MOVIES
Cheesy but true: “V for Vendetta” deserves an E for entertaining. Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving are Evey and masked avenger V, the complex heroes in this ka-pow, ka-boom tale of fascism and resistance. Although the movie’s based on a graphic novel created during Margaret Thatcher’s stint as Britain’s prime minister, the Wachowski Brothers have found plenty of resonant material. And they have a copacetic director in James McTeigue, who worked on their “Matrix” trilogy. “V” takes you on a pleasure ride all the while tossing pop-culture kernels of wisdom at you. My only disappointment: The movie is rated R.
– LISA KENNEDY
POPULAR MUSIC
Yeah, yeah, so The Strokes are in town again tonight – talk to me when they play a set longer than 50 minutes. On Monday, check out Detroit’s dirty Dirtbombs, a garage-rock band made up of two bassists and two drummers that emphasizes a danceable, heavy rhythm-bass sound. Why that odd arrangement? Frontman Mick Collins wanted to make his sweaty amalgam “extremely difficult to categorize.” Of course that hasn’t stopped the Dirtbombs from being compared to everyone from Stevie Wonder to MC5. Even if you have seen the group before, you never know what you’re going to get live – the lineup has changed 10 times in a decade. With Machine Gun Blues and Black Lips. 9 p.m. at the Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer St. Tickets $12.
– JOHN MOORE
DANCE
Ballet Noveau Colorado wraps up its 2005-06 season with another welcome curveball, this time combining the talents of the vocal rock group face (yes, that’s its name, and it’s lowercase) with artistic director Robert Mills’ choreography. The program, face.2.face, features seven a cappella voices interacting with the dance troupe, plus the Colorado premiere of Mills’ award-winning work “Still,” David Taylor’s “Parallel and Elevated” and “Black Swan Pas de Deux” from “Swan Lake.” Tickets $20-$24. 2 p.m. today at DL Parsons Theatre, 11801 Community Center Drive in Northglenn; March 31-April 2 at Boulder’s Dairy Center, and April 7-9 at the Broomfield Auditorium; call 303-466-5685 or bal letnouveaucolorado.org.
– JOHN WENZEL
CLASSICAL MUSIC
The Borromeo Quartet, which was in Colorado for two well-reviewed concerts in January, returns for a two-day residency this week at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. As part of that visit it will present a concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the school’s Edna Rizley Griffin Concert Hall. Earlier this month, the group added a new second violinist: 24-year-old Kristopher Tong. Tickets $10; $5 for students; call 970-491-4849.
– KYLE MACMILLAN
STAGE
The Modern Muse Theatre Company’s “The Last Five Years,” a cleverly written and superbly performed drama in song, continues at the Buntport Theatre through April 9. Susan Dawn Carson and Jeff Roark are accompanied by a three-piece combo of piano and strings in a smart production of Jason Robert Brown’s play. Showtimes 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays at 717 Lipan St. Tickets $15-$20; call 303-780-7836 or modernmusetheatre.com.
– JOANNE OSTROW
VISUAL ART
Tsehai Johnson is one of Denver’s most interesting and provocative artists. She works with seductively curved, porcelain forms that draw their inspiration from domestic life. In a new body of work on view through April 10 at the Plus Gallery, 2350 Lawrence St., Johnson explores notions of public and private, functionality and ornamentation; call 303-296-0927 or plus gallery.com.
– KYLE MACMILLAN
TELEVISION
You can take your choice of disasters tonight. CBS offers “Time Bomb” (8 p.m., KCNC-Channel 4), a movie about a Homeland Security official rushing to stop bombs from destroying a stadium. It’s formulaic fare that would have been much more interesting if the official were rushing to stop the New Orleans’ levees from breaching. Or you can try CNN’s “We Were Warned: Tomorrow’s Oil Crisis,” a mix of traditional documentary with a “what if” scenario that looks at what could happen if a major hurricane hit the U.S. oil infrastructure and terrorists went after Middle Eastern oil facilities (6 and 9 p.m.).
– EDWARD P. SMITH
