Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths - 6/10





















IMDB / Wiki

While DC may not be up to par with Marvel when it comes to live action movies, I think it's safe to say that almost all comic fans would agree that they reign supreme when it comes to animation. DC Universe's 7th film, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, continues the line of great work that DC has been releasing as of late.

The film actually has a pretty interesting back story. Originally, this story was written as a movie to be released between the end of Justice League and the beginning of Justice League Unlimited, cartoon series which ran from 2001 - 2004 and 2004 - 2006 respectively. If you are familiar with either show, you will see towards the end of this movie how this would have been a good way to bridge the two series.



Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths Trailer

The idea of a multiverse has been around for a long time in the DC universe, both in the comics and in the animated cartoons. However, the story behind this movie is loosely taken from early Justice League comics which introduced the Crime Syndicate, a group of superheroes who exist on a parallel earth. They are basically the antithesis to the Justice League of our world. Despite the origin of this story being based around a group introduced in the comics, the actual story line is an original and not based off of any one comic in particular.

Despite being fairly short, though all DC Universe movies are, the film manages to create an original story that deals with a large variety of characters and pretty much does all of them justice. The movie starts out with The Jester (think anti-Joker) and Lex Luthor fighting members of the Justice League. It becomes obvious fairly soon that these are not the same heroes/villains from our earth, but are actually beings from a parallel universe.

Through out the film, Lex, with the help of our earth's Justice League, tries to save his planet from the Crime Syndicate, who are trying to control their world through brute force. I really enjoy how they portray the Crime Syndicate almost like a mob family in that each one of their members has a "family" of villains that work for them. In the beginning of the film they argue over things such as turf and power among the group. It makes the group seem much more interesting than if they were just some random group of people thrown together.

I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll stop the summary here. While this isn't the best film in the world by any means, it is definitely a good watch for a fan of DC. I would rate this above Superman: Doomsday and Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. I think this film excels because of the fact that it is an original story, and it doesn't have to try and adapt a comic into an hour long film. The only reason I didn't rate this film higher is because there wasn't anything that really made me say "WOW!" It was definitely a good film, no doubt about it, but I'm not sure it's one that I could watch over and over again.

Lastly, if you're as much of a Batman fan as I am, you may be slightly disappointed in his absence in the first half of the film. I'll just say to stick with it, because he plays a much bigger part towards the end!!

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - 8/10





















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Before I even started this movie, I knew it was held in high regards in just about every critics circle there is. Before reading up on the film I just imagined it being some generic western, though I can't say I've honestly seen many western films in the first place so I don't really know what I expected. I was however, pleasantly surprised.

The movie clocks in at just under 2 hours and seems a bit slow at some points, but the time taken to focus on the characters is well worth it. After watching Heat a few weeks back, I thought nothing could top the shoot out scenes in that film, but the last 15 minutes of this one gives Heat a run for it's money.

Great film, I would definitely recommend it to anyone, even if you're not a fan of westerns or crime films.

She's Out of My League

She's Out of My League - 5/10





















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Ha, it's only appropriate that this movie gets a 5/10. I think this movie had a lot of potential, but it just didn't deliver at all. I really didn't like the interaction between Kirk and his friends. I'm not too sure why, but none of it seemed natural at all. Up until about half way through the movie I was pretty much ready to walk out.

As soon as Kirk brings Molly home to his family, the movie starts to pick up a little bit. If they would have treated this a little bit more like "Meet The Parents" I think this movie could have been a lot better.

Sleepers

Sleepers - 8/10





















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That was a pretty intense movie. I really liked it though and I'm starting to enjoy crime movies a lot more now than I use to.

The film is basically about a group of four friends who end up in a correctional facility at a young age. They have to put up with the abuse of the guards at the facility and can never forget what went on there. Now, many years later, they enact their revenge on the men who changed their lives.

This was a really good movie and I'm surprised I hadn't heard about it before this week. I would definitely recommend this movie if you're up for something pretty intense.

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth - 6/10





















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This film was alright, but it's not very similar to the first two films in the series. In fact, if the first two movies were done in this style, I don't think there would have been many sequels (if any), though there were five more movies made after this one so what do I know?

Hellraiser II - Hellbound

Hellraiser II - Hellbound - 7/10





















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I found this to be an improvement over the original. This film is actually a continuation of the second film as oppose to the remainder of the series whose only consistency are the cenobites. This film is also the last of the series that is more of a psychological trippy kind of movie rather than a typical horror flick.

Hellraiser

Hellraiser - 6/10




















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Decent horror flick with the classic Cenobites, led by Pinhead. I just wish there was more of him in it. I kind of liken this movie to the first of Friday the 13th. Yes, they are a good start to good franchises, but I feel they improve later on.

The Neverending Story 2

The Neverending Story 2 - 5/10





















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When I told myself earlier today that I was going to watch Neverending Story 1/2 I was very much looking forward to watching the second one because as a child I always thought it was the better of the two. Well, after watching the second one earlier, I can honestly say that I was mistaken. This film is no where near as good as the first one.

I did still enjoy the nostalgia aspect, but there wasn't a whole lot going for it other than that. Apparently this movie was based off the second half of The Neverending Story, written by Michael Ende, while the first film was based off of the first half of the book.

The Neverending Story

The Neverending Story - 8/10





















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What a great movie.

I'm starting to realize that my inability to retain any information I see might be a blessing in disguise. I am not the type of person who sees a movie and then regurgitate quotes right after seeing it. I'm also pretty bad with character names. The only thing I usually remember is the overall plot. What all of this means is that when I see a movie that I haven't seen in a long time, I pretty much forget everything that happens. It's almost like seeing it again for the first time. It's kind of awesome.

Anyway, random note. I was reading the wiki article and it said that in the book, Atreyu was actually known as a "greenback" and he was intended to have green skin in the film, but they ended up leaving that out.

Lastly, this movie is being remade in 2012!

Hook

Hook - 7/10




















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Not the best movie in the world, but it gets points for being a favorite from my childhood. I'm pretty sure I wore the VHS out when I was younger. I don't even know why I liked it so much, I just know I watched it all the time. I still love this movie.

Wall Street

Wall Street - 7/10





















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Gordon Gecko is a beast, seriously, what a great villain. Going into this, I hadn't heard anything about this movie, but the previews for the sequel made me interested. I would definitely watch this film again and would recommend that others see it. My only real problem with the movie was "The End".

Shutter Island

Shutter Island - 7/10





















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Pretty good movie. I like the fact that they actually tied the movie up in a good way. It seems so often that movies like this end up with a horrible ending, but this one did the rest of the film justice.

Heat

Heat - 9/10





















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Pretty epic movie. I think I'll be comparing all crime movies to this from here on out. I had heard that The Dark Knight borrowed a lot of elements from this movie, and now I see what people meant by that. If you liked the first 10 minutes of TDK (the bank robbery scene) then you HAVE to watch this movie.

The Salton Sea

The Salton Sea - 8/10

























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I had never heard of this movie until today, and I can't understand why that is. This was a pretty amazing movie. If I had to compare it to something, I would say it's some what similar to American History X.

I don't want to describe the plot in too much detail, because I don't want to give anything away, but you really grow attached to Val Kilmer's character towards the end of the film when you find out why he's doing everything he's doing. This is a great film and I would definitely watch it again.

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th - 6/10















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I'm going to preface this by saying that I'm not a huge horror fan. However, I was in the mood to watch one today and instead of going with something released recently, I decided to go for a classic.

When I think 80's horror, two things come to mind - Freddy and Jason. I've seen all but one or two of the Nightmare on Elm Street (NoES) films and have enjoyed most of them, but this was the first time I've ever seen a Jason movie. I knew a little bit about this film going in, and because of that I really didn't expect a great movie.

I started watching this movie in the morning, and after about an hour in I got pretty bored and decided to go get some lunch. I didn't find any of the characters particularly interesting and the whole movie just seemed to be going very slow. So, after I returned home with my lunch I decided that I might as well just watch the last 30 minutes, and I'm VERY glad that I did.

The end of the movie made up for the lackluster start. I don't want to spoil what happens at the end, or who the killer is, but I'll just say to stick out the beginning of the movie and it will be worth your while in the end.