I re-watched the first three Indiana Jones films. They're still great fun, and I find that my overall ratings of them haven't changed at all.

Raiders of the Lost Ark - 4.5 out of 5 stars
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - 4 out of 5 stars
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - 3.5 out of 5 stars

That's right, I rate Temple of Doom higher than Last Crusade. Temple of Doom is the underrated film in the series. It's not quite as good as Raiders, but in many ways it's the truest to the spirit of the old movie serials that inspired the Indiana Jones series in the first place. Those serials were basically exploitation films, and Temple of Doom gets that in a big way.

A new Highlander film is being developed. It won't be a sequel, though. It'll be a full reboot of the franchise. Considering how awful all the sequels were (proving that "there can only be one!" is true), a reboot isn't a bad idea. The film will be written by Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, most recently the co-writers of Iron Man.

Despite the recent Flash Gordon television series being a failure, producer Neal H. Moritz (Tru Calling, I Am Legend) and director Breck Eisner (Sahara) are developing a feature film based on Alex Raymond's creation (thankfully, it won't be based on the canceled television series). I say do it as a straight up retro space opera.

Is anyone else disappointed that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was renewed for a second season? I gave the show a second chance, but just couldn't get past how much it trashes the legacy of writer/director James Cameron and actress Linda Hamilton. Even the presence of Summer Glau wasn't enough to make it worthwhile for me.

In related news, Christian Bale was reportedly so pleased with the script for the currently in production Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins that he signed on to do two more films in the franchise. It's scheduled to be released on May 22, 2009. I'll see it just because Bale is playing John Connor, but the presence of McG (Charlie's Angels) as director has me concerned. McG is also an executive producer of television shows like Supernatural and Chuck, so sometimes he does know a good thing when he sees it. I'm just not sold on him as a director of good things (minus Chuck's pilot).

I finished re-watching Firefly last night. It's still brilliant and I still miss it. I'll watch Serenity tonight. Then my next project will be to re-watch the first three Indiana Jones films before I see the new one.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull premiered at the Cannes Film Festival yesterday. According to a Variety critic, "one of the most eagerly and long-awaited series follow-ups in screen history delivers the goods." Speaking after the premiere, executive producer/co-writer George Lucas said he has an idea for a fifth film with Shia LeBeouf's character in a more prominent role.

Lucas' next film is Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which will be released on August 15th and set up the Cartoon Network's series of the same name that will air later in the year. After the prequel trilogy, I don't know if I can stand to see Lucas do more Star Wars. The new Indy film is one thing because of the presence of Steven Spielberg, but Lucas on his own is another thing entirely.

Trufax: some people in fandom are completely insane when it comes to spoilers to the point where they freak out about things that aren't even actual spoilers.