L’amour Fou documents Yves Saint-Laurent’s life of contradictions

L’amour Fou opens with unbroken footage from designer Yves Saint-Laurent’s 2002 speech announcing his retirement from fashion after forty-plus years at the helm of the massively important label bearing his name. It’s a stunning performance, flowing from naked confessional (“I have known the false friends of tranquilizers…and emerged dazzled but…

Super 8, disaster-driven and bound for box-office glory

A big-bang demolition derby, J.J. Abrams’s much-anticipated, greatly enjoyable Super 8 seems bound for box-office glory. Opening three weeks before July 4th, this Steven Spielberg-produced, kid-centric 21st-century disaster flick could well hang in at theaters till the tenth anniversary of 9/11 — an event that haunts Super 8 nearly as…

The Lion of Judah is this week’s most ridiculous trailer

After years of mind-boggling advances in the realm of CG animation courtesy of Pixar and, uh, everybody copying Pixar, it’s pretty impressive to see something as visually crappy as The Lion of Judah, an animated allegory for the Christ story from Rocky Mountain Pictures, which, thank God, is not based…

Five ass-hats that ruin the movie theater experience for everyone

It’s sunny outside, with green foliage and clear skies — the perfect time to spend your day in an air-conditioned room with no windows wearing stupid 3D sunglasses, being bored for three hours straight. That’s right, it’s summer movie movie season, and every weekend brings a new event to your…

Today in Stoke: 2011 winners from Mountainfilm in Telluride

The winners of the 32nd annual Mountainfilm in Telluride festival were announced on Monday and include eight films in five categories. We’ve got the trailers after the jump, and we’ll shout them out on this blog later in the year if and when any of them will be screening in…

Now Showing

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,…

Mia and the Migoo feels too much like Princess Mononoke

A plucky young heroine, a mystical quest to save the environment (and a missing father) from callous corporate-military development, and a band of mysterious monsters who protect a gargantuan Tree of Life: You’d be forgiven for mistaking Mia and the Migoo for the latest animated effort by Hayao Miyazaki. Narratively…

The Robber is as lean as its marathon-running title character

What makes Johann run — and rob? Benjamin Heisenberg’s second feature is as taut, lean and fleet as its title character, played by Andreas Lust and based on the real-life Johann Kastenberger, who was both Austria’s most-wanted bank robber of the 1980s and a champion marathoner. Writing the script with…

Candyland, and other childhood pastimes Hollywood has ruined

Here’s how the screenwriters of the upcoming Hollywood adaptation of Candyland — the candy-themed board game for children who do not know how to read — describe it: “We envision it as Lord of the Rings, but set in a world of candy.” That is an actual quote. It seems…

OMG, Guys: Lauren Conrad has a book club

It is true. Thanks to Lauren Conrad’s tweet about her new fave dessert recipe “Blueberry Boy Bait,” we were intrigued enough to take a jaunt over to Laurenconrad.com, where we discovered that she’s starting a book club. And what’s even better about this whole books n’ LC thing? She’s taking…

Now Showing

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,…

Queen to Play is a feminist tale on a chess board

After chambermaid Hélène (Sandrine Bonnaire) glimpses an American couple (Jennifer Beals and Dominic Gould) playing chess in the upscale Corsican resort where she works, she becomes obsessed with the game and what it represents to her. The couple’s casually sexy interplay and wealth are in stark contrast to the hand-to-mouth…

Who could possibly replace Oprah?

Oprah is returning to her home planet this week. Or she’s leaving daytime television. Or something like that. Everybody loves Oprah. Even if they’ve never seen her television program, they know Oprah is “truth.” She’s solid, she’s the bridge between different cultures and the essence of what it means to…

Help Nurse Necro M.D. get made, win a trip in a hearse

SORP Films wants to share a story with you, but they need your help. You see, they’ve got this great tale of a mutated nurse looking for revenge, but they’re a little short on funds, so they’ve turned to Kickstarter for a little help. If you’re wary of donating to…

Sneak Peek: Mountainfilm in Telluride 2011

This week, Mountainfilm in Telluride promoters released the full program for the 32nd annual festival (May 25-30). Since there are more than 70 films on the schedule, we caught up with Mountainfilm’s program director Emily Long to bring you a sneak peek at some of this year’s most hotly anticipated…