Shrek the Third

Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, Justin Timberlake

Directed by Chris Miller and Raman Hui

Rating: B+

Shrek (Myers) finds himself now ruler of Far Far Away after Fiona (Diaz)'s father dies. Shrek soon realizes he is not cut out for the royal life and goes off in search of the next heir to the throne, leaving a pregnant Fiona at home. Shrek, Donkey (Murphy), and Puss (Banderas) find Artie (Timberlake), a picked-on teenager at high school and take him to rule Far Far Away. However, Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) gangs up with the fairy tale villains to take over as king of Far Far Away. Fiona, her mother, Snow White, and other princesses fight their way out to stop Charming from taking over.

Shrek the Third continues to enchant audiences after all these years since the beginning of the franchise. What many people enjoy about the Shrek films is that its contents are for both children and adults. In each Shrek film, viewers are introduced with even more fairy tale people. We finally get to see Snow White, Cinderella, Rupunzel, and Sleeping Beauty who are portrayed different than we imagined. We even get to see some fairy tale villains get together, like Captain Hook and the Evil Queen.

What I love about Shrek the Third is that no matter how old you are, you can still enjoy this movie (as goes for all four movies). They're entertaining, funny, have an intriguing plot, and you finish the movie happy. Another great thing I love about Shrek is that fairy tale characters come back to life. We get to see the Three Little Pigs, Pinocchio, the Gingerbread Man, and many more come back to life. They're all back in these movies and it's fun to see them again.

A Knight's Tale

Heath Ledger, Rufus Sewell, Paul Bettany, Shannyn Sossamon, Alan Tudyk, Mark Addy

Directed by Brian Helgeland

Rating: B-

William Thatcher (Ledger) wants to change his stars. Born a peasant, Thatcher was sent to work for Sir Ector  (Nick Brimble) who we found dead at the beginning of the movie. Sir Ector was due to joust and so Thatcher jousts in his place to win enough money for food. While on his way home with friends Wat (Tudyk) and Roland (Addy), Thatcher convinces them to pool the money together in order to give him proper jousting lessons. Lacking the proper papers to prove (in this case lie) to show his nobility, Thatcher allows Chaucer (Bettany) to tag along and write the proper paperwork. Thatcher becomes tough competition and makes an enemy along the way. Sir Adhemar (Sewell) and Thatcher both have their eyes set on Jocelyn (Sossamon), a pretty, young, woman who catches their attention.

A Knights Tale is an entertaining movie with memorable quotes; "it's called a lance... hello." Infused with some rock moments, like the opening scene to Queen's "We Will Rock You", A Knight's Tale is a fun to watch movie. Ledger is charming as a determined young man, refusing to let his peasantry get in the way of doing something he likes. One of the my favorite characters in this movie is Wat. He says a lot of funny things and makes the audience laugh. Kate, a female swordsmith, brings a bit of femininity in the movie, even teaching the boys how to dance for a feast.

I would recommend this movie to anyone thirteen and older, after all it does have some dialogue not fitted for young children (though it does not dominate the conversations). A Knight's Tale is a movie I like to watch yearly because it has the action, charm (from Ledger) and plot that keeps me interested. It's a fun movie to watch with friends and comment on and I would hope I'm not the only one who feels this way.

The Dark Knight

Christian Bale, Michael Cain, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Rating: A-

After Wayne (Bale)'s home was destroyed in the Batman Begins, he takes up residence in a penthouse in Gotham City. Gotham's thugs are too afraid to discuss business at night, hiding away in the daylight from the vigilante. Harvey Dent (Eckhart) is Gotham's needed hero and Wayne starts to believe the city does not need Batman soon. Dent has been locking criminals and keeping Gotham's streets clean. However, one force comes in to play: the Joker (Ledger). The Joker has no rules but his twisted mind brings the city into chaos. Batman is up against one of his toughest villains yet and learns that he has can't always be the hero.

Another masterpiece by Nolan, The Dark Knight continues to thrill audiences. It's a refresher to see a sequel that does not disappoint. There are many factors that make this sequel amazing: Heath Ledger as the Joker. Ledger immersed himself in the role so deeply that viewers could believe he became the Joker. From the creepy laugh to his twisted mind, the Joker becomes one of the audiences favorite villains.

Then there's Harvey Dent. Dent is a symbol of hope not only for Gotham City but for Bruce Wayne as well. Wayne hopes that Dent's keeping Gotham City clear of criminals will allow Batman to retire. The only problem is Dent's vulnerability to being corrupted by the Joker. Shocking events turn Dent from a hero to an angry victim.

Bruce Wayne has his own ethics to abide by. While the Joker has none, Batman faces his toughest challenge yet while seeing how long he can endure watching the city burn. Wayne is trying to be the hero Gotham needs, only after the destruction the Joker left behind, he has to flee the city.

The Dark Knight leaves audiences wanting more. Nolan does another great job keeping viewers anticipating the return, and end, of Batman in 2012's The Dark Knight Rises.

Batman Begins

Christian Bale, Liam Neeson, Michael Cain, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Rating: A-

The first of the Batman trilogy, Batman Begins pulls you in to the secret life of Bruce Wayne (Bale). Upon being released from a prison in Asia Henri Ducard (Neeson) goes to speak to Wayne, convincing him to train  to fight against evil. Wayne goes home to Gotham to find it in the same thug-controlled environment he left it in. Dr. Crane (Murphy) is working with villain Ra's Al Ghul to take over Gotham with an intoxicating hallucinogen. Lucius Fox (Freeman) works at Wayne Enterprises and helps order material for Wayne to use as Batman. However, Wayne has to use his millionaire persona to dissuade people from getting any notion that he is the masked vigilante "Batman".

Christopher Nolan is a mastermind at making movies. From Memento to Inception to the Batman trilogy, Nolan has audiences flocking to the theaters to see his latest hit film. What makes these films brilliant is not only the choice of cast, the acting believability, but the intricate plot that has the mind spinning. What makes Batman Begins so good is how viewers get to see what makes Batman tick. Wayne lost his parents to a mugger who took their lives outside of an opera. Wayne never kills his enemies; murder is the last thing he wants to do. All Wayne wants is justice and to clean up the city his father tried to build.

Batman Begins is a movie for all audiences in general. Not that parents would take their five-year-old to see this but it's safe enough for an eight or ten year old to see. After watching this movie, viewers begin to anticipate the next two movies and the sequel The Dark Knight does not disappoint.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Danny Elfman, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey, Glenn Shadix

Directed by Henry Selick

Rating: A

Jack Skellington (Elfman) is tired of being the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town. In fact, he's tired of the same tricks and same scares every Halloween. After celebrating Halloween one night, Jack goes on a walk with his dog, Zero, and stumbles upon a door with a Christmas tree on it. Curious, he goes through the door and finds himself in the wonderful land of Christmas Town. Enchanted by the snow, joy, and presents, Jack wants to bring Christmas to Halloween Town. Jack goes about and gives a task to each person to make toys or work on Christmas good. Sally (O'Hara) has a bad feeling about this because it's not natural for Halloween Town to do this. She tries to warn Jack but he simply won't listen.

The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of the best Halloween movies to watch around this time of year. Tim Burton, the writer for this movie, did us all a favor by making this movie. The best part about this movie is that it can be watched in any decade. Even now in 2011, it is still a great movie to watch around Halloween. The characters are all interesting, from Jack as a skeleton to Sally with all her body parts sewed together to the Mayor with two faces.

This is a classic Halloween movie for any ages and I highly encourage watching it around Halloween time. Christmas works too as that is involved with the movie! It's not too scary so even young kids (of perhaps six and older) can watch this without being too scared.

Casper

Bill Pullman, Christina Ricci, Malachi Pearson

Directed by Brad Silberling

Rating: C

Casper (Pearson) is just a friendly ghost stuck haunting a house with his three uncles Stretch, Fatso, and Stinkie. However, Carrigan finds out that after her father has passed away a treasure is hidden in the house that he left her. Unfortunately she can't get to the treasure do to Casper's mischievous uncles so she hires Dr. Harvey (Pullman), a ghost therapist, to help these ghosts with their unfinished business and move on. Dr. Harvey's daughter Kat (Ricci) befriends Casper and helps him deal with Carrigan.

Casper has the potential to be a good movie but the general audience to want to see this film again is probably under ten. At first the film captures your attention but then after Dr. Harvey and his daughter move into the house to deal with these ghosts, the movie starts to falter. Dr. Harvey tries to help the three rude ghosts move on but instead gets pulled into their schemes. Kat allows her whole class throw a Halloween party at her house on her first day of school which is totally unrealistic.

The plot has a way of quickly being resolved and the ending leaves you unsatisfied, thinking, "that's it?" Apparently each Casper movie following this first one gets just as bad a rating. This film was rated 5.7/10 while the next two receive 4/10. You would hope that Casper would be a great choice to watch Halloween night but you're better off watching The Nightmare Before Christmas or Halloween Town.

Good Will Hunting

Matt Damon, Stellan Skarsgard, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck
Directed by Gus Van Sant

Rating: B

Will Hunting (Matt Damon) is an exceptionally smart person. However, he spends his time as a janitor at MIT in Massachusetts. When Professor Lambeau (Skarsgard) asks his students who can solve a particularly difficult problem that could earn them an award, Will solves it on a blackboard in a hallway. The professor is impressed and when his students admit none of them solved it, he goes to find out who did. When Will is found out for his intelligence, Professor Lambeau seeks to help him see his true potential. However, Will has some issues and finds himself at court quite a few times. This is when Sean Maguire (Williams) comes in, as he has a similar background to Will's and as his psychologist can connect with him.

Will has a hard time letting people into his life. Growing up, he moved around foster homes where some of the foster fathers were abusive to him. Will meets a girl but eventually pushes her away, all because he wants to avoid being abandoned by someone he cares about. Sean can see himself in Will and helps make a bond with this unconnected young man. Will learns to trust Sean and finally see's the his own potential.

Good Will Hunting is a movie worth seeing. Matt Damon portrays a believable character and one that the audience can sympathize with. Viewers want to see Will have a happy ending because in the end he deserves it. This was an interesting film to watch because Will has two choices: live life on the high end with a job that pays very well or he can do what makes him happy. It's a hard choice to make when you can potentially earn a six-figure salary but with the help of his psychologist, Will learns to do what is right for him.