I know a whole bunch of professional movie geeks were invited out to the set of "His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass" a few weeks back, and now we're just getting the first set reports. AICN, for example, has a good one -- and we might be back next week with a few more!

AICN's Moriarty gets down with his first London set report, and he opens by (rather astutely) explaining how "tough a sell" this movie might prove to be. Sure, it's based on a rather popular series of books ... but it's not exactly as well-known as JRR Tolkien, now is it?

The reporter than goes into an amusingly convoluted attempt at plot synopsis, but since I want to walk into "The Golden Compass" fresh, I skipped that section.

We then get a description of one large soundstage, a breakdown of the cast (which includes Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig), some special effects and production design info, and a teaser for the second report. As these things go, it's a pretty solid set report. (Too bad I could only skim it; I don't like to know all that much about a flick BEFORE I see it.)