The New Face of Evil

The unsettling tone is established early in Call of Duty 4, when the president of a Middle Eastern nation is publicly executed on the world stage, and you, the player, experience the deposed leader’s final minutes through his own eyes, witnessing — through the rear window of a car —…

As God Is My Witness

Thanksgiving doesn’t have enough TV specials. Oh, sure, it’s got Charlie Brown, but I covered how weak that is earlier. And there’s the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, but aside from seeing how cold and wet the Broadway dancers are going to be doing their thing in Herald Square, it’s basically just…

Project Runway Recap

After 3 seasons of Project Runway, it seems evident that nobody does the wacky-artsy-type thing like an aspiring designer (though you can also catch some truly wacked-out antics on America’s Next Top Model, which is also on tonight). And nobody has perfected this craziness as much as this season’s yoga-lovin’,…

The Worst Peanuts Special Ever

Okay, maybe not ever. I’m not counting aberrations like and It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown, or You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown, or Try My Flugelhorn, Charlie Brown (and of those three, I only made one of them up). I’m talking about the big ones, the ones that we watched as kids…

Being Michael Madsen Is A Chore

Festival audiences are generally more generous than traditional theatrical crowds. It’s a double-edged sword. Some films that will never see the light of day, or the darkness of theatrical release, find audiences who are willing to set aside their critical opinions and just enjoy a film for mere competence of…

Last Night: Night of the Living Shred

Earlier this week, we interviewed party promoter Charlie Morrison by phone while he was drying out in the forced confinement of Denver C.A.R.E.S. Charlie’s surely out by now, but we thought we’d pop in to his club night at Bender’s Tavern, Night of the Living Shred, to see if we…

Expose Yourself

Earlier this week, we talked about how Northern Exposure is airing on KBDI-Channel 12 Monday through Thursday nights at 7PM. But what’s the big deal? Why does this nearly twenty-year-old television series merit not one but two blogs? Ah, my friend, I’d give it ten, if I could. (One on…

Frock Out Denver Unveiled

Check out a slide show of Frock Out. For the past few months, twelve Denver fashion designers have been hard at work creating their own version of Project Runway, and now a piece by each of these talented tailors is on display at the Denver Public Library’s Central Branch for…

Screening Tonight at the Starz Denver Film Festival

You’ve got nothing to do tonight, right? Skip another night of must-see TV and head over to the best Denver cultural event of the year, the Denver Film Festival. We’ve compiled some reviews and profiles of filmmakers and suggest, if you can, that you check out one of the following…

Festival Dailies: The Memory Thief

The Memory Thief Director: Gil Kofman It’s going to take a long time to digest this film. For me, the entire experience was thrown off by the woman in front of offering information on her colonoscopy to no one in particular. Shortly after that, Songbird, the short film from director…

Film Festival Profiles: Iron Ladies of Liberia

Iron Ladies of Liberia Directors: Daniel Junge and Siatta Scott-Johnson When Denver-based documentary director Daniel Junge and producer Henry Ansbacher first contacted newly elected Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (who, among other degrees, received a masters in economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1970), they were told their…

Shred Cred

Show of hands: Has anyone not heard of Guitar Hero at this point? You sir, in the back row clutching the Ratt cassette — you’re the only one? All right, pal, here’s your recap: Guitar Hero is the most popular music-based game ever made. It comes with a plastic guitar…

Film Festival Profile: Last Hat In Town

Last Hat in Town Director: Zachary Fink Remaining showtime: 12:30 p.m., Sunday, November 18 Told through the stories of three men with three unique and intimiate ties to the rugged business of oil and gas extraction in the Rocky Mountain West, director Zachary Fink’s documentary Last Hat in Town uses…

Northern Exposure Reruns A Cure For Writers Strike Blues

Great shows never die; they just move to cable. And, sometimes, to PBS. KBDI Channel 12 is into its second run of the full Northern Exposure series, which originally ran from 1990 to 1995 on CBS. After spending some time on cable’s A&E channel, in the “Daybreak” spot (where it…

Film Festival Profile: Skills Like This

The world’s worst writer has had enough. Tormented by the knowledge that he will never make it as a playwright, he abandons his primary passion for a more lucrative trade at which he finds he has a natural talent: Robbing banks. And this spur-of-the-moment act of desperation changes his life…

Film Festival Profile: Mountain Town

Mountain Town Director: Brendan Kiernan and Frank Pickell Cinematographer: Jasper Gray Show times: Monday, November 12, 6:15 p.m.; Wednesday, November 14, 8:30 p.m.; Sunday, November 18, 5:30 p.m. Pick path, pursue it to the exclusion of everything else, and the universe will conspire with you to make things happen. Even…

O Brother, Where for Art Coen?

A recent posting on the Starz Denver Film Festival website announced that a “mystery screening” has been added to the roster to play at the Esquire Theatre at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, November 13. What might be concealed inside this feature-length grab bag? Well, the blurb says the language is…

Denver Film Festival Dailies: End of the Line

OK, there are some weird signs that things in the world aren’t right. And a group of religious fanatics pointing to those signs. And a subway train. Plus, of course, a small group of “normal” people just trying to get home. Add these together, add some cheap blood and gore,…

Denver Film Festival Dailies: Oswald’s Ghost

The JFK assassination is probably the best-covered event in pre-9/11 American history and the documentary Oswald’s Ghost is director Robert Stone’s another take on it. As documentaries go, it’s fairly entertaining, but it lacks a strong message or narrative thrust. It builds a case that Oswald could have done it…

Punk Rock Flea Market

Whatever your punk poison, this Saturday’s Punk Rock Flea Market promises to have something for you. The monthly event features music on vinyl and CD, as well as tables set up by local bands, clothing shops, designers and artists. Presented by Suburban Home Records’ Vinyl Collective, the market is a…

The Revolution Will Be Televised Part Two: The Future Is Now

No one can know what exactly will come from this current strike—but its potential to completely alter the landscape of television, should it drag on long enough, can’t be ignored. It’s one thing to complain about the talk-show reruns, or tire of the newsmagazines and reality shows that are produced…