It’s fair to say that Madagascar, directed by one man who made Antz and another who used to work on The Ren & Stimpy Show, is virtually plot-free — nothing more, really, than a scene or two from The Great Escape cut and pasted into an episode of Survivor. Its…
Adam Sandler cast as a former pro quarterback — that laughable setup is about the only funny thing about this pointless, witless remake of The Longest Yard, which wasn’t intended to be taken as a comedy in 1974 and won’t be mistaken for one in its latest incarnation. (It was…
The mockumentary is a tricky thing, and one not to be attempted by amateurs, many of whom treat the form like a joke without need of a punchline. Damn the filmmaker who thinks it clever and ironic enough to “interview” “real people” “talking” about other “real people” who, of course,…
Nathan Gebhart, Mike Marriner and Brian McAllister weren’t the first newly minted college graduates to leave the shelter of academe and be overwhelmed by the possibilities. But they just might be the first to turn their bewilderment into a kind of alternative business plan: A few years ago, on the…
Thursday, May 26 Learn and burn: Tone up your brain and your body this evening when the Historic Denver and Colorado Preservation groups collaborate to host a guided Historic Bike Tour that explores notable locations by bicycle along a path originating at one such site (Four Mile Historic Park, 715…
Several years ago, while penning The Right Madness, his latest exploration of (very) bad behavior, Montana’s James Crumley suffered an unidentified ailment that caused his lungs and the lining of his heart to fill with fluid. After an ER nurse told the author, who’s crustier than a truckload of French…
FRI, 5/27 Connoisseurs and dilettantes alike will be treated as gallery critics this weekend at the seventh annual Colorado Arts Festival at the Denver Pavilions. Today through Memorial Day, more than 180 of Colorado’s finest painters, sculptors, photographers and visionaries will dazzle your eyes and stimulate your creative talent with…
FRI, 5/27 According to local lore, the Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride was born 27 years ago as an alternative to the more froufrou Telluride Film Festival. After watching the “other” festival cater to Hollywood clientele and art-house cinema, a group of outdoorsmen decided to organize a fest of their own…
FRI, 5/27 The synthesizer is a powerful tool that has suffered much abuse since its entrance into the pop world. Cheese-doodling, lipstick-wearing hairspray bands of the ’80s are to blame for the synth’s lowly place among “real” instruments like guitars and snare drums. But Sci-Fi Uterus, a Denver electronic trio,…
FRI, 5/27 It was the summer of ’81. My best friend, Ron, had just graduated from high school; I’d tossed my cap the year before. We were cruising down the highway in his black 1971 Volkswagen Beetle, windows down, singing at the top of our lungs (me, totally off-key; him,…
Depictions of the figure are getting hot in the art world again; I haven’t seen this much interest in the topic since the 1980s. Falling in line with this international trend, the Robischon Gallery is presenting Stefan Kleinschuster, a mega-sized show that provocatively fills several of the spaces up front…
There’s an interesting sculpture show now at Pirate: a contemporary art oasis (3659 Navajo Street, 303-458-6058) called Sanctuaries. The abstract wall and floor works by Craig Robb are made of steel, wood and plastic. Some include recognizable things, such as tiny chairs and houses, but the best ones are completely…
Chihuly. Michael De Marsche, president of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, has orchestrated the extravaganza Chihuly, a sprawling survey of the career of glass master Dale Chihuly. Working near Seattle, Chihuly is among the best-known glass artists of all time, right up there with Louis Comfort Tiffany and Paolo…
The few U.S. commentators who bothered to note the recent election in England marveled at the level of attack sustained in the run-up weeks by Prime Minister Tony Blair — and not just in print. While George Bush’s handlers make sure that anyone who disagrees with the president in the…
I found Shaking the Dew From the Lilies, now at the Playwright Theatre, enjoyable in the same way I found nights with girlfriends enjoyable in my twenties. Clad in pajamas or our underwear, we’d dissect each other’s relationships amid peals of satirical laughter at the general obtuseness of men, assure…
Death of a Salesman. Written in 1949, Death of a Salesman electrified the theatrical world for several reasons. It tossed aside the conventions of the well-made, three-act play years before they were finally laid to rest in the rebellious mid-’50s. It criticized the post-war myth of the American dream –…
Somewhere, this could all be happening right now,” spoke the narrator in the trailer for the first Star Wars movie (thereafter known as Episode IV: A New Hope), and to those who were small children then, it rang true. For an entire generation, the Star Wars trilogy could never comprise…
Here’s the scenario: You’re Jet Li, the international action star who has finally become a semi-household name in America, thanks to imported DVDs and various cinematic team-ups with rappers and singers. But in Hong Kong, where you’ve done several movies that don’t depend solely on ass-kicking, you are revered as…
Tod Browning’s Freaks, a bizarre glimpse into the world of the sideshow, has been the ultimate cult movie for more than seventy years. Talk about impeccable outlaw credentials: At a San Diego preview, a woman ran screaming from the theater; upon the film’s release, in 1932, many American exhibitors refused…
In June 2003, Richard Florida, author of the hot-hot-hot Rise of the Creative Class, was speaking to a group of despairing alternative-newspaper types when one asked if Florida had any hope for the political future. Yes, he replied. In Denver, where John Hickenlooper had just been elected mayor. Two years…
Thursday, May 19 A unique component of the Denver Public Schools, CEC Middle College offers students an opportunity to earn college credits or career-industry certification while still in high school. How well does it work? Pretty well, at least on the filmmaking front. Students in the school’s Digital Film Production…
When Twentieth Century Fox opened the Mayan Theatre at 110 Broadway in 1930, promoters christened the occasion with an elaborate celebration. They screened a print of Ernst Lubitsch’s Monte Carlo, a film touted to be “As exciting as a caress! As intimate as clinging silk!” Adult patrons were charged 35…
