Terminator 2: Judgement Day

I just watched this recently and even after all the years, it still is as enjoyable as it was when it came out! It is virtually flawless and deserves all the praise it gets. Normally I can find quite a few problems with movies but this one has pretty much none. I hate when people say a big action movie doesn't need a plot like the Transformer movies for example. T2 is proof that a movie can be full of action and have a really great plot at the same time. This movie also had a lot of special effects that haven't been shown at that time. All the performances from the actors were great. I had only a slight problem with Edward Furlong playing John Connor. I say slight problem because for the most part he did a good job but I felt he was just a little annoying but I don't believe that was all the actor's fault. It would have been great if the franchise ended there but after we had Terminator 3 and now Terminator Salvation lets hope that the movies get closer to the quality of this movie. Terminator 3 definately went downhill but I feel that Terminator Salvation has brought some hope that we can still get some good films out of the franchise. Anyway, I still feel that the first one and this one are the best films in this franchise but if you only get one then I would say to get this.

The Terminator

I just watched this again tonight. I think it gets overlooked because most people say how great T2 was. But the first one is great too. I enjoy watching Arnold as the bad guy and it was more of a horror film than the other films. Some people might not think of Arnold as a great actor but for this role I do think he was perfectly cast. A machine doesn't need emotion and he didn't show any in that role. And of course he looked intimidating. I also liked Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn as Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese. I think the music in the film also gave it a feeling of suspense. This is definately one of the top Terminator films and maybe just below T2 but way better than the others. But the fact that it was just humans against the machine, unlike the other films, there seemed to be more danger. And like I said, I like watching Arnold as the bad guy for a change.

Howl's Moving Castle

This animated film is created by Hayao Miyazaki, the one behind Spirited Away and Princess Monoke among others. If you love his other films you should love this one too. It is about a young girl, Sophie, that is turned into an old lady by a vengeful witch. She tries to find a way to break the spell and along her adventure she climbs onto a flying castle. There is also a love story between Sophie and Howl, the wizard and owner of the flying castle. There are great talents behind the voices with Christian Bale as Howl and Billy Crystal among others. I would recommend this film but the story may get confusing for younger children. But I think even adults will enjoy this film.

Batman Begins

Batman Begins is easily the best Batman movie I saw until The Dark Knight! I knew it was going to be good with the great cast and Nolan as the director but it was even better than I thought it would be. I saw Christian Bale in American Psycho so I knew he was a great actor but after this movie I really became a fan of his. My only problem with the casting was Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes. Of course the character was made up for this film but I really couldn't buy her as an assistant to the district attorney. She just looks too young and inexperienced for that position. I also felt she was out of her league with the other talented actors in the movie. As I have said in my comments about TDK, if you want to watch a movie that is more focused on Batman then I would pick this movie over TDK. This movie also has a teaser for TDK at the very end but I don't want to give it away in case someone hasn't seen it yet. As a movie fan, I would definately recommend this movie. But as a Batman fan, I would say this is a must have!

The Dark Knight

Although it doesn't follow the comics exactly it gets to the heart of the Joker. No, he does not have permanent white skin but that is minor compared to what the character is really about and that is chaos. I am not going to say The Dark Knight is the best movie of all time like many other people have but it is certainly near the top of my list. If I want to watch a movie that is more focused on Batman then I would watch Batman Begins. But TDK has a lot more action and explosions. Although people can see TDK without seeing BB, I would recommend BB just to see the origins of Batman at the very least.