Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Trailer!

I avoided the Harry Potter bandwagon until 2000. In the interview for my first post college job at a then-popular game show, my future boss said that if I had any love of books or pop culture I simply had to read Harry Potter. As soon as I got back to Pennsylvania I ran out to Borders, bought the first three, and immediately fell in geek love.

As the series progressed and deepened into serious examination of friendship, bravery, loyalty, the responsibilities of a government towards its people, and basic human rights (yes, I think J.K. Rowling is addressing all those subjects), Harry Potter came to be one of the most meaninful reading experiences I've ever had.

So while the series is over, each new movie sends me into fandom overdrive. This trailer looks perfectly creepy and scary and makes me oh so happy.

Fun Fact! The director has the same name as my uncle.

The Dark Knight: New Trailer!

Thanks to my brother, I saw this new trailer for The Dark Night yesterday. While I was never a huge comic book fan, I've loved Tim Burton ever since seeing his interpretation of "Batman" when I was 12, which remains one of my all-time favorite movies to this day. So because of that, Batman is also my favorite super hero.

Why do I love Batman? For starters, he's the coolest. Super-Man can be too much of a corn-fed Iowa sweetheart, and we know Spidey is a huge nerd. Batman is dark, he's brooding, he has a kick-ass mansion with the coolest gadgets, Alfred is always there to back him up, and most importantly (and most cool of all), Batman has no super powers. He becomes Batman through sheer force of will and determination.

I absolutely loved Christopher Nolan's rebooting of the Batman franchise -- its only misstep was having Katie Holmes in it, as far as I'm concerned -- and now that Maggie Gyllenhaal has taken over the role of Rachel Dawes, there is nothing to worry about.

Of course, this movie is also highly-anticipated because it is the last complete performance from Heath Ledger. Just seeing the little bits and pieces of his performance in the trailer reminds me afresh of what a talented actor he was.