That’s Entertainment

The action of Hamlet all hinges on an injunction by the ghost of Hamlet’s father, who appears on a bitter cold night to tell the prince he must kill his murderous and usurping uncle. Everything that happens in Something Is Rotten is also set in motion by a ghost –…

Space Case

There’s quite a bit wrong with Next Stage’s production of The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, but what’s wildly — and exactly — right is the group’s choice of a play to open its season, as well as the casting of the protagonist. Author Rolin Jones is now a writer…

Monkey Trials

What could be more fun than monkeys trapped in plastic hamster balls? That’s the strange philosophy of Super Monkey Ball, a puzzle series that debuted in 2001. Much as with Marble Madness, the goal here is to cross the finish line without falling off a floating platform. Except that this…

Turning Tricks

I Am a Sex Addict (IFC) Caveh Zahedi has made a movie of our times — a strange mix of self-absorption, shamelessness in the pursuit of fame, and sex. Most shocking of all is that it works. Part fiction and documentary, confessional and comedy, the film traces the history of…

Our top DVD picks for the week of September 14, 2006.

Ballets Russes (Zeitgeist) The Batman: The Complete Second Season (Warner Bros.) Beavis and Butt-head Do America: Special Collector’s Edition (Paramount) Bottoms Up (Sony) Disney Princess Stories, Volume 1: A Gift From the Heart (Disney) The Girls (New Yorker) Goal! The Dream Begins (Disney) Grey’s Anatomy: Season 2 Uncut (Buena Vista)…

Passion for Fashion

Fort Collins is not exactly a fashion hub. No offense to the northerly nabe, but hand-knit socks paired with Tevas and, say, a sweat-stained New Belgium cap leaves something to be desired. Practical, yes. Chic? Not on your life. It comes as a surprise, then, that artist Trudie Roberts swears…

Art Parking Only

If your relatives are anything like mine, then it’s tough to find family activities that truly have something for everyone. Well, look no further than the City Park Festival of the Arts: This free fest features more than 140 artists and craftspeople for moms; two stages of music, including rock,…

To Market

The time is always right for the Osage Mercado, a barrio-based public marketplace happening this weekend just south of the light-rail stop at 10th Avenue and Osage Street. A community-driven showcase with a fair-trade spirit, the mercado features a bounty of fresh vegetables, handmade arts and crafts, local performers, and…

A Walk to Remember

It’s been twenty years since the first AIDS Walk Colorado hit the streets, raising funds to help battle the spread of HIV/AIDS. Last year’s walk involved more than 7,000 participants, who helped scrape together $60,000 for the cause. The 5K walk begins and ends in Cheesman Park, and for the…

Party Animals

It’s no coincidence that one of the only words you can form from the letters in booze is zoo. No, really, it’s totally deliberate; people love to get liquored up around caged animals. And the Denver Zoo, 2300 Steele Street, is only too happy to provide them the opportunity. That…

Green Acres

“It is going to be the event of the century!” Dana Miller promises of the 2007 Krisana Park Modern Green Home Tour and Parade, which runs from 1 to 5 p.m. today. Better make that the event of the mid-century, because the houses in this charming pocket in southeast Denver’s…

Split Focus

Jazz has inspired many iconic photos, as anyone who owns classic Blue Note albums of the ’50s and ’60s understands. No wonder the shutterbugs at Working With Artists, a nonprofit dedicated to educating the public about photography, decided to combine the forms at this weekend’s Workshop Sample Days 2006. The…

Detective Comics

If Superman Returns attempted to resurrect the Man of Steel as mythic hero, the season’s other Superman movie wants to disabuse us of any such childish illusions. Glamorously adult, Hollywoodland purports to part the veil on the circumstances by which George Reeves, the actor who embodied the superhero on ’50s…

Dog-Eat-Dog World

When we first see Ellie (Diane Gaidry), the younger of two damaged heroines in Jacques Thelemaque’s The Dogwalker, she’s the picture of unhinged desperation. Ill-concealed by big sunglasses, her heavily battered face features a recently split lower lip, one so swollen that she can barely make herself understood when requesting…

Panic Womb

A number of pregnant mysteries arise with the new remake of Robin Hardy’s 1973 cult-remembered genre work. Namely, what’s in this kind of malarkey for gender-combat provocateur Neil LaBute, and why was such a high-profile film tossed into theaters last Friday without letting critics see it first? The two simple…

The Bridesmaid

Director Claude Chabrol’s fascination with the pathologies submerged in middle-class life takes a vivid and scary new turn in The Bridesmaid, the second film he’s adapted from a Ruth Rendell novel (following La Cérémonie). This time, an unsuspecting young man (soulful Benoit Magimel) falls into the clutches of a seductive…

Introductions

44T ARTSPACE, the exhibition end of Metro Frame Works (4400 Tennyson Street, 303-433-0335), is a smart-looking miniature sales room with extensive show windows that open the place up to the street. The gallery is one of only a handful participating in this year’s Denver Art Dealers Association series highlighting talent…

Sketches

Emilio Lobato and Martha Daniels. The solos that open the season at William Havu Gallery combine the disparate work of two of the area’s best-known and well-regarded artists. On the walls is Emilio Lobato: Desde Siempre (Since Forever), which comprises the artist’s signature abstractions. The title refers to Lobato’s self-exploration…

Past Imperfect

The subject of I Am My Own Wife is German transvestite Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, born Lothar Berfelde in 1928 Berlin, a collector of antiques who survived both World War II and the Communist years in East Germany. But the play is as much about author Doug Wright’s relationship with von…

The Mystery of Love

Aldo and Huey are friends. Huey is divorced, and Aldo — who never gained his father’s affection and is unable to sever the link with his overpowering mother — is unmarried. Huey has been behaving oddly since the divorce, wearing poetic, frill-sleeved shirts and unflatteringly tight black pants, mooning around…

Grateful Dead

The mall in Dead Rising is pretty much like any other you’ve visited. There’s a bunch of women’s clothing stores, a movie theater, and of course the obligatory food court. The only real difference is that it’s teeming with enough zombies to fill a stadium. Dead Rising opens with freelance…

Necessary Evil

United 93 (Universal) A suggestion to those who’ve put off watching the year’s most wrenching and essential film: Before rolling the feature, first watch the documentary in which the families of those who died on the plane give the filmmakers their blessing, without reservation. If the mother, father, and sister…