Denver Cinema Club Dispatch | Feb 2025
Welcome to the February 2025 edition of the Denver Cinema Club Dispatch! Whether you’re here for upcoming events, curated recommendations from our members, or insightful articles about cinema, we hope this newsletter has something for everyone.
This month, we’re featuring a new Cinephile Spotlight, where Yvonne shares her personal film highlights and a curated “Top 5” list. You’ll also find details about our upcoming events, including screenings and discussions. And be sure to check out our Civil Citizen’s Guide—a quick reference for making every club gathering a welcoming and enjoyable experience.
As always, we’re grateful to have you as part of this community and look forward to exploring the movies together!
CIVIL CITIZEN'S GUIDE
Before we get started, here’s a quick reference guide for respectful participation with the Denver Cinema Club, ensuring an enjoyable experience for all.
Read the whole Event Description. We do have several kinds of events so make sure you know what you're signing up for. If we say you should buy your ticket in advance, we mean it.
RSVP with Integrity. Your organizers make reservations based on RSVPs and also look for and/or wait around for those who have RSVP'd yes. Don't be a no-show! Change your RSVP if your plans change.
Be nice to theater staff and our food servers. Be polite, tip well (we are kind of a pain with big tables ordering and paying separately, so please be nice and grateful to our servers). Take your popcorn/drink trash out of the theater.
No phone use and no talking during the movie! Not even whispering! Whispering during the previews and end credits are tolerated, but please be considerate of folks who consider those part of the movie experience.
Be kind to your fellow members during film discussion. Do not talk over or interrupt someone who is speaking. Don't belittle differing opinions. This extends to our message board, Zoom, any way we meet.
The Denver Cinema Club is a safe space. If you have any issues, please bring them up with an organizer.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Stay in the know with these curated highlights from the Denver Cinema Club’s February lineup. For the full calendar of events and real-time updates, visit our Meetup page.
Highlighted Events
February 3: Geeks Who Drink Trivia | Join your fellow Club members for a fun night of general knowledge trivia! Team up, test your knowledge, and enjoy some great company. @ Barfly at Alamo Drafthouse Sloans Lake.
February 6: DEEP DIVE: David Lynch’s A Woman in Trouble | Explore David Lynch’s haunting vision of “A Woman in Trouble,” including Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire, and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. This is a watch-ahead-of-time event @ Odells Sloans Lake Brewery.
February 9: What We're Watching with John Anzalone: Pickup on South Street | Join professor John Anzalone for an in-depth discussion of the Cold War spy noir Pickup on South Street (1953), a National Film Registry selection. This is a watch-ahead-of-time event. Register via the Denver Public Library.
February 15: Criterion Club: Renoir's La Chienne with John Anzalone | Join professor John Anzalone for a lively discussion of Jean Renoir’s daring first sound film, blending painting, passion, and tragedy in a masterful early work. This is a watch-ahead-of-time event @ Denver Public Library: Smiley Branch Library.
February 25: Volunteer at Food Bank of the Rockies | Join us for an afternoon of volunteering, followed by dinner and possibly a movie at Northfield—guests welcome! @ Food Bank of the Rockies.
Quick Glance
February 2: I’m Still Here (2024) @ Sie FilmCenter
February 4: The Lost Weekend (1945) with John Anzalone @ Landmark Mayan
February 11: Anomalisa (2015) @ Alamo Drafthouse Sloans Lake
February 12: The Maltese Falcon (1941) with John Anzalone @ Landmark Greenwood Village
February 26: Act of Violence (1948) with John Anzalone @ Landmark Greenwood Village
Want to see everything we’ve planned? Check out the full lineup on our Meetup page.
CINEPHILE SPOTLIGHT
Each month, we feature a member of the Denver Cinema Club, showcasing their passion for film through a brief interview and curated list of movies.
Spotlight on Yvonne
What’s your favorite movie of all time?
I'm one of those annoying people who can't pick favorites, but I love movies that convey place and character through realistic minutiae and Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) is one of the best. Even the way a woman slices haphazardly into cheese is a telling detail. Full of beautifully composed shots and exquisite acting, few films convey as much about women or love as this one does by simply following them through a few days; a devastating romance that still doesn’t leave you completely gutted.
What’s a hidden gem you wish more people knew about?
Fire Island (2022) has one of the best romcom screenplays I've ever seen, retelling Pride and Prejudice in contemporary gay culture. Joel Kim Booster does Jane Austen proud by deepening her original class commentary with a modern consideration for how race (specifically Asian) and social norms of attractiveness intersect in this community, while hitting both rom and com beats effortlessly. It's smart, hilarious, and on par with Portrait for me despite being very stylistically different – I never get tired of rewatching.
What is your latest movie obsession?
After Yang (2021) is an empathetic science fiction piece that hints at the macro question of what it means to be human by examining the micro experiences of one broken automaton and the family he was a part of. The premise leads us into a collection of home movie vignettes that draw emotion from their simplicity, while incorporating Colin Farrell as their viewer coalesces this collection of memories into an unassuming but incredibly moving story.
Yvonne’s Top 5 Movies with Young Actors
Child actors are an easy way to win cute points, but tough to cast and write for. These aren't necessarily the top child performances of all time (defining as under 15 y.o.) – some are leads and some are major supports – but they're films I love that incorporate youth to bring out great entertainment.
Old Fox (老狐狸) (2023). The entire cast is great, but Bai Run-yin (白潤音)'s coming-of-age journey propels this absorbing class conflict story. Akio Chen (陳慕義) gives an incredible performance as his mentor, the titular Old Fox – able to simultaneously display kindness and cruelty in a single laugh.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016): A curmudgeon trailed by a kid he doesn't want may be a trope, but it's executed with an abundance of charm in the New Zealand wilderness. Julian Dennison is a born comedian, and this film made me both laugh and sob hysterically in just the first 10 minutes.
Leave No Trace (2018): Also a story of child & guardian surviving in the outdoors, but with an entirely different tenor. Debra Granik is a master of movies that show rather than tell, and found a perfect cast in Ben Foster & Thomasin McKenzie who convey so much through physicality alone.
Not One Less (一個都不能少) (1999): Amateur 13-year old actress Wei Ming-zhi (魏敏芝) impressively carries this film in her powerfully single-minded desperate quest across the rural-urban divide in 1990s mainland China. A lesser known but must-watch by the legendary Zhang Yimou (張藝謀).
The Nice Guys (2016): Criminally underrated, this may run a little overlong but is one of my favorite comedies. Angourie Rice is just precocious enough to bring unexpected heart & hold her own as support to Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling – who give the funniest performances of their careers.
Want to be featured in our Cinephile Spotlight? Reply to this email and we’ll add you to the queue!
WATCH, LISTEN, READ
Dive deeper into the art of cinema with this month’s multimedia picks:
Watch
The Insane Exaggerated Cities of 90s Cinema | Before the hyperreal cityscapes of modern blockbusters, 90s cinema gave us wildly exaggerated urban worlds—impossibly vast, dreamlike, and overwhelming. In this video essay, Patrick (H) Willems explores how films like Batman Returns and Babe: Pig in the City crafted these surreal metropolises, why they thrived for a decade, and what led to their disappearance. Published on YouTube by Patrick (H) Willems.
Listen
Pop Culture Happy Hour: 2025 Oscar Nominations | This episode of NPR’s “Pop Culture Happy Hour” podcast breaks down the 2025 Oscar nominations: the big winners, the surprising underdogs, and the head-scratching snubs. Published on Spotify by NPR.
Read
Strange Frequencies: David Lynch | David Lynch’s passing marks the end of an era, leaving fans mourning a visionary who redefined cinema. This tribute reflects on his fearless exploration of darkness and ambiguity in works like Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks, celebrating his profound impact on art and our understanding of the unknowable. Published by Film Comment.