Lightsabers, Rings, and Superheroes.

Hey everybody, my name is Ethan Burch and I am a DMA film production major. I'm just going to start off by saying that I like movies...actually, I LOVE movies. Here is a list of my top 3 movies of all time and a few reasons why they are my favorite.

My love for the art of film began with the Star Wars: A New Hope. When I was probably 5 years old, my parents introduced me to A New Hope. After I watched it once, I wanted to watch it over and over again. Star Wars enchanted me with its unique story, great special effects, and amazing characters. The entire saga is the definition of adventure. I remember being in the bathtub and pretending that I was Luke Skywalker getting trapped in the death star garbage chute and being sucked underwater by the garbage monster. Star Wars is adventure that I can return to over and over again and never get bored watching it and getting sucked into its universe. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy ALL of the Star Wars movies. The entire saga is a fantastic example of wonderful storytelling and exciting action. Star Wars: A New Hope was my favorite movie as a kid, and remains as my favorite film of all time.

I began watching more and more movies as I got older. In 2001 I was introduced to the beginning of another epic tale: The Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson's trilogy helped me begin to see that there is much more to movies than pure entertainment and escapism. Jackson helped me see that themes are very important films. Whether it's through visual metaphors or dialogue between characters, themes can be taken from films and incorporated into real life situations or religious history. For example, The Lord of the Rings main theme is that great things must be achieved through hard work and sacrifices. In relation to a religious aspect, Jesus had to make the ultimate sacrifice by letting himself be killed in order to save us from our sins. Though I have thought about it multiple times, I cannot pick one Lord of the Rings movie to be my 2nd favorite movie because every single one is equally amazing.

My 3rd favorite movie is none other than Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. I have watched this movie multiple times(4 times in theaters) and I still cannot find a single flaw with the movie. The Dark Knight has action, drama, noir, romance, and even a little (dark) comedy tied together in a 152 minute film. Christopher Nolan just seems to bring something fresh into the art of filmmaking that absolutely blows your mind. The whole film builds on tension brought about by the late Heath Ledgers perfect performance as The Joker. I also really enjoyed Nolan's cinematography with his sense of dark blue and gloomy atmospheres. As a superhero fan, Nolan was also able to adapt Batman's motivation and flaws from the comics to the big screen in a truly respectful manner. Bottom line, The Dark Knight is the movie that has inspired me to become the best filmmaker I can be.

Those 3 movies pretty much sum up why I love movies. Some other things I enjoy include playing video games, swimming, and golfing. I also mentioned before that I am a superhero fan. I like superheroes because they stand for important morals that everyone should abide by. My favorite superhero is Superman because of what he stands for: "Truth, justice, and the american way." So if you see me wearing a lot of Superman clothing, you know why. That's pretty much it for now!