Telluride Horror Show Scares Up First Wave of Programming for October

The first wave of frightful programming has just been announced for 2016’s sole local horror film festival survivor, the Telluride Horror Show, which takes place October 14 through 16. And it’s a bloody array of gems just waiting to be mined in the eerie mountain town. “Our first batch represents…

Every New Movie That Opened in Denver This Week

This week, our critics boldly reviewed a new Spock-doc, Clint Eastwood gave us a hero’s happy ending with Sully and our Trump-induced daydreams about moving to Norway slowly faded in In Order of Disappearance.  Here is every new film that’s just opened in Denver, plus one bonus ongoing film that you must…

Filmmaker Jason Halprin Chooses Not to Tell Great Stories

Some filmmakers tell great stories. Jason Halprin chooses not to. In films he’ll show Saturday night at Cinema Contra, he refuses to dictate to audiences how or what they should feel or think. The 38-year-old experimental filmmaker grew up in Pueblo. In high school, he seeped himself in the writings…

A Toast to the Epic Dada Madness of The Eric Andre Show

Before The Eric Andre Show came along, I always thought acting like a complete lunatic on television was mostly a white-people thing. As a culture, African-Americans generally frown upon the idea of being unabashedly clownish for the masses — black folks call it “showing your ass.” All those years of…

A New Doc Charts a Course for the Heart of Spock — but Doesn’t Go Boldly

Leonard Nimoy’s 1975 memoir I Am Not Spock stirred fan outrage: How dare the actor, who was indeed Spock in the original Star Trek series, publicly dismiss his beloved half-human, half-Vulcan alter ego? According to Adam Nimoy, Leonard’s son and the director of the heartwarming but uninventive documentary For the…

Zbigniew Preisner on His Longtime Collaboration With Krzysztof Kieslowski

Starting with 1985’s No End, composer Zbigniew Preisner served as one of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s closest collaborators — he worked on all of the director’s films until Kieslowski’s death in 1996, with several of their collaborations actually revolving around the world of music. (The duo even created a fake Dutch composer, Van den Budenmayer,…

Cinemax’s Crime Drama Quarry Mines Familiar Territory With Rare Feeling

Eight minutes into the pilot episode of Cinemax’s new crime show Quarry — an uneven but largely rewarding translation of Max Allan Collins’ crime books into emotionally challenging, character-driven television — Marine Lloyd “Mac” Conway, Jr. (Logan Marshall-Green) returns home a day early from his second tour in Vietnam. By…

Come What May Makes the Invasion of France a Soaring Tribute to Cliché

Christian Carion’s refugees-on-the-march World War II drama Come What May is the kind of old-fashioned war movie that’s crafted not just to emphasize history’s horror and brutality. Yes, Carion stages the occasional slaughter with heartsick brio, and sometimes can’t resist taking pleasure when the violence goes against the bad guys,…

Lie to Me: The Rise of TV’s Unreliable Narrator

“Oh my God. Sorry. Gosh. I just can’t believe it actually happened.” This is an omniscient narrator speaking. Jane the Virgin’s Latin Lover Narrator (yes, that is how he is credited) has just witnessed the titular heroine tie the knot at the end of the CW show’s second season. Everything…

The Ten Best Film Events in Denver in September

Here it comes, the crisp chill of September, when shorts during the day give way to hoodies and pants at night. The air conditioning in your local movie house will be turned off, and a warm bucket of popcorn will keep your fingers toasty and buttery. In no time at…