Screen
Three’s a charm
If Toy Story 3 had sprung, Slinky Doglike, from any creative think tank besides Pixar Animation Studios, it might be considered a classic. As is, it’s a good sequel to the 1999 Toy Story 2 and the 1995 original. After a rather shrill and conventional first half, ...
‘Remember’ digs up a history of violence
William Faulkner wisely wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” No matter how hard we try to suppress and forget, the...
A jumbled mess
As a family demographic product, Rango has a million selling points, among them an unusually strong voice cast headed by Johnny Depp in tremulous-aesthete mode, a popular live-action director making his feature animation debut, and a twist on a genre temporarily back...
Aubrey Plaza hilarious in a wasted effort
Before anything else: How great is Aubrey Plaza, right? From her droll, intentionally weird character on NBC’s Parks and Recreation to her killer late-night TV interviews (just watch the last one with Conan O’Brien if you doubt), Plaza is deliciously and completely ...
Five steps to love yourself
Megan Bloomfield (Natasha Lyonne) is the all-American girl next door. She’s bubbly and perky, lives in the suburbs with her parents and is dating...
Bungled burlesque
The choicest dialogue in Burlesque provokes the sort of laughter that other, intentionally funny films only dream of generating. Gather ’round for some free samples...
‘Violence motherf*ckers!’
Not every director starts a scene by yelling, “Action!” Clint Eastwood gently whispers, “When you’re ready,” while others don’t even bother calling it. Sam...
Hail to the chin, baby
He may not command the salary of Tom Cruise or Leonardo DiCaprio, but for a large percentage of moviegoers, he is just as essential...
The show must go on
Back for number 42, the
Denver Film Festival (DFF) returns Oct. 30 through Nov. 10, but under a dark
cloud. This will be the first DFF...
The children of Marx and Coca-Cola
It was the 1960s, and revolution was in the air. For French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, cinema was the way to express ideas artistic, political...
Lust at 6,000 feet
Movies aren’t reality. They’re visual expressions of an emotional experience. The best filmmakers have known this all along, but it’s worth bringing up, as...
Death of the handmade
Clothes make the man. But who makes the clothes? Nowadays, most of us walk around wearing cookie-cutter shirts, pants and jackets, all produced en masse and for no one in particular. Sure, they come in a variety of standardized sizes, but very few bodies are standard...
