The Bourne Ultimatum
An unfamiliar feeling came over while I was watching this film, one that I don't usually experience in a theater: excitement. The last time a film affected me so, it was also a Bourne movie. Quality in an action movie is a rare thing, sustainable quality in an action franchise even more so. There is not a single wasted second in this film, something that the directors of Spider-man 3 and At World's End could have learned from. It remains consistent with the "rules" set down in its predecessors, something that Live Free or Die Hard failed miserably at.

Featuring thrilling edge-of-your-seat action and some of the best car chase sequences put to film, The Bourne Supremacy is a trilogy-ender that actually delivers a satisfying pay-off. That might actually be a first for Hollywood.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Like The Bourne Supremacy, this film was also adapted from a book. Unlike Bourne, though, Harry Potter has many very vocal fans of the books, all of whom have very high expectations for the film adaptations. Everyone knows that Harry Potter is a character from a book; Jason Bourne, not so much.

Also as with The Bourne Supremacy, I feel like this particular adaptation was better than the book it was based on. The fifth novel in the Potter series is overlong and filled with so much overwrought teen angst from the main character that it results in making its titular hero a mostly unlikable character. The film version, however, is paced better, and Harry isn't so whiny that you want to reach into the film and choke him (the most common reaction when reading the text). What was probably my least favorite book in the franchise is now my favorite of the films.

Lost: Season Three
Dear Writers Guild members: I completely support you and your strike. You make many good points, and I see the importance of making a stand now before you're completely cut out of the revenue your creative work generates in nontraditional distribution methods. Do you see how much artists make off of iTunes downloads!?

All that being said, if I don't get a Lost: Season Four in a timely manner, heads will roll. At that point, I might have to kidnap some of you guys (specifically the staff of the television show Lost) and sledgehammer some ankles so you find yourself bedridden with nothing else to do but finish what you've started!

This might seem extreme, but I need my Lost like Robin Williams needs cocaine in order to be funny.

High School Musical 2
The perfect gift for that young female MySpace friend of yours who doesn't realize that you're in your thirties. That plane ticket you were thinking of getting her for Christmas would be a really bad idea -- get her this instead.