Its yearly appearance might be anticipated, dreaded or even lampooned, but Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol remains the quintessential holiday story about the transformative powers of love, forgiveness and redemption. Director Laird Williamson has an unabashed (and, among local practitioners, unparalleled) devotion to pageantry, mystery and grandeur; when these qualities…
Old-fashioned romantic comedies are an endangered species, and in these generally unromantic days, it’s always a pleasant surprise to find a decent one like Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail. Ephron, of course, made her bones five and a half years ago with the huge hit Sleepless in Seattle, but since…
The worst thing about French director Manuel Poirier’s Western–which was nominated for multiple Cesar Awards (the French equivalent of the Oscars) and won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival–is its title. Despite the strained attempts of the movie’s production notes to convince us of some sort…
On May 30, 1957, the Los Angeles Times reported that the body of “distinguished film producer and director James Whale” had been found floating in the swimming pool at his home in Pacific Palisades. Fully clothed, Whale’s corpse exhibited a head wound. “Whale,” the Times went on to point out,…
If you’re a true believer who scans the December sky for a man on a sleigh, take heart. You’re not alone. The Denver UFO Society has been conducting such work year-round for more than forty years. But while Mr. Claus’s followers cite presents under the tree as proof of his…
Thursday December 10 While the Avalanche isn’t exactly living up to its past standards, there’s another iced-up troupe at McNichols that certainly is. The perennial band of cartoon bladers in Disney on Ice hits the rink tonight, giving fans their annual fix of fun without the fisticuffs of Big Mac’s…
Since releasing “Light My Fire” in 1968, Jose Feliciano has been a part of pop-music consciousness. The tune, originally recorded by the Doors, became an instant smash and provided the basis for a career that’s still going strong for the blind guitarist from Puerto Rico. But while the cut’s star…
A couple of weeks ago, a group exhibit called Views of Solitude opened and thus served as the premier display of the brand-new William Havu Gallery. The show and, even more so, the gallery itself, elicited audible gasps from many of the more than 500 exhibition-goers who attended the opening…
Are the crystal-arranging rituals of gong-happy new-agers really any different from the solemn-voiced genuflecting that undergirds the world’s established blood religions? Does our willingness to profess unwavering belief–whether in the rock of ages or the age-old healing properties of rocks–somehow guarantee us a higher place in the grand scheme of…
On the surface, Beth Henley’s The Wake of Jamey Foster looks like a typical American dysfunctional-family play. In fact, before Act One is twenty minutes old, we’ve become acquainted with an undiscovered ectomorphic genius who makes a living cashing in beverage bottles; an insufferable financial type grown newly contemptuous of…
The relentless charm of Kirk Jones’s Waking Ned Devine lies in its embrace of two lovable Irish geezers who manage to work beautiful mischief on the world, in the raw beauty of their sun-splashed coastal village, and in the general notion that Ireland is the land of poetic conversations, enduring…
Ultra-tough-guy Jesse “The Body” Ventura says he means business as the new governor of Minnesota. But for now the nasty crime wave in that state continues unchecked–at the movies, anyway. Sam Raimi’s A Simple Plan, a psychological thriller that shows us how dangerous life can get after three ordinary men…
It’s an annual spectacle, a seasonal ritual, a sight, all right. On December 3, some 15,000 colored lights energized by five miles of electrical wire complete the yearly zapping of good taste at Denver’s City and County Building. Legend has it that Denver is home to the worldwide tradition of…
December 3 Thursday National AIDS Awareness Day was December 1, but a Denver gallery is continuing its NAAD fundraising efforts through this month. Abend Gallery Fine Arts is serving as the agent for the late Mel Carter, a Denver artist who was active in the local fight against AIDS. Abend…
If St. Nick enjoys a choice malt beverage, he’ll be especially jolly when he rolls into town in a couple of weeks. Just in time for the holidays, microbrewers along the beer-blessed Front Range are breaking out their inspired seasonal brews, upping the ante on our state’s already rich rep…
For its holiday offering, LoDo’s Robischon Gallery has teamed up a pair of disparate shows that together give viewers some sense of the pluralism reigning at the end of this century. In the series of rooms that make up the gallery’s main space, including what is from time to time…
Near the end of Riverdance–The Show, there’s a brief yet moving scene that beautifully clarifies and unifies all thirteen of the Irish dance extravaganza’s far-flung episodes. To the bow-shredding accompaniment of a lone violinist, the fervent company of singers and dancers–who transport us to such outposts of the unofficial Irish…
Setting his huckster’s sights on no less a prize than the United States presidency, a slick-talking loudmouth unabashedly declares, “Truth is in the eye of the beholder or the mouth of the seller.” Before his TV-reporter girlfriend can convince him otherwise, the smooth operator embarks on an ambitious though clearly…
According to the sparse information available in standard reference books, Chilean expatriate director Ral Ruiz, still in his late fifties, has made more than a hundred films since 1960; apparently only fifty or so are features, but that’s still an impressive stat. He’s been a staple on the festival circuit…
In the rancid nightmare farce called Very Bad Things, Peter Berg, in his movie writing-directing debut, creates characters that you immediately want to see killed off. From the title to the ads to the Web site (which features a Vegas stripper who will dance just for you), Very Bad Things…
Since their first gig in Denver last spring, Jon-Paul Johnson & the 3rd Degree have made rapid-fire gains on the local circuit. The high-octane blues trio (guitarist Jon-Paul, brother/bassist Adam Johnson and drummer Jeff Hieatt) has opened for Dick Dale, George Thorogood, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and a handful of local…
In a season when people might as well carve reindeer into their Halloween pumpkins, beleaguered shoppers looking for unique gifts should head to places where they’ll never see a mall Santa. At the Denver Art Museum shop, posters and reproductions neatly coat the walls, and minimalistic household items such as…
