Especially with his outstanding work in “Moon” and the upcoming “Iron Man 2,” Rockwell is an actor who has really been growing on me a lot lately — I had previously found him a tad bland but I now see the error of my ways. His work here with Justin Long, also excellent, shows that his way with a comic scene is great stuff. Though I love that the updated version will include not only Rockwell and Long, but also writer-turned-actor Jon “I’m a PC” Hodgeman of “The Daily Show” as the Penguin, this nice little film is going to be hard to top. Enjoy.

It’s an old story. You’re a superhero minding your own business and then you bump into someone who looks very familiar but, well, something’s just not right. Gee whiz but this person looks a lot like you and is even wearing similar clothes, but then you notice your new acquaintance looks like he or she is made from rocks, uses terrible grammar and does everything the opposite of you. (“Me want to not save world!”) Or the newcomer looks like one of your deadliest enemies, but turns out to be no Bizaaro, but as heroic as you are. What’s a superhero to do?

It’s an old superhero comic story that has yet to find its way into a big-time costumed-hero flicks — but at least it’s finally been used in a solidly entertaining and often slyly funny direct-to-DVD animated production. Rated a mild PG-13 for non-deadly “action violence,” Warner Home Video’s “Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths” shows us the fall-out of an alternate universe where the equivalents of our most famed superheros are essentially costumed Mafioso, while a bald guy named Luthor and a joker named the Jester vainly fight the power of organized caped crime.

When the alternate Luthor (Chris Noth) manages a reality jump into the original DC Comics Universe, he enlists the aid of  most of the Justice League. And so, Superman (Mark Harmon), Wonder Woman (Vanessa Marshall), and a less than cooperative Batman (William Baldwin), become involved in a desperate quest to free Good Luthor’s universe from super-powered criminal domination by the vicious Crime Syndicate and it’s Jersey-thug-like leader, Ultraman (Brian Bloom) — and also to stave off the possible destruction of all existence by an off-his-evil meds Dark Knight of the Soul, Owlman (James Woods), and his only slightly more sane GF, Super Woman (Gina Torres).

The 72 minute direct-to-video feature was premiered at both of the coastal outlets of the Paley Center, and I attended the one located on Earth Prime’s Beverly Hills. Us members of the local geek press were allowed to commune with members of the cast and crew and, in my case, that started with the extremely busy animation casting and voice director, Andrea Romano. The loquacious performer and voice director, whose work includes everything from “Animaniacs” to “Spongebob Squarepants” and “Ben Ten,” is held in as high esteem by super-animation fans as any actor, writer, or director. Her work on DC superhero projects goes back to the early nineties and “Batman: The Animated Series,” which revolutionized superhero cartoons with quality writing from creators like Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, animation, and, thanks to her efforts, acting.

As Romano described to another writer, one aspect of her work is doing enough really detailed preparation so that the actual recording process is more pleasure than labor.  “I want that recording session to be a really pleasant experience for everybody, including me. If we’re not having a good time making cartoons, we’re doing something wrong.” That, she says, allows for an atmosphere in which actors can bring in new ideas that may not be 100% according to the original plan but may be worth including.

Noting that more than one actor in “Crisis on Two Earths” hadn’t previously worked in animation, I asked her how it was working with first timers like TV mainstay Mark Harmon, making his voice acting debut as Superman, and Bruce Davison, an actor with a huge variety of roles in his lengthy resume, but not a single piece of animation prior to portraying the voice of the alternate Universe’s U.S. President.

Of course, these people are pros and they adjust quickly, she said, but trust is key. “I let them know that I will never let them go out there sounding bad. It may take us twenty takes to get it, but I promise them that I won’t let them feel foolish. Once they buy into that and give themselves over to me, then their performances are terrific.”

Then what about actors like Gina Torres who seemed to segue from the Joss Whedon cult-classics “Firefly” and “Serenity” into these kinds of roles? She said that in working with people like Bruce Timm, often the casting really does reflect whatever television shows they happen to be watching. “We’ll suddenly have all the actors from ‘CSI‘ in, or all the actors from ‘Firefly,’ in because we started watching that series and they’re on our minds.”

Romano was also excited extremely about the next DC Comics property currently being finished,  “Batman: Under the Red Hood,” which deals with the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin. “It’s dark; it’s violent; it’s really scary; it’s also very emotional. I always like to be with the actor, where they are emotionally in the scenes so they don’t feel like they are going through this alone. And so there are scenes that I find myself weeping through as the actor is crying.”

Next up was twenty-something actor Josh Keaton, best known as the most recent TV voice of Peter Parker/Spiderman, who very nicely voices the part of the Flash and, whose function in the “Crisis of Two Earths” is as something of a comic relief character. Of this Flash, Keaton said, “he says pretty much what everyone’s thinking and his timing isn’t necessarily the best. From a comedic standpoint, his timing is perfect. Being appropriate, [not really].” Keaton also voices a very small role as Aquaman in the production. “That was almost cooler than getting to be Flash because it’s Aquaman.” Even if you don’t fully grok what he meant by that, dear readers, I do.

Keaton’s also done quite a bit of episodic television and, naturally, video game acting. “I am a character named Destroyman on the No More Heroes franchise on the Wii. For those that are unfamiliar he has nipple guns and a crotch laser and I don’t have to explain why that’s awesome.”

(For the curious, and I’m definitely an enquiring mind when it comes to family ties, Josh Keaton is not related to any of the more well known acting Keatons, though he was quick to remind me that Michael Keaton’s real name is actually Michael Douglas and he had to change it when getting started because some other Michael Douglas had already snatched up his name in the SAG registry.  On the other hand, according to IMDb, both Josh and Michael Keaton are 5’9″. Also, Josh Keaton is very definitely related to his sister, actress Danielle Keaton, though their last name at birth was actually Wiener or Wiener-Navarro depending on whether you prefer IMDb or Wikipedia.  Yes, you learned it all here, folks.)

My next interview was slightly off the menu. Steve Niles is best known as the creator of the comic book, and co-screenwriter of the film, “30 Days of Night.” His latest project as a sceenwriter is an extra on the “Crisis” DVD, a new short animated version — presumably a test run for something longer later on — of a not-quite mainstream DC superhero, the Spectre.

A DC perennial with Golden Age roots brilliantly revived by writer Michael Fleisher and artist Jim Aparo in 1974 and 1975, the Spectre is Dirty Harry meets, well, God. In the comics, tough-guy detective Jim Corrigan meets up with the Lord Jehovah and becomes the ghostly Spectre, granted the power to mete out the Lord’s vengeance to evildoers as he sees fit. The series, which owed more than a little to the EC horror comics of the fifties, found some pretty famously clever ways around the rather severe restrictions on violence and horror of the old Comics Code Authority, but it still seems a bit beyond the bounds of the usual WB superhero animation.

Apparently, however, horror-writer Niles’ version is not far removed from Fleisher and Aparo’s strong vision. “He’s judge,  jury, and executioner. And he does it all with a sense of humor and irony.” Noting my all too obvious enthusiasm for the idea of reviving the series in animated form, he said. “I think you’ll get a real kick out of it, particularly the last death.”

Niles had learned that — much to my disappointment — they wouldn’t be screening the short, but that certainly didn’t dull his enthusiasm for the project. “My three favorite things are monsters, superheroes, and noir, and I was able to do all of them.”

Next up was the writer of the production I would actually get to see that night, Dwayne McDuffie.  Though I had my information a bit muddled when we spoke, McDuffie has had a long career as both a superhero comics and animation writer, which includes being the main scribe on the “Justice League Unlimited” TV series and creating the comic book and animated series versions of “Static Shock.” During the nineties, McDuffie also made a name for himself in the comic book industry by co-founding Milestone Media, which sought to broaden the cultural horizons of the superhero comics field.

Still, the question on my mind prior to seeing the film, and being aware tangentially of the mind-numbing complexity of DC’s notorious and hugely successful “Crisis of Infinite Earths” and subsequent cross-over mega-events, was: how do you keep it simple enough for a 75 minute animated feature? “It’s what I learned from Bruce Timm, Alan Burnett, Paul Dini and those guys: find the core of the character, find the pure element. You want to do the Aristotelian Batman” McDuffie said, laughing. (I think he actually meant the “Platonic Form of Batman” but you take your references to Greek philosophy where you find them.)

Somebody there had noted to me that McDuffie had worked on “Teen Titans,” a personal favorite of mine, but failed to mention he’d only been credited on two episodes. Still, McDuffie was nice enough to discuss the lessons of that show as it related to the importance of characters. “It was just about characters. It wasn’t about DC continuity, although there was tons of that there if you were into it. By the time you had the Doom Patrol showing up that was pretty on the edge. But what it was about was: what’s entertaining about these characters? What interests us about these characters? Let’s tell stories like that.”

Of course, this is Hollywood and you can’t talk about writers without also giving directors their due. “Crisis on Two Earths” has two of them: Sam Liu of “Planet Hulk” (for the other guys) and “Superman/Batman: Public Enemies” for DC, and Lauren Montgomery of “Wonder Woman” and “Green Lantern: First Flight.” I asked Liu how, given the aforementioned overwhelming nature of some alternate universe plots involving superheroes, how he kept things from getting a bit too insane for a short feature.

“With time traveling and reality jumping, it can become complicated. We set up parameters for what we’re going to talk about and the other stuff we’re not going to get into. The fewer pieces that you have to introduce the [less] you have to explain everything. The story and events are compelling enough as it is.”

I asked Lauren Montgomery about how this directorial collaboration come together. The somewhat hectic production of DC animation seemed to be a major factor. For one thing, both Liu and Montgomery had both come off their respective pre-“Crisis on Two Earths” superhero extravanganzas.

“We were both a little tired, but they needed people to direct it and soon. So they asked us, if we could do it together would we want to do it. Yeah, if we could have someone to help and [take] a little bit of the workload off of [each other] it’d be great. I think we all wanted to work together, too. Sam’s been doing it a lot longer than I have, so I definitely want to use it as a learning experience…We just have very different ways of working,” she said, alluding to her frequent statements that her style is more intuitive than Liu’s more direct, story-oriented approach. “There are things I’m stronger at and things that he’s stronger at we could kind of use them to complement each other and make a better project.”

She had more to say also on how a Justice League project was different from her prior single-superhero-centric movies. “There’s all these important characters and we don’t want to shortchange any of them. You don’t want to shortchange Flash and just give all the attention to Batman and Superman [for example]. So, we tried to make sure they each had some camera-time, some moment to shine, even though obviously Superman and Batman are going to be the more prominent characters in the movie. It’s a huge challenge to handle these really prominent characters and make sure you handle them correctly and don’t do any of them wrong.”

An interview with veteran voice actress Vanessa Marshall, who performs the part of Wonder Woman for the first time in “Crisis,” was unfortunately cut short due to time constraints, and a hastily assembled group interview of Gina Torres got underway. Torres is something of a superstar to some of us (me!) for her aforementioned tart, witty tenure on Joss Whedon’s “Firefly” and it’s theatrical follow-up, “Serenity.” (She also did some extraodinary work as a guest villain/goddess on “Angel,” though her storyline was not a huge hit with fans.)  The taller-than-you’d-thing actress, whose appearance in person definitely befits a woman who’s played more than one near-diety, also appeared in the title role in Chris Rock’s un-lauded Eric Rohmer remake, “I Think I Love My Wife.”

In addition all of that, Torres is married to none other than Laurence Fishburne. My excuse for mentioning that is Torres brought up her husband own status as a bit of closet comics geek, responding to a writer’s question that doing superhero animation gave her “great stepmom cred and status.” She added, “it also gives me great wife-cred and status because my husband is a huge comic book fan…”

And Ms. Torres continued to prove her high levels of geek tolerance as the geekster questions continued. One scribe asked: which did she enjoy playing more, Justice Leaguer Vixen or Crime Syndicate honcho Super Woman?

“Vixen is a good girl, with an edge and Super Woman, she’s just straight-up bad, with curves. I am loyal to both of them. It’s fun playing bad. You don’t have to therapy, you just get to get it all out, right in the booth.” When asked about her favorite piece of dialogue, she mentioned her’s character (accurate) self-description of her status as a “sick and twisted sociopath.”

And, it was up to this Whedon fan — though I was far from the only one present — to mention “Firefly” and ask how she felt about how that seems to have led to her being something of a go-to person for science fiction and fantasy-related roles as — in her words — “a warrior woman.”

“I think it’s fantastic. I think it’s great. It’s wonderful that I am filling part of this need to have strong and capable, fantastic women out there. The fact that I’m doing a good job with it — because they keep asking me to continue playing these parts — is great. The more the better. I’m up for it. I’m up for the party. ”

Last night on Bravo’s “Top Chef: Las Vegas,” the six remaining contestants were greeted in the kitchen of the Venetian Hotel with a phone call from host Padma Lakshmi. Padma was hanging out in a hotel room with cookbook author and TV personality Nigella Lawson, and the quick fire challenge was to cook and deliver to them breakfast in bed.

Robin went first (how is she still here?) and made blintzes with goat cheese and pineapple. I don’t like goat cheese, but either way, that sounds disgusting. Eli made a reuben benedict with thousand island hollandaise sauce. Since they were staggered in groups of two, next was Mike and Kevin. Mike made a huevos Cubana with banana puree, and Kevin made steak and eggs. Then it was Jen and Bryan–Jen went with creamed chipped beef and Bryan made a 4-minute egg over corn polenta.

Nigella’s least favorite dishes were Robin and Bryan, and her favorites were Kevin and Eli. But she had to choose one winner, and that person was Eli. Since immunity is no longer issued, Eli’s prize was also quite cool…to have his recipe featured in the Top Chef Quick Fire Cookbook.

For the main challenge, the chefs had to draw knives, with each one representing a popular Vegas hotel. They would then have to create a dish based on the theme of that hotel for 175 guests, including the judging panel. The judges would be the regulars Tom Colicchio and Padma, as well as Toby Young and Nigella.

Mike drew New York, New York and he made boneless Buffalo chicken wings with a blue cheese dipping sauce. Jen had Excalibur and her idea was a medieval themed meat…so she made a New York strip with beets and red wine. Bryan had Mandalay Bay and made a halibut with a bouillabaise consomme.

Robin had the Bellagio and went with a panna cotta, which is like an Italian custard, but she also tried to make stained glass panels out of sugar and it all fell apart. Kevin had the Mirage and he made a wild sockeye salmon with compressed vegetables and a tomato broth. Finally, Eli had Circus Circus and took the biggest gamble by making a caramel apple and peanut soup with pulverized popcorn. Say what?

At this point, we’re all thinking Robin has hung around long enough….but for whatever reason, she’s been lucky because someone else in the field has performed worse each week. Well, let’s see what happens….

The favorites were Kevin, Mike and Bryan….and the winner was…Mike. You might think making boneless Buffalo wings was almost a copout, but he won based on execution, as Toby Young mentioned how perfectly crispy the chicken was. I’m getting hungry. Mike’s prize was a bottle of Terrato wine and a trip for two to the Terrato vinyards in Napa Valley.

The least favorites were (well who is left, right?) Eli, Jen and Robin. The judges mentioned that Jen’s steak was tough and that she has been floundering the last few weeks after getting off to a great start. Eli’s soup was pretty much a disaster, and Colicchio mentioned that it “texturally failed.” Yikes. And Robin’s panna cotta just didn’t work. She went on an on about how she bit off more than she could chew with the stained glass, saying, “I”m such a jerk.” Okay, that’s a bit harsh, but Colicchio then asked Robin if she was being influenced by the other judges. Meaning, was she trying to overcompesate for being less talented and trying to wow the judges instead? Good point, and last night that is what sent Robin home…or perhaps it was her body of work this season, because clearly she is not in the same class as Mike, Bryan, Kevin, Eli and Jen.

So FINALLY Robin is off the show and we can focus on these five really talented chefs heading into the final rounds. I think Jen or Eli is next, and this is going to come down to Kevin and the brothers Voltaggio. It has to, right?

Thanks for reading and see you all next week…

Last night’s “Top Chef: Las Vegas” on Bravo featured the remaining seven chefs facing more and more pressure. Some would respond while others would start to wilt, and we’re almost to final four territory (just where has this season gone??).

We began with a quick fire challenge as host Padma Lakshmi introduced Italian chef Paul Bartolotta, who has an Italian restaurant in Las Vegas and is known as one of the best in the cuisine. But oddly, their quick fire was not Italian-oriented. Instead, they each had to create a “TV dinner” style dish based on a popular show, drawing knives to determine who would be representing which show.

Kris Kringle (Kevin) drew first and had “The Sopranos,” and he made a meatball dish with polenta and roasted cauliflower. Eli had “Gilligan’s Island” and made a macadamia and cashew crusted shrimp with tropical fruit salad. Mike Isabella had “Seinfeld” but admitted to never having watched it. Yikes. He made a sausage and pepper dish, though I’m not sure how that fit the show. Mike V. had “Cheers” and made bar food–chicken tender parmesan with swiss chard. Robin pulled “Sesame Street” and made a burger with egg, some sort of cookie and braised kale. Kale? For a kid? Brian had “M*A*S*H” and did a 50’s inspired dish of meat loaf, mashed potatoes and apple pie. Finally, Jennifer had “The Flintstones” and made a chicken roulade with peaches and a pea salad. Not sure about that one either. No bronto-burgers, Jen?

Chef Bartolotta chose Robin and Jen’s as his least favorites, and his top choices were Brian and Kris Kringle. Okay, from here on out, we’re going to refer to Kris as his real name, Kevin…you all know he looks like Kris Kringle, and he’s too much of a contender! Kevin won the challenge and his prize was to have his dish featured in a new line of Top Chef frozen dinners with Schwan’s.

For the main challenge, the chefs were whisked off to head judge Tom Colicchio’s Craftsteak restaurant, where they would be serving dinner to the judges and some guests. After looking at all the great steaks that were back in the kitchen and trying to determine what they would be making, a curveball came in. That curveball was actress Natalie Portman, who would be the guest of honor. However, Natalie is a vegetarian. Yikes….you could hear the collective groan and awkward comments (Robin: “They are people too!”).

Robin made a stuffed squash with fresh garbanzo beans and a beet carpaccio. All of that sounded good on the surface, but apparently her head was so scattered that she was not focused on one particular aspect of the dish.

Eli made a confit of eggplant, with lentils and radish garnish. This went over fairly well.

Mike V. made a few types of asparagus, with a tomato sashimi and banana polenta. The polenta was brave considering chef Bartolotta was a judge, but he pulled it off and he got the reaction out of Portman he wanted (“I’m not sure why, but I love this…”)

Jennifer made a charred eggplant with fennel and was nervously saucing each plate when describing the dish. For whatever reason, they didn’t like her dish and she was going to be in trouble again.

Mike I. made leeks with a carrot puree and roasted fingerling potatoes. A good idea, as he wanted the leeks to resemble scallops, but they kind of fell apart as he cooked them. Not good and they let him know it.

Brian did an artichoke dish with shallots and a fennel puree. I think they liked his dish but didn’t love it.

And finally Kevin made a mushroom duo with smoked kale and turnips. The judges loved his dish and thought that the mushrooms were a nice protein replacement.

As the judges discussed what they liked and didn’t like, at one point Natalie Portman made an adolescent type crack about something Padma said about a “prick” in her mouth, and all of them started snickering like they were watching “Beavis & Butthead” together. It was pretty funny.

So they called in the three chefs whose dishes they liked the most–Kevin, Michael V. and Eli. They loved the textures but more importantly the flavors Kevin created, the creativity of Michael’s and how pretty Eli’s dish looked in addition to tasting great. The winner? Kevin again. Michael was pissed because he said he could have made Kevin’s dish in his sleep. Yikes….easy, dude! Kevin’s prize was a kitchen full of appliances and this guy just keeps racking up those prizes!

The least favorites were Jennifer, Robin and Mike I. Jennifer’s was considered to be a plateful of garnishes and they questioned why that was when she had 2 hours. Robin’s dish was all over the map and not focused enough. And Mike not only failed with his leek experiment, but he was cocky and thought the rest of his dish was great…Colicchio disagreed wholeheartedly. So while we were all holding our collective breath, waiting for Padma to say Robin’s name…she didn’t, instead going with Mike Isabella. Dude was too cocky for his own good, though it’s hard to believe he is a better chef than Robin. Really hard to believe.

So we are now down to six–Robin, Jennifer, the brothers Voltaggio, Kevin and Eli. I’m still pulling for and picking Kevin as my frontrunner. What do you all think? Will the brothers implode soon? Will they cancel each other out? Tune in next week!

I confess I’ve only been watching Bravo’s “Top Chef” for one-plus seasons now, but I’ve become hooked in a hurry. So this was just my second time experiencing “restaurant wars,” when they break up the final eight contestants into two teams and have them run an actual restaurant for the night.

But first, the episode began with a Quick Fire challenge, and the guest judge this week was Rick Moonen, who owns a sustainable seafood restaurant in Vegas. They would have a tag team cookoff, in which each chef had 10 minutes out of 40 to complete a dish, but while one chef was working the others were blindfolded. Man, that looked HARD. They drew knives and Jennifer and Michael V. had to choose teams…Jen chose Kris Kringle (Kevin), Mike Isabella and Laurine, deciding to let the brothers be on the same team and duke it out, literally. So Michael had Brian, Eli and Robin.

Jen’s team was blue and Michael’s team the red team. Jen started out with black cod and scallops, with a sauce and stock….nice and easy. The red team did a steak with mushrooms and a salad with some kind of avocado mousse. By the time they got to the anchors, Kris Kringle and Michael, they appeared to be neck and neck. But Kris Kringle decided to ditch the idea of poaching the fish and instead pan fried it in butter. Michael had to make sure the steak was cooked enough and had time to rest before cutting it, but that didn’t happen, and the blue team won.

Their prize? $2500 each, or they could parlay that into $10K each if they won restaurant wars. They decided they had a shot, so they rolled the dice. At the challenge, the blue team and red team would each have a floor at Moonen’s restaurant with their own kitchen and dining room. They would be serving to real guests as well as a judge’s table of Moonen, head judge Tom Colicchio, host and judge Padma Lakshmi and regular judge Toby Young.

The blue team’s restaurant was called “Mission,” a slightly boring name but not as offensive as the red team’s “Revolt.” What? They decided that Laurine and Eli would run front of house, respectively, but each would also be responsible for one dish. The blue team opted not to serve dessert, because this has become a reason teams have lost restaurant wars in the past on this show. Meanwhile, the red team did have two desserts planned. Here is a synopsis of each menu:

Blue team: asparagus appetizer, arctic char, trout and endive, mussels and clams with boulliabaisse broth, lamb chops with carrot jam and pork three ways.

Red team: chicken and calamari appetizer, arctic char, duo of beef, cod and slaw, pear crisp with vanilla ice cream and a chocolate ganache.

Eli did a much better job of greeting the guests and keeping them informed during the process, while Laurine did not. In fact, when Laurine brought out entrees, she failed to describe them to the judges. Meanwhile, the blue team was struggling as Jen was cooking mussels and clams to order and Kevin was having a hard time getting his meat out. And Laurine and he were arguing over what was considered medium rare on the lamb.

The red team, however, was clicking on all cylinders despite bickering between the brothers and between Michael and Robin. Go figure. But they sure did get their food out, and the judges loved all of it. Game over.

So the red team was asked out first and they were told they won restaurant wars, and that they really loved everything, and even added that they had done the best job ever for restaurant wars on the show. Wow. But in particular they loved Michael’s chicken and calamari dish and his dessert, as well as Robin’s pear dessert. They had to pick one winner, though, and that person was Michael, who won the $10K the other team had forfeited. He decided to split it amongst his teammates, though for some reason this angered his competitive brother.

Then the blue team had to face the music. It was unusual seeing Kris Kringle and Jennifer in this position, but someone had to lose. The judges said that Mike Isabella’s dishes were not great, but weren’t horrible either, so he was safe. They gave Kris Kringle a hard time about the meat not being done properly, but gave Laurine a harder time because she had insisted beforehand that she would oversee that and make sure her dish was done properly. Of course, Laurine failed at front of house too. Meanwhile, Jen just failed miserably in the kitchen, and while her made-to-order shellfish was okay, the judges did not like her trout dish at all. So this was likely between Jen and Laurine.

Who do you think they sent home? Naturally they had to consider past work, and so Laurine was told to pack her knives and go. I mean, let’s face it, she’s just not as good a chef as Jennifer, so that was the right call.

We’re down now to seven, and you can bet Robin is next to go home….unless the brothers beat the crap out of each other before that. Should be interesting. See you guys next week!