Cabaret. Cabaret is grim and distressing, and there’s not a hint of redemption anywhere in it. Quite the contrary. But this is a bloody good production, the kind of production that could attract all kinds of people who might never think of setting foot in a conventional dinner theater. Anyone…
Ash is feeling a little bit under the weather, so I’ll be taking charge.” So says Shaun (Simon Pegg) to his valiant crew of appliance salespeople, but if you don’t get the real meaning, you’re probably not part of the target audience for Shaun of the Dead. Ash, for the…
According to the press notes, the title character of Gozu is “a demon said to exist in hell. It has the head of a cow and body of human .” Director Takashi Miike says he got this information from an authoritative Japanese dictionary, but it isn’t necessary to know the…
The very best thing about A Dirty Shame, a giddy sex farce from John Waters, is the credits. What’s not to love about a list of characters that includes “Sylvia Stickles,” “Marge the Neuter,” “Fat Fuck Frank,” “Cow Patty” and “Tire Lick Boy”? The soundtrack, too, bears comic fruit, with…
Essayist. Playwright. Radio personality. Librettist. Actor. Novelist. Now, with Bright Young Things, the inimitable British wit Stephen Fry debuts as feature screenwriter and director. Best known here in the colonies either as Jeeves (opposite Hugh Laurie) in Jeeves and Wooster, or as Peter in Peter’s Friends, or possibly as Oscar…
The Boulder Public Library’s admirable and far-ranging film program is presenting “History and Development of the Documentary Film,” featuring works by such disparate practitioners of the non-fiction art as the father of them all, Robert Flaherty, John Huston (in his wartime role as a documentarian for the U.S. Army) and…
“I saw the incredible creative potential of people in my age group and realized that, for the most part, we weren’t using it for social change,” says 26-year-old Jamie Laurie. “I wanted to change that.” Thus was born VoterCrews, a group whose agenda is best described through its unofficial mantra,…
Thursday, September 23 Don’t go to Crested Butte this weekend without a smile on your face: You could end up on the stake during Saturday’s Burning of the Grump, just one of many ancient traditions celebrated during Vinotok, the mountain town’s annual medieval fall fest, which gets its curious and…
Think vampires are the only ones allergic to silver? Try Paul Hamm. The famed gymnast exhibited Olympian-level lameness this summer, proving once and for all that poor sportsmanship can infect even the greatest talents. The Team USA superstar courted tons of controversy after refusing to give up his gold medal…
SAT, 9/25 One of the big-city touches that Denver has always had down cold is the tradition of the downtown street fair. If nothing else, we know how to throw a party. And now we can add the Festival Italiano to all of the old faves. Things begin tonight, sort…
THUR, 9/23 Ladies, the Commish is up for sale. Note his authentic Denver hipster look, complete with ’70s mesh cap and short athletic shorts. His muscular thighs toned from years of captaining the Denver Kickball Coalition. The nonchalant stare and devil-may-care attitude. For the right price — minimum $10 bid,…
WED, 9/29 Rebels Remembered, a compelling chronicle of the civil-rights movement in Denver, overflows with heroes and heartbreak. The third installment, Our Neighborhood Schools, screens today at the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library. In a telling bit of footage from the latest chapter, Wilfred Keyes, an African-American chiropractor who was…
MON, 9/27 In his most recent online column, “Durst Case Scenario,” comedian Will Durst offers an Onion-like article under the headline “‘Stupid People Love Bush’ New Study Proves.” Quoting a fictional think-tank member, Durst writes, “It has to do with intellectual curiosity. Folks see Bush in front of a stream…
Ronald W. Wohlauer, whom everyone called Ron, was one of those artists who always seemed to be at the top of the visual-art pyramid around here — until, that is, his untimely death earlier this year. During his long career, which began more than thirty years ago, he was a…
It’s surely surprising — if not shocking — to find one of the best ceramics shows of the year being presented at the modest and remote Lakewood Cultural Center (470 South Allison Parkway, 303-987-7876). But that’s exactly what’s going on now with Place of Mind, a solo show dedicated to…
digital.movement.04. Tracy Weil, owner of the weilworks gallery, has a passion for computer-aided art. That’s why he organized digital.movement.04: Installations in video, sound & digital animation, the first in a planned series of annuals featuring art that employs digital technologies in its creation. Weil put out a call for entries…
The more I think about The Wall of Water, currently being produced by the Hunger Artists Theatre, the more I like it. Playwright Sherry Kramer is obviously a comic talent to watch. The script is farcical, swift and funny, but it touches on all kinds of major themes: madness and…
When I was a child growing up in London, someone gave me a large red book called Sunday, published in the 1880s. On the flyleaf was written “To little Nellie, from Papa.” The book had been created for Victorian children trapped in their dark, stifling houses for a full day…
Cabaret. Cabaret is grim and distressing, and there’s not a hint of redemption anywhere in it. Quite the contrary. But this is a bloody good production, the kind of production that could — and should — attract all kinds of people who might never think of setting foot in a…
Some of the best performances of the year can be found in Mean Creek, a small independent film that marks the auspicious feature debut of 31-year-old writer-director Jacob Aaron Estes. The film, an ensemble drama with a relatively unknown cast, looks at six kids and what happens when an innocent…
If Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence were a live-action sequel, there would be a lot of gossip about star histrionics, creative conflicts and so forth. Since the original Ghost in the Shell, first released nearly ten years ago, made an anime icon out of its star, the frequently nude…
Fortune smiles on groovy egregiousness. In the case of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, the filmmakers’ investment in their weird visions is wildly unorthodox, but the payoff is oddly satisfying. The movie features myriad killer robots, raucous underwater dogfights, and Laurence Olivier’s best work since he died fifteen…
