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Best Queer-Centered Movie Programming

Sie FilmCenter

Programmer Keith Garcia has been bringing Denver into the cult-film fold for more than two decades, and his latest foray, Big Gay Matinee!, is nothing short of brilliant. With an intentional 1:30 p.m. Sunday time slot — sliding perfectly between drag-queen brunch events and Sunday evening beer busts — this afternoon movie snack brings sometimes obscure favorites out of the celluloid closet. Garcia gives educated and entertaining introductions to obvious classics like Valley of the Dolls and Auntie Mame, along with more nuanced picks such as A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge and Troop Beverly Hills. Each showing is preceded by an appearance from a local drag performer, ramping the camp up a notch as only Garcia can.

Best Mind-Blowing Film Experience

UA Colorado Center Stadium 9 & IMAX

At between $19 and $20 a pop, a ticket to an IMAX show is steep. But the experience is totally worth the price of admission if you're watching a movie that deserves a larger-than-life screen. Not only is the IMAX screen at UA Colorado Center Stadium 9 so massive that it teeters on overwhelming, but it brings in the right films to maximize its size. (Free Solo, anyone?). If you're an IMAX newbie, we recommend opting for seats in the back of the theater so that your eyeballs don't explode. But if you like living on the edge, sit front and center to feel like you're part of all the action and adventure.

  • 2000 S. Colorado Blvd., Denver, 80222 Map

Best Artful Art House

Mayan Theatre

Watching a movie at the Mayan Theatre is like taking a trip back in time. Between the faux Mayan iconography — heads seemingly severed from Mexican stone totems— that decorates the three theaters, the seats that feel oh-so-quaint (read: mildly uncomfortable) and the bar stocked with Colorado craft beer and other boozy treats, you're not sure exactly what city you're in. Or what century. But that's what makes this weird, wonderful movie theater so much fun. In a town that seems to love trashing its past, the Mayan has maintained its 1930s art-deco glory since the Prohibition days. Take a seat and take it all in.

Best Movie Theater — Food/Drink

Alamo Drafthouse Sloan's Lake

Alamo Drafthouse

There's nothing new about dinner and a movie. But what the Alamo Drafthouse practically revolutionized is combining both, so that you never have to rush through a meal to make a movie or starve through a two-hour flick before dinner. And this menu is the reel deal, offering a variety of "snacks" that include everything from loaded fries to chicken and ricotta meatballs, gourmet pizzas, creative salads, hot dogs, and sandwiches that offer a nod to cinema history, like the Royale With Cheese. The beer, wine and cocktail menu is just as elaborate, and the Drafthouse 0x000Aregularly rolls out thematic menus based on the movies it's showing. Sit back, relax and just remember to chew with your mouth closed.

Readers' Choice: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema

Best Movie Theater — Comfort

AMC Highlands Ranch 24

In many respects, the AMC Highlands Ranch 24 is a typical multiplex, albeit an upgraded one. While seats in most of the theaters at this complex are large and recline into the equivalent of a fainting couch, the Dolby Cinema setup is even more posh. The chairs are cushiony creations covered with simulated black leather so luxurious that after sinking into one, you may never want to stand up again. And the acoustics are spectacular, as long as you stick to the center of the room. (Warning: Don't sit in the back row.) True, the ticket price for the average Dolby Cinema screening is close to $20, but the AMC Stubs program, a rival to the tail-spinning MoviePass app that allows buyers to attend three movies per week for a $19.99 monthly fee, also grants access to the theater's premium presentations, including Dolby Cinema. It's a cost-effective way to experience how the other half watches movies.

Readers' Choice: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema

Best Movie Theater — Programming

Sie FilmCenter

The rise of streaming services has only increased the homogeneity of mainstream theaters, which frequently devote the lion's share of their screens to the same big-budget blockbuster, leaving fewer opportunities than ever for quirkier or more personal cinematic efforts. But the Sie FilmCenter is truly keeping the tradition of independent theaters alive. In addition to highlighting critically acclaimed movies that commercial theaters increasingly ignore, the Sie programmers regularly cherry-pick excellent but underseen flicks culled from the annual Denver Film Festival, showcase classics in conjunction with the Tattered Cover bookstore, and promote themed events such as the Women+Film Festival, scheduled for April 9 through 14. It's all proof that you can chill without Netflix.

Readers' Choice: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema

Best Film Festival

Action Figure Stop Motion Film Festival

Cinematographer Gio Toninelo's fascination with G.I. Joe inspired him to start the G.I. Joe Stop Motion Film Festival thirteen years ago. The festival screens all sorts of movies that use action figures to tell stories. Fun, right? But last year, Toninelo found himself duking it out with the toy manufacturer Hasbro, which threatened to sue him over the trademark to the festival's name. Undeterred, he renamed the Denver-based traveling event the Action Figure Stop Motion Film Festival, expanding the figurines that could be used in the movies (which he found to be a relief). The festival will be back in Denver this fall, and will then let other cities in on the action. G.I.O.: a real American hero.

Readers' Choice: Denver Film Festival

actionfigurefilmfestival.com

Best Arts Membership

Denver Film Society

Even if you're not exactly a film fanatic, it's worth venturing off the mainstream movie-theater circuit a few times a year to see what kinds of movies are being made outside of Hollywood. For that, you can rely on the Denver Film Society, which shows a loaded program of indie, foreign and documentary films throughout the year and throws an excellent annual festival. Sweetening the deal is the Society's slate of memberships, which offer considerable value even for the casual movie-goer. All memberships get holders early access to tickets, occasional free screenings, discounts on concessions and happy-hour pricing on drinks at the Henderson Lounge in the Sie FilmCenter, where most DFS films are shown. And many of the memberships also include generous credit toward movie tickets, guest passes and cards for free popcorn and soda.

  • 2510 E. Colfax Ave., Denver, 80206 Map

Best Place to See Talented Actors...Again and Again

Arvada Center

Matthew Gale Photography
The Diary of Anne Frank at the Arvada Center.

Every year, the Arvada Center's Black Box Theater repertory company selects a group of top-flight actors for the season. These performers get several weeks of paid work, challenging roles in a never-predictable roster of plays that range from classics to surprising premieres, and a chance to work with great directors and sophisticated tech people. As a result, artistic director Lynne Collins tends to have her pick of talent. While the performer lineup changes year to year, the standard is always high.

Best Theater Company to See Again and Again

Buntport Theater Company

Courtesy Buntport Theater Facebook page

Once you've seen a Buntport Theater Company production, you'll want to see them all. You'll want to keep recapturing the sense that you're in on something weird, offbeat, charming, smart, friendly and very special. Buntport, which has never lost its freshness over two decades of shows, is the brainchild of five enormously talented, inventive and literate writers — four of whom also perform. They create their own work or reimagine the work of others so that it becomes unrecognizable. Or perhaps more deeply recognizable. If you haven't been to Buntport, you owe it to yourself to get there, ASAP. And if you've been trying to explain Denver's unique quirkiness and humor to out-of-town friends, take them, too.

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