Quentin Tarentino’s The Hateful Eight opens this week, the latest chapter in a long tradition of Westerns filmed in Colorado. The state’s epic scenery has made this a destination for filmmakers for more than a century, and many of them made Westerns. From film’s beginnings to the early 1960s, Westerns were…
For some people, New Year’s Eve is the greatest night of the year. For others, it’s time to stay home, solo and safe. And for a few people…well, keep reading for this epic account from Robbie Herst, the winner of our My Best/Worst New Year’s Eve contest. As I ran…
This past week has been a big one at my house, with two ongoing major life milestones for my little girl. First, my wife decided that now that the kiddo’s fourth birthday is on the horizon — she’s almost exactly three-and-a-half — it’s time to stop fucking around and get…
Ski Granby Ranch opens today with a limited amount of terrain. The resort is hosting a holiday food drive in conjunction with its opening called Carve Away Hunger. If you bring three food items, you will receive a discounted all-day lift ticket. You can read about every Colorado ski resort in…
A while back, a friend expressed concern that her son, a ten-year-old, was watching too much My Little Pony. “It’s sweet,” she said, “but not what I’d choose.” I asked what she would prefer that he watch. “Well, his dad started him on that new Star Wars cartoon.” That cartoon…
Fueled by impotent, blustery outrage, Adam McKay’s The Big Short, about the grotesque banking and investing practices that led to the 2008 financial collapse, is about as fun and enlightening as a cranked-up portfolio manager’s rue-filled comedown after an energy-shot bender. Based on Michael Lewis’s 2010 bestselling book of the…
Here’s a true story about a St. Louis murder that changed America. In 1837, a black freeman named Francis McIntosh stepped off a Mississippi riverboat and blundered into two white cops chasing a drunk sailor who’d called them names. They ordered McIntosh to stop the perp; when he refused, they…
George Lucas is the L. Ron Hubbard of Hollywood. Both men were sci-fi dreamers turned mega-millionaires who spun their pulp adventures into a religion. Tap the power within yourself, they urged. The faithful forked over their dollars. Then both Lucas and Hubbard mucked up their simple premise with add-ons like…
Given the alternating pattern of drought and floods brought on by global climate change, water has become an ever more urgent topic — not just for scientists and farmers, but for artists as well. These environmental issues provide the context for a discussion of six solos at two of the…
Warm Cookies of the Revolution, the local community-fostering group that founder Evan Weissman calls a “civic health club,” continues its yearlong Stompin’ Grounds Games series this month by focusing on Denver’s rapidly changing La Alma/Lincoln Park neighborhood and surrounding districts, from the city’s poorest — Sun Valley — to the urbane…
Podcasts are in tune with the democratized spirit of Internet media; anyone with a microphone and a computer can offer their listeners unlimited hours of recordings, usually for free. Limited only by their imaginations, podcasters have a freedom of expression unrestricted by commerce, censorship or geography. Several great podcasts have…
The Danish Girl, Tom Hooper’s portrait of Jazz Age painters Gerda Wegener and her spouse, Einar, who butterflied into Lili Elbe via the world’s first sexual-reassignment surgery, is about gender and it isn’t. Like its subject, it’s fatally resolved to fit an ideal: the noble Oscar-bait biopic. If the script…
This week we’ll post the 2015 winners of our My Best/Worst New Year’s Eve contest. To prime the pump, Brad Weismann is sharing his memories of not one bad New Year’s Eve, not two — but three. Keep reading for the sad stories. Ah, New Year’s Eve! That gala night…
Grown men — and one brave woman — hung ornaments in their beards (at least one of them fake) at Liquid Mechanics Brewing Company to compete for prizes at Decembeard, a contest this past weekend hosted by the Boulder Facial Hair Club. All photos by Ken Hamblin III. Now see…
South Broadway was inundated with Santas, elves and ugly holiday sweaters over the weekend when the Denver Harlequins rugby organization hosted a Santa Pub Crawl to benefit Tots for Tots, beginning at Gary Lee’s Motor Club. Photographer Mile Chrisinger embedded with the holiday crew as they donated toys and made…
Aesthetics have been primary in my life as an artist, central to all I do and think about — whether I want them to be or not. It has always seemed impossible to separate form from function. And in a very real sense, the two are inseparable: No matter whether…
The Addams Family relies on our enduring affection for a group of death- and darkness-loving misfits created by New Yorker cartoonist Charles Addams in the 1940s. His work inspired several television shows and three films before morphing into this musical by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music by Andrew…
What’s quietly revolutionary about Sisters is that it’s a dumb party movie like a million others. The hosts score booze, invite over dozens of friends and frenemies, and then watch in horror — and a touch of self-congratualtory awe — as their house gets trashed. With the sunrise comes lessons,…
Yes, you are officially running late if you’re not at the wrapping-and-placing-under-the-tree stage of things. That means it’s time to go online — and to help you out, we’ve done some research. Here are ten ways to support local artists and surprise your friends and family. 1) Black Cube Nomadic…
The new Wizard’s Chest is open! On December 1, the Wizard’s Chest opened the door to its new castle at 451 Broadway, where there’s even more space for cool costumes, games and all the gifts you could hope to find this holiday season. The Wizard’s Chest at 230 Fillmore Street…
Wrap up some fun this week before holiday obligations fill the calendar. You can celebrate the city’s best neighborhoods, get prepared for winter or chit-chat with a local comedy icon. Drop us a comment if you know any bargains we missed, and check out the Westword calendar for a complete…
There’s no question that Denver loves cosplay, with fans aping their favorite pop-culture characters with elaborate costumes that take months to perfect. Photographer Danielle Lirette caught some of the best on camera at fan conventions large and small held throughout 2015. Here’s a look back. Now see the full Best of…
