Weekend Event Planner

These are the 9 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

As April gives way to May, there are quite a few eclectic events on tap. Among them are a farewell to a legend; the return of an iconic humorist; three big events celebrating great art, music, and movies; and a living legend performing perhaps his best work.

Below are the best options for your precious free time Thursday through Sunday. Don't like what you see? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, April 28

Purple Rain Tribute Screenings
The death of Prince on April 21 left a hole in many of his fans' lives, one that can only be filled honor the amazing artist he was. All Studio Movie Grill locations in Dallas-Fort Worth will help in the grieving process by showing Prince's 1984 film Purple Rain, a film that spawned monster hits like "Let's Go Crazy" and the title song, on Thursday. In addition, both Alamo Drafthouse locations will screen the film on Saturday night.

Theatre Three presents Memphis
The latest from Theatre Three is its production of the 2010 Tony Award-winning musical Memphis. It’s the 1950s and an up-and-coming DJ at a white radio station starts to play records coming out of the black underground music scene in Memphis, Tennessee. The joyously raucous musical is about breaking down barriers and singing the song of your soul. It will run through May 22.

Arts & Letters Live: David Sedaris
It's never a bad time to welcome back the renowned humorist David Sedaris, who slays whether you're reading his many books, listening to him on NPR, or seeing him live. For this Arts & Letters Live event, he appears at Dallas City Performance Hall for three straight nights (starting on April 27), reading new and unpublished material.

Diana Sheehan Sings: The Jerome Kern Songbook
Singer Diana Sheehan is a local treasure who usually only gets to showcase her voice in small venues around the area. That will change on Thursday when she takes the stage at Winspear Opera House to sing songs by Jerome Kern, who helped write classics like "All the Things You Are," "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," "A Fine Romance," and "The Way You Look Tonight."

Friday, April 29

2016 Denton Arts & Jazz Festival
The annual Denton Arts & Jazz Festival is a three-day event celebrating the arts, with more than 3,000 professional and amateur performers on seven stages showcasing the best in jazz, pop, rhythm and blues, and full orchestra music. Taking place at Quakertown Park, it also features a wide variety of dance, choral, storytelling, and theater performances, as well as visual artists.

2016 Texas Frightmare Weekend
If you're a horror movie fan, there's no better event to attend than Texas Frightmare Weekend, the Southwest’s premier horror convention. Featuring celebrity appearances, autograph signings, screenings, exclusive parties, and horror memorabilia vendors, this year's event, primarily taking place at Hyatt Regency DFW Airport, will include Robert Englund, George A. Romero, Rose McGowan, Peter Criss, James Remar, John Carroll Lynch, Lance Henriksen, and many others. The event will go through Sunday.

Saturday, April 30

Edgefest 2016
Toyota Stadium in Frisco seems to be the new go-to place for music festivals, as it hosted the Off the Rails Country Music Fest last weekend and now Edgefest on Saturday. This year's Edgefest will feature performances from Cage The Elephant, The 1975, Bastille, Silversun Pickups, Chrvches, Foals, The Struts, The Joy Formidable, Good Charlotte, Blue October, XAmbassadors, JR JR, Nothing But Thieves, and The Strumbellas.

Taco Libre Dallas 2016
The second annual Taco Libre will include an expanded event site at Main Street Garden and food from 21 taquerias around the state, but this event is about much more than just tacos. The music lineup will feature Mariachi El Bronx, Grupo Fantasma, Larry G(ee), and Mayta. And all of that will be competing with the unique sight of a ring full of lucha libre wrestlers.

Sunday, May 1

Brian Wilson in concert
Just as we lament the loss of one music legend gone too soon, you can also celebrate the seminal work of another musician who's still with us. Brian Wilson will celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Beach Boys' iconic 1966 album, Pet Sounds, by playing it in its entirety for the very last time. He'll be joined by special guests Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie.

The original Freddy Krueger, Robert Englund, will be one of many celebrities on hand at Texas Frightmare Weekend, taking place April 29-May 1 at Hyatt Regency DFW Airport.

Robert Englund/Facebook

The original Freddy Krueger, Robert Englund, will be one of many celebrities on hand at Texas Frightmare Weekend, taking place April 29-May 1 at Hyatt Regency DFW Airport.

concerts event-planner galleries celebrities comedy theater movies festivals

Movie review

Adam Scott gets creeped out exploring eerie Irish hotel in Hokum

Photo courtesy of Neon

Adam Scott in Hokum.

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.

---

Hokum is now playing in theaters.

movies film