A zealous gumbo of regionalism, magical realism, post-Katrina allegory, myth and ecological parable, Beasts of the Southern Wild, the southern-Louisiana-set debut feature of 29-year-old Benh Zeitlin, rests, often cloyingly, on the tiny shoulders of Quvenzhané Wallis. Her character, Hushpuppy, the film’s six-year-old (also Wallis’s age during filming) protagonist and narrator,…
Prepare to have your assumptions pitched out the window by this tense, surprisingly probing satirical documentary — and not just those about religious longing and “spirituality,” its ostensible subjects, but about how deep the genre that gave us Borat and Morgan Spurlock’s spotty oeuvre can go. Kumaré is essentially the…
Writer-director Mia Hansen-Løve’s third feature, Goodbye First Love, begins in 1999, when protagonist Camille (Lola Créton), a highly emotional high school girl in love, is fifteen, and tracks her through her mid-twenties as she’s establishing a career. We first follow Camille through her all-consuming romance with Sullivan (Sebastian Urzendowsky), a…
Michael Frayn’s Noises Off is a farce about a farce. It relies on all those familiar farcical conventions — lots of doors with people going in and out of the wrong ones, a woman in her underwear and a man with his pants down around his ankles, sexual innuendo, blows,…
Denver’s Running of the Bulls is both everything and nothing like its Pamplona namesake. The two-year-old fundraiser replaces bulls with horn-helmeted Rocky Mountain Roller Girls wielding pool noodles and wiffle-ball bats — run before they hit you. This year’s Highland Running of the Bulls took place on Saturday morning, July…
The Cherry Creek Arts Festival, a signature summer event celebrating visual, culinary and performance arts, took place July 6 – 8 in Denver’s Cherry Creek North Shopping District. The free festival, which featured exhibits of 230 artists, gave patrons an opportunity to meet and talk with international visual artists, sample…
In Abattoir, the new novel by local horror authors Christopher Leppek and Emanuel Isler, an aging building gets renovated into trendy lofts, but its violent past remains hidden beneath the new surface. The duo’s second novel — following 2001’s Chaosicon — is, as Leppek puts it, a “haunted house on…
The Colorado Tomato Battle at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park Saturday was a mash-up of childhood frivolity and big-kid fun. Though the structure was more formal than the old Tomato Wars between Coloradans and Texans at Twin Lakes, the result was the same: utter chaos and tomato soup. See Also: -Slideshow:…
Art can be funny — sometimes inadvertently — but rarely do we see a show pointedly dedicated to funny art. But Art You Can Laugh At, curated by Eric Matelski and opening today at MacSpa, is an exhibit that revels in silliness: Its sole purpose is to make us guffaw…
Truth is definitely stranger than fiction — especially when it’s all gussied-up in a bridesmaid’s dress. In honor of Bridesmaids, the featured movie at Film on the Rocks tomorrow (the festivities will also include the premiere of the Nix Bros.-produced video for T.J. Miller’s Denver), we asked people to bring…
In early May, we ranked this park in the top tier of Denver’s best parks for bicycling. With the option of bike rental, bike-car rentals, and even boat rentals, this park offers a lot more than just some great cycling. If you can guess where I’m biking near this pond…
The record-breaking heat Colorado is experiencing are effecting everyone this season, but Mission Supports founder Arnie Swenson really sees it in his clients. As head of a non-profit that supports adults with intellectual and mental disabilities, Swenson knows the stress that many of these people are under without proper care…
In the wake of the wildfires burning through the West, as well as the ridiculously hot temperatures we’ve been experiencing, a day of escape and merriment is something that many Coloradans could use right now. At the Colorado Renaissance Festival, you can show off your best tavern-wench attire, leave your…
“An artist is an artist, no matter what form the canvas takes,” a pretentious man once said. It’s one of those statements that may sound pompous (and is), but is no less true. Over the past fifty years there are endless examples of musicians establishing successful careers on the stage,…
Some of us hate Bridesmaids, if only for the fact that it likely was one of the reasons Kristen Wiig decided to leave SNL. Oscar nominations will do that to an actor/writer. However! We found a pair of tickets to see the movie at Film on the Rocks on Tuesday…
First Friday means two things. One: you just paid rent and are probably broke. Two: lots and lots of art openings. Luckily, art openings are free and usually include free wine and snacks. In addition to art shows, there are dance parties, magazine launches and plenty of other things to…
Jose Antonio Mercado is a man with a big, big dream — to renovate the Historic Elitch Theatre, a dilapidated Denver landmark with a rich history, and refurbish both the building and its legacy. And Mercado, an actor, director and teacher made famous on the local level for his work…
While others were out celebrating the Fourth at picnics and barbecues, one lone protester held a silent vigil on the 16th Street Mall. See also: Reader: Summer 2004 was the best! Reader: Colorado is definitely the Suburu state! Reader: Welcome to Goose Poop Pond…
While there have been fires in the forests and fireworks in the sky, the streets are also on fire — with hot, hot fashion. Check out this week’s eclectic mix of frontwoman and skater styles. See Also: What’s in your bag? Anime and spray paint at PrideFest and Comic Con…
For Lisa Cook and Jason Hitchcock, it took just one awful experience to plant the seed for an artistic collaborative dream. “A few months ago, Jason was working for a really horrible, sexist magazine,” says Cook. Not long after the artist quit doing design work for the unnamed publication, he…
The Fourth of July means many things to different people, but to one protester we encountered yesterday on the 16th Street Mall, it was all about freedom of speech. Though she uttered not one word, her visual stance — and a blunt hand-written sign — said it all…
Looking at Jimmy Descant’s new rocket ship, “VR Green Gamma Daedalus,” is like looking at a mint-condition classic muscle car: The glimmer of the painted flake green body of the 1952 Kenmore canister vacuum cleaner, which makes up the body of the rocket, gleams in the chrome of the shined-up…
