Anthony Mackie wants to get something off his chest before answering any questions.

“That Meow (Wolf Denver) museum is the craziest (stuff) I’ve ever seen in my life,” said the 46-year-old actor, unprompted, referring to the surreal installation just west of downtown.

That’s saying something, given Mackie’s career as an action hero and low-key heartthrob. As a veteran of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he’s finally making his film debut as the new Captain America in Marvel’s “Captain America: Brave New World” on Feb. 14, 2025 — following the groundwork laid by his 2021 Disney+ series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”

More recently, Mackie’s been battling monsters in the post-apocalyptic thriller “Elevation,” which was shot mostly in Boulder and Golden and is in theaters now. He plays Will, a father desperate to find medical supplies for his ailing son. That forces him to descend the 8,000-foot-and-higher safety zone of the Rocky Mountains, and into the lower-elevation danger zone where vicious monsters roam free.

That danger zone? Boulder — which is rendered as an empty town just starting to be reclaimed by nature, following the disaster that violently erased most of the human race. The film co-stars Morena Baccarin (in arguably one of her best roles) as disillusioned scientist Nina, and Maddie Hasson as salty young traveler Katie. Together, they navigate abandoned tunnels, an empty hospital and other spooky locales while taking center-frame in gorgeous drone shots of Colorado’s piney expanses.

“I was surprised at the level of chill of everybody in Boulder. Maybe they were all high? But a lot of them weren’t,” Mackie said. “Except for that one old lady in the gym. You know who you are, and you’re mean.”

Mackie likes to do superset workouts, he said, so he would do a heavy press with a medium fly, for example, without taking breaks between machines. Mackie’s elderly nemesis, who stared him down throughout his workouts, copied everything he did.

“So I’m like, ‘Fine, I’m just going to do some rows and pull-ups.’ And she comes around and is like, ‘You can’t even do a pull-up!’ ” he said with a laugh. “And I’d have my headphones in, and she’d be like, ‘Excuse me, no phone in the gym.’ I was about ready to fly my sister in to fight this girl and go Liam Neeson on her.”

He jests, but he took his promo duties for “Elevation” seriously. Mackie and “Elevation” director George Nolfi (“The Adjustment Bureau,” “Spectral”) visited the Denver Film Festival on Nov. 4 to screen and talk about the movie. Mackie even made it up to visit with buddy Deion Sanders in Boulder, hosting a screening for Coach Prime, the University of Colorado Boulder football team, and Super Bowl champ Warren Sapp — as well as a separate Boulder cast-and-crew screening, followed by the Denver Film Fest visit. Phew.

“I did go to a lot of University of Colorado football games while we were shooting,” Mackie said. “But (Sanders) had told me Boulder was like the Atlanta of the West Coast. I must have missed it by two months! When I was in Boulder I was the only Black dude there. Kiss my (butt), Deion Sanders.”

Mackie’s first few weeks of filming in Colorado in late 2022 were challenging in a different way. As a New Orleans resident, he went from sea level to elevations of up to 11,000 feet, he said. He and his stunt man would jog together every day, and go hiking every third day in the Flatirons.

“It was painful coming back from Colorado to New Orleans because the air is so heavy and I was so opened up,” he said. “I felt like I was taking in so much water with my breathing.”

He loved Colorado, but doesn’t miss Boulder much, dubbing it an isolating place that’s “myopic” in its approach to communal dwelling and living in general. The isolation helped with his performance in “Elevation,” he said, since his character Will goes through the same feelings.

“I’ll tell you what I learned in Colorado,” Mackie said. “I thought there would be good fishing, beautiful countryside, all of that. And I was right. The fly fishing was amazing, I got a lot of brookies (trout), but I didn’t go hunting, which I was mad about. Next time I’m coming back hard.”

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV)—Starting on Friday, the city will shorten metered parking hours to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and on Sunday, metered parking will start at 1 p.m.

“We have some customers who say they don’t come downtown because parking is a nightmare or because they have to pay for parking,” co-owner of Cronk Art and Curiosities Andrew Cronk said.

On Sunday parking at the city-owned garages and lots will be free.

“Having abbreviated hours of paid parking definitely would help,” Cronk said.

This is just one of five areas the city is focusing on during the holiday season. Other areas include security, clean-up, homelessness response and business support. The mayor also granted overtime for CSPD’s downtown response team and homeless outreach team.

“I think help is the keyword rather than drive out or move away as long as they’re helping people that makes me feel better,” Cronk said.

The city says the effort is geared toward driving more business downtown, something Cronk says he would love to see more local customers in his store.

“It’s all new people it’s tourists, it’s people visiting, that’s wonderful. but some of our regulars feel like it is out of the way now,” Cronk said.

The results of these changes will be evaluated in January. They plan to see what aspects need to be carried on through the next year.

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The sentencing for two of the three suspects arrested and accused in last year’s rock-throwing death of Alexa Bartell has been scheduled for May 2025, about a year after they pleaded guilty in the case. Nicholas “Mitch” James Karol-Chik and Zachary Kwak reached plea agreements with the prosecution in Jefferson County in May. 

Twenty-year-old Bartell was struck and killed late at night on April 19, 2023, when she was struck by a rock that was thrown into her windshield. Several others were injured in similar incidents with what authorities described as “large landscaping rocks,” concrete, and in one case, a statue.      

Karol-Chik pleaded guilty on May 15 for his role in a series of rock-throwing attacks between Feb. 25, 2023, and April 19, 2023. In that agreement, the prosecution dismissed the original charges and added three new charges including second-degree murder, criminal attempt to commit murder in the first degree, and crime of violence. 

According to the plea agreement, prosecutors said Karol-Chik would serve a minimum of 35 years and up to 72 years in the Department of Corrections. The judge said the deal did not allow for sentencing in the youth offender program. Prosecutors told the court that Bartell’s family did agree to the plea deal.   

Kwak pleaded guilty on May 10 to three new charges, first-degree assault, second-degree assault and criminal attempt to commit assault, in an agreement reached with the prosecution. As a result of that agreement, the prosecution dismissed the original 13 charges, including murder and attempted murder.    

According to prosecutors, the deals with Karol-Chik and Kwak are dependent on their full cooperation, including testimony against the third suspect, Joseph Koenig. Earlier this year, investigators revealed that they believe Koenig was the one who threw the fatal rock at Bartell’s car. 

The trial for Koenig has been rescheduled for April 11, 2025 through April 25, 2025. Koenig’s trial was initially scheduled for July and August but was rescheduled after a court-ordered evaluation. 

Sentencing for Karol-Chik and Kwak has been scheduled for after Koenig’s trial, May 1 and May 2, respectively.