Paul Thomas Anderson was making serious movies long before he started making “serious” movies, ponderous works of certified art like There Will Be Blood and The Master. His earliest pictures, like Hard Eight and Boogie Nights, were wily, imperfect, vibrating with life. They were serious without advertising their sincerity, and…
Brown pelicans are talented anglers, able to plunge into the sea from tremendous heights and snap up fish with such effortless precision that it’s no wonder fishermen have long tracked them to find schools of sardines. And they are far from domestic, born far from human civilization and driven by…
Brilliant. If you have any interest in modernism or fine craft — even if you aren’t particularly interested in jewelry — you’ll find something to marvel over at the Denver Art Museum’s winter blockbuster Brilliant: Cartier in the 20th Century. The show is a visual marathon, with so many things…
Fiddler on the Roof. This production of Fiddler on the Roofdoes full justice to Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s brilliant songs, tells the evocative story with clarity and feeling, and also — uniquely — sounds the musical’s deeper, darker chords. The action is set in a rural Russian Jewish community…
All you need to know about Taken 3 is that Liam Neeson survives an explosive car crash — twice. Director Olivier Megaton even rewinds the second blast to show us how his hero escaped. It still doesn’t make sense. But who cares. The Taken franchise is rooted in implausibilities, specifically…
“Someone once told me that God gives you an imagination and creativity, and that’s his gift to you. What you do with it is your gift to him.” That’s how artist Angel Espino, the creative mind behind Espino Arte, describes his work and his new show, Art for Water, which…
Going strong in cities across the country since 1998, the United Nations Association Traveling Film Festival makes its debut in Denver today. The festival highlights documentaries tackling topics like human rights, the environment, homelessness and racism, then offers a post-screening space for conversation and engagement with directors, activists and more…
Melanie Crowder was inspired to turn her research about women’s suffrage into a historical young-adult novel when she learned about Clara Lemlich, who’s best known for standing up at a mass factory workers’ meeting in New York in 1909 and motioning to strike: Lemlich was a labor activist before she…
The Denver standup community has been turning toward new models of improv and sketch comedy in recent months, with ongoing events like the Buddy, Buddy sketch show at Syntax Physic Opera gaining a toehold in the scene. Now, California transplant Zeke Herrera, who was drawn to the strong camaraderie he…
“People often say to me, ‘You love film so much and take it so seriously — how can you love musicals?’” says William Morris, curator of this month’s The Reclamation of the Musical or How to Stop Worrying and Love the Dance film series. Morris believes you can do both…
“Ullr Fest celebrates everything snow,” notes festival spokeswoman Rachel Zerowin, “and fat bikes have been seen in Breckenridge and all over the state this winter.” Fat bikes are the ones with enormous tires that you can ride in the snow, and this year, Ullr Fest planners added a Fat Bike…
You can teach an old dogie new tricks: The 109th annual National Western Stock Show kicks off today with its first-ever barbecue competition, the National Western BBQ Throwdown. It’s a Kansas City Barbeque Society-sanctioned event at which forty teams comprising the world’s elite barbecue contestants — the majority of them…
No one will complain tonight when Buntport Theater brings back one of its greatest hits — 2012’s clever Tommy Lee Jones Goes to Opera Alone, in which four actors animate an intricate life-sized Tommy Lee Jones puppet that they built and brought to life with help from woodworker Kagen Schaefer…
Now in its sixth year, Ice Cube Gallery’s annual Icebreaker show has become a tradition, albeit a functional one: Not only is the national juried exhibition an important fundraiser for the co-op, but it also affords gallery members a good look at potential additions to their ranks. “We try to…
Laura Norman is an actors’ actor who’s been on the theater scene for years, but hasn’t made much of a public splash. In his recent True West Awards, arts journalist John Moore called her “the best local actor you hardly ever get to see.” Perhaps that’s because she’s quietly self-effacing…
We all understand the idea of 3D: When you wear funny glasses, it looks like something is jumping off the screen at you. But the Downtown Aquarium is taking the concept one step beyond, with its new 4D theater. Along with the 3D glasses, movie-goers are treated to smells, splashes…
The Denver Broncos spent $30 million last spring to sign defensive end DeMarcus Ware, one of the best defensive players in the NFL, as a way to send a message to the rest of the league and to help the team get back to the Super Bowl in 2015. Denver…
New year, new seasons: Local theater companies are kicking off 2015 with glittering reruns, romantic comedies and repertory fare, among other things. Here are four of the noteworthy openings this weekend. See also: Charles Ives Take Me Home…
Desert Light William Havu Gallery 1040 Cherokee Street New Mexico’s modern art history is intertwined with Colorado’s, if only because so many artists from each state show their work in the other — and it’s been this way for decades. A case in point is Sam Scott: Desert Light, a…
Get ready for The Moth Radio Hour meets Trailer Park Boys. After a successful stop in Trinidad last month, when it filled councilwoman Pat Fletcher’s house with off-color humor, Swearfest is coming to Denver this weekend. Swearfest is “storytelling at its best,” says Scott Mastro, aka Tender Bastard, who stages…
The last decade of film programming in Denver has done wonders to fill the gaps in any cineaste’s lexicon. And with the 2013 arrival of the Alamo Drafthouse in Littleton, with its focus not only on first-run films but special repertory programming as well, many underrepresented genres have returned to…
New Year’s Day is my favorite holiday. Resolutions are better than presents to me: I love to make them, and I love to hear about other people’s plans for the coming months and champion them along the way. Like many people, getting in better shape was on my list for…
