Polar Extremes – Highlander and Highlander II
One of my favourite guilty (movie) pleasures is Highlander (1986). In 1518, Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) is born in the clan MacLeod in a small village in Scotland. During a battle with a rival clan, the Frasers, in 1536, the Black Knight, Kurgan (an amazing Clancy Brown), stabs Connor through the belly. Kurgan declares, ‘There can be only one!’ and is about to decapitate Connor when his clansmen save him. But it’s all for nothing. Connor’s wounds are fatal. He dies that night. The next day, he’s up and about and as healthy as ever. Fearing he is possessed, his clan drives him from the village. We rejoin him some…
A Review: The Mandalorian
I’m still unsure about The Mandalorian (2019 – ). The best thing people are saying about it is, ‘It’s not offensive!’ This is important to understand. People are judging it against the curve of Disney’s Star Wars movies, the way they judged The Force Awakens (2015) against the sour taste that the Prequels had left. But what if that curve wasn’t there? How would it stand up? I just don’t know. Well, it’s not offensive. The Galaxy I like the feeling of the setting. Set five years after the events of Return of the Jedi (1983) – you know, that movie where we thought the Empire was overthrown and the…