My Favorite Movies

I have to return some video tapes.

Bale's character Patrick Bateman is this amazing, psychotic, rich yuppie living in 1980's New York City. He works on Wall Street at Pierce and Pierce and has an expensive apartment filled with expensive things. When he's not going off to have dinner with the guys, what does he do in his spare time? Finds women and kills them (and a lot of the time he has sex with them before their horrible death). But are these disturbing murders of his actually taking place?

Christian Bale is flawless in this movie. There was not one moment where I didn't believe he was Patrick Bateman. Bale really captured the Bateman from the Brett Easton Ellis book. The scene that sticks out to me the most is when Bateman calls his lawyer. Bateman leaves a message confessing to all of the crimes he has committed. During the call, Bateman completely breaksdown. He begins the message calmly and as he keeps going, he starts to get nervous, then he's crying, then he's almost trying to lighten the situation up by laughing, and then he calms down again to end it. It's a rollar coaster of emotions and Bale is there one hundred percent for the ride. Christian Bale really brings Patrick Bateman, this deep, dark, twisted, psychotic, and corrupt character, to life.

Along with Bale there is this remarkable supporting cast of Willem Dafoe, Reese Witherspoon, and Chloe Sevigny. A great cast all around.

I'm very happy I saw the uncut version of this movie. The sex scene with the two prositutes is actually quite important. It's in that scene that I truly got a grasp on just how self centered Patrick Bateman is. You get the whole picture of him in that scene where he is flexing his muscles and looking at himself in the mirror while having sex.

All in all, this is the movie that made me realize just how great of an actor Christian Bale truly is.

It's Anchorman, not Anchorlady. What's not to love about this movie? It has Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Steve Carell, and so on and so forth.

Will Ferrell plays Ron Burgundy, a news room hot shot in San Diego. Burgundy and the guys love their jobs and have fun while at work. But all of the changes when the station decides to make an addition to the onscreen team: a woman. This puts the entire station in danger because, as everyone knows, women's menstral periods attract bears.

Veronica Corningstone, played by Christina Applegate, is a fiesty reporter who won't let anyone stand in her way to the top. Corningstone and Burgundy end up falling madly in love with each other. Buy chaos erupts when Corningstone starts to work her way up in the ranks.

All in all, a great comedy. It will get you going every time you watch it.

Swear to me!

This Batman movie shows the whole story of how Bruce Wayne became Batman. We see why Wayne is afraid of bats and how troubled he was over his parents' deaths (which he feels is his fault).

Once an adult, Wayne leaves the country and the family business to do some searching and in the process becomes a student of Henri Ducard's, played by Liam Neeson, and learns different types of martial arts.

When Wayne returns to Gotham, he realizes he needs to do something about all of the crime going on in the city. With the help of Alfred, played by Michael Caine, and a worker at Wayne Enterprises, played by Morgan Freeman, Bruce Wayne becomes Batman.

Unfortunate for Batman, police are against him. They don't like how he's "taking the law into his own hands." Me, I think they're a little jealous. There is one officer though, Gordon, played by Gary Oldman, that trusts Batman and thinks he's doing good.

Scarecrow, played by Cillian Murphy, is the villain in this movie. What is his weapon of choice? Not a knife or a gun, oh no. His weapon is a gas that causes people to go insane by them seeing their worst fears. Pretty clever, if you ask me.

Scarecrow's alter ego, Jonathon Crane, is a psychiatrist who works at Arkham Asylum. Scarecrow is able to liquefy his worst fears gas and put in into Gotham's water supply. Then, Henri Ducard gets his hands on a huge humidifier stolen from Wayne Enterprises. The humidifier is turned on, people start to lose their minds, Arkham residents are released, and the trouble starts.

And of course, there has to be a touch of romance. The love interest in Batman Begins isn't your normal damsel in distress. It's the smart district attorney, childhood best friend of Bruce's, Rachel Dawes. However, this great character is played by the not-so-great Katie Holmes.

This movie has a great cast and a great director, Christopher Nolan. Nolan really captures the darkness of Batman that we have needed to see so very badly. He did a fantastic job with re-introducing Batman.

I could not be happier that the part of Bruce Wayne/Batman was given to Christian Bale. This film introduced many people, including myself, to Bale. Bale really has three characters in Batman Begins. There is Batman, the masked man fighting crime and cleaning Gotham's streets. There is also the Bruce Wayne most people of Gotham know, the playboy who goes and buys things that are not for sale. And finally, there is the real Bruce, the man only Alfred and Rachel know. Bale has quite the range of characters in just this one film. And he potrays all of them marvelously.

All in all, the second best superhero movie to date, following its sequel "The Dark Knight." A must see.

They will see us waving from such great heights.

Andrew Largeman, played by Zach Braff, receives news that his mother has died. He goes back to his home state of New Jersey for her funeral. He is not excited to be going back home after not being there for ten years.

Andrew is a very quiet, troubled, and confused young man. He is on different kinds of medication and goes to the hospital once back home for headache problems. While in the hospital waiting room, Andrew meets his perfect and complete opposite match: Samantha, played by Natalie Portman.

During his time back home, Andrew falls in love, gets back with an old friend, and confronts his father.

All in all, a fantastic movie about how hometowns you hate can be a lot of good for you.

I wish somone would write a book about me.

Harold Crick, played by Will Ferrell, is an IRS auditor. He has a very repeatitive and boring life. And then one day, he hears this British woman narrating his life. Is he going insane or is this really happening?

Harold seeks help from an English professor, played by the one and only Dustin Hoffman. The narration of Harold's life continues and then it is stated that Harold will soon die.

One day while meeting with Hoffman's character, Harold hears the voice on the TV. Harold finds the narrator, an author played by Emma Thompson, and she is terrified to find out that her character is in fact real.

All through the search for the narrator, Harold falls in love with a baker he is auditing, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

All in all, a spectacular movie about life and how you should live it.

It started with a chair.

Juno McGuff, played by Ellen Page, is not your average lead character in a movie about a teenage girl. She's real. She's funny and quirky and smart and she's a smart ass. And Juno has this friend named Paulie Bleeker, played by Michael Cera. Juno decides in Spanish class that she is going to have sex with Bleeker. And then she gets pregnant.

At first, Juno wants to get an abortion and only have her friend Leah, played by Olivia Thirlby, and Bleeker know that this ever happened. But she gets to the doctor's office for her abortion and she can't go through with it all. She finds a couple in the Penny Saver that have been trying to have a child for five years and have had no luck. Juno meets the couple, Mark and Vanessa Loring, played by Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner, and falls in love with them. She decides that she will give her baby to them.

Everything seems to be all planned out, but then Mark tells her he plans to leave Vanessa. This completely changes Juno's feelings because she doesn't want a "shitty and broken" home for the child she is carrying. This makes Juno question love which leads to a very touching father/daughter talk.

All in all, you have to see this movie. It's a great different kind of love story.

I have fallen in love with Charlie Bartlett.

Charlie Bartlett, played by Anton Yelchin, has been kicked out of numerous private schools. To try something different, his mother starts him at a public school.

Charlie is always trying to fit in and be accepted by doing different things for his fellow students (for example, at his last private school he had a fake drivers license business). And he does his best at his first public school as well. To become friends with the school bully, they hook up to start a drug business. But this drug business turns into Charlie being the school psychiatrist for the students.

Charlie becomes a hit with everyone: the jocks, cheerleaders, freaks, geeks, everyone. And along the way, he finds a liking to Susan, played by Kat Dennings. And it turns out that Susan is the principal's, played by the always wonderful Robert Downey Jr., daughter.

All in all, Charlie Bartlett is a great movie about teenage confusion, acceptance, finding your true self, popularity, and more importantly, "what you do with that popularity."

Batman has no limits.

Bruce Wayne, played by Christian Bale, has been fighting for justice in Gotham as Batman night after night. But, Batman doesn't show up to the spectacular bank robbery in the opening scene led by the Joker, played by Heath Ledger.

Bruce has been helping Gotham City for a while now. Is Gotham in need for a hero with a face? Bruce seems to think so. And he believes that hero may be district attorney Harvey Dent, played by Aaron Eckhart. Harvey just so happens to be the "squeeze" of Rachel Dawes, Bruce's love interest played by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

The Joker is a complete madman who wears clown make-up and has scars on his face ("Wanna know how I got these scars?") and uses knives because "guns are too quick." His interest is for Batman to show his true identity. How does The Joker plan on doing this? He's going to kill someone everyday Batman doesn't show himself.

People are dying left and right so Batman makes his decision to turn himself in. But at a press conference held by Harvey, Harvey says "I am the Batman." Rachel is angry Bruce didn't come forward at the press conference. It's then that she decides that Bruce will always need Batman and she will marry Harvey, she gives Alfred a note explaining this but Alfred decides not to give it to Bruce.

After an amazing Batman on Batpod (I knew Bruce couldn't contain himself) and Joker in semi battle, Harvey is released and the Joker is taken into custody. But when Harvey never makes it home, The Joker is questioned. Rachel and Harvey are stuck in separate rooms full of bombs and Batman can only save one. The Joker gives Batman the addresses where to find the two but he switches them. Harvey just barely gets saved and loses half of his face, here's Two-Face, and Rachel is killed.

In the end when Batman finally captures the Joker, the Joker lays it all out. Batman can't kill him because of Batman's one rule, and the Joker can't kill Batman because Batman's "just too much fun." And where is Two-Face during this? Threatening Gordon's, played by Gary Oldman, family. But don't worry, Batman heads there next.

In order to save Gordon's family, Batman tackles Two-Face down. But it turns out that Batman tackles him off a building and Two-Face is killed. I am slightly disappointed that Two-Face died so soon. I wish they would have introduced the character and have him be the main villain in the third installment in the Nolan Batman series. Because I could definitely go for another dose of Eckhart.

Now I have to talk about the cast. Bale is the greatest Batman we have every seen. His voice change just goes to show that. And he's wonderful as showing the playboy Bruce and the true Bruce. Bale does a great job as usual. I don't think I need to say anything about Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, or Gary Oldman. They always are and always will be remarkable. And thank goodness we have Maggie Gyllenhaal instead of Katie Holmes. As for Ledger, it's the best acting I have seen in a while, definitely the best all year. I know he'll get the best actor nomination and I'm pretty confident he'll win as well.

All in all, The Dark Knight is a thrilling ride from beginning to end. It dishes out intense action scenes, great directing, and marvelous acting. This is the greatest superhero film to date. And yes, this is a film, not a movie.

You just want me to say what you want me to say.

"I'm Not There" is a film that tells the story of the many different lives of Bob Dylan. It shows Dylan running away from a boys' home, at the height of his career, going through a divorce, going electric, and becoming a born-again preacher.

It tells these tales in a very interesting way: using six different actors (Marcus Carl Franklin, Ben Whishaw, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett, and Richard Gere) with six different character names. It's a great way to show the many sides of Dylan. I had never seen this done before and I found it truly fasinating. I don't think they could have matched each actor with their Dylan story any better.

Franklin plays an eleven year old boy named Woody with a gift for writing and playing. Catching trains, he makes his way to different parts of the country playing his music. The young actor surprised me with his talent for playing guitar, singing, and acting.

Whishaw plays a farmer named Arthur. He is answering questions being asked by the audience in front of him. He has quite a few great lines that really stuck out to me, "I accept chaos. I don't know whether it accepts me."

Bale portrays a popular young folk singer named Jack Rollins in the beginning of his career. He is the first of his time to sing the songs he sings, he calls them finger pointing songs (he only has ten fingers). He disappears from the spotlight and becomes a preacher. Bale does a great job with the Dylan character. He gets the somewhat slurred speech and shyness of being interviewed perfectly.

Ledger's role is an actor named Robbie Clark who plays Jack Rollins in the movie "Grain of Sand." It was during that movie that he met his French wife Claire, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg. With stardom after his Jack Rollins movie, Ledger's Dylan starts to change. His story is about his love, children, and divorce.

Blanchett is singer Jude after going electric. He starts to lose many of his fans because of this. Blanchett very much deserved her nomination for this role. With the half closed eyes and raised brows, she was Dylan.

And Gere. Gere plays Billy, an older man who lives outside of a small town that the state is wanting to build a highway through. Billy shows Dylan's strong political side by fighting the highway.

All six actors did wonderful jobs. They all had different ideas and took different roads to playing Bob Dylan, and yet they were all him. A very strong leading cast. As for the supporting cast, I absolutely loved Gainsbourg. The love and heartache with Robbie really came through. She was marvelous.

All in all, one of the best films of 2007.