Our friends at Grolsch Film Works have a website where you can find out what they’ve been up to and read/watch interesting stuff about films. Every week we'll be plucking the highlights. This is that.
Not that anyone was feeling particularly optimistic about the inevitable Royal Family cash-in that is Diana, but the reviews have all trickled in and it's looking worse than we thought. All I can say is that Diana received only a marginally better write-up from critics thanScary Movie 5did. Awkward. The saddest part of this whole debacle is that Diana seems to have fallen at the hurdle of every biopic cliché: stilted, unrealistic dialogue; schmaltzy world views; and an over-cautiousness to maintain reverence. Clearly, the film's director Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall) didn't read my guide to the ultimate dos and don'ts of making a successful biopic.That'll probably be because I just wrote it, but hey, that's not the point I'm trying to make here.READ FULL STORY
Robin Hardy’s 1973 cult classic, The Wicker Man, has been digitally restored by StudioCanal, having sourced a 35mm print at Harvard Film Archives. Hardy oversaw this cut for American release, via the Abraxis distribution label, in 1979.
The release history of The Wicker Man is a complicated affair. A mythology grew up around the film and its ‘lost’ material – including the oft-told tale about the original negative being buried under the M4 motorway by workmen (a rumour spread by director Alex Cox). The problem in restoring The Wicker Man has always been the lack of a strong enough source to work off. You cannot restore a film, at all satisfactorily, from videotape and other low-grade material.READ FULL STORY
You might have heard this already but, screw it, we need to reiterate. Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave is a masterpiece. A MASTERPIECE. You might have also heard that it is “a necessary film” (although this guy seems to be the sole doubter) and that everybody – you, your mum, your mum's mum, your mum's mum's cat – needs to see it. So if you missed it at TIFF and still feel you need to be convinced that it will have your jaw dangling somewhere around your knee (it will), look no further…READ FULL STORY
Unlike most iconic and memorable film locations, the New York City Subway is always on the move. Filmmakers have long been aware of the visual and metaphorical power the subway provides with its myriad of tunnels, ghostly depots and trains. From documentary makers wishing to show the birth of the graffiti and hip-hop movements in the late '70s to directors using the subway to intimidate its audiences by capitalising on the culture of fear fed to New Yorkers by countless mayors and politicians, the New York City Subway has, for decades now, proved to be fertile cinematic ground.READ FULL STORYKeep your peepers peeled for more Grolsch Film Works updates next week. Go to grolschfilmworks.com to see what’s happening right now.
BIOPICS: THE DOS AND DONT'S
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ROBIN HARDY ON 'THE WICKER MAN: THE FINAL CUT'
FIVE REASONS WHY '12 YEARS A SLAVE' IS A MUST-SEE
THE NEW YORK CITY SUBWAY ON FILM