Warning: this contains spoilers, so don’t read it if you haven’t seen the movie in question.

I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather this week, so Mrs A gave me a day off from working down her usual long list of Saturday must-dos. After getting my hair cut and cleaning out the hamster house I decided to take time out to watch ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ which I recorded some time ago – a movie which I promised myself I’d watch on the big screen at home, not on the mini-screen of the Archos while at an airport or on a flight to somewhere.

The first concern was whether the aged Harrison Ford could still hack it as the adventurous archaeologist… yes, but only just, and to be fair they made reference to his advancing years a few times. At least they didn’t pass him off as some spring chicken. But then there’s the bad news. Cate Blanchett’s delivery came straight out of Russian Accent 101 classes and made me cringe every time she spoke. If we’re supposed to hate the villain, then that worked. I was sorry that she wasn’t polished off within the first ten minutes… instead she nearly made it through to the end credits.

On the whole the story was an Indiana Jones check-list. Underground tombs… check. Ancient mechanical devices…check. Ancient legends setting up the story… check. Chases, guns and jumping from one vehicle to another… check. And so on.

Now, let’s think about the subjects of the earlier Indiana Jones movies… finding the Ark of the Covenant in Egypt, a brutish Indian cult, and a hunt for the Holy Grail. Great movies, even if that old knight at the end of ‘The Last Crusade’ was a bit daft. So here’s the next problem with ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ – it’s about the skull of an alien. Yes, an alien. Aliens in an Indiana Jones movie. Okay, it’s an ancient artefact… but it’s the skull of an alien. And there’s thirteen alien skeletons sitting in a space ship. No no no no no no no no. What were they thinking?

In summary, it was okay. It entertained me for two hours. But the next time I watch ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (which is still one of the best movies ever made) I’m going to try to forget that this final instalment ever happened.

This is going to be a rubbish blog post, because on the way into the studio I had to sign a confidentiality agreement. I’d already left the camera at home having been told it would be confiscated, but I had planned a little report about a visit to the set of a major movie which is currently being filmed. However, part of the agreement was not to divulge any details via Twitter, Facebook or blogging. I wouldn’t want to incur the wrath of a film company but I also wouldn’t want to betray the trust of a close friend who arranged it.

So, what can I tell you? Not much, but it was an awesome day out. We saw movie sets, and walked in some of them. We saw existing props, some new ones in production and even held some famous items. We saw artwork and models. But best of all we saw some of the stars including ‘the big three’ and some other major names… the shooting schedule meant we struck lucky as it coincided with a scene including so many of the major characters. It’s incredible what goes on behind the scenes and on set, and the level of detail was unbelievable. It was pointed out that a small item may appear 10 foot high on a large cinema screen, so they can’t scrimp on the detail.

All I can say in summary is that we had a ‘wizard’ day, and I’m very grateful to our hosts and the many people who have us a tour of their departments.

For someone who rarely visits the cinema, I am madly interested in movies and movie news. Instead of going to the cinema, I buy DVDs which I never get a chance to watch… although actually I do copy them onto the Archos and watch them on the Camberley Express into London.

I quite liked the recent ‘Hulk’ movie directed by Ang Lee and starring Eric Bana – some of it was a bit slow-going but there’s a glorious segment about two-thirds of the way through where the US armed forces chase the big green fella across the desert, and fun ensues as he throws tanks and helicopters around.

An even newer Hulk adaptation starring Edward Norton is one the cinematic highlights I probably won’t get to see this year, along with ‘Iron Man’, ‘The Dark Knight’ (the latest Batman flick) and ‘Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Zimmer Frame’. Nevertheless, I was excited (possibly the wrong word… interested, maybe) to see the news of the Hulk trailer on Comingsoon.Net. So I clicked on the link and made ready with the headphones… but in the embedded movie player I saw the message pictured here.

I can understand being asked to leave a room while someone explains US encryption export policy to some US citizens (yes, it did happen), but this is a bit stupid. What’s the point? Spoilsports.

It’s okay, no spoilers here. Today I finished reading ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’. No, it’s not just for kids, why should it be? I was slightly concerned that after all the build-up, the intricate detail of the preceding books, it would be a disappointment – that some detail that seemed so important and left us all hanging would be glossed over, be poorly explained, or just turn out to be plain rubbish. Nope, not in the least. Everything was pieced together, everything worked, and the conclusion was very satisfying. Quite a few surprises, although my guess about Snape was right (that’s not a spoiler, I was just right about Snape, that’s all).

Now the big problem for Warner Brothers… turn it into a decent movie. The Harry Potter movies to date have been pretty good and entertaining, and you couldn’t expect them to go into the minute details that the books do. So they have skipped some large portions of action and sub-plots, and there’s a general feeling of the approach being “well, we have to make this into a movie so let’s get it done” and hey presto, another Harry Potter movie rolls off the conveyor belt.

In ‘The Deathly Hallows’ there’s a lot of skipping to different locations (unlike the mainly Hogwarts-based ‘Order of the Phoenix’) and there’s a lot of flashbacks, a lot of action, and a lot of detailed explanatory dialogue. Miss out that stuff and the movie will be a confusing turkey. But it’ll still be better than ‘The Matrix’.