This Guy Made a Documentary About Alternative Christmas Music

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.

TALKING ALTERNATIVE CHRISTMAS MUSIC WITH THE DIRECTOR OF 'JINGLE BELL ROCKS'

Five years in the making, Mitchell Kezin's documentary about alternative Christmas music is a heartwarming festive gem (read our review here). Featuring Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips, former Def Jam publicity wizard Bill Adler, Run-DMC and Low, as well as obsessive collectors such as John Waters and Kezin himself, Jingle Bell Rocks! follows these eccentric characters' search for the ultimate underground Christmas songs.

We spoke to the director about why the worst kind of music in the world is bad Christmas music, the thrill of discovering unknown xmas records and why he remains so loyal to vinyl.

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TOP 10: MOST TRAUMATISING MOMENTS IN KIDS MOVIES

Kids these days have it way too easy. Between the endless Despicable Me and Madagascar sequels – or yet another disgustingly charming release from Walt Disney with this week's Frozen – the primary function of children's movies seems to have changed rather drastically in recent years.

Apparently the main point these days is to entertain kids? I know, I'm confused too. I think we'll all agree that when it came to our own cinematic upbringings,  entertainment always took a backseat to traumatising us into quiet submission to the powers of the universe, and most importantly, our parents. Seriously, people complaining about how increasingly unruly kids are getting clearly haven't brought them up on a strict diet of child catchers and killer rabbits…

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JOE SWANBERG'S XMAS MOVIE WITH LENA DUNHAM IS ABOUT A BREAK UP

So, Sundance just dropped their awesome 2014 line-up, among which was Joe Swanberg's latest effort, Happy Christmas, starring Girls superstar Lena Dunham.

Written and directed by Swanberg (Drinking Buddies, LOL), the filmmaker will tackle themes he explored in one of his early films, Hannah Takes the Stairs; namely a break-up. In the Chicago-set Happy Christmas, a young woman breaks up with her boyfriend before moving in with her older brother, his wife and their two-year-old son. Anna Kendrick, Melanie Lynskey and Mark Webber also star.

As we previously reported, the film's plot, according to Swanberg, "focuses on a family and is set during the holidays". Swanberg has shot the film on 16mm with Beasts of the Southern Wild cinematographer Ben Richardson, so you can expect a decidedly lo-fi tone to this festive feature.

Sadly, we won't get to see this festive movie this year, but who knows, perhaps this'll be an enduring low-key classic to re-watch every December, like Barry Levinson's Diner?

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THIS WEEK IN GIFS

Anyone who didn't think Franco's Alien wasn't one of the best performances of the year must surely be kidding themselves, right? So what a beautiful, perfect and strange thing to see that A24 have released an actual For Your Consideration sizzle reel for the actor's role in Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers. I mean, can you get any better feedback that Werner Herzog telling him he made De Niro in Taxi Driver look like a kindergartener, and that the film was the most important film of the decade? With such an utterance, Franco not getting at least a nomination seems like an absurdity. If Herzog wants to give Franco an Oscar, Franco's getting a goddamn Oscar.

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Keep your peepers peeled for more Grolsch Film Works updates next week. Go to grolschfilmworks.com to see what’s happening right now.