Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - coming in May!

Yep, on May 22nd we'll see a new 'Indiana Jones' flick in our cinemas -- the first since 1989's "Last Crusade". I'm really buzzed about the new film, as Indy is one of my favourite film characters, with "Raiders of the Lost Ark" being one of my top movies of all time! Lucas and Spielberg created something really special with these films: their take on the film serials of the 1940s were amazing to watch. With "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" we 'll have some 1950s sci-fi b-movie influence as well -- flying Saucers in the desert? Area 51? Alien cultures in South America? We'll see soon!

The newly released trailer was fabulous to watch! Harrison still looks good enough to play the part - it is an action role after all. I suppose a lot of the humour will come from referencing Indy's age. Shia Labeouf was brilliant in "Transformers", so I'm looking forward to seeing his character, Matt (Jones?). I was over the moon to hear that Karen Allen is back as Marion, and was happy to see some other additions to the cast as Ray Winstone, John Hurt, and Cate Blanchett, who plays the Soviet enemy with a very severe hair cut!

There are rumours out there in internet land that if successful, Shia's character could be used in future "spin off" movies or a tv series. I always wanted an Indy Jones cartoon!

Roll on May 22nd -- can't wait to see this on the big screen!!!

Star Wars 30th anniversary cake!

Tomorrow, the 19th of February 2008, is my 30th anniversary for seeing the original "Star Wars" film! Yes, the film is *that* old and I'm even *older*. Eeek.

I'm amazed that it was 30 years ago that my brother, Peter, took me to the lovely old Regent cinema in Great Yarmouth on a Sunday afternoon to see the newly released space blockbuster. What an amazing experience that was though! The excitement of queing up, getting a 'Star Wars' baseball cap (a cheap and nasty piece of tat is was though!) jaw-dropping visuals, cheering, and dropping my ice cream in the cinema. I guess it was a life changing/creating moment. Three decades on and I'm still a film geek!

Have a look here and here about the original release.

So anyway, Carla and I are going to watch the original cut of the film on DVD, and eat some cake to celebrate! I may take a photo of this if I get around to it. I know it wont be anywhere near as good as the cake that Craig and the rest of the 'Star Wars' fan group had at their recent 30th anniversary get together (see picture) but hey, it will taste nice: Sainsbury's cakes usually do!

The Lords of Midnight and old video games!

I've discovered an old Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer game available on-line. It's called "The Lords of Midnight" and was one of my favourite titles from my Spectrum gaming days of the 1980s! The game is a graphic adventure/strategy hybird and is simply *FANTASTIC*! The version I'm playing is an update - graphically at least. The gameplay is pretty much identical to the original. The plot concerns a group of "good" kingdoms who are trying to defend themselves against an evil overlord (and his armies of darkness!) who is trying to invade and conquer them. As you would expect it is set in a mythical "Lord of the Rings" style time and place, so there are dragons, towers, mountains, magical swords etc. It's quite fun sending your characters, such as 'Luxor the Moonprince' and 'Rorthron the Wise' around the huge map, finding things, recruiting lords, raising armies and defending keeps and towns. What made the game so revolutionary back on it's 1984 release was that it could generate (for then a staggering) 32,000 different views from the point of view of the individual game characters. The programmer, a chap called Mike Singleton, developed a process called 'Landscaping' to achieve this. As you move the characters around the kingdoms, you can see objects (such as a ruin or forest) getting closer and the landscape revealing itself, as well as armies on the horizon. Very atmospheric: the gameplay is involving and the graphics are wonderful!

The game version I'm playing can be downloaded here at the excellent Tower of the Moon site.

A newer update can be found here at Frozen Empire - looks like they've expanded the graphics and gameplay!

"LOM" is one of many video games from the past that I love to play! Others include arcade classics like Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Battle-Zone, Defender, Amidar, Donkey-Kong etc. Talking about Kong, there is a new documentary about two video game egos battling each other for the world championship high score. Its called "The King of Kong" and looks wonderful! Hopefully I can get it on DVD soon and can review it then!