Knowing (15)

Paranormal communication, clairvoyance, visitors from another world, and Nicolas Cage as an astrophysics professor.

Take your pick as to which is the least plausible. Cage has lost all faith after the death of his wife – "Shit just happens", he tells his bemused students – but then his young son Caleb (Chandler Canterbury) discovers a 50-year-old message from a highschool kid in which may be encrypted predictions of every major catastrophe, with exact locations and number of fatalities. And, guess what, next up is the apocalypse itself! Alex Proyas directs with maximum portentousness, and Cage pulls many angst-ridden expressions as he realises doom might be at hand. The CGI is unconvincing, the big shock-and-awe finale is a throwback to the days of Deep Impact, and underneath it all is the nervous American insistence that there is life beyond the stars.