, he embodies the character so well that we laugh with him and feel for him at the same time. Graceful and heartfelt, this is definitely one to watch if you get the chance.

I know what you’re thinking, I basically just watched some soft core porn and reviewed it. But alas no! It’s a proper film with legitimate (and sometimes serious) storylines. I can honestly say it wasn’t what I was expecting and I was glad of it.

This film is set on a summers afternoon in Hamstead Heath, London and follows the minutiae of seven seperate couples. I won’t delve into the specifics but I will say that some of the topics brought up are handled very well.

These kind of films are the films that the British Film Industry do well. It’s low budget but of a high quality and features topics that we can all relate to. It’s funny, quirky and features an A-list cast without becoming too commercial.

And the most important thing of all? It made me smile! I watched it after a bit of a rubbish day at work and it cheered me up no end. It put things into perspective and it made me laugh, which I was truely thankful for.

If you’ve got a spare 90 minutes, watch it. I can’t guarantee you’ll fall in love with it but I can guarantee you’ll see a bit of Tom Hardy’s derrière and lets be honest that’s amazing as it is.