OK the plot is a bit perfunctory, and Harrison Ford may be nearly 65, but I must admit I really enjoyed “Indiana Jones an the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”, as it lived up to all the promises coming from the Spielberg & Lucas camp, namely, it would be shot in as near the same way as the previous three “Indy” films as possible. There is only a small amount of CGI used (mostly at the very end), and the stunts and set pieces are all handled in the old fashioned way, meticulous planning and execution, and it shows on the screen, especially in a sequence where two Jeeps are trying to force each other off a mountain road, this is extremely exciting, and as good an action sequence produced for the previous three films. As “Indy” is older now, so is the setting, we’re in the late 50’s, the baddies are no longer the Nazi’s, enter the good old Soviets, which fill the role ably. I’m not going into the plot here, I just advise you to go and see it, all the elements that made the other adventures work are still here, the great action sequences, the pithy one-liners, but this films biggest strength is Harrison Ford, who plays the older “Indy” brilliantly, and it’s his performance that really holds this film together. I liked the nice touch of bringing Karen Allen back from the original “Raiders” film, as she is integral to the story, and with able support from British thesps like Ray Winstone and John Hurt, you know you’re going to get a solid film.

I’ve now seen “Iron Man” twice, and I must admit I think it’s a brilliant translation to the big screen for this Marvel comic superhero. Robert Downey Jr. is a revelation as the Billion Dollar arms manufacturer ‘Tony Stark’, whose brilliant ideas are the backbone of the U.S.’s defence systems. The story starts as we see ‘Stark’ demonstrating his latest weapon somewhere in the Middle East, and on the way back to the airfield, his convoy of military vehicles are fired upon, his Army guard start to die around him, when he sees one of his own weapons being fired in his direction, it explodes, he’s knocked out, and when he becomes conscious, he realises something is really wrong, as he has a jerry rigged device implanted in his chest, which is connected to a car battery. It turns out this device, basically a strong magnet, is keeping him alive, as it stops bomb shrapnel from entering his heart. It turns out that his captors want him to reproduce one of his weapons for their own use, but instead of that ‘Stark’ comes up with his own idea to escape his captors - he’ll give them the impression he’s working on there weapon, while secretly he’s designed an exoskeleton, which will literally transform him into a living robot. It takes a while, but when the suit is finished, after some skirmishes with his captors, he escapes, but he’s seen another side to his business ventures, as his own weapons are being sold to the enemy, underhandedly obviously, but still being sold. So at a press conference on his return he tells everyone assembled that his company ‘Stark Industries’ would stop making weapons. This news does not go down well with his board, and they freeze him out of his own business. Stark therefore decides to refine his basic exoskeleton design, streamlining it, until it fits like a glove, and with a new super power supply he’s dreamt up, not only does it keep him alive, it also makes his new armoured suit super strong. He even has enough power for powered flight and thus is born “Iron Man”. There are many other twists and turns as you would imagine from a movie like this, and with support from Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges, this is an all action movie, which for once has a very good script- and star. Recommended.

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