“The show is a spoof on the cosmetic company that gives away pink cars,” reveals Michael Parker, director of the Murder Mystery Players. “It’s a meeting of all the superior leaders of the company. They are to crown the next omnipotent grand superior leader, and during the evening’s events, the…
Christmastime can be lonely for a Jew. Santa parades atop snow-sprinkled rooftops, “Now Dancer! Now Prancer!”-ing all through the night, but is there a Hanukkah Harry shimmying down your chimney in his soot-dusted suit, eyes a-twinkling, belly shaking like a bowl full of jelly? No. Not that that’s a problem…
So you think the Denver Zoo, 2300 Steele Street, is an unusual place to celebrate Kwanzaa? According to Patrick Phelan, the zoo’s events manager, “Culture is an important part of protecting animals.” Although Kwanzaa is largely an African-American holiday, it’s derived from several African harvest, or “first fruit” celebrations, which…
Some people might say that including a countdown on my MySpace page of the days, hours, minutes and seconds until July 13 — the day that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix hits movie theaters — is a little obsessive, particularly for a 25-year-old. Those same people might…
I’ve never been much of a Nutcracker fan. Although it starts out rather magically, it’s way too long for antsy children — and adults, for that matter — all primped up in their holiday garb. By about intermission time, it begins to remind me of one of those chaotic Mexican…
The Ski Train’s 67th season gets rolling today, and although the ride to Winter Park is an old Denver tradition, there’s always something new. “This year we have a new car, the Retreat,” says president Jim Bain. “That doesn’t mean it goes backwards. It’s a presentation car with a podium,…
The Slim Princess. That’s what they used to call the old narrow-gauge trains, because they had to be thin enough to snake around high mountain passes. And no princess is more famous than the Denver & Rio Grande Railway’s Silverton that runs from Durango to Silverton through the splendor that…
History repeats itself: Eleven Decembers ago, Universal had the season’s strongest movie. With a bare minimum of advance screenings and a shocking absence of hype, the studio dumped it. This year, they’ve done it again. The 1995 castoff was 12 Monkeys, Terry Gilliam’s remake of Chris Marker’s La Jetée; this…
Bankrupt and brain-damaged in Rocky V, a bout fought so long ago that the other Bush was still sucker-punching Saddam, Sylvester Stallone’s titular pugilist returns to issue another beating in Rocky Balboa. How much punishment can an audience take? Even 007 gets his license renewed by younger models every decade,…
It is said that a great actor or actress can bring down the house, but before I saw (or heard) 25-year-old American Idol finalist Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls, I cant recall the last time I truly feared for the architectural stability of a movie theater. When Hudson, who is making…
It took Norman Mailer seven years and 1,282 pages to write 1991’s Harlot’s Ghost: A Novel of the CIA, and if memory serves, it took me twelve years to actually finish it. So director Robert De Niro and screenwriter Eric Roth can be forgiven for taking two hours and forty…
Men are literally disposable in Pedro Almodvars Volver. But the film, particularly for fans of the gynophilic, flamboyantly color-coordinating maker of loco melodramas, is essential. The title translates as Coming Back as in back from the dead, referring to the matter-of-fact resurrection of Irene (Carmen Maura), an old grandmother who…
I went to Ebenezer expecting the usual hilarious, free-form mayhem of Heritage Square and encountered an unexpected solemnity. The company’s version of A Christmas Carol made up the first half of the evening, and it was swift and workmanlike, if lower-key than many of the group’s offerings. Still, there were…
The Big Bang. Sometimes it’s nice not to have to think too much, to just settle back and watch a couple of frenetically energetic guys working really hard to earn your good will — and your entertainment dollars. Oh, and to make you laugh. The Big Bang posits the following…
Hugh Grant, founder and director of the Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art on Capitol Hill, has been a kind of Santa Claus for Denver, bestowing gifts of support and exhibits on the art community. A few years ago, when the Kirkland was just getting off the ground, the…
For me, the real meaning of the holidays involves Burl Ives retelling the story of the foggy night that Rudolph led Santa’s sleigh, and Brenda Lee rocking around the Christmas tree — not to mention taking a moment to listen to Vince Guaraldi back up Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy and…
Breaking the Mold. In 2003, Connecticut collector Virginia Vogel Mattern donated some 300 pieces of contemporary American Indian art to the Denver Art Museum. For a special show inaugurating the new Frederic C. Hamilton Building, Native Arts curator Nancy Blomberg selected over 100 works for the impressive Breaking the Mold:…
When the Levees Broke (HBO) Spike Lee’s four-part doc, easily the best non-fiction film of 2006, gets a fifth part on DVD: a 105-minute epilogue that reveals just how little has changed since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in August 2005. Featuring new interviews with the displaced and displeased,…
Aside from that new ball, NBA Live 07 may be the worst product to bear the league’s name this year. The new basketball game from Electronic Arts is so glitchy that scores of buyers launched an online petition demanding a do-over. Luckily for the rest of us, consumers have a…
Agnes & His Brothers (First Run) All the King’s Men (Sony) American Pie: The Naked Mile (Universal) The Beauty Academy of Kabul (Docurama) The Celestine Prophecy (Sony) Checking Out (Allumination) Derailed (Weinstein) Dreamland (Sony) Invincible (Disney) Lady in the Water (Warner Bros.) Long Distance (Image) My Super Ex-Girlfriend (Fox) National…
The Party’s Over By Tim Hurley “You fucked up.” Those are the words my father used on the morning of January 1, 2004, that succinctly summed up my worst New Year’s Eve ever. I was on Christmas vacation during my freshman year in college, it was New Year’s Eve, and…
Forget the champagne fountains: Tonight the ten-gallon fish tank will be swimming with mojitos for MATTER’s 8th Annual Printsale and Party. But the drinks aren’t the only reason the evening is “a guaranteed good time,” says MATTER’s Rick Griffith. DJ Idiom will entertain the crowd while Griffith shows off the…
