Editor's note: This year's Starz Denver Film Festival, November 12-22, features more than 200 films. To help navigate this cinematic abundance of riches, we asked fest artistic director Brit Withey to highlight some worthy selections off the beaten screening-room path. Look for Brit's Picks each weekday through the extravaganza's close.
For the final weekend of this year's fest, Withey has chosen a typically eclectic trio of films to recommend. The diversity of their origins (they were made in the U.S., Denmark and Uruguay) echoes the event's theme this year -- "Destination: Anywhere."
Nicole strikes a pose with "Top Model" host Tyra Banks.
On Wednesday night, Louisville's own Nicole Fox was named the winner ofAmerica's Next Top Model. (Relive the season by visiting our recap archive.) That meant a day spent yesterday meeting the press -- and while she was open about sharing her social ineptitude on camera, she's anything but awkward in conversation.
In fact, Fox explodes every sexist stereotype about models being vapid and vacuous. The CU sophomore proves to be extremely bright and witty in a Q&A on view in its entirety below:
"A Room and a Half, or a Sentimental Journey to the Homeland."
Editor's note: This year's Starz Denver Film Festival, November 12-22, features more than 200 films. To help navigate this cinematic abundance of riches, we asked fest artistic director Brit Withey to highlight some worthy selections off the beaten screening-room path. Look for Brit's Picks each weekday through the extravaganza's close.
Russian animator Andrey Khrzhanovsky waited quite a while to make his feature-film debut, A Room and a Half, or a Sentimental Journey to the Homeland, screening today at 4 p.m. and 6:40 p.m. at the Starz FilmCenter. After all, he's 69-years old. But Brit Withey feels it was worth the wait. His two word synopsis of this initial effort: "It's amazing."
Editor's note: Catch up with Nicole Fox's journey to America's Next Top Model cycle thirteen victory by reading all our cycle thirteen recaps. Click to revisit episode two (with Lauren Conrad), episode three (when Nicole channels Gollum), episode four (the show Nicole barely survived), episode five (remember the "soulless fetus" reference?), episode six (with a Kim Karshasian sighting), episode seven (featuring the bizarre hapa challenge), episode eight (which was all about getting wet), episode nine (when Nicole landed in the finals), and last night's hard-fought triumph. Oh yeah: That stuff in our episode one recap below about Nicole having little chance to win? That's proven to be wrong. Really wrong.
Nicole with co-finalist Laura. And now you know why Nicole won.
Louisville's Nicole Fox has looked like the sure winner of America's Next Top Model, cycle thirteen, for weeks now, and that presented a major problem for the show. How to maintain the suspense when Nicole was clearly head and shoulders above her fellow competitors (despite being a petite five-seven)?
The producers (and editors) responded to this challenge in last night's finale by doing everything -- and I mean everything -- in their power to make it seem as if challenger Laura Kirkpatrick was going to pull off an eleventh-hour upset. In the end, justice prevailed and Nicole was deservedly named the champ, but not until after fighting off plenty of negative energy -- most of it coming from her fellow contestants.
Editor's note: This year's Starz Denver Film Festival, November 12-22, features more than 200 films. To help navigate this cinematic abundance of riches, we asked fest artistic director Brit Withey to highlight some worthy selections off the beaten screening-room path. Look for Brit's Picks each weekday through the extravaganza's close.
These days, independent movies that actually employ old-fashioned film are becoming increasingly rare due to the ease and relative economy associated with working in digital. For that reason, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, screening at 4:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. today at the Starz FilmCenter, is something of a throwback. "It's a lovely, black and white American independent film shot on 16 millimeter," notes Brit Withey. "That doesn't happen very much anymore. It feels like a film that could have been made 25 years ago."
Have you or your buddies booked a trip to Denver, George?
In our recap of the Ed Harris appearance at the Starz Denver Film Festival last Friday, I noted that organizers of the event have a hard time getting big-name actors to show up. Example: Harrison Ford was in town for a weekend gala at Wings Over the Rockies museum but didn't make time in his schedule for a fest stop.
Now, however, the Starz braintrust has announced that an "award-winning and acclaimed actor" from the cast of a "sneak peek film" will attend a screening of the flick at 4 p.m., Sunday, November 22, at the King Center. Moreover, "The surprise celebrity guest will introduce the non-stop film that's on a clear runway to the Oscars."
The flick that best fits this description: Up in the Air, a heavily hyped offering starring George Clooney as a frequent flier who has an airborne romance.
Editor's note: This year's Starz Denver Film Festival, November 12-22, features more than 200 films. To help navigate this cinematic abundance of riches, we asked fest artistic director Brit Withey to highlight some worthy selections off the beaten screening-room path. Look for Brit's Picks each weekday through the extravaganza's close.
The title of FILM IST. A Girl & a Gun, screening at 7:15 p.m. tonight at the Starz FilmCenter, immediately signals an uncommon creation -- and thank goodness, says Brit Withey. In his words, "It's an experimental film, avant-garde cinema -- and a true piece of art. It's one of my favorite films in the entire festival this year, for sure."
Editor's note: This year's Starz Denver Film Festival, November 12-22, features more than 200 films. To help navigate this cinematic abundance of riches, we asked fest artistic director Brit Withey to highlight some worthy selections off the beaten screening-room path. Look for Brit's Picks each weekday through the extravaganza's close.
Brit Withey's description of Protector, aka Protektor, on view at 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. today at the Starz FilmCenter (the second screening is sold out, but rush tickets may be available an hour before showtime), initially sounds like a variation on Mel Brooks' The Producers. "There's some really interesting use of music and dance -- but it's about the Nazi invasion of the Czech Republic," he says.
This time around, though, there's no springtime for Hitler. "It's a very serious film," he stresses.
What are the odds of a trifecta? Mighty slim: The Last Station, which got the Big Night treatment on Saturday evening at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, is the kind of high-brow production whose prestigious elements fail to coalesce into something truly memorable.
Chris "Birdman" Andersen, the cult hero from the Denver Nuggets, who walked the red carpet at the screening (likely because he was paid or doing someone a favor) split about five minutes after the lights went down -- and while few others immediately followed, a large chunk of the audience left as the final credits rolled rather than stick around to hear director Michael Hoffman discuss his accomplishment.
Ed Harris with his co-stars for the evening, Starz Denver Film Festival co-founder Ron Henderson and Mayor John Hickenlooper.
The Starz Denver Film Festival is seldom able to lure the biggest name actors to make appearances even when using its annual Mayor's Career Achievement Award as bait.
Note that Harrison Ford and Danny Glover were both here in recent days, with the former actually finding time to take kids on joy rides in his private plane prior to a Saturday gala at the Wings Over the Rockies museum. Somehow, though, neither took part in Denver's most important movie event, even though it was up and running during their visits.
Even if the stars who've participated in the Mayor's event have generated less wattage, however, they've been a consistently talented lot -- and the opportunity to hear from them at length has often been more intriguing and revelatory than an on-stage conversation with brighter luminaries might have been. So it was on Friday, when Ed Harris spent extended, and consistently fascinating, spotlight time at a jam-packed King Center.
Editor's note: This year's Starz Denver Film Festival, November 12-22, features more than 200 films. To help navigate this cinematic abundance of riches, we asked fest artistic director Brit Withey to highlight some worthy selections off the beaten screening-room path. Look for Brit's Picks each weekday through the extravaganza's close.
Moviegoers will hardly face a shortage of options during the first big weekend of the film festival. But Brit Withey feels viewers can't go wrong with his top choices for Friday, Saturday and Sunday: Harmony and Me, Con Artist and October Country.
MTV is looking for overweight home-schoolers who have been affected by natural disasters for the next season of The Real World -- and it's coming to find them in Denver, which hosted its own cast of seven strangers picked to live in a house in 2006 and 2007.
Real World casting directors will be at a Hooters at 1390 South Colorado Boulevard tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., where, we imagine, they will sift through hundreds of hot, bicurious babes and Red-Bull-and-vodka-swilling dudes to find the one plus-size model who was caught in a tsunami when her home-school group went on a field trip to Indonesia one time.
The Starz Denver Film Fest opened last night with a screening of Precious followed by a party at Suite 200. Aaron Thackeray crashed the bash, camera in hand. To see the stars, and the shots, click here.
Gary Magness and Lee Daniels on the red carpet. They like each other. They really, really like each other.
It's been a tough year for the Denver Film Society. Not only has the economy wreaked havoc on the organization, necessitating shortened hours of operation, but internal turmoil boiled over in June, when executive director Bo Smith, on the job for less than a year, was sacked following a mutiny among staff members; as many as 21 offered their resignations.
Even though most of these folks eventually returned, the film society has been struggling to get back on track ever since, and it hasn't been easy. In the weeks leading up to the 32nd annual Starz Denver Film Festival, by far the DFS' biggest bash, the phone system has been down, forcing execs like artistic director Brit Withey (who's offering his picks for best bets in this space throughout the fest) to do all their business on their cells. Moreover, budget cuts have meant plenty of painful choices -- like the decision not to print a lavish, bound program for the first time ever.
Somehow, though, the show managed to go on last night at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. And luckily, the DFS had a Precious secret weapon.
Nicole Fox's shot from last night's show crushed the competition.
Louisville's Nicole Fox has been getting strong and stronger as cycle thirteen of America's Next Top Model has marched on -- so much so that last night's episode strained to create suspense about whether she'd reach the finals.
Was there ever any doubt? Hell, no.
Still, the producers tried to pump up the illusion of bad juju, using numerous clips of Nicole making mildly critical remarks about her other competitors, Jennifer, Laura and Erin, instead of focusing on the way she usually avoids drama. Then, there was the first challenge: a dance competition of the sort guaranteed to make the admittedly awkward Nicole look like Elaine on Seinfeld. And she did. Oh, yes: She did.
Editor's note: This year's Starz Denver Film Festival, November 12-22, features more than 200 films. To help navigate this cinematic abundance of riches, we asked fest artistic director Brit Withey to highlight some worthy selections off the beaten screening-room path. Look for Brit's Picks each weekday through the extravaganza's close.
It's not easy being green, but plenty of organizations are trying -- which is why the fest has put together an environmentally friendly panel discussion and a mini-series of four similarly themed movies. Withey talks up two of them: Garbage Dreams and So Right So Smart.
The number of swine flu cases reported in Colorado last week fell for the third week in a row, as can be seen on this handy-dandy chart courtesy of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
But a decline in H1N1 didn't stop the department from making a handy-dandy PSA, which attempts to fight the swine flu with sarcasm, raised eyebrows and rhyming words. See above.
Their effort pales in comparison to the PSAs made by the U.S. guv-ment in 1976, when the swine flu-related death of a single soldier set off mass hysteria and sparked a campaign to convince every American to get a flu shot... by scaring the shit out of them with TV commercials about how old ladies get killed by swine flu -- but not before passing the virus to their veterinarians.
Editor's note: This year's Starz Denver Film Festival, November 12-22, features more than 200 films. To help navigate this cinematic abundance of riches, we asked fest artistic director Brit Withey to highlight some worthy selections off the beaten screening-room path. Look for Brit's Picks each weekday through the extravaganza's close.
Included in this year's schedule is Festival de Cine Mexico, a salute to the cinema associated with our neighbor to the south. "It's a really nice, diverse program, from one of the more interesting countries in terms of what's being produced there right now," Withey says about the eight films grouped under this umbrella. "You can often identify the films from a certain country pretty easily just by their style. You can say, 'That's so Danish,' or 'That's so Italian.' But the variety coming out of Mexico is incredible, and it's fun having so many different things coming into one program."
Editor's note: This year's Starz Denver Film Festival, November 12-22, features more than 200 films. To help navigate this cinematic abundance of riches, we asked fest artistic director Brit Withey to highlight some worthy selections off the beaten screening-room path. Look for Brit's Picks each weekday through the extravaganza's close.
Colorado is definitely in the Starz Denver Film Festival spotlight. Although the event's opening flick, Precious, may bear the stamp of executive producers Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry, the producers who did by far the heaviest lifting were Colorado-based Sarah Siegel-Magness and husband Gary Magness. But there are plenty of other entries with Colorado connections. Withey introduces three of them, beginning with The Duke of the Bachata.
Steve Knopper tells a story that's stranger than fiction.
Appetite For Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age, by locally based Rolling Stone contributing editor Steve Knopper, is a great read -- but a movie? Even Knopper had his doubts. Yet this entertaining chronicle of music-biz greedheads running up huge profits thanks to the CD, only to piss them away in short order amid the rise of the iPod, is being developed as a film likely aimed at HBO.
Nicole Fox, the pride of Louisville, continued her seemingly unstoppable march toward the cycle thirteen title on America's Next Top Model last night -- and at this point, she's clearly gotten into the heads of her remaining competitors. The episode contained plenty of moments when Jennifer, Erin, Laura and Sundai moaned and groaned about the perfection of this frizzy haired modeling machine.
The first challenge introduced a new element to the season: porn (or at least something pretty close to it). Marisa Miller, a past Victoria's Secret angel, showed the fab five how to pose in a bikini on a Hawaiian beach without going "over the top" -- and then had the ladies role around in the sand and gyrate under a makeshift shower. No mimed masturbation, though: That would have been "over the top"! Next, the contestants struck a pose while jumping off a rock outcropping, and of course, Nicole won -- a victory that earned her some pricey jewelry and extra shots in an underwater photo session. The rest of the models-to-be received additional exposures, too -- all except Erin, who spent most of the show in an epic pout. Still, the littlest Albino managed to survive a judging panel that gave Sundai the ouster. As for the best photo prize, it was given to Jennifer for a fairly unspectacular photo. Nicole took second, supposedly due to the fact that she didn't point her toe like Barbie -- but mainly because the producers want to maintain the illusion of competitiveness even though she's looking more like the inevitable champ with each passing edition.
Next week: two contestants are bid farewell. Bye-bye, Erin and Laura.
On the left: Colorado's Bill Owens. On the right: New York's Bill Owens. No, they're not the same person.
Just heard from a sharp-eyed viewer who saw a familiar face on the Today show this morning -- one who had no business being there. Political reporter Chuck Todd was discussing a New York state congressional election taking place today, which pits a Democrat named Bill Owens against Doug Hoffman, a candidate for the Conservative Party. Problem is, the photo of Bill Owens that popped up featured a different guy entirely -- the one who was twice elected Colorado's governor. As a Republican.
No, they aren't related -- either by blood or ideology.
Update, 12:10 p.m.: A short time ago, Colorado's Bill Owens sat down with Channel 9's Adam Schrager to discuss (and joke about) that New York-based Bill Owens, and the confusion between them. Here's what he had to say:
Denver mega-buckser Phil Anschutz has reportedly recouped his entire investment in the late Michael Jackson's aborted "This Is It" tour (after seeming on the verge of multi-million-dollar losses) thanks to the sale of rehearsal footage that makes up the just-released This Is It film. Now all that's left is to watch the moolah roll in -- a process that's already started. The flick racked up $7.4 million in the U.S. on Wednesday, when it opened at theaters nationwide. Granted, that's not a record for a concert film (which this is, sorta): Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour earned $8.6 million on its first day. However, This Is It's prospects are much better globally, where those nasty sleeping-with-young-boys accusations did little to dent Jackson's marketability -- and indeed, the film earned $12.7 million on Wednesday beyond America.
Right now, the movie is only slated to remain in theaters for two weeks -- but a proposed pre-Christmas DVD release has already been pushed back to early 2010, suggesting that its run could be extended if the Michael maniacs keep coming. Anschutz wouldn't object to that, since he's slated to receive 10 percent of the profits. And the rich get richer.
What will happen when David Caruso gets his hands on Balloon Boy?
It'll happen any day now: You'll come home from work, sink into your couch and flip on your TV, hoping for a Real World-Road Rules marathon or something equally vapid, and there it will be: that damn balloon, flying through the New York or Miami or Las Vegas sky, the voice of a fake newsman narrating its slow, soft descent. You'll want to switch the channel. You really will. But they'll pull you in, just like always, and there you'll be, watching the Balloon Boy Saga get ripped from the headlines.
Nicole is seen merging Japanese and Malagasy with fierceness.
Early on, Louisville's Nicole Fox seemed too quirky to have a real shot at taking the America's Next Top Model cycle thirteen crown. But over the past few weeks, she's become a force as unstoppable as her flame-colored hair, and her chances of becoming the first major reality-show champ from Colorado since Top Chef's Hosea Rosenberg grow with each episode -- even one as weird and frequently uncomfortable as last night's.
Clue one that Nicole was safe: The main drama of the evening involved Albino-riffic Erin and stoic mathematician Brittany. As Brittany touted her skillage while repeatedly describing Erin as immature and annoying (and not without reason), Nicole floated calmly through a location shift to Hawaii and a challenge that called on the models-in-training to pose while trying to ride a surfboard -- something none of them knew how to do. She wound up in the top half of the group and was chosen to participate in a helicopter flight over Maui with first placer Erin, who would have rather earned a $1,000 shopping spree at Walmart. Poor baby! Next, host Tyra Banks served as photographer in a shoot in which the contestants portrayed assorted "hapas" -- a Hawaiian term for people of mixed race. Suddenly, all the Caucasians were being having their skin painted darker hues, turning them into high-fashion Al Jolsons. (Thankfully, they weren't asked to sing "Mammy," too). However, African-American Sundai was allowed to keep her skin tone despite posing as a half-Russian. Okay, the other half was Moroccan, but if everyone else had to go Soul Man, why was she spared a White Chicks moment?
The judging round generated zero suspense. It was clear from the start that Erin and Brittany would land in the bottom two, which they did, with bland Brit eventually doing the weep-and-walk. And just as obviously, Nicole won, thanks to a snapshot Tyra and company repeatedly described as "stunning." The victories are starting to pile up for this particular Fox -- and she deserves every one.
If you're lucky (as Jefferson County Public School students are) and have a snow day today, you'll get the chance to watch some movies. But what are the best films for the occasion? We suggest flicks that make you glad to be warm inside instead of outside grappling with the elements -- like, for instance, Jeremiah Johnson, in which Robert Redford gets to deal with all manner of chilly hardships, such as discovering that the memorably named Hatchet Jack has been turned into an Otter Pop, as seen in the clip above. Look below for more cinematic reasons to appreciate your thermostat.
"This Is It" -- another opportunity for Phil Anschutz to make bank.
In a June blog," I described Mile High gazillionaire Phil Anschutz as "among the sharpest businessmen to ever call Colorado home" -- and he's proven it again by the way he's turned a possible financial bath into what looks like an impressive windfall. AEG Live, one of Anschutz's many companies, was slated to promote the Michael Jackson tour that never was -- and because the firm had been unable to secure insurance for all the dates, the gigs' cancellation seemed likely to cost Anschutz in the tens of millions.
So how has he managed to turn all that red ink black? A little film called This Is It.
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