Why You Should Respect Kevin Costner

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.

WHY YOU SHOULD RESPECT KEVIN COSTNER

After a few years out of the spotlight, Kevin Costner returned to the big screen last year in Man of Steel, revealing that Kevin Costner is, indeed, the father of Superman. And even if Superman was adopted, it doesn't change the fact that the apple don't fall far from the tree because Kevin Costner is, indeed, a super guy. 2014 is a big year for Super Kev. In January, he showed a young CIA agent the ropes in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. In a few months, he'll appear again to bring in football players for the Cleveland Browns in Draft Day. This week, however, he's reuniting with his daughter in 3 Days to Kill after years of secretly being a CIA agent.

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ALAIN GUIRAUDIE ON 'STRANGER BY THE LAKE' AND QUEER CINEMA

Since winning Best Director and the Queer Palm awards at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Stranger by the Lake has been quietly gaining momentum before its UK release. Set in the height of summer in France, Franck (Pierre de Ladonchamps) falls for the sexy and mysterious Michel (Christophe Paou) at a local cruising spot for men but the rampant eroticism soon gives way to murder and intrigue. Mixing a sharp, funny script with much-talked about sex scenes, Stranger by the Lake is a brilliant Hitchcock-like thriller that should give its director, Alain Guiraudie, as much attention as his better-known contemporaries.

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NYMPHOMANIAC AND THE MESSED UP HUMOUR OF LARS VON TRIER

Lars von Trier is, in his own strange way, a master of disconcerting comedy. Think about it. Melancholia’s spoilerific opener depicts the end of the world, in a spectacular image that’s as kitsch as any T-shirt you’re likely to find in a planetarium gift shop. It’s so audaciously over-the-top that, despite the film’s ostensibly solemn theme of depression, you can’t help but awkwardly chortle.

Famous for his mischievous public persona, Lars was even asked at Melancholia's press conference why he didn't make comedies. To which he replied: "This was, in fact, a comedy". Cue riotous laughter from a bemused swarm of journalists and photographers.

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TRAILER: LANCE BANGS HAS MADE A 90-MINUTE DOCUMENTARY ABOUT SLINT

This trailer will have post-rock fans everywhere drowning in their own drool. Slint, one of the most enigmatic and near-mythical bands of the last few decades, are about to dispel the rumours and reveal their true story.

Slint's intriguing history – specifically the years surrounding their seminal 1990 LP 'Spiderland' – will be told by director Lance Bangs (notable for directing music videos for Sonic Youth and Nirvana, and behind-the-scenes docs on Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are and Her) in a new 90-minute documentary called Breadcrumb Trail, which, astonishingly, comes some 23 years after the album's initial release.

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WHY WE’RE SKEPTICAL ABOUT THE TUPAC BIOPIC

Yes, it's still happening. The long-gestating Tupac biopic will be helmed by John Singleton, The Guardian reported last Thursday. The acclaimed Boyz n the Hood director, who worked with Tupac on 1993’s Poetic Justice (the rapper’s second major acting gig after Juice), has clambered aboard the as yet untitled project as writer, producer and director.

"Tupac was the guy who I planned to do a lifetime of films with," Singleton told The Hollywood Reporter. "His passing deeply affected my life as well as countless people in this world. His life story is as important to my generation."

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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.