Screen
Ghost in the machine
On some level, every work of art is a reflection of the human condition. Who we are and how we relate to others and the world around us is the concern of every artist, but for some, that concern is an obsession...
Here’s to the ones who dream
The city of Los Angeles is home to a million stories, all of them different, many of them sad. They don’t always start out...
Locally-sourced cinema
Culture is homegrown in Boulder County — from breweries to art. In her latest documentary, Colorado Hopped — Bine to Brew, Longmont filmmaker Barbara Hau paired the two...
‘The happy munchkin of sex’
Let’s talk about sex.
Or better yet, let’s talk about Dr. Ruth Westheimer, a 4-foot-7, 90-year-old Holocaust survivor who loves to talk about sex. For...
The long on the shorts
As Violet from Willy Wonka or someone who just saw a spider will tell you, bigger isn’t necessarily better. An afterthought for most normals until Oscar night, short films are often bite-sized bits of delightful wonder. Heck, sometimes they even grow up to be feature...
Circular logic
Writer/director Rian Johnson is fantastic at making pretty good movies. 2005’s Brick was a slyly conceived yarn that took 1940s private dick dialogue and plot and affixed them to a modern high-school setting, with middling effect. 2008’s The Brothers Bloom was a ...
Three colors, three ideas, three masterpieces
The colors belong to the French flag, the corresponding ideas to the Republic: blue, white and red — liberty, equality and fraternity. For France,...
Unnecessary 3-D
Comic effrontery is the Bic that lights the bong in the Harold & Kumar movies, but willfully strained outrageousness can turn sour like that. For a definition of “that,” there’s A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, the weakest of the three. Here, the boy-men — now ...
Too cool to be forgotten
When Girlfriends opened in New York City on Aug. 11, 1978, a newspaper strike kept the movie’s release from a public announcement. So, director...
Reel to reel | Week of July 4, 2013
20 Feet From StardomIn his compelling new film, director Morgan Neville shines a spotlight on the untold true story of the backup singers behind some of the greatest musical legends of the 21st century. At Mayan...
Many days in the life
Like Same Time, Next Year with less guilt or When Harry Met Sally ... with a somewhat different ending, One Day pops in and out of the lives of characters played by Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess across two decades, spanning university graduation to older, wiser 40...
‘Panda’ not going extinct any time soon
It takes somewhat longer for the awesomeness to turn all that awesome. And you can’t really replicate that element of surprise that the first movie had going for it: a fan boy panda that gets to team up with his martial arts heroes...
