Mandy Moore will go on tour for the first time in over a decade.
Photo courtesy of Mandy Moore
Mandy Moore, who transitioned from pop star to actor in the early 2000s, is getting back to her first love, going on tour for the first time in over a decade. She'll bring her tour to Majestic Theatre in Dallas on Thursday, April 23, 2020.
Moore made the announcement on her Facebook page November 19, indicating that the tour will be "an intimate, elevated evening of new and old tunes, performed with a superb group of musicians," a show that will "have threads of what the writing and recording process was like with this band, almost like you’ve been invited in our living room for an inside glimpse." Moore released a new single, "When I Wasn’t Watching," this past September.
The tour will travel to 29 cities across the United States, starting in Pittsburgh on March 20. In addition to Dallas, Moore will also go to Houston on April 24 and Austin on April 25. All three Texas dates will feature opening act Madison Cunningham.
Moore made her debut as a singer in 1999, releasing six albums over the next 10 years, her most recent being 2009's Amanda Leigh. While she had decent success in that realm, she has become much more well known as an actor, most notably for her role as Rebecca Pearson on the NBC show This is Us, for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2019.
Various pre-sales for the tour start on Wednesday, November 20, with tickets for the general public going on sale on Friday, November 22.
There are relatively few actors who can switch back and forth between comedy and drama easily, but Adam Scott is the rare exception. He’s equally as well known for starring in comedy projects like Parks & Recreation, Party Down, and Step Brothers as he is for dramas like Big Little Lies and Severance. He’s going the latter route again in the new horror film, Hokum.
Scott plays author Ohm Bauman, who’s trying to finish his latest book. In an effort to avoid distractions and also pay tribute to his parents, he retreats to an Irish hotel where his mom and dad spent their honeymoon. Bauman, who is about as stand-offish as you can get, and the staff of the hotel are at odds almost right away, although Bauman finds a kind of kinship with Jerry (David Wilmot), a seemingly-homeless man he meets in a nearby forest.
Bauman becomes intrigued with the story of the hotel’s closed-off honeymoon suite, which is said to be haunted. His curiosity, though, seems to trigger a variety of strange things, one of which ends with him in an extended stay at the hospital. He returns to the hotel determined more than ever to discover what’s really happening in the honeymoon suite, with things both normal and supernatural blocking his way at every turn.
Written and directed by Irish filmmaker Damian McCarthy, the film’s approach to horror is both subtle and overt. On the good side is Bauman’s story, which gradually gets deeper as more is revealed about his past, especially the premature death of his mother. Bauman’s trauma over her loss influences his thinking and actions, and a possible connection between his current situation and his personal history broadens the scope of the plot.
There is plenty of creepiness to be found in the film, starting with the dark and decrepit nature of the hotel itself. Any building where a particular room is off-limits naturally inspires intrigue, and McCarthy does a solid job of building tension. That’s why it’s strange and disappointing that he gives in to the lamest of horror tropes - a sudden appearance by an odd-looking person accompanied by a big screeching noise - on multiple occasions.
The film is at its best when it features weird moments that are never or only slightly explained. A dead body in a rabbit suit is echoed by the unexplained broadcast from Bauman’s youth featuring a terrifying TV host with bulging eyes and rabbit ears. Bauman’s explorations take him into the hotel’s basement via a dumbwaiter, where he encounters all manner of strange things, including what seem to be witches. Because most of these things are left to the audience’s imagination, they hit harder in the moment.
Scott is known to be understated in his acting, and that skill works well in this particular role. Although he clearly plays Bauman as freaked out, he never indicates panic, and that level-headedness makes his character someone you want to follow no matter how dark the path might be. The mostly-Irish supporting cast is not well-known, but Wilmot and Florence Ordesh make the most of their short time on screen.
Hokum - a title that is also not explained - is a horror film that earns its bona fides through mood more than action. Even though not much of consequence happens throughout the film, it still keeps you on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what will happen next.
