The best thing about Michael Haneke’s Caché (Hidden) is the way it draws on very contemporary fears without ever mentioning them. The War on Terror era has given us all new things to be afraid of; some fear being prey for terrorists while others fear the government’s response, but both…
Penguins, shmenguins. If you want some new insight into the codes of animal behavior, have a look at Eight Below, an inspirational adventure in which a team of sled dogs marooned in Antarctica fights to survive winter without benefit of man or Milk-Bone. In the process, the intrepid furry heroes…
Mainstream American audiences are most familiar with the U.S.-made films of the late Louis Malle — including the sensual New Orleans period piece Pretty Baby and the moody Burt Lancaster vehicle Atlantic City. But before Hollywood came calling, Malle was one of the most prominent directors in his native France,…
Every year, the Mizel Center for Arts and Culture presents a thematically linked interdisciplinary program. This year the topic is twentieth-century scientific genius Albert Einstein, and the program, titled “Einstein: The Creative Cosmos,” includes lectures, concerts, educational workshops, plays and the exhibit Infinite in All Directions, which is on display…
Frank T. Martinez is an emerging self-taught artist who first appeared on the scene in a + Gallery solo back in 2004. At the time, his paintings were abstract and sort of roughly done; his principal compositional device was circular motifs created by transfers off the painted rims of jars…
Abstract Symbols. No sooner had Tracy Felix taken down his show at the William Havu Gallery than Sushe Felix, his wife, put up her own, a major exhibit with some three dozen paintings. The show has an epic-length title — Abstract Symbols From Nature and the Unconscious, new paintings by…
The rift between those who believe in a punitive God — a God who insists on absolute obedience and condemns sensual delight — and those who see God as the apotheosis of love, joy and freedom runs through hundreds of years of history. It also shapes the politics of contemporary…
In some of the skits, the material is funnier than the execution; in others, the execution is better than the material. Overall, Red Scare is a hit-and-miss proposition — with mildly amusing moments alternating with laugh-yourself-silly scenes and a few out-and-out clunkers. Red Scare is a production of Chicago’s famed…
Frozen. It’s hard to deal with murder — particularly the rape, murder and dismemberment of a child — without being exploitative. It’s hard to explore the issue of forgiveness without sentimentality. But Bryony Lavery’s Frozen succeeds on both counts. The title of the three-character play — involving the child murderer,…
Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson: Uncensored! (Paramount) This sucker’s vulgar — duh — but not shocking in the least bit; Sarah Silverman swears, and Courtney Love drinks and smokes . . . who knew? That said, this roast ranks among the meanest ever televised; why Bea Arthur shows up…
Ah, the Winter Olympics. The nip of drama in the Alpine air. The purity of amateur competition. Swedish women in full-body spandex. These are all things we enjoy about the winter games. Now for some things we don’t: losing to Canada in hockey, male figure skaters in blouses, and of…
Disney Princess Sing Along Songs, Vol. Three: Perfectly Princess (Buena Vista) Emmanuel’s Gift (First Look) The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: The Complete First Three Seasons (Warner Bros.) The Frisco Kid (Warner Bros.) Gimme a Break!: Season One (MCA) Grey’s Anatomy: Season One (Buena Vista) He-Man and the Masters of the…
Opera and punk rock — two great tastes that taste great together. In doubt? Then you haven’t experienced Sybil Vane’s Weird Opera. Vane is the alter ego of Molly Zackary, who hosted a riot-grrrl radio show while majoring in opera singing at the University of Northern Colorado. Zackary brings her…
Colorado Quickies is “kind of a smorgasbord for the audience,” says Write Angle Productions playwright and producer Tyler Smith. “They don’t know what’s coming from one play to the next, so it’s always a surprise.” And smorgasbords, as everyone knows, are perfect for people who can’t make up their minds…
This is not George Lazenby making his doomed run at James Bond, or even Mel Gibson presuming to play Hamlet. This is serious heresy, combined with a touch of felonious assault. It has evidently not occurred to Steve Martin that, just as there is only one Eiffel Tower, there is…
It happens so often these days. A comedy opens with clever jokes, endearing characters and an enjoyably brisk pace, all of which put you at ease. This’ll be fun, you think, settling into your chair. Someone trustworthy is driving, so let’s enjoy the ride. And then, just when you thought…
It is often written of Harrison Ford that he’s the most profitable movie star in history, to the tune of some $3.8 billion in box-office receipts worldwide. Of course, once one subtracts from that total the first three Star Wars movies, the Indiana Jones trilogy and two outings as CIA…
Let’s get right to the point: If you are the type of person who enjoys seeing attractive naked girls meet a hideously graphic demise, there’s a scene in Final Destination 3 that will wear out the “pause” and “rewind” buttons on your DVD remote a few months from now. Mega-stereotype…
That Curious George existed at all — much less as a franchise, an icon enduring some 65 years — was a result of “happy circumstance,” wrote Houghton Mifflin publisher Anita Silvey with some understatement in 1991, upon the fiftieth-anniversary publication of The Complete Adventures of Curious George. Silvey and critic…
The tenth Denver Jewish Film Festival gets under way Thursday, February 9, with a 7:30 p.m. showing of Isn¹t This a Time!, a high-spirited concert documentary honoring legendary music promoter and social activist Harold Leventhal. On-screen performers include Pete Seeger and the Weavers, Peter, Paul and Mary, Theodore Bikel and…
Colorado has never been much of a place for sculpture; the three-dimensional medium has always come in a distant second behind painting in the state’s art history. Anyone interested in the art scene could readily reel off a long list of interesting painters — scores of them, in fact –…
The entire set of Upper Galleries at the Arvada Center (6901 Wadsworth Boulevard, 720-898-7200) are given over to Testify, a solo featuring recent pieces by Colorado artist Riva Sweetrocket. Arvada Center curator and director of exhibitions Jerry Gilmore got to know Sweetrocket when the now-defunct Studio Aiello represented both. I…
