What are the hundred things everyone should do in Colorado before they die? We posed this question to our writers and editors, and over the next week, we’ll be rolling out their answers across our blogs. Check back on January 16 for the full list. See also: The Westword 2014…
Watch a handful of superhero movies, or read the comics they’re based on, and you realize that all superheroes have an origin story. Geeks are no different. We all have our own origin stories. This is mine. See also: We are geeks; we are stoners…
While the impact of legalizing cannabis will have on Colorado life has been analyzed from economic, political, and demographic standpoints, its influence on our creative community has received much less attention. With films like Tokeasy, however, that may be beginning to change. Heretofore discreet stoners have been coming out of the woodwork and ganjapreneurs are emerging as the area’s most significant patrons of the arts. While as little as 10 years ago, an event like the Tokeasy DVD release party would seem like a literal pipe dream, now it just seems like the most appropriate way to honor a film with a unique perspective on a transformative time in our history. Tokeasy, may have the look and feel of a stoner movie classic, but it has more on its mind than most films from that most ignominious of sub-genres. Above all, the film is “a satire that parallels marijuana today to alcohol during prohibition,” says the film’s co-director, writer, and co-producer Wally Wallace. That the film is finally coming to DVD (no easy feat for a local filmmaker) is a testament to the herculean efforts of all involved. To celebrate those efforts, and to ring a note of victory at the defeat of the very prohibition Tokeasy satirizes, the cast, crew and fans will all be enjoying their freedom saturday night at the Oriental Theater. The event, which is sponsored by Sexy Pizza and High Level Health, will feature performances from comedian Jordan Doll and DJ Deep Rawk followed by a screening of the film.
It’s time to pull out those cowboy hats and boots as the National Western Stock Show begins its 108th year. After a parade through downtown Denver today, the NWSS will start in earnest on Saturday, running through January 26 at the National Western Complex. In addition to professional rodeos, Colorado’s…
New Zealand stuntwoman-turned-actress Zoë Bell is fully aware of her unique position as an action star who also does her own stunts. After working as Lucy Lawless’s stunt double on Xena: Warrior Princess, Bell was discovered by Quentin Tarantino on the set of Kill Bill. After that, Bell has enjoyed…
Without big truth-telling scenes, grand, great-lady, Meryl Streep-type actors would be out of work. Hell, Meryl Streep would be out of work. But for now, at least, August: Osage County, John Wells’s film adaptation of Tracy Letts’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway hit, keeps her out of the bread line. Streep plays…
The setting for Gidion’s Knot is familiar and innocuous — a brightly colored children’s classroom with low tables and plastic chairs, student papers neatly tacked up on one board, another board covered with drawings inspired by mythology. But a psychological whirlwind will soon be let loose in this setting, in…
Rosemary’s Baby notwithstanding, it’s usually only suburban white people who fall prey to movie ghosts and demons — they’re always the ones opening doors to rooms that shouldn’t be entered, stepping witlessly into pentagrams painted on the floor in goat’s blood, and wondering aloud, “You think this is some sort…
Clark Richert. In the few years it’s been in business, Gildar Gallery has mostly showcased young and up-and-coming artists, but with Dimension and Symmetry: Clark Richert, the intimate space on Broadway has moved to Denver’s big time, as Richert is among the best-known artists in the state. The show comes…
So many ideas in our country begin with the best of intentions and end up completely corrupted. From Lindsay Lohan’s acting career to the once-noble filibuster, well-meaning stuff sometimes just gets out of hand here. But has it caught up with Kickstarter, too? Launched in 2009, this crowd-funding platform seemed,…
The terrible reality of modern life is that even beautiful young people on a first date can’t go a whole evening without checking their phones. Just allowing the present to happen has become increasingly foreign. That’s the idea Spike Jonze is scratching at in his futuristic romance Her, in which…
Having written on the Denver art scene for many years, I’ve gained some perspective. The chief revelation I’ve had is that there’s a relatively small number of individuals — perhaps a hundred or so — who substantially shape the scene through their outsized contributions. I bring this up because in…
January! Just the time to snuggle up with a 3-D sword-and-pectoral extravaganza. And although some of its more imaginative plot details would make Edith Hamilton blanch, Renny Harlin’s Legend of Hercules fulfills every silly, flimsy promise that it makes in the first place: There are lots of battles (albeit rather…
The folks at Rock the Earth are adept at aligning two seemingly disparate concepts — fantastic music and the environment, for example — for a great cause. And now the environmental-advocacy organization is using its skills to bring another element into the fold: fine dining. Tonight’s Dine Out for the…
The original Neon Genesis Evangelion represented the pinnacle of the giant-robot-versus-alien-monster subgenre of anime. Like so many other successful franchises, that timeless tale of a young man tasked with averting the Apocalypse by piloting a big robot is in the midst of a shiny new reboot. The latest film, Evangelion:…
Alamo Drafthouse’s home programming team takes film more than seriously. To wit, these words from Sarah Pitre of company’s home team in Austin: “Asking an Alamo programmer to name his or her favorite movie is like asking a mother to name her favorite child. Wait, no, that makes it sound…
Since it premiered in 2002, American Idol has been responsible for launching the careers (and dashing the dreams) of many aspiring pop stars; it’s also created something that the American public was excited about voting for. Now entering its thirteenth season, the reality TV show is back with a whole…
“They claimed that I opened up the sexual revolution. I was just doing my job, and enjoyed every bit of it,” says Bettie Page in Bettie Page Reveals All, a new documentary that tells the story of a pinup girl who remained so far from the spotlight that she was…
“Aida sets a shining example of true devotion that transcends the cultural differences of race and, ultimately, time itself,” says Ignite Theatre director Keith Rabin of the new show at the Aurora Fox. “I’m really excited to be bringing Elton John’s and Tim Rice’s Aida to the stage, because it’s…
Thomas Moran, a Hudson River School painter who first came into prominence as an illustrator for Scribner’s Monthly, captured some of the nation’s wildest places. Many of his most famous landscapes were the product of his travels west with the Hayden Geological Survey in 1871. Alongside photographer William Henry Jackson,…
Last year we saw lots of exciting fashion on Denver’s streets, sported by both residents of this city and visitors with a strong sense of style. Out of all the women we spotted in 2013, we’ve narrowed down our favorite looks to these ten, featuring everything from orange hair to…
The most iconic pinup model in pop-culture history, Bettie Page — with her winking face and gorgeous body — has been loved by fans around the world for decades. But after abandoning the spotlight at the height of her underground career, in the late 1950s, Page all but disappeared…and took…
