Oh.  My.  God.

Let’s get this out the way.

It’s good film. It’s an Indy movie. Go and see it.

I had mixed feelings as the opening titles began. It’s hard to get away from the fact that the Indy I remember I watched as a boy. I wasn’t sure it was going to translate into a new feature.

Sure there are some rough patches. I didn’t get into the film until the scenes at the college. THEN it seemed like Indy to me. Before it was a bit forced. Or I was too cynical?

Anyway, keeping the review as spoiler free as possible, the story had me thinking of Indy meets Quatermass (with a hint of the X-Files thrown in for good measure).

The film was hampered by Cate Blanchett whose accent was all over the place and the at times overly comic book feel the movie seems to have adopted.

Ford is well weathered and can still pass it off, despite his age, and had some able support from Karen Allen, returning as Marion Ravenwood, Shia LaBeouf as “Mutt”, John Hurt who wasn’t given much to do as Prof Oxley and Ray Winstone as Mac.

There are some moments I thought “come one, give me a break”, you’ll know when you get to them, but generally it delivered the adventure-laden goodness I was after.

Was it the best of the four? Not by a long shot. But it’s not “Phantom Menace bad” either.

Yep, Russell T Davies, executive producer of Doctor Who, is stepping down. But not until after the proposed two hour specials planned for next year instead of a full season.

And will David Tennant go at the same time? I would think so. Actually I’d expect him to go at the end of this season but it makes more sense his leaving with Davies. That gives the new guy a fresh start.

And who is this new guy? Why none other than Steven Moffat, writer of Press Gang, Jekyll, Coupling and several really good Doctor Who stories. I’m hoping he’ll bring a fresh feel to the series.

Not that it needs it, but it would be good for the series to be a bit, well, tougher. Sometimes it feels like the current stuff although good, doesn’t really go anywhere particularly quickly, or it is just me?

Anyway, interesting times with Davies and Tennant going with Moffat and a potential new Doctor on the horizon.

Best line: “It’s like when you go to a wedding, you feel like an idiot on the way but when you get there everyone’s wearing a fez…”

It’s a BBC Three pilot for a new comedy series about obsessive fans of a series of novels about a teen hero called Delta Dempsey.  I laughed and laughed and laughed.

I know people just like them, bless ‘em, and I suffer my own special obsessions so I understand how it works…

So far it has only been the pilot but it’s brilliant.  The two female fans desperately wanting to get involved, the borderline insane Scots lad (calling himself Guantanamo Ray) who hates what’s happening with the film adaptation and the two lads with no interest in the books but with a couple of tickets for the advanced screening who are there for the booze and the ladies..

It’s well worth a watch.

It’s available on the BBC iPlayer here for the next 6 days.

As much as my passion for Star Wars has flagged in recent years, I couldn’t help but get excited for this:

Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Hmm, nice.

The lovely people at Newsarama have a trailer handy here.

(Oh, and I know this is meant to be my writing/creative blog and regular posts have been short on the ground. Bear with me, that’s going to change soon. And for the better…)

I was feeling a bit on the dubious side when faced with the prospect of watching the new series of Doctor Who.

To explain, it was the majority of series three that spoiled it for me, with the Christmas special (the Kylie episode) being the final nail in that particular coffin. But more on that train wreck some other time…

So it came to Saturday evening and I was, at best, ambivalent in the face of watching more New Who. But after talking about it with Ruthy, the voice of reason, it was then decided I’d give it a go.

I have to admit it was better than I was expecting. But then, to be honest, it couldn’t be much worse.

The story was fair for an series opener, a diet company drawing the fat off people to create new bodies for a new race.

The typical chase wasn’t as pointless as usual, the Tate woman was reasonable and the Doctor was his usual effervescent self.

That’s the thing. Perhaps by series four it should be trying harder? Not that it was a particularly bad job of the first episode. As I said, Tate was good. Well, not good, but not bad. She was just, well, she was there. She fulfilled the basic requirements of a companion. She was there, she got in the way and she gave the Doctor someone more immediate to save.

The Doctor was played with the usual gusto by David Tennant. He had some quality moments, any of the scenes in the company building and the scene with him and Tate through the windows on either side of Miss Foster’s office. Quality stuff.

And the supporting cast were good, Sarah Lancashire was excellent as Miss Foster and Bernard Cribbins was a star as the grandfather.

So, final words: good, a mild return to form but must try harder.

Had the misfortune to watch My Little Eye recently.

Flat and lifeless, and completely lacking in tension.

Here’s a quick story round-up.
There are five contestants living in an old house in the middle of nowhere for six months for some reality-internet show. And there a big prize if they all stay there for the full time.

And very close to the last days, everything starts going wrong.

Maybe I wasn’t paying much attention or maybe I just didn’t care about five main characters who don’t seem to have any personality or anything interesting to say, but it really was 92 minutes that I will never have in my life again.

In actual fact, while there’s very little positive comment I can say about the film there’s also very little negative I can say as well. Apart from the characters who it’s impossible to care about.

And the lack of tension.

I did like the concept. But it did leave me unmoved.

The.

Iron.

Man.

Teaser.

Trailer.

!.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Right here.

(And this really is a cheek, not having posted in an age and just putting up a link to a trailer. Normal service will resume shortly, I promise…)

Does it get any better?

Leia: “I love you.”

Han: “I know.”

Simple, beautiful, brilliant.

Brings a tear to a glass eye so it does.

Yeah, remember the Original Star Wars Trilogy?

No, not the one in the cinemas before Ep 1-3.

The ORIGINAL Trilogy. The one where Han shot first?

Well, read this.

Finally a version of Star Wars I would be happy owning.

About bloomin’ time too.