Tonight he comes. Well, this was the working title of the Will Smith superhero film "Hancock," and I think everybody agrees that the final name was an infinitely superior choice.

This is the only picture that does the film justice, I think

I have to say, though, that this was a relatively impressive film, considering that it featured one of the most unorthodox superhero stories I’ve ever encountered (Unbreakable doesn’t count). The special effects were pretty awesome, and the twist that comes in the middle of the entire film was - well, it was REALLY unexpected. Everything you see in the trailers, don’t pay too much attention to it. It was all just there to establish the hype. The real story begins after he gets out of prison.

I give this film a four out of five stars. Why four? Because this is one of those films that could have been stretched to a full three and a half hours in order to establish more story. Suffice to say that I think the film could have used more development between the main protagonists and a more omnipresent bad-guy should have been established. A decent back story (you’ll understand once you see the film) would have been appreciated as well.

This is a classic series. Seriously, a classic series. If you’re into sci-fi - and I’m sure a lot of the folks here are - then it’s either you know of this series, you’ve heard of it from a webcomic somewheres, or you’ve watched it or you are watching it. The new series in particular, which began in 2005, brought the Doctor into the contemporary limelight, ditching the hardcore cyberpunk appeal of the series in favor for a more modern set-up.

The series begins with the Ninth incarnation of the Doctor (portrayed by Christopher Eccelston), and his chance encounter with Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), the woman who would become her companion for a good couple of years. Throughout their adventures throughout time and space together, the Doctor and Rose would encounter various aliens both good and bad; what’s interesting is that the Doctor doesn’t always deal with all these alien threats in the same manner. Some aliens, such as the Doctor’s perennial enemies called the Daleks, are dealt with using only the most drastic of the Doctor’s methods, while others, such as the subservient Ood, actually take precedent over the humans.

The fourth season (the Brits call them serials) just ended last July 5. There will be no Doctor Who episodes until Christmas. The regular season of the programme will resume in 2010 (to give way to the filming of Hamlet, in which the Tenth Doctor’s actor, (David Tennant - how he went from Ninth to the Tenth is explained in the first season’s finale), will be acting).

For more Doctor Who love, you can check out it’s homepage here.

. . . are your thoughts on the upcoming adaptation of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, which stars Brendan Frasier et al?

I read the synopsis from several online resources, and I have to say that the Jules Verne connection seems very very forced, for me. For one thing: the way most synopses portray the actual entry into Mt. Sneffels seems very haphazard, not in any way as well-thought out as Verne’s original rendition of the descent (wherein they had to go down the volcano at such a given time so that they could actually find the right tunnel that would eventually lead into the bowels of the earth).

As a matter of fact, there isn’t even any mention of Mt. Sneffels. The entry and exit points remain the same - Iceland and Italy, to be exact - but as the book itself says, there’s a large amount of active and inactive volcanoes in Iceland - what’s stopping them from picking another entry point for the plot?

Also, if you’re going to make an adaptation of a book, why should you include the said book itself as a plot device? I mean, get this: Brendan Frasier is a scientist, who finds a copy of the old sci-fi book by Jules Verne, with notes made by his (Frasier’s) brother that eventually leads to them falling into the volcano and traveling to the center of the Earth. Couldn’t they have used a more convincing piece of literature, in the same vein as Frasier’s The Mummy series, to get things rolling?

The script sounds lousy. And if the script’s lousy, no matter what 3-D effects they throw at me, I am sure to be disappointed.