I can’t imagine what world-famous architect Daniel Libeskind was thinking when he took on the job of brainstorming about the Civic Center right before his new Frederic C. Hamilton Building at the Denver Art Museum is set to open. After all, the Civic Center is beloved by many, and messing…
I’m a logico-deductive sort of person, I think A comes before B, and I firmly believe that 1 + 1 = 2. And I don’t need any insider information to figure out what’s going on in the public sector of Denver, because so much of it is, well, public. I’m…
The Armory Group. In a summer art calendar that’s uncharacteristically filled with significant exhibitions, The Armory Group: 40 Years has got to be one of the most important of them all. The story begins back in 1966 in Boulder — specifically, in the fine-arts department at the University of Colorado…
As I stood in line for the ladies’ room during the intermission of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s The Tempest, the woman in line behind me asked me what I thought of the production. I murmured something noncommital. She herself liked all the actors, she told me, except for Prospero. She…
Impulse Theater. Basements and comedy go together like beer and nuts or toddlers and sandboxes. The basement of the Wynkoop Brewing Co., where Impulse Theater performs, is crowded, loud and energetic. Impulse does no prepared skits, nothing but pure improv — which means that what you see changes every night,…
In 2004, Jason Hall, the head of Warner Bros.’ new videogame division, did something remarkable: He promised to end bad movie tie-ins. By then, gamers had become well acquainted with the suckiness of movie-based games. Ever since Atari’s E.T. — a game so bad, tons of unsold copies were buried…
Brick (Universal) Rian Johnson’s feature debut as writer-director will wind up as one of the year’s best films. A film noir set in a modern-day high school, it’s Sam Spade roaming Ridgemont High. Kids get doped up and knocked up and even rubbed out while speaking pulp-novel slang, but the…
Adam and Steve (TLA) Back Woods (Terror Vision) Beautiful People: The Complete Series (Sony) Clone (Image) Damon Wayans’ Last Stand (Fox) Frat Boy Collection (Fox) Gilles’ Wife (Koch Lorber) Ghost in a Teeny Bikini (Image) Grounded for Life: Season 3 (Anchor Bay) The Hidden Blade (Tartan) Inside Man (Universal) Jayne…
As a boy growing up in Denver in the 1950s, Purnell Steen would head down to Five Points to hear jazz from such international icons as Ella Fitzgerald and Cootie Williams at the Lounge in the Rossonian Hotel. It was bluesy gospel jazz, the kind of “swing” style that anybody…
“There are so many things that need to be done in Africa,” says Natalie McIntyre, a volunteer for the non-profit organization Food for the Hungry. “I know that they need food, but I think it’s really important to empower people. “Fourteen million people in Uganda don’t have access to health…
“This is a selfish thing to do,” concedes Chris Cardone, the organizer behind this weekend’s Lodo Bass Bash. “I’m only doing it because I wanted to see all my favorite artists in one place.” Most of Cardone’s heroes play extended-range basses that hit notes standard instruments can’t replicate. At the…
“Having a lawn isn’t the best way to garden in Colorado,” says David Winger, conservation specialist and Xeriscape expert with Denver Water. He’s not kidding: For the six years I lived in the Midwest, I didn’t have to water my lawn once, and the grass still grew like crazy. But…
This political season has been pushing buttons with everyone, which is reason enough for tonight’s Oh, It’s Just the Fate of the Republic Talk and Cocktail Reception. At 6:30 p.m., John Nichols, the insightful, erudite Washington correspondent for The Nation, will hit below the Beltway as he discusses the current…
There is no modern-day antecedent to the movies Will Ferrell makes with writer-director Adam McKay, with whom Ferrell collaborated during their tenure at Saturday Night Live only a few years ago. To compare their offerings (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and the new Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky…
If nothing else, give the makers of Beowulf & Grendel high marks for boldness and a certain playful irreverence. It’s a good bet that today’s movie-goers have all the respect in the world for eighth-century poetry, Norse legend and the tenets of early Christianity, but the real attraction of the…
Like the shambling VW van its hapless characters steer from Albuquerque to Redondo Beach, Little Miss Sunshine is a rickety vehicle that travels mostly downhill. How this antic extended sitcom from first-time feature-makers Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris left Sundance with an eight-figure deal and reams of enthralled press clippings…
Monster’s Ball producer Lee Daniels makes his directorial debut with Shadowboxer, and it couldn’t be clearer that he’s trying to follow his previous formula for success. Oscar-caliber actors? Check. Interracial sex? Plenty. A violent demise or two, all in the service of character development? Oh yes. But Daniels maybe could…
The old Lucas/Spielberg stunt of turning B-movie peekaboos into E-ticket thrill rides remains the industry standard — to the virtual exclusion of other multiplex fare, particularly when school’s out. But as not every kid who remade Raiders in Super 8 either gave up the dream or morphed into Michael Bay,…
It’s not for nothing that 1959’s Plan 9 From Outer Space is often hailed as “the worst movie ever made.” Directed — if that’s the right word — by the famously delusional shlockmeister Ed Wood, it’s a hilarious bit of nonsense about space aliens who think they can conquer Earth…
For the third time in two years, there’s a major show addressing how traditional Chicano art has progressed into post-Chicano art. The latest is Chain Reaction: Chicano/a and Latino/a Art in Colorado, at the Vida Ellison Gallery on the seventh floor of the Denver Central Library. The dialogue began locally…
There are two interesting shows installed back-to-back at Pirate: a contemporary art oasis (3655 Navajo Street, 303-458-6058). In the handsome members’ space that underwent a thorough remodel last year is Jason Appleton; in the still-as-funky-as-ever associates’ space is Strange attachments. Appleton, a longtime member of the venerable co-op, has gotten…
The Armory Group. In a summer art calendar that’s uncharacteristically filled with significant exhibitions, /i>The Armory Group: 40 Years has got to be one of the most important of them all. The story begins back in 1966 in Boulder — specifically, in the fine-arts department at the University of Colorado…
