Nina (Li Bingbing) is a Shanghai career girl who drops plans to move to New York when she learns that her estranged bestie, Sophie (Gianna Jun), is in a coma. Soon Nina discovers the manuscript of a novel that Sophie had been writing, which turns their long-term friendship (cemented as…
There may be nothing as Old Hollywood as the narrative about a pretty girl summoning up a dose of pluck to triumph over adversity. And yet Brit Marling — the lithe, stunning co-writer and star of 2011 Sundance Film Festival hits Another Earth and Sound of My Voice, who gives…
A uniquely Freudian entry in the body-switching comedy canon, The Change-Up stars Jason Bateman as standard issue anal-retentive lawyer/family man Dave, and Ryan Reynolds as Dave’s classically anal-expulsive stoner/playboy childhood friend Mitch. When sober, Dave begrudgingly tolerates Mitch’s wild-animal routine. One night, when both are drunk, Dave admits he’s secretly…
As the summer blockbuster season winds down to its weakest dregs, two terrible movies — one about James Bond as a cowboy battling aliens with a wristwatch that shoots lasers, the other about a group of zany blue anthropomorphic creatures who substitute their name for various other words — vie…
The Sci-Fi Film Series is getting down to its final two weeks, and this Wednesday, they’ll be showing one of our favorites, Moon, at 7 p.m. at the Denver FilmCenter/Colfax. The purpose of the series is pretty simple: show off some great science fiction movies and provide an intellectual introduction…
Cowboys and Aliens, out today, tells the charming and classic story of what happens when cowboys meet aliens: They all shoot each other. It stars Daniel Craig, who’s British, which makes sense because while Wyatt Earp was shooting dudes in Tombstone, the Brits were drinking crumpets or whatever and signing…
It’s a mildly fun fact that the original gimmick of the Smurfs — created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo way back in the ’50s — was the “Smurf language”, in which the small blue characters substitute that word for whatever verb, noun or adjective, depending on context. But it didn’t really…
Alright, so we didn’t like Soul Surfer that much. But they can’t all be gems, and when it comes to elevating fellow Denverites into the echelons of dumb awards, we’re always willing to help a brother out — so take, if you will, a moment from your busy day and…
15 Colorado Artists. The Kirkland Museum is presenting a historical show that tracks the beginnings of post-war modernism in Denver using the artist group 15 Colorado Artists as an index. The story goes that the Denver Artists Guild was hostile to modernism at the time. This led to a split,…
In the first scene of Crazy, Stupid, Love., Emily (Julianne Moore) tells Cal (Steve Carell), her high-school sweetheart and husband of twenty-plus years, that she wants a divorce. She goes on to mention that she had an affair with a co-worker named Dave Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon), at which point Cal…
So much petty drama has clouded the release of Michael Rapaport’s A Tribe Called Quest documentary. One version of the backstory casts the first-time director as a doofus actor wannabe (arguably best known for his role as Phoebe’s boyfriend in Friends) who persuades the seminal, but privately splintered, hip-hop crew…
José (Fernando Luján) has been divorced from Nora for twenty years. They were married at least as long. Now he keeps an apartment across from hers; she keeps binoculars. And when, just before Passover, she succeeds after decades of suicide attempts, José is convinced she planned for him to discover…
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is often regarded as one of the most scientifically sound science-fiction movies out there. Working closely with author Arthur C. Clarke, Kubrick met with plenty of scientific experts to ensure the film would be as authentic as possible, regardless of the inevitable filming complications…
Ugh, vampires. They’ve been everywhere for the past few years, and now the Twilight brand is hitting Red Rocks tonight for Film on the Rocks. To coincide with the modern sparkle vamps, the Denver FilmCenter is also showing the original, campy Buffy the Vampire Slayer film (tonight at 9:30 p.m…
15 Colorado Artists. The Kirkland Museum is presenting a historical show that tracks the beginnings of post-war modernism in Denver using the artist group 15 Colorado Artists as an index. The story goes that the Denver Artists Guild was hostile to modernism at the time. This led to a split,…
“Suburban malaise,” they call it, and it’s the reason that Long Island dental hygienist Laura (Jenna Fischer) self-soothes with afternoon Budweisers, jealously stews over her disparaging, workaholic husband (Chris O’Donnell) and lets her twelve-year-old son (Daniel Yelsky) — a chubby ball of hormonal rage — walk all over her. An…
Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby for Marvel Comics in 1941, Captain America was among the first American comic books intended as an explicit work of patriotic, political propaganda: The cover of the first edition, available months before Pearl Harbor, famously featured the titular costumed hero punching out Adolf…
It was after sitting through about 90 percent of the movie that I decided Sarah Palin’s The Undefeated was 49 percent PBS-style documentary on how great Alaska is, 50 percent “Palin pal posse” circle jerk, and 1 percent Ronald Reagan references. Or perhaps a more accurate summation of this one-hour,…
A scheduled Sarah Palin visit to Denver earlier this year was canceled after the organizer complained about “safety concerns.” But there are no such concerns surrounding the “documentary” about her life, The Undefeated — especially since its showing in only one theater in the Palin-friendly burb of Highlands Ranch. The…
Children of Men, Alfonso Cuaron’s gritty and excellent film about a future where everyone has become sterile, plays tonight at the Denver FilmCenter as part of their recent sci-fi series. The film is a story about finding hope in an era of hopelessness. But gray skies and bombings aside, we…
Film producer Chris Graves, who also runs Bardo Coffee House on South Broadway, first thought up the idea for his new Denver-based sitcom pilot, 13th and Pearl, fifteen years ago. “I used to hang out around 13th and Pearl back in the day, in the mid-90s, and I thought it…
When it comes time to get out the sticky icky, do a few rips and get all airee, there’s no better thing to do than plop down in front of the tube and let that shit rain all over your mind-grapes. Sometimes you get all giggly and you want to…
