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Highlander 2: The Quickening is the only non-James Bond sequel of Sean Connery's career - and turned into the biggest critical and commercial mess of his career. Connery played Bond in seven movies, though his final appearance was in the "unofficial" outing Never Say Never Again. After hitting something of a fallow period during the early 1980s, Connery made a major comeback with The Untouchables and went on to front major hits like The Hunt for Red October and The Rock. Perhaps having felt confined by the 007 series, Connery largely avoided sequels for much of his career.

Highlander 2 proved the sole exception to this, with this 1991 sequel reuniting Connery's Ramírez with Christopher Lambert's MacLeod. His return was something of a surprise to fans of the original Highlander movie from 1986 - considering his head had been cut off by the movie's villain, The Kurgan (Clancy Brown). Since Connery...

Highlander 2: The Quickening ranks among the worst sequels ever made - but its epic failure was corrected by a much better follow-up the very next year. The Highlander movie franchise is one of the strangest in existence, with all four sequels essentially existing in their own continuities. The trouble is that the ending of the original film wrapped up the story, so The Quickening's solution was to brutally retcon the saga's backstory. It revealed the immortals are actually aliens exiled from the planet Zeist and that Sean Connery's Ramírez could be resurrected by simply calling his name aloud.

Highlander 2 is a murky, boring and borderline incoherent mess, and outside some impressive production design and hammy work by Connery and main villain Michael Ironside, it's a chore of an experience. Highlander 2 sits at a well-earned 0% on Rotten Tomatoes and bombed, grossing over $14 million on an estimated $34 million production budget.

Heist thriller sequel Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera, starring Gerard Butler, is out in January. Here’s a new trailer:

Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera clearly means business. Why else would its title so confidently stride into the world of colon and incomprehensible word combinations unless it wanted to throw down with the likes of John Wick; Chapter 3 – Parabellum or even Highlander 2: The Quickening?

Perhaps it’s because we’re set to get a couple of hours of Gerard Butler gruffly chasing down criminals in slickly shot action sequences while lots of other actors try to out-scowl each other? We certainly hope so. The film has shot in both France and Serbia with Den Of Thieves’ writer and director Christian Gudegast returning alongside Butler. O’Shea Jackson and Meadow Williams will be reprising their roles too.

Here’s the synopsis:

Having plotted to rob the Federal Reserve Bank in the first film,...

Gladiator 2 has a lot of eyes on it. Following up on the masterpiece of Russell Crowe’s 2000 film, there is a lot of room to make mistakes and very little expectation that the film might actually get it right. Although fans are never fond of classics being remade, the people involved in the upcoming film caused audiences to be more optimistic.

Paul Mescal in Gladiator II | Credit: Paramount Pictures.

From Ridley Scott coming back to direct the new film to the cast featuring names like Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, and even Joseph Quinn, it is safe to say that the film has a lot going for it. Thankfully, its recent reviews reflect exactly this, singing nothing but praise for what it has made.

So much so that it may have done what only Tom Cruise’s classic was able to do.

Gladiator 2—An Expection in a World...

It is exceedingly rare in today's IP-dominated movie marketplace to see an original film spawn a long-running franchise. Granted, these motion pictures aren't always wholly original. But while they tend to be derivative of narrative formulas that have worked in the past, they are at least written from scratch with no significant assistance from a novel or a comic book or a video game or, nowadays, the origin story of a popular brand.

So, kudos to Gregory Widen and Paul Maslansky for possessing the creative chutzpah to launch two very successful franchises in, respectively, "Highlander" and "Police Academy." The former gave fans four feature installments over a 14-year-span, while the latter rattled off six entries once a year between 1984 and 1989 (and a late-in-the-day seventh with much of the same cast in 1994).

"Police Academy" was especially zeitgeisty, trafficking in the zany spoof gags made popular by the Zaz team of David Zucker,...

Often, when reading film reviews, I hear the voice of Tim Heidecker as Nigel Andrews. Upon realizing that the film "Us," in which the comedian stars, had received a bad review from Andrews, Heidecker launched into an impression of the prolific Financial Times film critic. Reading the Rotten Tomatoes quote from Andrews' review, Heidecker announced in a hearty British Received Pronunciation tone that "Us" — which was actually a frightening and relevant tale of terror — was in fact "merely the sum of the first film's critical effluent and influent, wish-determining the new movie's monody of genre and monotony of tone in the name of a specious homogeneity."

Since then, Heidecker's Andrews voice has taken root in my mind as the voice of any critic with a negative opinion. The "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" star elaborated on his impression, mocking Andrews' penchant for needlessly ornate language by improvising the brilliantly nonsensical line,...

There can be only one. Or, in the case of the "Highlander" franchise, there can be only six movies, three TV shows, and a web series, not to mention nine tie-in novels, two comic book titles, a card game, and a video game for the Atari Jaguar.

The mythology of the "Highlander" movies started pretty simply, spinning centuries-old tales of knight-errantry into a modern fable of magical immortality. Russel Mulcahy's 1986 original laid out the rules clearly: hiding among ordinary humans is a species of magical immortals who can only be killed by decapitation. When one Immortal decapitates another, they absorb their victim's life energy, becoming stronger and more exhilarated. The legend goes that when there is only one Immortal remaining on Earth, they will be granted a wish called The Prize. The central Immortal of the series, a 16th century Highlander named Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert), wishes more than anything to grow old.

In deciding on our next Wtf celebrity to cover, we passed around several names but in the end we all decided that: There could be only One! Despite being basically blind, Christopher Lambert made a name for himself as the king of Sci-Fi action films. One could say he single-handedly kept Blockbuster Video in business as most of his output in the 90’s debuted on the bottom shelves of the video rental chain. But few performers have made their mark on the international stage like Christopher Lambert, alternating between North American schlock and more prestigious French fare. Despite most of us knowing Lambert mainly for two iconic roles, there is much more to know about this American-born French actor; it’s time we find out just Wtf Happened to Christopher Lambert.

Greystroke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes

But as always, we must begin at the beginning, and...

Enter a new era of the Highlander universe with Cavill's reboot, promising immersive sword work and a deeper exploration of character lore. Embrace the potential of the franchise by establishing a new mythology, discarding the inconsistent canon seen in original movies. With Stahelski at the helm, the Highlander reboot aims to honor the essence of the original while crafting a fresh, cohesive narrative.

Henry Cavill teases his Highlander reboot, hyping up the movie’s sword work and “deep” dive into the universe’s lore. The fantasy-leaning franchise kicked off in 1986 with the cult classic original movie, starring Christopher Lambert as a sword-wielding immortal being trained by a flamboyant Sean Connery. The Highlander universe then expanded through three theatrical sequels, a TV series followed by its own spinoff and TV movie, plus various animated works. Highlander is now set for a reboot, starring Cavill as the sword-swinging immortal, with Chad Stahelski in the director’s chair.

What’s the saying? Oh yeah… third times the charm and the Resident Evil series is no exception. For our third outing we’re here to explore the aftermath of the apocalypse with Resident Evil: Extinction (watch it Here). This one is pretty divisive with the consensus being some people, like myself, loved this film while others felt this was the beginning of the downward slope of sequels of the franchise. Hear me out as to why I sing its praises. For one, it tells a cohesive story and gives us a side of Alice that we’ve been dying to see. We get more new characters that bring gravitas to the story as well as a fully fleshed out villain and it’s a lot of fun. Plus, its pays homage to The Road Warrior in the best way. So, let’s hit up the Sand Dunes of Vegas,...

Henry Cavill's replacement for The Witcher and Superman is the Highlander reboot. Highlander is already avoiding the sequel mistakes of the original franchise thanks to Chad Stahelski overseeing the project. Highlander has the potential to be Cavill's next successful franchise.

Henry Cavill already has a replacement for The Witcher and Superman thanks to his role in the Highlander reboot, and this is already avoiding the mistake that killed the original franchise. Henry Cavill is one of the most popular action stars thanks to his roles in movies like Mission: Impossible – Fallout and his time as the DC Extended Universe’s Superman, as well as his performance as Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s The Witcher. With the Dceu over, Cavill not being part of the DC Universe reboot, and he leaving The Witcher after season 3, Cavill now has a replacement for these thanks to the Highlander reboot.

Despite...

Ahead of the Jan 20 launch of Frightfest Saturday Scares With Alan Jones on Fast TV channel Nyx, Alan recounts his rise to journalistic prominence – from stealing shocker posters and partying with Abba to falling out with filmmakers and writing his upcoming autobiography.

Did you know from a young age that you wanted to be a journalist?

No, I loved horror and fantasy movies from the age of ten, or rather the idea of them because obviously I couldn’t go to the cinema and see anything of that nature. I read horror novels nonstop, stole shocker posters pasted up on the billboards at the end of my street, cut out all the wonderfully lurid adverts from newspapers and pasted them into scrapbooks. I was literally waiting for the moment I could pass for sixteen so I could get into X films and start watching all the movies I was desperate to catch up on.

When Connor MacLeod says “There Can Be Only One” in the original Highlander he had no idea he’d be repeating that line for years. Just when he thinks he has finally made it to be the only one, another immortal seems to pop up, challenging him for that title. How many “ones” can there be? It turns out a lot.

After the problems with making Highlander II and the anemic box office for it, it was decided to completely ignore everything surrounding that film and create a direct sequel to the original film. They dropped any mention of the planet Zeist, ignored that immortals are supposed to be aliens, and reverted the setting to seven years after the first film.

Even under the best of circumstances, films are hard to produce. How does one fare after completely rebooting the franchise? Surprisingly well. The creation of Highlander 3: The Final Dimension is far from perfect,...

The Highlander reboot needs to avoid the mistakes of past sequels, particularly the terrible origin story introduced in Highlander 2. The casting of Ramírez, MacLeod's mentor, should be an actor of Egyptian descent to ensure proper representation. The new Highlander should reinvent sword-fighting action and take inspiration from John Wick, bringing fresh and innovative fight scenes to the franchise.

Henry Cavill's upcoming Highlander reboot will revive the cult action saga, but it needs to take some steps if it hopes to avoid the franchise's past mistakes. The Christopher Lambert-fronted original had something of a perfect high-concept idea, with the star playing an immortal warrior who is forced to battle others of his kind until only one remains. The winner is then granted the mythical "Prize," but what exactly this entails is unknown. The film is very much a product of its era, with dated fashion, MTV-style editing and bizarre casting choices.

The heat is back on in this episode of Revisited, as we follow up our last outing with Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop with the inevitable sequel. Part one proved to be such a mammoth hit that not only helped send Eddie Murphy’s career into the stratosphere but it guaranteed that part two wouldn’t be too far away.

If you take a look back at the 1980s, which is something we love to do here at JoBlo, there are many franchises that started in the era and still have longevity or an influence in modern Hollywood. However, when you have a movie as popular as Beverly Hills Cop, that doesn’t necessarily mean that a sequel will match the quality of the first, and it’s been a problem that Hollywood has faced over the years. Just how, exactly, do you keep your inbuilt audience happy while...

Some movies are bad, some are terrible, and some are so unwatchable that you have no choice but get out of the theater as fast as you can. For director Russell Mulcahy, the filmmaker behind Highlander II: The Quickening, this was literally the case, as he reportedly bailed on the movie during its world premiere. This is one of those special cases when a movie is such a disaster that the public doesn't just disown it, the people who made it give up on it as well. If you've seen The Quickening, there's a good chance you already measure other bad movies by the low standards set by this one. The troubles don't begin with the final product, though. Highlander II was a dumpster-fire to begin with, one that could have been solid given that its jumping off point is one of the most over-the-top and badass fantasy movies of the '80s.

When the original Highlanderbecame a sleeper hit on home video it was only a matter of time before a sequel was made. Even though Connor had won the Gathering and had once again become mortal surely there was a way to get him to pick up the sword once again. Christopher Lambert was game to reprise the character again so why not move forward with another film?

Well if you’ve seen Highlander II (which we did a memorable episode of Awfully Good on) then you know why they should have thought better about going back to the Highlander well. In an experience that many would describe as frustrating maddening and downright awful Highlander II would set out to fundamentally destroy the first film. The director tried to have his name taken off of it. The lead of the film wanted to drop out. Let’s find out exactly Wtf Happened To This Film.

Despite what Hollywood wants us to believe, not every movie ever made needs a sequel. This did not stop the studios from trying their hardest to churn them out, leaving movie fans with only one solution: forget the sequel exists. It’s a useful technique, but, ironically, it doesn’t work on the worst films. We can say to each other, for example, that Highlander II: The Quickening never happened all we want. In our broken, battered souls though, we know it exists. And it sucks so much. The memory endures, like a cinematic kidney stone.

Trying to forget works best on sequels so middling, or cynically shoveled out that there’s not much for our memories to grab on to. If we do remember them, it’s with a befuddled “how the hell did that happen?” or a “they got A-list actors for that?” kind of awe. And then we forget about them again.

One of the more iconic elements of “Highlander,” the high-concept fantasy adventure from 1986 that went on to spawn a long-running franchise, is the movie’s songs, written and performed by Queen. And Chad Stahelski, who will be directing the remake for Lionsgate, says that those songs will return for the new movie.

“Yes,” Stahelski told TheWrap while talking about the Oscar chances for “John Wick: Chapter 4.” “Probably in a different way than you think, but hardcore yes.”

Queen wrote and recorded songs for the original “Highlander” and released an album, “A Kind of Magic,” in 1986 that served as an official soundtrack to the movie.

The songs were perfect for the movie, which depicted a battle between immortal beings known as Highlanders in modern day Manhattan. Instead of Scottish moors, they battle in underground parking garages. That kind of thing. Queen’s songs were wedged in among Michael Kamen’s...

The casting of Sean Connery as Indiana Jones' father was essential to the central theme of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and proved to be a genius choice. Harrison Ford's portrayal of Indiana Jones allowed for character development and revealed more of Indy's personality and history, unlike in previous installments. Denholm Elliott's character, Marcus Brody, provided comic relief and served as a reliable sidekick for Indiana Jones, appearing in several films following The Last Crusade.

The Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade cast featured both familiar faces and actors new to the iconic action-adventure franchise. The sequel to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the movie marked a return to form for the series by taking a more lighthearted approach. Director Steven Spielberg and creator George Lucas went through multiple treatments, pitches, and scripts for the film before finally settling on what would become the...

A month away from the June 30 expiration of SAG-AFTRA’s collective bargaining agreement with the AMPTP, indie films are in a panic.

With SAG’s negotiating committee calling for a strike authorization vote, producers are stuck in an infinite loop of existential crisis. They’re toggling between a scramble to get cameras rolling, make minute-to-minute decisions about continuing prep work, or making the call to push start dates until — fingers crossed — a strike is averted.

“I’m on an emergency call almost every day about whether to push a movie, whether to keep spending money and see what happens,” one entertainment lawyer told IndieWire. “Independently financed movies, it’s very hard. These are real people putting in real money. It’s not like a studio isn’t real money, but it’s different kinds of risks.”

For indie films, those risks requires that financing be secured by completion guarantors and...

There are quite a few movie franchises that pay no attention to maintaining any coherent or firm continuity. Continuity is an interesting concept in fiction and especially in movies, the basic idea being that one story flows into the next in a streamlined fashion. Modern superhero movies have been particularly fixated on continuity, in order to facilitate crossovers and team-ups similar to those seen in the comics.

That being said, not every movie series is terribly concerned with the continuity established in one film matching up with what is seen in either later sequels or preceding prequels. In fact, some film series are much more casual about their approach to continuity, with others even tying themselves into knots with retcons that continually alter their stories. Here are 10 movie franchises that either pay no attention at all to continuity or which repeatedly rewrite it as they go along.

Related: 10 Iconic Franchises...

It was 30 years ago that TriStar Pictures released Total Recall, a sci-fi action movie directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ronny Cox, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, and Rachel Ticotin. Based loosely on a story by Philip K. Dick called “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale,” the movie starred Schwarzenegger as Douglas Quaid, a construction worker in the year 2084 who begins having strange dreams about a mysterious woman and the Earth colony that exists on Mars.

His wife Lori (Stone) dismisses the dreams, but it turns out they’re not dreams at all but memories: Quaid is actually a secret agent named Hauser who once worked for the governor of the Martian colony (Cox) but has had his memories wiped and replaced with false ones. Lori is not his wife at all, but an operative for the governor and the wife of Richter (Ironside), the governor’s ruthless fixer.

Every actor wants to work. And a small percentage of those actors get to work in films that people remember; and a much smaller percentage get to play an iconic character over the course of several films; and an infinitesimal percentage manage to find success by tackling other roles after becoming famous as that iconic character. Which brings us to Sean Connery, who died this week at the age of 90.

His portrayal of super-spy James Bond was as essential to the 1960s as The Beatles. He wasn’t technically the first Bond — Barry Nelson played the Ian Fleming character in an American TV adaptation of “Casino Royale” in 1954 — but Connery invented an action hero who was overtly sexual in a way that his predecessors hadn’t been, although still able to dispatch the bad guys with ruthless efficiency, all the while never spoiling the crease in his tuxedo.

Connery himself came from working-class origins,...

Netflix's latest original movie has joined an exclusive club, albeit one that the company would undoubtedly prefer not to be associated with. The Last Days of American Crime, which hit the streaming service recently, has earned a rare 0 percent approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. It is the first movie to accomplish this since both John Travolta's Gotti and Amber Heard's London Fields did it in 2018.

The Last Days of American Crime, which was directed by Olivier Megaton, as of this writing, has 21 reviews counted on Rotten Tomatoes and not a single one of them is positive. The audience score isn't much better as it currently sits at a measly 24 percent. For whatever it may be worth, Megaton's highest-rated movie on the site is 2008's Transporter 3, which sits at 39 percent. In any case, this is probably not what Netflix had in mind when they signed...

Amazon Prime has confirmed that several of its original series will be debuting new episodes on the streaming service in July, including the first seasons of both the Indian reality competition series “Comicstaan” and the Tour de France travelogue “Eat.Race.Win” and season 4 of the charming children’s series “Tumble Leaf.”

And there will also be new to Amazon Prime seasons of some of your favorites from other networks, including the final episodes of the Emmy-winning FX drama “The Americans,” all 12 seasons of the groundbreaking police drama “NYPD Blue” and all seven seasons of the Kyra Sedgwick crime series “The Closer.”

Likewise, there will be plenty of movies making their first appearances on Amazon Prime including the four films in the “Jaws” franchise and the Oscar-winning “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

See Netflix schedule: Here’s what is coming and leaving in July

Available July 1

21 Jump Street (Seasons 1-2)

Burn...

Amazon Prime members who like tragic spies, sparkle vampires, being-depressed-about-global-warming or old school television have plenty to look forward to in July, as the streaming service is adding a ton of new movies and TV shows.

On the TV front, three new Prime Originals come this month, including Indian stand up series “Comicstaan” on July 13, “Tumble Leaf” on July 24, and “Eat. Race. Win,” a behind-the-scenes look of the Tour de France landing July 27.

The streaming service is also giving members a visit from the Ghost of TV Past on July 1 when it adds undercover-cops-in-high-school Fox series “21 Jump Street,” the complete run of USA Network’s “Burn Notice,” and all 12 seasons of ’90s cop drama “NYPD Blue,” among others.

And skipping ahead to month’s end, “The Americans” season 6 lands on Prime July 29.

Meanwhile, on July 1 Prime Video is also adding a few classics to its film library, including “American Psycho,...

I’m always skeptical when it comes to reboots. On the one hand they can be well justified and prove to be a success (Casino Royale, 2006) but on the odd occasion it can backfire and you find yourself walking the exact same path again (The Amazing Spider-man, 2012). There are several reboots in the pipeline, one of which I’m not too keen on, The Crow, which to me feels like an insult to the performance and memory of Brandon Lee. However, a reboot of 80s action-fantasy Highlander (1986) I’m well and truly behind.

Highlander has a special place in my heart, with its basic – if a little silly – premise. Fallen warriors who have been resurrected as immortals take part in “The Game”, where they must behead each other, until the last remaining two fight for “The Prize”. How can you not love that as a concept? A simple set up...

I confess: I had a really, really hard time deciding what grade to give Grimm Season 6 Episode 8 because I was just too busy laughing my head off.

It was just so difficult to take "The Son Also Rises" with any amount of seriousness, particularly as a person with a degree in English and a modicum of scientific understanding.

In one of the most blatant riffs on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein I have ever seen, Grimm had pretty much everything except for villagers wielding torches and pitchforks!

The whole thing was started by the un-subtley named Victor Shelley got into a car accident with his son, killing (not mostly killing, or nearly killing, but actually killing!) said son.

In a feat of astonishing scientific brilliance (otherwise known as magic), Dr. Shelley and his colleagues actually managed to resurrect the son! They literally brought him back from the dead!

In fact, the...

Dan Cooper Mar 15, 2017

Fight Club 2 is something that exists, but it's not heading to the screen as of yet. At least not directly...

Fight Club 2. Has it happened? Will it happen? Should it happen?

See related Prime Suspect 1973 episode 2 review Prime Suspect 1973 episode 1 review Prime Suspect prequel on its way

The collective answer to those three questions are of course yes. And no. Start trawling the web for word of a sequel to the 1999 cult classic turned post-modern masterpiece and one thing soon becomes apparent: the first rule of a Fight Club sequel is that you don’t talk about a Fight Club sequel. It will come as no great surprise to you that the second rule is somewhat similar in fashion and wording to the first.

Yes, I know - you’re probably rolling your eyes right now at my uninspired use of a tired and overused quote and who could blame you?...

Louisa Mellor Jan 27, 2017

The glorious Emma Thompson will appear in series two of Ben Elton's Shakespeare sitcom, Upstart Crow...

Ben Elton's BBC Two Shakespeare sitcom starring David Mitchell has scored an enviable guest star for its 2017 Christmas special. Emma Thompson will join the ranks of Dame Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett and Miranda Richardson when she plays Queen Elizabeth I in the festive episode.

See related Highlander: movie reboot still moving forward Looking back at Highlander III: The Sorcerer What went wrong with Highlander II: The Quickening?

The Mighty Boosh's Noel Fielding will also appear in the second series alongside regulars Mitchell, Liza Tarbuck, Harry Enfield, Gemma Whelan and Helen Monks, playing English composer Thomas Morley.

Here's the official synopsis for the currently filming second series, which continues to follow William Shakespeare's journey to establishment acceptance in London and Stratford-upon-Avon, and is due to air later this year.

Scott Varnham Aug 15, 2016

It may be so 90s it hurts, but the Highlander TV series spin-off is still very much worth a watch...

You may have seen a few articles about the original Highlander movie recently, as it’s just celebrated its 30th anniversary. Lots of things have turned 30 this year. Just a few examples: The Legend Of Zelda, Pixar, the M25. Fine institutions, but did any of them spawn a mostly superior TV series in 1992? I think not. Don’t let the fact that it was made in the 90s put you off. People still watch Buffy.

The series follows the adventures of Duncan MacLeod (cousin of the movie’s Connor). Explaining the premise of Highlander in complex detail would make me go far over my word count, so I’ll be brief. Basically, immortal sword fighters fight to decapitate each other in order to be the last one...

We recently saw the release of the trailer for 10 Cloverfield Lane, which started life as an independent film unrelated to Cloverfield but was rewritten as a sequel (of sorts). This got us thinking about other films that were conceived as original projects but were altered by studios to become sequels to existing franchises.

When 10 Cloverfield Lane started out, it was an independent film called The Cellar, about a young woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who wakes up injured and locked in the bunker-like cellar of a man (John Goodman) she’s never met before. The strange man tells her that he found after an accident and brought her there to minister to her wounds but then a cataclysmic disaster ravaged the surface world and she has to stay there. She doesn’t believe him and spends the rest of the film trying to escape, while her memories of the night of her accident slowly return.

Welcome to the latest edition of our regular crowdfunding feature here on Nerdly – Back This! – where we take a look at some of the cool content taking the crowdfunding route on sites such as Indiegogo, Sponsume and Kickstarter. This edition we’re spotlighting a very special crowdfunding campaign which is also a tribute to well-known and well-respected film and TV screenwriter Brian Clemens…

The horror short Surgery was the title of the last script to involve the great British TV and film screenwriter Brian Clemens before he sadly passed away in January 2015. His sons George and Samuel, in tribute to their late father, have shot Surgery and want to invite you to help them raise the £4,000 needed to cover the post-production, CGI and film festival costs.

For those genre fans who’ve been living in a cave for the last 50 years or are just a little too young to have...

Amongst Americans such as myself, there is a certain stereotype about our neighbors to the north. There’s a belief that Canadians are, for lack of a better word, nice. That during a visit to Canada, an American would be more likely to ride a moose around like a horse than hear the F-word. That hockey players are the only remotely dangerous people you could possibly meet in Canada, and even then, that they would only pummel you under the watchful eye of a referee whom they will later respectfully follow to the penalty box. This stereotype is perhaps best summed up by this scene in Michael Moore’s lone fiction film, Canadian Bacon, where Dan Aykroyd politely upbraids an invading group of American revolutionaries for not printing their anti-Canada graffiti in both English and French.

As stereotypes go, it’s a fairly positive one. But making stereotypes, even positive ones,...

In the wake of the Alien 5 news, here are 10 franchise sequels that also ignored at least one previous film.

We all have moments in our lives we'd prefer to forget, and so too do filmmakers. So what do you do when a movie franchise starts to go off the rails? Simple, just forget that the lesser films in the series never happened.

News recently broke that director Neill Blomkamp's taking this approach to the Alien universe. Recent interviews with both he and returning star Sigourney Weaver have revealed that Blomkamp's forthcoming sequel will not necessarily follow the events of Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection, and pick up the story from Aliens instead (although he has since given a brief update on that).

Of course, we'll have to wait and see exactly how all this pans out. But it's by no means the first time in history that a film's...

There's still no Connor MacLeod in place, but the new Highlander film might just have found its foe...

Like it or not, the reboot of Highlander seems to be well on its way now. Cedric Nicolas-Troyan is sat in the director's chair, although the search goes on to find someone to take on the role of Connor MacLeod. Maybe they should just give Christopher Lambert a tinkle.

It looks as if the production has had more luck securing someone to play The Kurgan, the barbarian originally brought to the screen by Clancy Brown in the 1986 original.

That person, as you've probably picked up from the headline, is Dave Bautista, who currently is in the midst of filming the James Bond movie Spectre. Bautista's movie career continues to build, following his role in last summer's Guardians Of The Galaxy. It'll be interesting to see - if confirmed - how he fares...

Michael Ironside is one of the most recognized faces among genre fans. He’s become known as the fearsome baddie who gives everyone’s hero a run for their money. Among his 229 film credits, many of those include appearances in sci-fi and horror productions like Scanners, Total Recall, Highlander II: The Quickening, Terminator Salvation, and many more.

The Canada-born actor has also racked up a number of roles in mainstream Hollywood fare. He starred in Top Gun, The Next Karate Kid, Free Willy, and others. His many appearances on television include, ER, The A-Team, V, SeaQuest 2032, Vegas, Community, and many more.

One of Ironside’s latest projects was an apocalyptic sci-fi gore fest entitled Turbo Kid. He plays the sadistic and self-proclaimed leader of the Wasteland named Zeus. The movie revolves around the Kid, a young solitary scavenger obsessed with comic books that must face his fears and become...

We pay tribute to Brian Clemens, a screenwriter and producer whose work lit up 1970s cult TV and beyond...

Brian Clemens, who died earlier this week aged 83, was a highly respected screenwriter and producer both for TV and Film. He will chiefly be remembered for his work on The Avengers, The New Avengers and The Professionals but his credits were numerous and encapsulated a real golden age of cult, escapist television from the 1950s onwards.

Clemens was born in Croydon in July 1931. He spent his National Service as a Weapons Training Instructor. After spending time as a copywriter, he established himself as a scriptwriter - sometimes using the pseudonym "Tony O'Grady" - O'Grady being his mother's maiden name. He received his first commission from the BBC at the age of 24 - a thriller called Valid For Single Journey Only. He went on to write for many of the big TV...

Screenwriter and producer Brian Clemens has passed away at age 83 in his native England. Clemens wrote scripts for some of the most revered British television programs of the 1960s and 1970s including "Danger Man" (aka "Secret Agent"), "The Avengers", "The Persuaders", "The Professionals",  "The Baron" and "The New Avengers".  Clemens also produced or executive produced several of the aforementioned shows.  He also contributed single episode scripts for other popular shows including "Highlander", "The Protectors" and "Remington Steele".  Clemens wrote numerous scripts for "Father Dowling Mysteries" and three "Perry Mason" TV movies in the early 1990s. A prolific writer, he also  wrote screenplays for feature films beginning in the 1950s. His credits include "Station Six Sahara", "The Corrupt Ones" (aka "The Peking Medallion"), "See No Evil", "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad", Disney's "The Watcher in the Woods", "Highlander II: The Quickening" and the Hammer horror film "Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter...

TV writer and producer Brian Clemens has died, aged 83.

Clemens was perhaps best known for being responsible for The Avengers, New Avengers and The Professionals.

Honoured by the Queen in 2010 for services to broadcasting and drama, he passed away on Saturday (January 10), his family confirmed.

He also wrote for various TV series, including The Baron, The Persuaders, The Protectors, Danger Man, The Invisible Man and Bergerac.

His production companies created The New Avengers and The Professionals, while he also wrote for several Us shows including Remington Steele, Perry Mason and Highlander.

Clemens also wrote and produced for Hammer Films, while also co-writing the story for Highlander II: The Quickening.

He was also involved in The Elstree Project, whose spokesman said: "Brian gave his support and time to The Elstree Project and is featured in our documentary film, through clips from the oral history interview he gave to us, as well...

Our letters page returns, with Jaws 3D, Your Sinclair, a missed birthday and flying sausages...

It's back! Since our last letters page, two things have happened. Firstly, we've had a lot more letters - we will get to them all, but we only allow ourselves so much space per round-up. Secondly, the questions have been getting harder.

Our next letters page will be our last before Christmas. Feel free to send in pictures of Christmas jumpers and stuff. Details of how to get in touch are at the bottom. But until then, here's the latest selection....

Jaws 3D

Dear Den of Geek,

I was channel-hopping the other night and managed to land on Jaws 3D. Aside from challenging my belief that Highlander II was definitively the worst major, film franchise sequel ever made I was actually taken aback by the special effects. Remembering this was a relatively high budget production,...

Tom Cruise has been linked with the Sean Connery mentor role in the new take on Highlander...

Here's one from our Never-Saw-That-Coming-Dept. The planned reboot of the Highlander movie series, that Summit Entertainment is working on, is targeting Tom Cruise for one of its leading roles.

The Wrap reports that Cruise is being earmarked for the mentor role in the new Highlander, the part that Sean Connery took on in the original film. One of Cruise's representatives admitted that Highlander is "one of many projects that come to him and he discusses", noting that the actor is "far from talks". Furthermore, Cruise has been "offered tons of projects".

Which doesn't sound quite so promising. Given that Tom Cruise is still taking on pretty much exclusively leading man roles - he's currently filming Mission: Impossible 5 with director Christopher McQuarrie - it seems unlikely that the part in Highlander is something that would appeal.

Alex takes a look back at one of the most, er, not bad films ever made. It's Highlander III. It's better than Highlander II at least...

My introduction to the Highlander franchise came not through the original film, or the sequel, or the surprisingly alright TV series. It instead came from a promo video for Highlander IV: The Final Dimension, the music video of my favourite ever piece of music, James’ Honest Joe.

This is remarkable for several reasons. Firstly, this “song” (if it can be called that) was never a single, and is obscure enough to render a music video superfluous at best. Secondly, the song does not feature in the film (despite being in the credits, I’ve yet to see a version that actually includes it). Finally, at the time there was no Highlander IV, it was, in fact, Highlander III. Yes, this is a film so...

Universal Soldier began in 1992 before suffering from some tawdry sequels. Then John Hyams revived the franchise in spectacular fashion...

The Universal Soldier films are a strange case of life imitating art. Much like how series protagonist Luc Deveraux is killed in action then resurrected into something post-human, Universal was a pretty standard 90s action film which crashed and burned when it came to sequels, but became something unique and beautiful when it was reanimated for the straight to DVD market.

It’s a hushed secret among genre fans, but Universal Solder 3 and 4 (or possibly 5 and 6, it’s complicated) are some of the most remarkable action sci-fi films of the 21st century so far. Yes, really. I actually watched the series backwards when I first saw them, after being blown away by Universal Solder Day Of Reckoning and deciding to work my way back, and Roland Emmerich’s perfectly acceptable 1992 blockbuster...

Christopher Lambert didn't like it. Director Russell Mulcahy doesn't like it. Audiences didn't like it. But is Highlander II that bad?

The Highlander franchise has always had one, and forgive the tautology, enormous elephant in the room, and that elephant is the first film, which was the end point of the story. The series has always been about immortals, and their battles to “be only one” (as the tagline reminds you incessantly). Indeed, by the end of the film there is only one. Or to be more exact, there aren’t any at all, as it turns out the prize is mortality (and magic mind powers or something). Thus ends the story. No more immortals.

The 80s really wasn’t the time of the movie franchise, especially with a decidedly quirky fantasy film like Highlander, so really there was no need for a sequel. Highlander was never going to sell toys,...

What pleasures await in Panama! As part of the invited press corps, I attended the first ever Premios Platino del Cine Iberoamericano where I met numerous journalists from all over the world, though most particularly from Latin America.

As part of the expanded International Film Festival of Panama, running April 3 to 9, 2014, the Platinum Awards Ceremony was held in the huge Convention Center Theater just across from the Sheraton where we were given four days.

Watch this compendium of Iberoamerican cinema on You Tube: http://youtu.be/VXxgtudHzz0 (or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXxgtudHzz0)

The old city of Panama is undergoing extensive modernization and gentrification. When finished, it may look a beautiful as Cartagena…both are Colonial styles, but there is unbearable traffic in the Panama streets which was not the case in Cartagena. The city not only reveals layers and layers of history, from the indigenous days to the Spanish days of conquest and colonialism where it was the starting point of the quest to conquer the Incas, to the days when all the gold and silver of Latin America passed through the isthmus here on its way to Spain, to the first 80 years of independence from Spain as a part of Colombia, from its independence from Colombia with the aid of the U.S., to the days when the French attempted to build the Panama Canal followed by the early 20th Century when U.S. succeeded, to those days of Noriega which U.S. terminated by invading Panama in Operation Just Cause under Commander in Chief George W. Bush in 1989, to today when you can see the capital of the world pouring into the economy, building massive sky scrapers and restoring the old town to its colonial and later French splendor.

What struck me most after the horrible traffic, were the fabulous artisanal goods, of embroidery, straw weaving, bone carvings, gourds, panama hats! This picture of a Guna woman is an example of one of many selling their wares in rich markets. I could spend a lot of money here if and when I return!

The Panamanian economy has been among the fastest growing and best managed in Latin America. Latin Business Chronicle had previously predicted that Panama would be the fastest growing economy in Latin America in the five-year period of 2010–14, matching Brazil's 10% rate. This was obvious from our tour. The expansion project of the Panama Canal, combined with the conclusion of a free trade agreement with the United States, is expected to boost and extend economic expansion for some time.

The Panama Canal during an empty moment, as shot by me from the terrace. We saw ships going through as well. In 2014, 100 years after its establishment, a new canal will allow larger container ships to transport goods between the two largest oceans in the world. This literally positions Panama as the trade crossroads of the world and it is experiencing an investment surge which astounds the first time visitor (like me!)

After our tour of Panama City and the night we were feted after taking another tour of the Panama Canal, we had dinner and a Festival party on the terrace overlooking it.

Panama’s film history is null, but it is quickly being rectified by Jose Pacheco, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and also the President of the Panama Film Commission, along with his one-woman band, Arianne Marie Benedetti who has taken maternity leave for the moment.

They are responsible for instigating the new film law, for the four year old film festival, coproduction meetings, and hiring Toronto Latina programmer Diana Sanchez to program their festival and now the first Iberoamerican Platinum Awards, and much more.

The workshops at this event are outstanding. I wish I were able to hear all they have to say!

Jonathan Jakubobiwz , the producer of the $17 million Hands of Stone (Isa: Lotus) which tells the story of the Panamanian boxer Roberto “Mano de Piedra” Durán, spoke about how this production used 15,000 extras, was shot in over 140 locations. All was filmed and produced in Panama where the producers took advantage of a 15% cash rebate and a $2.8 million advance from the Panamanian government, the latter expressly offered to make sure they lensed the story about their national hero Roberto Durán in his native land.

“They gave us full support, dozens of free locations and a level of hospitality that made everyone feel at home,” said Jonathan Jakubowicz (Secuestro Express). With 15,000 extras and a stellar international cast led by Robert De Niro, Édgar Ramírez, Ellen Barkin, John Turturro and Usher Raymond, Hands of Stone recreated four cities and four decades in Panama. “The footage is a million times better than even I expected,” Jakubowicz said.

Another workshop was given by one of Argentina’s top producers, Verónica Cura. Thirty-five filmmakers, mostly from Panama took part. Vero spoke about film production from an artistic and organizational perspective, starting from the moment the idea takes hold, to project development ,to shooting and all the way to theatrical exhibition. Vero started working in 1992 as a director and head of production. In 2001 she began producing her own films. From 2007 to 2009 she was President of the Association of Independent Producers and Vice President of the Chamber of Film Producers from 2009 to 2011. She has been involved in films such as The Headless Woman by Lucrecia Martel (Cannes Competition), The Other by Ariel Rotter (Berlinale, 2 Silver Bears and the Jury Grand Prize), Las Acacias by Pablo Giogelli (Camera d’or, Cannes 2011), Live-in Maid by Jorge Gaggero (Sundance Special Jury Prize), There Be Dragons by Roland Joffe, Torrente 3 by Santiago Segura, The Dead and Being Happy by Javier Rebolla, One Love by Paula Hernandez and The Game Maker by John Paul Buscarini, among others.

Panel – Producing in Central America

The panel that reads like a Who’s Who of Central America discussed producing in Latin America. These active figures in current Central American production, shared their experiences on film production in the region. Moderated by Pituka Ortega (Iff -Panamá), the speakers included

Pablo Schverdfinger (Argentina )

After his film studies in Argentina, in Avellaneda Film School and then at the Universidad del Cine, Pablo began working with the filming of Highlander II and from there he developed his career as director of photography . In 2010 he founded Dragon Films and began directing commercials and documentaries for the local market in Panama. The 2012 he started Mangrove Films, a more ambitious bid to expand its services to the local Panamanian market with prestigious directors representation opening the doors to international markets by adding the alliance with Argentina Concrete Films.

Ileana Novas (Argentina)

Ileana Nova studied Social Communication at the Universidad del Salvador in Argentina . She worked many years in production at Flehner Films and Sorin Cine, for many local productions and especially in the international department providing production services abroad. Post Production Coordinator : The Other ( Ariel Rotter - Silver Bear at Berlin Intl Film Festival 2007 ) , Hide ( Canadian Production of KCBascombe - 2007), The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel, co-produced by France, Italy, Spain and nominated in the Cannes Film Festival 2008 ). Then , while working on The Acacias (Pablo Giorgelli won three awards at Cannes Film Festival 2011) , the idea arose to establish herself in Panama . Her previous work experience in Panama in 1999 encouraged her to decide to move there in 2010 where she set up Mangrove Films.

Rafael González (Guatemala )

Rafael worked on The Wagon (TV) and The Comal House in Guatemala as a producer and screenwriter. He has been looking back on the history of his country for the last 15 years, and he created Back to Home in which he addresses the issue of Guatemalan refugees in Mexico. He was a sound technician and producer on the documentary La Camioneta selected for the Festival of Guadalajara 2013. Currently he is directing and producing the documentary Flight of Azacuán , a coproduction with Doctv Latin America.

Neto Villalobos (Costa Rica )

Neto graduated with a BA in Sociology from the University of Costa Rica and later graduated in film direction at the Centre d 'Estudis Cinema de Catalunya in Barcelona. His first feature film All About the Feathers was selected for the International Film Festival in Toronto and then in the International Film Festival of San Sebastian. All About the Feathers was also at other international festivals such as Rotterdam, Miami , Buenos Aires, Toulouse, Vancouver, Stockholm, Havana, Prague, Geneva, Kerala, Cleveland and won Best American Film and Best Director at the Icarus Film Festival of Guatemala. Neto is working on his second feature film called Majijo

Luis Rafael Gonzalez (Santo Domingo )

With extensive experience in various branches of the film industry, founding member of the International Film Festival of Santo Domingo, Deputy Director of Programming and Broadcasting (2004-2006) and CEO (2007-2011) of the Dominican Cinematheque, Representative of the Dominican Republic in the Congress of the International Federation of Film Archives (Fiaf) , the International Federation of Film Clubs ( Ficc ) and the First Latin American Congress of Culture dedicated to Cinema and Audiovisual, Luis Rafael has also participated in developing the law on the Promotion of Film Activity in the Dominican Republic. He won the top prize for a script at Les Films de L' Astre, 2011 with his Gods without Twilight. He is also part of the Dominican Film Selection Committee to select the Dominican film for Oscars and other international awards. He serves as Vice President of Acquisitions and Distribution for Palmera International, a distributor which operates in the territories of the United States, Central America and the Caribbean.

María Lourdes Cortés (Costa Rica )

Costa Rican and Central American historian, professor at the University of Costa Rica, a researcher at the Foundation of New Latin American Cinema and director at Cinergia, Maria Lourdes was also director of the first School of Cinema and Television founded in Costa Rica (Universidad Veritas) and the Costa Rican Film Production Center. She has won the Joaquín García Monge Prize in cultural diffusion and twice the Essay Prize Achilles J. Echeverría for the books Love and Treachery, Film and Literature in Latin America (1999), and The Broken Screen. One Hundred Years of Cinema in Central America (2005). For this last book, she received the honorary award Ezequiel Martínez Estrada by the Casa de las Americas (Cuba ) for the best essay published in that year (2005). She is currently preparing research on Gabriel García Márquez and film and on the textual work of Silvio Rodriguez. She has been jury in film festivals in France, Holland, Cuba and Mexico where she has also given talks and workshops. The Government of the Republic of France awarded her with the rank of Knight of the Order with the Merit of Honor (2005).

Another workshop featured Cameron Bailey, the Artistic Director of the Toronto International Film Festival, one of the most important festivals in the world and one of the largest in North America, discussed how Tiff’s position has been achieved and the importance for the Latin American industry of participating in this event. Cameron is also part of the School Advisory Council at the University of Western Arts and Humanities and the School of Cinema Institute of Haiti. He lectures on programming and preservation at the University of Toronto and is also a member of the Board of Tourism Toronto and the former co-chair of the Working Group Arts and Culture Civic Action Toronto. Former board member of the Ontario Film Development Corporation and member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of the Royal Ontarios Museum for Contemporary Culture, in 2007 he was part of the delegation accompanying the General Governor of Canada, Michaelle Jean on her state visit to Brazil.

For a movie who’s most famous tag line is “there can be only one,” there are sure a ton of Highlander sequels, TV spinoffs (live action and animated), novels, comic books, and reboots. But that should come as no surprise; this is Hollywood, and the immortal Scottish swordsman epic is one of the most indelible franchises of the past 30 years.

The original Highlander arrived in 1986, and is easily the most hallowed of all Highlander properties, featuring the holy triumvirate of genre stars: Christopher Lambert (NCIS: La, Greystoke: The Legend Of Tarzan, Lord Of The Apes, Mortal Kombat), Sean Connery (The James Bond, Dr. Jones, The Rock, The Untouchables, The Hunt For Red October), and Clancy Brown (The Shawshank Redemption, Starship Troopers, ER, Flubber, Pet Sematary II, John Dies At The End, and ubiquitous voice actor). The hit spawned Highlander 2: The Quickening (1991), a TV show starring Adrian Paul that...

I am a movie buff. In fact I may even be a movie psychotic. For some of those movie buffs claim to have seen a certain film 10 or 20 times before they come to their own conclusions. I myself, have seen certain movies at the Barest Minimum, a hundred times. Now some might look at that and go “My God that is pathetic.” And to an extent I could probably agree with you. But my circumstances throughout life from an abused childhood to a half crippled adult with mental issues have not only left me with a lot of time to kill, but I have literally used movies as an escape from whatever drudgery or psychological trauma I may have been experiencing at the time.

Coupled with growing up in the geographical isolation that is the Australian outback and right there is how you can end up watching the same film 100 times or more.

Tom Cruise never ceases to amaze me. People can go on and on about his crazy behavior and couch-jumping antics all they want. The bottom line is the guy is a good actor and isn't afraid to get his hands dirty. It's obvious he loves his job and goes to great lengths to do it, which includes doing his own stunts as much as a director or producer will allow. Oblivion is another excellent example of Tom Cruise at his finest.

The great thing is Oblivion benefits from having Cruise in it but doesn't rest on that alone. It's a great movie with beautiful scenery, above-average CGI, and an interesting blend of several different plotlines from classic sci-fi films of the past. The story elements aren't breaking any new ground. However, director Joseph Kosinski's concept of taking science fiction into the daylight should be recognized as a step in a different direction.