Monday, May 9, 2016

There Can Be Only ONE!

Regular visitors on my site, and those who know me, will be well aware that I LOVE Highlander. So I was particularly excited to see an email in my inbox announcing a 30th Anniversary rerelease of the movie, both theatrically and on bluray.


The official press release reads as follows:

To mark the 30th anniversary of the time travelling action fantasy favourite, HIGHLANDER, STUDIOCANAL is thrilled to announce that the cult classic has been fully restored in 4K and will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on 11th July complete with brand new bonus material.

Clancy Brown will be in attendance for the World Premiere of the 4k restoration of Highlander on Saturday 18th June at Cineworld, Fountain Park as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival 
www.edfilmfest.org.uk / Tickets are on sale now: bit.ly/1WjSfEm

Other special event screenings will also take place close to the release, details of which will be announced soon.

THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE

1985 New York City; the Battle to end all battles. The last remaining Immortals gather together to fight to the death: decapitation alone can kill them, and the victor alone can lay claim to “The Prize”. Amongst the contestants is Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert), who fought his first battle in 1536 on the highlands of Scotland, swordsman Ramirez (Sean Connery) who mentored MacLeod and taught him the ways of the immortals, and the evil and brutal barbarian Victor Kruger (Clancy Brown).

Starring Christopher Lambert (Mortal Combat, Fortress), Sean Connery (Dr. No, The Hunt for Red October), Clancy Brown (The Shawshank Redemption, Starship Troopers) Roxanne Hart, Jon Polito, Sheila Gish and Celia Imrie. The film was directed by Russell Mulcahy (Swimming Upstream, The Real McCoy) and features an original score by Michael Kamen and Queen. Highlander went onto inspire four sequels and a television series.

Restored by Deluxe London, the restoration of Highlander is based on a 4K scan of the original camera negative, followed by a full 4K workflow, with the approval of director Russell Mulcahy.

DVD & BLU-RAY EXTRAS:

•   New interview with Russell Mulcahy
•   New interview with Christopher Lambert
•   Deleted scenes
•   Making of doc in 4 parts
•   Audio commentary with Russell Mulcahy
•   HD trailer

116mins / Cert: 15


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Despite the use of the words "time travelling" (there's no time travel in it, it's flashbacks people!!!) it's great to see that the movie's getting a rerelease and restoration. The current transfer on Bluray is pretty awful, almost VHS quality, so a shiny restoration will be very welcome, and what better time to do it but the anniversary year. 

Man, this makes me feel old. I saw this at the cinema when it was first released. Went out and bought the novelisation, and the soundtrack. Hell, we even took a vacation up into the highlands to visit Eilean Donan castle, the home to clan MacLeod. The wife and I can practically recite the whole film line for line (and frequently use quotes to punctuate the day). 

Anyway, I know it's not my normal post - but why not! I get plenty of viewers to this blog, so I may as well discuss movies and TV on here as well as the gaming stuff. And if it means someone, somewhere out there who may not have seen the movie checks it out, then all the better.

There can be only one!!