A sensitive portrait of childhood just before pubescence, Tomboy, the second film by writer-director Céline Sciamma, astutely explores the freedom of being untethered to the rule-bound world of gender codes. About twenty minutes elapse before we learn the real name and biological sex of Laure (a revelatory Zoé Héran), a…
Although supplying boy’s adventure thrills on the side, Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories are remarkable for how they make the process of empirical brainwork, and the resulting discoveries, breathlessly exciting. Each Holmes tale simultaneously unlocks a mystery while deepening the enigma of its hero in a miraculously sustained piece…
Steve McQueen’s first two films both star Michael Fassbender, feature virtually interchangeable titles, and are nearly as grueling to watch as they must have been to make. But where Shame might be nearly as excruciating as 2008’s Hunger, it’s a lot less exalted. In Hunger, Fassbender’s imprisoned Irish revolutionary Bobby…
Birger Sandzén. Though Birger Sandzén was born in Sweden, studied painting there and in Paris and later made his permanent home in Kansas, we in Colorado can claim him as one of our own. Sandzén found his muse here — in our stunning scenery — and after his first extended…
Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep tackles health, care, death and dying in the United States, and finding material should be easy. Is there anyone — beside those who profit from it — who is happy with our country’s medical system? Is there anyone who hasn’t experienced some level…
The film It’s a Wonderful Life is a much-loved American classic. Some families watch it together year after year at this time, like Miracle on 34th Street and varying versions of A Christmas Carol. So the first question that arises when you hear that author Joe Landry has made a…
When you live in Denver, it’s not surprising to see hearty folks pedaling to work on days when the temperature is in the teens and the snow is piled high. We’re just like that: Denver is a bicycle town. So is Boulder. That may be why Colorado is the fittest…
In the 2011 Best of Denver, Westword awarded Best Ski Pass Deal honors to Copper Mountain’s $99 Snow Day Pass, a deal so sweet — last year there were more than thirty eligible “Snow Days” at Copper, and $99 is less than the price of a single-day lift ticket at…
After two years of watching his Frends and fans sport “I Ride 4 Kevin” stickers on their boards in tribute, snowboarder Kevin Pearce is asking them to join him on Tuesday at Breckenridge, where he’s planning to take his first runs since the traumatic brain injury that kept him out…
The Denver Boys of Leather showed its softer side Friday night at the Build-a-Bear store in the Cherry Creek Shopping Center for their fifth annual holiday fundraiser. DBL members came to stuff, dress and accessorize puppies and bears to donate to a local child advocacy organization, and they looked good…
The number-one rule when scouting a Santa for the Santa Ratings is that he has to be alive. I mean, there are probably like a million statues of Santa in this great square state, so those are generally disqualified in favor of a breathing (and preferably naturally bearded) Santa. However,…
This afternoon’s holiday event at the beautiful Byers-Evans House Museum could be just your cup of tea. The Christmas tea that starts at 1:30 p.m. includes a tour of the circa 1883 house that was once the home of William Byers, founder of the Rocky Mountain News, as well as…
Last Monday Tim Davids offered up “The 50 worst sports movies ever,” including Pride of the Yankees and, yes, Field of Dreams. But apparently no bad deed goes unpunished. Writes Tammymarie: Does the author of this article have some kind of fucking chemical imbalance or is he just a fucking…
Calling all photo students! Westword is recruiting photography students for its Spring 2012 Photo Intern Program. By “student,” we do not mean “a student of life.” There’s no cash offered with this gig, only credits. Don’t bother applying if this doesn’t apply to you. Still interested? Read on!…
The inimitable Westword cover boy Rick Griffith and his ink-spattered crew at Matter Studio normally toil with their sleeves rolled in a letterpress world that bridges classic craftsmanship and modern design, hand-running hip posters and other printed matter on the old-fashioned machinery of another time. But once a year, they…
Performance artist Michelle Ellsworth’s onstage persona is a fascinating mix of humility and daring, mockery and gentleness. She comes across as a deferential satirist, a playful deep thinker, someone who expresses serious concerns with effervescent humor, operating sideways and using movement, objects and a highly eccentric take on everyday concerns…
The November issue of Thrasher included the results of a contest in which the magazine had asked readers for the worst skateparks in their towns for a list titled “Certified Piece of Suck: Doo-Doo Skatepark Construction.” One of these pieces of suck is located in Colorado…
Gene Sobczak, who was a VP and marketing guru for the Colorado Symphony Orchestra when he left in 2007 to head the Arvada Center, will soon be making beautiful music with the CSO again: The symphony board has appointed him to replace interim director Jim Copenhaver, who returned this fall…
If shopping for holiday gifts has left your wallet looking a little thin, don’t worry. We’ve compiled a list of things to do for less then a Hamilton this weekend so you don’t have to sit inside and lament buying your sweetheart that ridiculously priced present. Bid farewell to the…
There’s nothing that screams “happy holidays” like leather boys making teddy bears for kids, and the Denver Boys of Leather are holding their 5th annual Build-a-Bear charity event at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday, December 9. “It’s a bunch of kinky people coming…
We can all get behind Toys for Tots, the perennial U.S. Marines-sponsored holiday toy drive that provides gifts for kids who might not otherwise have anything under the tree to unwrap. But artists and hipsters like to do things in their own arty-hipsterish way. Going to Walmart to buy the…
Hello Kitty has come to the 16th Street Mall, attracting plenty of fans to the new Lollipop Gift store in the 16th Street Mall. Says Brittany: OMG i really want to go there so badly but THANK GOD my mom is talkinq me there for xmis AHHHHHHHHHHH i soooooo happy…
