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10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU
Starring: Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles
Directed by: Gil Junger

Kat(Julia Stiles) and Bianca(Larisa Oleynik) are sisters, the former an outspoken misfit, the latter an attention-loving popular girl. Bianca is desperate to have a boyfriend, but her over-protective father rules that she will be allowed to date only when Kat does. High-school stud Joey(Andrew Keegan) wants to take Bianca out, and pays rebel Patrick(Ledger) to date her. On the other hand, new student Cameron(Joseph Gordon-Levitt) falls for Bianca despite her faults. How the couples get together forms the rest of the story.

I had a back-to-back Heath Ledger movie night a couple of days back, and I found this movie quite good. Now normally, I'm not much of a high-school movie fan, but this one was different; Taming of the Shrew set in high school. Sure, it had the high-school cliches: shy geek falling for dumb blonde running after arrogant jock, but the sarcastic and outspoken Kat made all the difference. I laughed quite a bit, especially when the dad was around. I enjoyed Julia Stiles and Heath ledger together, I thought they looked cute but not mushy. You'll enjoy this movie, it isn't as inane as other teen movies.

THE DARK KNIGHT
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine
Directed by: Christopher Nolan

Batman has put the fear back into the hearts of Gotham's criminals, and the mob bosses aren't too happy. But his alter ego, Bruce Wayne (Bale) isn't having a great time, as his love Rachel (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is dating the new DA Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). Bruce sees Harvey as the public face of crime-fighting and his worthy successor, but the arrival of the Joker complicates thing. The Joker (Ledger) is a sadistic psychopath, determined to destroy Batman, and blows up the Commissioner, and threatens to kill innocent people until Batman doesn't unmask himself. Batman faces his greatest challenge yet, to protect Gotham and the people he loves.

I have just one word for this movie: AWESOME. Everything about the movie is brilliant: the direction, the storyline and the performances. Heath Ledger is phenomenal as the Joker, he's competing for top position with Darth Vader on my top villains list. I kept thinking, oh God, why did he have to die, he was such a great actor, with great movies ahead of him. Ledger is chilling as the Joker, portraying his complete disregard for life and his cruel cleverness to perfection. I especially loved the scene where he threatens Rachel, and the confrontation with Batman in the jail cell. Truly, the movie belongs to the Joker.

I also can't say enough about the storyline. I have liked the earlier Batman movies, but they always had the cheesy comic-book element in them. This one is more true to life, more hard-hitting and gritty than any other super-hero movie. Christopher and Jonathan Nolan have written an awesome screenplay, with many memorable dialogues. Everybody talks about the Joker's "Why so serious?" line, but my personal favorite is the last speech by him, when Batman has him hanging upside down.

You just couldn't let me go, could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You…truly are…incorruptible, aren't you, huh? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness. And I won't kill you because…you're just too much fun! I think you and I are destined to do this forever.

This is one movie I watch again and again, I simply can't have enough of it.