One of our favourite actors, Mark Strong, has opened up on how - there's no nice way of putting this - crap John Carter was. Andrew Stanton's book to screen attempt was unveiled in cinemas last Spring but unfortunately for those involved, it went down like a lead balloon. Not only in terms of critical reception, John Carter was also a failure at the box office.

Strong who - for those of you who haven't seen it, we reckon that's quite a few - played the leader of The Therns opened up to 5 Live hosts Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo:

"I really liked it, and I thought people were really harsh on it... It suffered from the fact that we have seen everything in it before... It was written at the turn of last century, and everything - Star Wars, Star Trek, even Tarzan - all comes from it really. The idea of science fiction, he (Edgar Rice Burroughs) was the granddaddy of it all... So there was nothing in there that really surprised anyone, and it looked a bit dated. I really enjoyed it, my kids enjoyed it, and people I know enjoyed it."

Currently you'll find Strong appearing in a far superior movie; he stars in Zero Dark Thirty opposite Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain. In cinemas this Friday.