Starring Shia Labeouf as a boy who assaults his teacher and is put under house arrest for three months. To make the time go by faster he starts spying on his neighbors. Pretty soon he realizes that the strange man who lives next door is a cold blooded killer. The movie is a combination of a laid back story of a girl and guy, and a heart pounding horror movie. It's number five on my list of favorite movies.

4. The Long Green Line

Starring York, Illionois' boy's cross country team, The Long Green Line is the story of a group of high schoolers working for what they want. Coached by Joe Newton, the team had won 24 state titles. In the movie they're going for their 25th state title. Everything seems like it's on track until two of the top seven runners are kicked off the team, and the two top runners get sick. It's a very inspiring movie, as it shoes many underdogs coming up and doing things that everybody told them they couldn't.

3. Ocean's Eleven

Starring Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon and many other stars. This remake movie is about a group of people who come together with one common goal: To rob one of the largest casinos in Las Vegas. Each member of the group has their own reason for doing it, wether it's money, revenge, or just sheer adrenaline. If you're looking for a thriller with a great ending, this is the one to see.

2. Eight Mile

The story of rap artist Eminem, Eight Mile is an amazing movie. It combines aspects of the under-dog theme with modern day music in Detroit. "B Rabbit" as he was originally called lives with his mom and young sister in a trailer park. When the news comes that they're getting evicted, it's up to Rabbit to strike it big. Even under the pressure of racism and poverty, he does just that.

1. Forrest Gump

Not a very original choice as my favorite movie, but I honestly think that this is the greatest movie ever made. Tom Hank's acting as a dumb man from Alabama who makes the most of his bad circumstances is phenomenal. The movie covers many historical events, from the Civil Rights Movement to the Beatles craze. Forrest Gump delivers crying moments, jumping moments, and above all, laughing moments. No matter who you are you can relate to this movie.

This is a film all about love, although it takes a whole new cynical approach to love, or the lack of it. It criticises modern relationships and explores the aspects that ruin love such as jealousy and betrayal. Also unusually for a love story, the characters are arrogant and difficult to sympathise with, which is a challenge to the audience as it is difficult to take sides with any of them. It certainly doesn't offer the similarity of a usual love story; I will applaud anyone who comes close to guessing the ending.

The script is extremely witty and honest: it will have you watching the characters as you would a tennis match. Most lines are spat out without much passion; they really hit you in the face. "I don"t love you anymore. Goodbye.' They are mostly very short and snappy, and anything but poetic.

The plot is about four strangers whose lives intertwine together: Alice, a stripper (Natalie Portman), Dan, an obituaries writer (Jude Law), Anna, a photographer (Julia Roberts) and Larry, a doctor (Clive Owen). These four strangers form unhealthy and unbalanced relationships with one another, involving betrayal, cruelty and obsession. Although it is a very dark story, the tension is often broken down with laugh-out-loud humour, so the audience doesn't feel suffocated.

Law's and Robert's characters are catalysts to the story although they are anything but charming. Owen's and Portman's outstandingly chilling performances outshine that of Law's and Robert's.

At the scene of the two major break-ups, Owen's character cruelly and bluntly asks Robert's about her sexual encounters with Law. "Did you come?" it is deeply unsettling and uncomfortable to watch. In contrast, when the scene jumps to Portman and Law's break up, we feel more at ease with this much more emotional encounter, and we feel sympathy for Portman's character. These scenes are certainly emotionally challenging to watch- it is difficult to take it all in the first time you watch it; you might not know how to feel about it.

The script, however, can be to articulate for the characters to be believable and sincere. Despite that, it cleverly highlights the differences in the personality of the characters which is very interesting to watch. For example, Portman says she doesn't eat fish because "Fish piss in the sea", in contrast, Roberts' character finds fish "therapeutic". Spotting these differences should be rewarding for the viewer.

Another unusual aspect that makes this film interesting is that there is not a single sex scene in the entire film. Sex is talked about in a very cruel and blunt way that makes the viewer cringe ('you know she likes a guilty fuck') without the use of any physical contact, except kissing and subtle touches. This focuses on the moral aspects of sex and at times, the consequences of lust, although it does not enforce a morality on the viewer.

The narrative also differs from usual romantic films- out leaves out the periods of the smooth sailing relationships and focuses instead on the beginnings and ends of them. This emphasises the point that the film makes- love can be short, blunt and cruel.

Although some people argue it is more admirable than enjoyable, it is a contemporary masterpiece that challenges the audience's experiences from a romantic film as well as challenging them to think about the real definition of love. All in all, it has amazing script, beautiful cinematography, brilliant acting and an unforgettable soundtrack. Definitely worth seeing, although maybe not ideal for a first date.

What the sophisticated and attractive character played by Julia Robert in this potboiler sees in Gibson, to let him get anywhere within 10 feet of her, is unclear. But no matter how nutty his utterances, Alice Sutton (Roberts) seems intrigued. Well, otherwise we wouldn't have a story.

Even though I wasn't thrilled with the character Gibson was playing, I hated to see him tied with duct tape to a wheelchair with his eyes propped open, and being tortured by a cluster of 'spooks'. After his miraculous escape from that situation, it isn't long before he's minding his business in Midtown Manhattan when he suddenly notices a black helicopter has swooped down to 50 feet above street level, and 4 or 5 guys are coming down on ropes to get him. This is the height of unreality and reminded me more than anything else of the comical "Men in Black". The very idea that these spook-propelled black helicopters would disgorge a pack of men on ropes, and nobody on the crowded street would think twice about it, or even seem to notice, is the height of unbelievability.

You can only suspend your disbelief for so long, and then you start disbelieving everything. I did have a hard time accepting Patrick Stewart's performance as a creepy bad guy in this film. Obviously he didn't want to be typecast forever as ultra-good-guy Picard on "Star Trek : The Next Generation", but is it wise to go to the opposite extreme and play someone who is just asking to be killed? At least he wasn't asked to wear a wig. That would be frightening in the extreme - Patrick Stewart with a full head of hair, albeit a wig!

One thing I did NOT appreciate about this movie is the ambiguity of the trick ending, about whether the main characters go happily off into the sunset or not. (I am trying NOT to give away the endings, even while needing to talk about them in these reviews!) But it is NOT an ending where the good guy is kissing the girl, let's put it that way, and it follows a nasty trick of making the audience think the hero is dead for sure. It sure does look like one of those bullets catches him right in the heart!

Our female star finds a little pin attached to a piece of cloth which may imply her lover is still alive, because who else would have put it there? But that is a weak, weak ending. Meanwhile, our hero views the lady from the vantage point of the back seat of a spook-driven car, but wouldn't it have been nicer if Jerry and Alice had just gotten a chance to hold hands as they went off into the sunset? They could have both been on horseback. Or both in the back seat of a car. But not as divided up and possibly never to meet again, as the kid is from the girl he loves at the end of Spiderman, let's say, another movie I have to quibble with on this point. An ending which makes you wonder... Who's writing these scripts, anyway? Leave the ambiguity for the plot, not the ending. Make it a clearly happy ending - that would be even better!