Spider-Man 2 Review.

8 years ago from this day Spider-Man 2 was released in theaters so I figured it would be a good time to review the film.



Thoughts: Spider-Man 2 takes place 2 years after the events of the previous Spider-Man movie and is considered by many critics to be Marvel's best movie (until The Avengers) and it would be hard for me to disagree. Although it is not my absolute favorite, it is still one of my favorites and was without a doubt the best Comic Book movie until Iron Man in 2008. In some ways, it is even better than Iron Man. The movie is more of a character story about what it means to be a hero and the sacrifices that must be made of one’s self for the greater good. Tobey Maguire as Peter/Spider-Man portrays his inner struggle and conflict very excellently. The villain Otto Octavius (Doctor Octopus), played brilliantly Alfred Molina, is an great villain, who's motives are not necessarily evil. He is not evil just to be evil; he is a man of science driven mad. Also Spider-Man 2 is considered "The Comic Book movie for people who do not watch Comic Book movies", which I can agree with because my friend, who does not like Comic Book movies, actually enjoyed the movie. Although it is still great for comic book movie fans but do not expect an action-packed movie like The Avengers. Really the only parts of the movie I did not like was that there was a little too much focus on romance and the very end, which it was a little corny but still effective. For some unknown reason, Spider-Man 2 is not liked as much as it should be by the general audience. I have yet to discover why there are not more people that like even though critically acclaimed.

Also I posted the full movie below.

Directed by: Sam Raimi
Genre: Action Adventure, Comic Book, Sci-Fi,
Release date: June 30, 2004
Running Time: 128 minutes
MMPA rating: PG-13



The Good: Best Spider-Man movie, One of the best comic book movies ever, Great message, Stunning action scenes, One of the best movies of all time, Fantastic acting, Amazing special effects, Spectacular Danny Elfman soundtrack, The “Rain drops are falling on my head” scene was done perfectly, Even better than the first Spider-Man movie, Deep character development,


The Bad:




Plot: Peter Parker struggles to balance his crime-fighting duties as Spider-Man with the demands of his normal life. He loses a job, faces financial difficulties, and struggles to maintain his physics studies at Columbia University. Parker is estranged from both love interest Mary Jane Watson—now a successful Broadway actress—and best friend Harry Osborn, who accuses Spider-Man of murdering his father Norman Osborn, who was secretly the super villain Green Goblin. Parker's Aunt May is threatened with foreclosure, and Daily Bugle editor J. Jonah Jameson continues to denounce Spider-Man as a menace to New York City. As a result, Peter starts to think about giving up being Spider-Man, causing his powers to slowly stop working.
Harry, now head of Oscorp's research division, sponsors the research of brilliant nuclear scientist Otto Octavius, Peter's idol. Octavius, who dreams of perfecting fusion power, wears a harness of powerful robotic arms with artificial intelligence for an experiment in sustained fusion. Though the experiment becomes unstable, the arrogant Octavius refuses to halt it, with disastrous results: his wife is killed, the neural inhibitor chip which prevents the arms from influencing Octavius's own mind is destroyed, and the arms are fused to his spine. Unconscious, he is taken to a hospital to have the appendages removed, but the tentacles develop their own ability to move at will and brutally kill the surgeons, and Octavius escapes. The tentacles corrupt Octavius' mind, exploiting his vanity and ego, and lead him to the resolution that he must complete his experiment regardless of the moral cost. To finance his work, Octavius—whom Jameson nicknames "Doctor Octopus" or "Doc Ock"—robs a bank, where he takes Aunt May hostage after she and Peter were trying to refinance her house. Spider-Man battles with Octavius, but struggles in the fight when his powers almost fail him. He manages to save Aunt May, but Octavius escapes with the stolen money. Watch the movie to what happens next.



Plot: 9.8/10- Parker's struggle was portrayed well and just about everything was done right. The pacing is a little slow for a comic book movie because there it is a little more story driven.



Action: 9.7/10- The fight scene on the train between Doc Ock and Spider-Man is perfectly choreographed with awesome special effects. It is one of the most inventive and original fight scenes ever filmed. The combination of cutting edge special effects and the unique setting makes it an amazing scene to watch. Also the other action scenes in the movie are great as well.





Acting: 9.9/10- Again Tobey Maguire gives a sympathetic and relatable performance as Peter Park/Spider-Man. Alfred Molina's performance is also fantastic as Doctor Octopus. Also Rosemary Harris as Aunt May gives a very believable performance as the voice of reason in the film and gives some of the most meaningful lines.



Special effects: 9.6/10- The effects hold up surprisingly well today, especially during the action scenes.



Soundtrack: 10/10- The soundtrack is one of the best of all time and every time I hear it I feel like I am swing though the city like Spider-Man there are very few soundtracks that captures the feel of a movie better than this. Listen to it below.



 

Comedy: 8.0/10- Spider-Man 2 is not a comedy but it did have some clever use of humor.



Would I Watch This Again: I have watched this and the original Spider-Man movie so many times I could almost quote it and I could watch many more



Overall: 9.8/10- Overall Spider-Man 2 is an Amazing and Spectacular (no pun intended) movie that set the bar high for Comic Book movies to come.



Closing comments: It will be difficult for The Amazing Spider-Man to top this masterpiece of the Comic Book genre.



Recommended for: Comic Book Movie fans, Action movie fans, Action Adventure fans, Sci-Fi fans,

Below is a review for Spider-Man 2 by famous movie critics Ricard Roeper and Roger Ebert. The reason I am posting it is to show that I am not the only one who would recommend this movie.

Here is the full Spider-Man 2 movie unloaded to YouTube. Although I would recommend watching the movie on DVD or Blu-Ray because the quality of the video is not high and the audio is a little too high pitched. If you have no other option, I suggest watching it some time.

If you want to contact us or have any question please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.

Spider-Man (2002) Review.

Thoughts: Since the new Amazing Spider-Man is coming theaters soon, I thought it would be a good time to review the classic Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy. Although the 2000 X-Men movie started the new wave of comic book movies, this movie perfected it. His tragic origin and relatable character qualities made Spider-Man one of the greatest heroes not just in comic books but in any media. It manages to balance fun action with character development very well. The cast in the movie is great. Tobey Maguire is great as Peter Parker and plays him excellently. Also Willem Dafoe plays the duel personality of the insane Norman Osborn perfectly, which Heath Ledger later reflected in his performance as the Joker. Some complaint that Peter/Spider-Man "whines" too much but I really do not see that in the movies. The reason he is such a relatable hero is because Peter is an average nerd who gains great power and must learn responsibility. So do you think you could have done any better in his situation? Also Luke Skywalker is similar to Spider-Man in many, although naming them would spoil the plot. My only minor complaint is the changes made from the comic to the movie. Although the main origin was very similar, Spider-Man's powers are a little different in the movie. He can shoot organic web, however in the comics and upcoming "Amazing Spider-Man" movie he makes his "web shooters." This is important in the comics because Parker is science genius in the comics but it really is not shown in the movie as well as it should have been in the movie.

Also you can watch the full movie below. It was posted on YouTube but it is not in high quality.



Disclaimer: This is one of my favorite movies of all-time; therefore I am a little bias.



Directed by: Sam Raimi
Genre: Action Adventure, Comic Book,
Release date: May 3, 2002 (1993-06-11)January 23, 1943 (1943-01-23) January 23, 1943 (1943-01-23) May 3, 2002 (2002-05-03)
Running Time: 121mintues
(1993-06-11)January 23, 1943 (1943-01-23) January 23, 1943 (1943-01-23) January 23, 1943 (1943-01-23) mm121 minutes1121121212112112MMPA rating: PG-13


The Good: Amazing acrobatic fight scenes, The Green Goblin is a great villain that is very well developed, Excellent acting, Spectacular soundtrack that captures the feel of swinging though New York city perfectly, Perfect casting of the characters, One of the best soundtracks of all time, Has heart, Very relatable, Shocking plot twist,

The Bad:




Plot: The following plot summery is copied from Wikipedia.com.
Note: I am not posting as much of the plot summery as usual since it would spoil to much of the plot.
High school senior Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) lives in Forest Hills, a quiet neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, with his Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) and Aunt May (Rosemary Harris). He secretly loves Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), a warm-hearted girl next door, but he is too shy to approach her. His friend Harry Osborn (James Franco) is the son of Dr. Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe), president of the Oscorp manufacturing corporation, which is working to win a contract to supply weapons to the United States Army. On a field trip to a genetics laboratory, Peter is bitten by a genetically engineered spider. He passes out in his bedroom at home, and the next day his vision is perfect, he has become more muscular with superhuman strength, his wrists emit web strings, and his reflexes are super-quick. At school, he saves Mary Jane from a split-second fall and easily defeats her bullying boyfriend in a fistfight. Realizing that the spider's bite has given him spiderlike powers, he trains himself to scale walls, jump between rooftops, and swing through the city. Watch the movie to see what happenes next.



Plot: 9.6/10- This is how tell an origin story right. The pacing is great and has plenty of time for character development. The only cliché is the "damsel in distress" cliché, although it really did not bother me.

Action: 9.5/10- The action scenes in Spider-Man are amazing. Although the effects are slightly dated, the choreography is stunning. It captures Spider-Man's acrobatic ability very well and the Green Goblin's fighting is great also.

Acting: 9.6/10- Every member of the cast were casted perfectly for their roles. There is not a single weak link in the main cast.

Special effects: 8.8/10- The effects looked spectacular for 2002 and hold up surprisingly well today.

Soundtrack: 10/10- The soundtrack is one of the best of all time and every time I hear it I feel like I am swing though the city like Spider-Man there are very few soundtracks that captures the feel of a movie like that. Listen to it below.



Comedy: 8.1/10- Spider-Man is not a comedy but the part when he first gets his powers is very humorous.


Would I Watch This Again: I have seen over 15 times and I could watch 15 more times and never get tired of it.


Overall: 9.5/10- Spider-Man is the template that

Closing comments: Spider-Man is not only one of the best comic book movies of all time it is one of the top 50 best movies of all time.

Recommended for: Anyone, Comic Book Movie fans, Action movie fans,

Watch the full movie below.

Disclaimer: This is rated PG-13.

Check back tomorrow for the Spider-Man 2 movie review.

Click here to check out more of our movie reviews.

If you want to contact us or have any question please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.

Spider-Man in Media.

As part of Spider-Man week, this is a look at the various Spider-Man Comic Books, TV series and movies throughout the years in chronological order.

Comic Books

Spider-Man's first appearance was "Amazing Fantasy #15" in the year 1962 and he later had his own Comic Book series. There are many different versions throughout the years and it would take an entire post to go through everything. He has more recently joined The Avengers and as I said in my previous post that he might appear in The Avengers movie sequel.

1967 Animated Series

I watched the few episodes of this barely animated series from the 60s. The only real contribution it made to the Spider-Man franchise is the catchy theme song that would be copied and parodied many times. You have to admit the song it pretty good.

The Amazing Spider-Man 1977 live-action TV series

This short lived and horrendous live-action adaptation was made during the time when other superhero TV series like Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk were being aired. I have only a few minutes of this series from YouTube videos but it is almost un-watchable and should have never been made. Also at this time there was a live-action Japanese adaptation, which I little about except that it was nothing like Spider-Man.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981)

I use to watch this series when I was little kid and it was one of first times that I exposed to Spider-Man. As usual with any 80s cartoon, it was quite awful compared today’s standards of animation.

90s Spider-Man

This was one of my favorite cartoons when I was a kid. This was the first Spider-Man series to actually have a few true story arcs but the series does not hold up to its contemporary Batman: The Animated Series or the 90s X-Men series.

Spider-Man Unlimited (1999)

This series was basically made to compete with the futuristic dystopian Batman Beyond series and it did not turn out that well. The theme music and animation was cool but the series was canceled after 1 season. 

Sam Raimi Spider-Man Trilogy

The Sam Raimi Spider-Man Trilogy, the first two Spider-Man movies were great. They are two of my all-time favorite movies and I will be posting the reviews for them soon. In which, I will give greater detail in the reviews of the films.

Spider-Man: The New Animated Series 2003

This show was actually interesting. I watched it when I was younger and then I watched some of it again more recently. Also I researched some into the series and found it originally aired on MTV channel and the series used had some mature and darker themes, that were about on par with the movies, for an animated series. The series its self was surprisingly good, the best Spider-Man TV series until The Spectacular Spider-Man series.

The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008) 

This is the holy grail of Marvel's animation series and generally considered the second best Comic Book TV series of All-Time. It is one of the most critically acclaimed animated series. In some ways The Spectacular Spider-Man is similar to Star Wars: The Clone Wars in that while its "Family Friendly" it is also great for any age. This show is truly "Spectacular", not only is it a great Comic Book TV series, it is one of the best animated series ever made. Unfortunately the series only lasted two seasons because Warner Bros. was making the series at the time and then Disney bought the TV rights and canceled the series. The series had great humor and wit with good characters and teen drama done very well. And how can you not like the theme song. Look for the review of the series soon.

Ultimate Spider-Man (2012)

I HATE this show! Disney canceled The Spectacular Spider-Man for this! Although it is not the worst Spider-Man series in pure terms of quality. But they canceled The Spectacular Spider-Man for this childish take on a classic character. I have only seen one episode so far and I do not plan on watching any more.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

The Amazing Spider-Man movie coming to theaters in a few days.

Which is your favorite version of Spider-Man? Please sound off in the comments.

If you want to contact us or have any question please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.

Spider-Man in The Avengers Sequel?!

There were rumors that Spider-Man might make a cameo in the recent Avengers movie but obviously that did not happen. However, Spider-Man has a legitimate chance to appear in The Avengers sequel. The Oscorp building from the Spider-Man franchise, which is well known for fans of the comics, was originally going to be included in the New York sky line. Because Spider-Man also lives in New York City and it would not make sense if he did not appear if New York was under attack, even if it was only for a moment to help out during a battle. The main reason it has not happened yet is that Sony owns the movie rights to Spider-Man, not Disney. But there is a chance that Sony would collaborate with Disney to give Spider-Man a cameo or even become a member. Also Spider-Man is a more recent member of The Avengers in the comics. You have no idea how exciting it is to possibly have my two favorite comic book characters of all-time, Captain America and Spider-Man, in the same movie plus all the other Avengers. The thought of it actually happening, is bone chillingly awesome. If you have any questions please comment or send me an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.

Below are some videos about Spider-Man possibly making appearance in The Avengers sequel.

I find this hilarious! If you do not know much about Spider-Man you might not get some of the jokes but if you like the Avengers watch this.

If you want to contact us or have any question please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.

The Amazing Spider-Man Week.

The Amazing Spider-Man is coming to theaters in one week! Because of this I will be posting multiple posts about Spider-Man including reviews for the original Spider-Man movies and about the history of Spider-Man.

The Amazing Spider-Man is my second most anticipated of the Summer and I am definitely going to see it in theaters. Marc Webb is directing the reboot of the Spider-Man franchise staring Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. I love just about everything Spider-Man, I read the comics, watch the movies and TV shows. The original Spider-Man movie is one of the movies that effected me the most when I was younger. It made me like comic books and began my interest in all comic books and comic book movies. It almost makes me feel old that they are rebooting a movie that I watched in the theaters more than 10 years ago.

Schedule

Wednesday: "Spider-Man in The Avengers!?"

Thursday: "Spider-Man in Media"

Friday: "Spider-Man (2002) Review"

Saturday: "Spider-Man 2 Review"

Sunday: "Epic Film Score and More Sunday"

If you want to contact us or have any question please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.

Epic Film Score and More Monday.

Today on Epic Film Score and More Sunday Monday, I have Hans Zimmer's epic score of the classic Gladiator (Click here to read my review for the movie Gladiator).

I have one question for my readers.

"Are You Not Entertained!?"

"Are you not entertained?"

"Is this not why you are here!?"

If you want to contact us or have any question please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.

Chris Stuckmann the Movie Reviewer.

Today is about my favorite Movie Reviewer, Chris Stuckmann. He is one of the few movie reviewers that does not have to cuss to review movies, unlike other reviewers. Stuckmann actually inspired me to start reviewing movies. If it was not for his videos I probably would not have started reviewing movies and now I have reviewed over 100 movies (Click Here to a list of all the movies I have reviewed). Also he said he was homeschooled for a time, which is cool because I was homeschooled. Stuckmann also enjoy many of the movies I enjoy like: Original Star Wars Trilogy, Indiana Trilogy, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Avengers, The Matrix, Inception, Spider-Man and many more. One of the things that I like about his reviews, is that he can make an in-depth review without spoiling the movie, which is not easy to do. He currently uses a F to A rating system but he formerly used a 4 Star rating system.

Here is his review for The Avengers, which I mostly agree with.

Here is his review of the Indiana Jones Trilogy with other movie critics "The Schmoes" and "Jeremy Jahns."

Here is his review for another one of my favorite movies, The Matrix.

Here is a video of why Chris Stuckmann loves movies. A lot of this I can relate to.

Here is a video montage of some of his favorite movies. Because of this I have been working on a Movie Montage for last 7 months.

Warning: Although most of his reviews are clean, there is a Star Wars parody at the end of his Empire Strikes Back review that I thought was too inappropriate to post on my blog.



Note: Sorry there was a glitch that for some reason posted this twice.

If you want to contact us or have any question please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com. 

Chris Stuckmann the Movie Reviewer

Today is about my favorite Movie Reviewer, Chris Stuckmann. He is one of the few movie reviewers that does not have to cuss to review movies, unlike other reviewers. Stuckmann actually inspired me to start reviewing movies. If it was not for his videos I probably would not have started reviewing movies and now I have reviewed over 100 movies (Click Here to a list of all the movies I have reviewed). Also he said he was homeschooled for a time, which is cool because I was homeschooled. Stuckmann also enjoy many of the movies I enjoy like: Original Star Wars Trilogy, Indiana Trilogy, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Avengers, The Matrix, Inception, Spider-Man and many more. One of the things that I like about his reviews, is that he can make an in-depth review without spoiling the movie, which is not easy to do. He currently uses a F to A rating system but he formerly used a 4 Star rating system.

Here is his review for The Avengers, which I mostly agree with.

Here is his review of the Indiana Jones Trilogy with other movie critics "The Schmoes" and "Jeremy Jahns."

Here is his review for another one of my favorite movies, The Matrix.

Here is a video of why Chris Stuckmann loves movies. A lot of this I can relate to.

Here is a video montage of some of his favorite movies. Because of this I have been working on a Movie Montage for last 7 months.

Warning: Although most of his reviews are clean, there is a Star Wars parody at the end of his Empire Strikes Back review that I thought was too inappropriate to post on my blog.

Note: Sorry there was a glitch that for some reason posted this twice.

If you want to contact us or have any question please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com. 

Hugo Review.

Thoughts: Hugo was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Visual Effects. And it is based on the novel "The Invention of Hugo Cabret". However I really did not like care for the movie that much, it had some very good parts and some interesting history but the slow set up never really built up to anything. Some of the praise might be due to the quote "brilliant" use of 3D. Although this is one of the worst 3D to 2D transfers in since the invention of high quality modern 3D. The CGI effects did not look that good on the Blu-Ray compared to a movies like Avatar and Tron: Legacy. I am sure that the 3D looked great in the theater but very few people actually have 3D TVs. The reason I did not like Hugo a lot was not because it was a "Kid's movie" because it really was not a Kid's movie, it just really did not work for me. The most interesting part of the movie was about the origin of film, which was surprisingly accurate. There was a small mystery in the movie and it made me want to know what the answer was but the reveal was disappointing. Actually the best part about the movie was not the movie its self but the special feature on the Blu-Ray about the origin of film and how it was related to the movie, which I will not spoil the movie. So if plan on renting this, try to rent it with the special features because the 20 minute history thing was great and I did not know anything about it before hand.



Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Genre: Family, Drama
Release Date: November 23, 2011
Running Time: 128 minutes
MMPA rating: PG


The Good: Interesting history,

The Bad: Slow plot progression,




Plot: The following plot summery is copied from Wikipedia.com.
In 1931, Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield), a 12-year-old boy, lives with his widowed father (Jude Law), a master clockmaker in Paris. Hugo's father takes him to see films and his father particularly loves the films of Georges Méliès. Hugo's father dies in a museum fire, and Hugo is taken away by his uncle (Ray Winstone), an alcoholic watchmaker who is responsible for maintaining the clocks in the railway station Gare Montparnasse. His uncle teaches him to take care of the clocks and then disappears. He is later discovered to have drowned. Watch the movie to see what happens next.


Plot: 6.5/10- Hugo dragged during many parts of the movie and started slow, which I do not mind if it is interesting like Lawrence of Arabia or has a satisfying reveal like Vertigo. The mystery was not that great. The part about history is the only thing that really appeal to me.

Action: N/A-

Acting: 7.5/10- The child acting was very good and the whole cast was good but no great stand out performances.

Special effects: 7.8/10- This probably look great in 3D but on a 2D Blu-Ray the effects looked fake.

Soundtrack: 7.4/10- Howard Shore's score complimented the film well but was disappoint considering the skill of the composer.

Comedy: 7.0/10- There were a few humorous scenes with Sacha Baron Cohen's character.

Would I Watch This Again: No, there is nothing about it worth re-watching.

Overall: 6.4/10- Despite the interesting premise and fascinating history, Hugo fails to deliver a satisfying movie.


Closing comments: I am one of the few people that did not particular enjoy Hugo, although in my defense the popular review website IGN.com did give the film only 3 stars out of 5, which is similar to my rating.

Recommended for: Family movie fans,


Click here to check out more of our movie reviews.

If you want to contact us or have any question please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.

Monsters University Trailer.

Here is the trailer for the upcoming movie, Monsters University. Which appears to be a prequel to Pixar's Monster Inc. As I have said before, I am not a Pixar fan, however this trailer is actually kind of funny (definitely funnier than the entire movie "UP") and I posted it here because I know there are some Monster's Inc. fan that would want to see it. I am not even sure if I am going to watch the movie or not.

What did you think of the teaser?

Note: Due to the massive amount of spam comments, comments on this post have been disabled.

If you want to contact us or have any question please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.

Gladiator (2000) Review.

Thoughts: Ridley Scott's Oscar Winning Historical Epic Gladiator, did it really deserved that Oscar? And the answer is yes. Gladiator is a excellent movie that has a good balance of great action and Oscar quality story. This is one of the best movies to win an Oscar for Best Picture. I really like history based movies and Roman history is one of my favorite eras. I have always been fascinating with the Roman gladiatorial games and I have watched many history TV shows and documentaries about it. Although Gladiator is not based directly on history and actually makes its own history. The sets and the portrayal of the Roman culture looked mostly accurate (note: I am not by any means an expert). The recreation of the Roman Colosseum was impressive and it is hard to tell if CGI was used or a large set was made. The main character Maximus Decimus Meridius was a really good character and interesting character. One of the best aspects about Gladiator is the gladiatorial battles. It has some of the best ancient weapons battles filmed. Although Galdiator is rated "R", it is only rated that because of the violence, which I really do not mind since I rather a movie be violent than have profanity or other content.

Directed by: Ridley Scott
Genre: Action, Epic, Revenge, Drama,
Release Date: May 5, 2000 (2000-05-05)
Running Time: 155 minutes
MMPA rating: R


The Good: Excellent action scenes, Great production value, Good acting, Fantastic mix of excellent action and story, Hans Zimmer soundtrack,

The Bad:




Plot: The following plot summery is copied from Wikipedia.com.
In AD 180, General Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) leads the Roman army to a decisive victory against Germanic tribes at Vindobona, ending a long war on the Roman frontier and earning the esteem of the elderly Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris). Though he has a son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), the dying emperor wishes to grant temporary leadership to Maximus, hoping eventually to return power to the Roman Senate. When his father tells him of the decision, Commodus, already bitter that Marcus favors Maximus over him, murders his father in a fit of rage and claims the throne.
Maximus realizes the truth about Marcus' death, but is betrayed by his friend, General Quintus (Tomas Arana), who reluctantly instructs the Praetorian guards to carry out Commodus' order to execute Maximus and his wife (Giannina Facio) and son (Giorgio Cantarini). Maximus manages to escape, and races home only to find he was too late to save his family. After burying them, Maximus is found unconscious by slave traders and taken to Zucchabar, a Roman city in North Africa. There, he is bought by Proximo (Oliver Reed), and forced to fight for his life as a gladiator in arena tournaments. During this time, he befriends gladiators Juba (Djimon Hounsou), and Hagen (Ralf Möeller). Juba tells Maximus to have faith that he will be reunited with his family in the afterlife. Watch the movie to see what happens next.


Plot: 8.9/10- Gladiator is kind of a best of both worlds with excellent Oscar worthy story and message with amazing action scenes and set design.

Action: 9.6/10- Although Gladiator is not an action packed movie. The action that is in it is fantastic. Some of the best  it has some of the best ancient weapons battles filmed. My only complaint is that the opening battle was edited a little to choppy and was not lit well enough but other than that the action was excellent.


Acting: 8.9/10- Russell Crowe's performance, that he won an Oscar for, was excellent. The supporting cast was also solid but a few performances were a little too over dramatic.

Special effects: 7.6/10- Some of the CGI landscapes are dated compared today but overall the effects worked.


Soundtrack: 9.4/10- Fantastic Hans Zimmer soundtrack, it added to the scenes.

Comedy: 4.0/10- There was one or two humorous lines.

Would I Watch This Again: Definitely will be watching this again, probably many times.

Overall: 9.2/10- Gladiator is an excellent movie that has almost everything you need in a film with almost no missteps.


Closing comments: Gladiator has something for almost everyone, it is hard not to recommend.

Recommended for: Action fans, Epic fans, Historical fiction fans, Russel Crowe fans,


Click here to check out more of our movie reviews.

If you want to contact us or have any question please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.

Who Are Loki's Army?

Warning Spoilers if you have not seen The Avengers.

As revealed in the first 30 seconds of The Avegners, Loki's army was the Chitauri. There were many different alien species and other possible armies that could have been "Loki's Army", ranging from the Skrull to Frost Giants. The Chitauri is an alien race that was introduced in the 2002 Ultimate Avengers. There are multiple Universes in the Marvel franchise but the two main universes are the Original Universe, that most common viewers know and the Ultimate Universe were all of the characters were revamped during the early 2000s. The Ultimate Universe has made a large impact on the Marvel movies.Many of the stories that were used in the movies were mixed with the original and Ultimate Marvel universe. Also the costumes were often based on the Ultimate versions of the characters. For example Hawkeye's Ultimate costume is very similar to his costume in The Avengers movie (picture below) and Ultimate Nick Fury (picture below) was loosely based on Samuel L. Jackson without him knowing it, fortunately Jackson decided to play the role in the movies.

What I speculated that the Skrull the aliens in the movie I was half right, because the Chitauri are the equivalent of the Skrull in the Ultimate Universe. In the original comic they could shape shift (picture to the right) and had ships that were made of Vibranium, which is what Captain America's shield is made of in the movie and Ultimate Universe. I probably should have guessed that "Loki's Army" was the Chitauri since the movie's plot combined the Ultimate and Original story of how The Avengers were formed, which I might talk about in a "Comics vs. Movies" post. If you want to see more of the Ultimate Avengers and the Chitauri watch the "Ultimate Avengers" direct to DVD animated movie. Note: Although it is animated, it is not a kids movies. it is rated PG-13 for basically the same things that the live-action Avengers is rated for. It was the closest thing that fans like me had to a real Avengers movie until the recent Avengers movie. The movie opened with a awesome WWII sequence with Captain America and generally follows the story of the Ultimate comic book. If you are a fan of The Avengers, I highly recommend watching it.
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Haywire Review.

Thoughts: Haywire, is a surprisingly great action, espionage movie, with one of the best new female action heroines in recent years. Haywire reminded some of another one of my favorite movie franchises The Jason Bourne Trilogy, although it is not near as good as the Bourne movies. However the action scenes are some of the best realistic action scenes that have been filmed. That is only one scene in the beginning were it was not realistic, other than that it was very believable. This is mostly due to the lead actress, Gina Carano, who is a  professional MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighter and was one of the best in the world. So her fight style is very realistic and you do not have a hard time believe that she can really beat all of those guys in the movie. Even the chase scenes are not  outlandish. Also, unlike many action movies, there are not any explosions and it is void of many of the clichés that plague many other action movies. Although, it is no were near a "Masterpiece of the genre" by any means due to the plot not being the most original and it had a few odd scenes. The movie is surprisingly suspenseful and the espionage in it was very good. Since this is Gina Carano's first movie, Steven Soderbergh gave her an amazing supporting cast including, Michael Fassbender (Magneto in X-Men), Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan in Star Wars), Bill Paxton (Tombstone, Hatfields and McCoys, True Lies), Channing Tatum (The Eagle, G.I. Joe), Antonio Banderas (Zorro), Michael Douglas (Wall Street) although the actors are not in the movie a lot. Some of the early action scenes in the movie tries to be a little artistic during with the color scale and camera angles.

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Genre: Action, Spy, Espionage, Thriller, Suspense,
Release Date: November 6, 2011 , January 20, 2012 (2012-01-20)
Running Time: 93 minutes
MMPA rating: R

The Good: Excellent realistically choreographed fight scenes, All-Star Cast,

The Bad:

Warning: Haywire is rated "R", although this is one of tamest "R" movies in recent years in my opinion.

Plot: The following plot summery is copied from Wikipedia.com.
Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) enters a diner in Upstate New York and waits. A car arrives and Aaron (Channing Tatum) joins her. After a short conversation, Aaron orders Mallory to get in his car. She refuses, and they fight, with Aaron nearly capturing Mallory. But the intervention of Scott (Michael Angarano), a young customer in the diner, allows Mallory to break Aaron's arm and escape with Scott in his car. As they flee, Mallory tells Scott who she is and what she's experienced in the last week, and these sequences are intermixed with scenes of their flight as flashbacks.
Mallory tells Scott that she and Aaron work for a private firm employed by the American government for covert operations. One week before, the firm's director (and Mallory's ex-boyfriend) Kenneth (Ewan McGregor) attended a meeting in Washington DC arranged by government agent Coblenz (Michael Douglas). Kenneth's firm was hired to rescue Jiang (Anthony Brandon Wong), who is allegedly being held hostage in an apartment in Barcelona. Also present at the meeting was Coblenz' Spanish contact, Rodrigo (Antonio Banderas). Watch the movie to see what happens next.

Plot: 7.5/10- Not the most original plot for a spy action movie but it still worked well enough.

Action: 9.5/10- As I said above, the action scenes in Haywire are realistic and awesome to watch at the same time. Gina Carano as Mallory Kane kicks all kinds of butt in the movie and the camera angles during the fight scenes are not too close up like many other movies and you can actually see what is happening.
Note: Haywire is not an action-packed were action is always happening, there is some good Espionage and Suspense in between.

Acting: 7.9/10- Gina Carano was very good for her first time acting and the supporting cast around her was fantastic as I stated aboved.
Note: After watching the movie, I discovered that Gina Carano' voice was dubbed over in post-production to edit the pitch but the only way you could notice it was if you knew what she sounded like before watching the movie, which I did not.

Special effects: N/A-

Soundtrack: 5.0/10- During one of the scenes, the soundtrack was annoying but other than that the tracks that were used worked well enough. Also something that differentiates Haywire from other movies is the lack of a soundtrack during action scenes, although it only added to the intensity of the scene for me. However, this might put off some viewers, who are not use to this.

Comedy: 6.0/10- There was a few humorous lines n the movie.

Would I Watch This Again: Haywire is a movie with some good re-watch value, so I would probably watch it again at some point.

Overall: 8.2/10- Overall Haywire is a surprisingly good action movie with some excellent fight scenes.

Closing comments: Haywire is unique action movie, that is a must see for action movie fans.

Recommended for: Spy fans, Espionage fans, Thriller fans, Action fans,

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Epic Film Score and More Sunday.

Because it is the 30th Anniversy of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and I just reviewed the movie, which you can Click Here to check out, it seemed like a good time to post one of John Williams' best soundtracks. The soundtrack for E.T. is one of my favorite John Willaims soundtracks, particularly the "Flying Theme" (posted below). Also sorry for posting this late, I thought it was posted but it did not work.

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Blog Award.

Thank you Edessa at HoloNet Entertainment Daily for this blog award!

I need to post 7 random things about my self and give the award to a few other people.

1: I am obsessed with The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim video game.

2: I own almost every Star Wars video game from the last 12 years and a few more from before that.

3: I have recently become a big fan of the TV series Batman: The Animated Series.

4: My favorite color is red.

5: One of my favorite decades for movies is the 80s, because of The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Indiana Jones trilogy, Back to the Future, and Die Hard are from that decade

6: My second language is Latin (note: I do not know it very well yet though).

7: I had a strange dream last night that meet fellow bloggers Jamie and Kayla in person. It was an odd dream but cool and I can not remember anything else beyond that.

 

I give this award to: 

Jamie

 Kayla

 Shena Tokala

  Aalya Rain

 JediKnightGirl

Rebecca

 

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E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Review.

Since it is the 30th Anniversy of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, it seemed like a good time to post the review of the movie.

Thoughts: This might surprise some of my readers but this is the first time I have seen E.T. I usually do not like "family" movies, but I actually enjoyed E.T. a lot more than I thought I would. It was a very good movie that the even adults can enjoy, unlike many other family movies. Also E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial had some superb performances from the very young cast. Although it is not a comedy, some of the scenes in the movie were hilarious. The special effects used for E.T. are slightly dated but still very believable and hold up well enough today. There were also some great Star Wars references in E.T., which as a Star Wars fan I really liked. John Williams' brilliant score is one of his best and added depth to the scenes. I normally do not like movies that are considered "emotional journeys" since I never have any emotion of that kind about a movie other if it was entertaining or not, however I still enjoyed the movie even though I had no emotional attachment to the movie. Also I normally cannot stand movies that are considered "cute" but I still enjoyed E.T. because of the humor and good story.



Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Genre: Sci-Fi, Family, Drama,
Release Date: June 11, 1982 (1982-06-11)
Running Time: 115 minutes
MMPA rating: PG


The Good: Great story, A few hilarious scenes, Superb child acting, One of the best John Williams soundtracks, Star Wars references,

The Bad:




Plot: The following plot summery is copied from Wikipedia.com.
The film opens in a California forest as a group of alien botanists collect flora samples. U.S. government agents appear on the scene and the aliens flee in their spaceship, mistakenly leaving one of their own behind. The scene shifts to a suburban home, where a boy named Elliott, age 10, is trying to hang out with his 16-year-old brother Michael and his friends. As he returns from picking up a pizza, Elliott discovers that something is hiding in their tool shed, which promptly flees. Despite his family's disbelief, Elliott lures the alien from the forest to his bedroom using a trail of Reese's Pieces candy. Before he goes to sleep, Elliott realizes the alien is imitating his movements.
Elliott feigns illness the next morning to stay home from school and play with the alien. Later that day Michael and their sister, 5-year-old Gertie, meet the alien. They decide to keep him hidden from their mother. When they ask it about its origin, the alien levitates several balls to represent its solar system and then demonstrates its powers by reviving a dead plant. Watch the movie to see what happens next.


Plot: 8.6/10- The plot is very original and has been replicated in other movies since the film's release. It was surprisingly enjoyable to watch.

Action: N/A-

Acting: 8.4/10- The movie has some of the best very young child acting I have seen in a movie. Steven Spielberg really knows how to direct children

Special effects: 8.0/10- Initially I watched the special edition version of the film, which added a GCI version of E.T. to the scenes that could not be made with animatronics at the time. The CGI effects are a little dated since it was remastered in 2002 but they were effective. Also I watched some of the original version of the movie that only had animatronics and puppets to use in the movie and the effects were mostly very well made.


Soundtrack: 9.8/10- One of John Williams' best scores, and one of my new favorite scores period. I could listen to it all day.

Comedy: 8.0/10- Although there is not constant humor in the movie, when there is humor, it is hilarious.


Would I Watch This Again: I will probably watch the movie again at some point.

Overall: 8.6/10- Overall E.T. is a very good movie that I am surprised that I enjoyed.


Closing comments: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a great movie and one of the best family movies ever made.

Recommended for: Sci-Fi fans, Family movie fans, Drama fans,


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