Let’s get one thing straight: American Girl -- the inspiration for Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, the just-released movie starring Abigail Breslin -- is a product. It’s a company. It’s a money-making enterprise. It’s owned by Mattel now. That alone speaks volumes.

What it’s not is the sum total of its press. Yes, American Girl is an inspirational and educational series of books aimed at tween girls -- one of the largest and fastest-growing segments of the spending population, as Miley Cyrus can certainly attest. And it started out as an interesting and education-based idea, with fairly pure motives. Conceived in 1983 by Pleasant T. Rowland, the early dolls were accompanied by historically based stories written by none other than Danielle Steele. (I leave to you, the reader, to decide whether anything penned by Danielle Steele can truly be called "pure" without a derogative like "crap" added. But I digress.) Even so, it’s not the second coming of Little House in the Big Woods. Your children’s children’s daughters won’t still be buying Molly McIntyre books, just like my kids’ kids’ sons won’t be playing with my Star Wars toys (more’s the pity).

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Before you head out to catch the Sex and the City movie for the third time this weekend, take a look back at some of Carrie Bradshaw's more memorable fashion moments.

For a few more of Carrie's looks, check out Rossy's previous blog.

Apparently, Harrison Ford isn’t the only movie star who just seems to get sexier with age.

Movie theaters all across Denver (probably the country) were sold out to hundreds of Sex-crazed fans, all dressed to the nines this Friday. According to the Los Angeles Times, Sex and the City opened at number #1 this weekend and to the tune of $55.7 million dollars. That’s almost double what Warner Brothers had originally projected. No small feat for any romantic comedy, let alone one with an R rating.

Take a look at a few of the bombshells celebrating the SATC’s opening night at Cherry Creek Cinemas.

Eat your heart out, “Indy.”

- Steven J. Burge

Although this look would probably fly in Aspen, it makes me glad that Denver isn't as trendy as New York and the women here know better than to wear mangled fur with bad boots and a top knot. I do have to defend this with the fact it was from season one.

This piece of bait is named Phil. Phil is not just pretty, he’s also functional.
For example - can’t find your cheese grater? Try Phil’s stomach. It’s just that easy.
Phil will be out and about this weekend, so go fetch, ladies! (You’re welcome.)

With the long weekend over and only three days to go until Sex and the City opens on the big screen, let the countdown to a fun, fashionable weekend begin. Visit The Cat's Pajamas every day through Friday for musings on the women and men of Sex and the City and their fashionable hits and misses from the series. We'll have to wait until Friday to know for sure if everyone gets their fairy tale ending, but in the meantime, why not check out www.sexandthecitymovie.com and take the "Match Your Man" quiz to see which of the show's men is right for you.

Always thought you were a Mr. Big girl, only to have the quiz tell you that Charlotte's Harry is more your type? Don't worry, you can take the quiz as often as you like and craft your very own happily ever after.

Sex and the City opens in theaters on May 30.

Festival audiences are generally more generous than traditional theatrical crowds. It's a double-edged sword. Some films that will never see the light of day, or the darkness of theatrical release, find audiences who are willing to set aside their critical opinions and just enjoy a film for mere competence of craft, a lone performance or the nimble work of an up-and-coming cinematographer. We're willing to dole out A's for effort.

After seeing Being Michael Madsen on Saturday, I was guilty of thinking a mediocre movie had merit. I found myself muttering to a friend shortly thereafter, “I think it was a pretty effective recitation on fame and privacy and ...” I trailed off, unable to sustain an argument for which I knew I was about to be asked to provide evidence when there was none.

Being Michael Madsen is a mockumentary in which Michael Madsen plays not himself, but a fictionalized version of himself. He has a run in with a paparazzo, exacts revenge by hiring a documentary crew to out-paparazzi the tabloid photographer, and what the audience ends up watching is supposed to be a documentary about that fictional documentary.

And for this effort I'm only willing to dole out meta-points for what-could-have-beens and a litany of decent ideas poorly executed that I won't get into here. In-studio-interview-heavy and overacted in a way that Christopher Guest would probably cringe at, Being Michael Madsen was a chore to watch.

Sure, a few stellar seconds here and there from Virginia Madsen and Harry Dean Stanton (both personal favorites, both playing themselves, sort of) brought a smile to my face, but I just don't see this film playing well to anyone who lives outside the cat-and-mouse game the film attempts to mock. If it does get theatrical release, it will only be because a distribution exec has the money to invest in his own myopia. Which probably means it will hit multiplexes this spring. -- Sean Cronin

You've got nothing to do tonight, right? Skip another night of must-see TV and head over to the best Denver cultural event of the year, the Denver Film Festival. We've compiled some reviews and profiles of filmmakers and suggest, if you can, that you check out one of the following.

Iron Ladies of Liberia, which screens at 7 p.m., follows the first year in office of Africa's first elected female head of state, and was co-directed by Denver documentarian Daniel Junge.

The Memory Thief tells the tale of a man whose obsession with the pain of the past ultimately consumes him. It's really good and screens at 9 p.m.

End of the Line is a fun, stupid and gross horror/suspense flick that screens at 9:45 p.m.

The Memory Thief
Director: Gil Kofman

It's going to take a long time to digest this film. For me, the entire experience was thrown off by the woman in front of offering information on her colonoscopy to no one in particular. Shortly after that, Songbird, the short film from director John Thompson, put everyone in a disturbed mindset for viewing a truly disturbing feature. Songbird, a recitation on battered women's syndrome, featured the decaptitation of two animals, and eleicted gasps from several in the audience. Including yours truly who has a fairly iron stomach for that kind of thing.

And then we got to the main event. The Memory Thief is a captivating tale from director Gil Kofman about a dissaffected young toll booth worker whose past is a mystery. To fill in the gaps of his own lost history, and kill the pain of whatever it is that disturbs him – in a brilliant move of omission, the audience never finds out what – Lukas (Mark Webber) finds himself becoming more and more obsessed with the plight of Holocaust survivors. As we watch his haunting descent into madness, Lukas adopts the most painful identity he can find as his own to consequences that are as hard to watch as they are powerful and moving. Certain elements of the film seem a bit contrived, there are certain narrative neccessities – such as Lukas' introduction to Hitler's Mein Kampf, a text we're supposed to believe he's never heard of before – seem a little forced. But with a genius performance from Webber and deft editing from Curtiss Clayton, Kofman's obsession with obsession is one of the more affecting films I have ever seen.
-- Sean Cronin

Iron Ladies of Liberia
Directors: Daniel Junge and Siatta Scott-Johnson

When Denver-based documentary director Daniel Junge and producer Henry Ansbacher first contacted newly elected Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (who, among other degrees, received a masters in economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1970), they were told their documentary crew could have two weeks of access. Two weeks to make a documentary film is nothing, but Junge and Ansbacher -- the principals of the Denver documentary film company Just Media -- saw their shot to tell the story of the first elected female head of state in Africa, and they took it.
Days before they left, Junge discovered the Jonathan Stack film Liberia: An Uncivil War, and contacted Stack to see if he’d be interested in helping out with the project. Stack agreed to come on board as co-producer of the film and put the filmmakers in touch with Liberian journalist Siatta Scott-Johnson, who would end up co-directing the film with Junge.

Once in Liberia, the filmmakers were able to turn two weeks of access into fifteen weeks of shooting during five trips to Liberia over the course of a year. With this unprecedented access to the leader of a nation at a crossroads, Junge and company were able to pique the interests of the PBS series Independent Lens and producers at the BBC. The increased interest and financial backing enabled Just Media to produce a truly unique and compelling feature length look at the birth of a tenuous democracy in a war-torn country. Truncated, hour-long versions of Iron Ladies of Liberia will screen in March on Independent Lens and around the world soon as part of the Why Democracy? documentary series, of which the BBC is a principle member, but you can see what Junge feels is the most complete version of the documentary at the Starz Denver Film Festival.

While the story of the making of this film is compelling enough, it pales in comparison to the travails of President Johnson-Sirleaf as she deftly steers her country through the troubled waters of her first year in office. Facing economic crisis, corrupt political opposition and civil war soldiers rioting in the streets of the capitol, Johnson-Sirleaf's story is a profile in the democratic possibilities of not only Liberia, but that of an entire continent rife with horrific conflict.
-- Sean Cronin