Movie Review

Enola Holmes charms with twist on classic story for YA audience

The character of Sherlock Holmes has been in so many movies, TV shows, and stage productions that his brilliance doesn’t make much of an impact anymore. It’s taken for granted that he will notice minute details that no one else would ever see, helping him solve crimes that are otherwise baffling.

The only way to refresh a character like him is to introduce some new element, which is where Enola Holmes comes in. Based on the first book in the YA series by Nancy Springer, the film focuses on Sherlock’s heretofore unknown younger sister, Enola (Millie Bobby Brown), raised by her mother (Helena Bonham Carter) to be strong and inquisitive, albeit with a lack of formal education.

When Mrs. Holmes disappears, Enola’s much older brothers Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft (Sam Claflin) return to see to her care. Determined to find her mom, though, Enola quickly escapes and makes her way to London, running headlong into another type of mystery involving Lord Tewksbury (Louis Partridge), who’s running away from his upper-class family for political reasons.

Directed by Harry Bradbeer and written by Jack Thorne, both veterans of British TV, the film plays like an introduction to the legend of Holmes for tweens and teenagers. Brown directly addresses the camera to the point of overuse, a technique Bradbeer may have been inspired to use after directing the majority of the TV series Fleabag. Despite its abundance, Brown’s enthusiastic performance makes it work, and the film’s intended audience will likely have no issue with it.

Overall, the film is effervescent and fun, although anyone looking for the intriguing mystery of regular Sherlock Holmes stories will find that part missing. There are cryptic elements in need of decoding, but none of them are compelling. Lord Tewksbury’s side of the story involves something about a reform bill in Parliament, a snoozer despite the mini-adventure he and Enola get into.

It’s Brown’s acting that carries the day. Best known for her role as Eleven on Stranger Things, this part feels much closer to the real-life persona she’s shown on talk shows, which is a delight. The film gives her a few moments to be more than just a young girl, and she ably walks the line between both worlds.

Cavill is good, but not as interesting as the usual Sherlock, perhaps by design so as not to overshadow Enola. Claflin plays the stuck-up Mycroft brilliantly, while Bonham Carter does well in limited screentime. Partridge has the demeanor for his particular role, but he comes off pretty bland, especially when next to Brown.

Enola Holmes is a lark of a film that might have the possibility of becoming a mini-franchise for Netflix. Brown is the clear winner of the film, as she embodies everything the character needs to be and makes the trite technique of talking to the camera bearable with her charm.

---

Enola Holmes is streaming exclusively on Netflix.

Millie Bobby Brown and Louis Partridge in Enola Holmes.

Millie Bobby Brown and Louis Partridge in Enola Holmes

Photo by Alex Bailey/Legendary

Millie Bobby Brown and Louis Partridge in Enola Holmes.

Weekend event planner

These are the 13 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

These are the 13 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Photo courtesy of Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden

Holiday at the Arboretum will be on display at the Dallas Arboretum through December 31.

This weekend across Dallas will start with a Christmas-themed event, but another holiday - Veterans Day - will be at the center of two other events on the list. Other choices include two new local theater productions, concerts in a variety of genres, comedy, magic, a long-awaited movie, and more.

Below are the best ways to spend your precious free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, November 10

Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden presents Holiday at the Arboretum
Holiday at the Arboretum returns with a garden transformed to get people into the holiday spirit with The Christmas Village, The 12 Days of Christmas, and the Dazzling Musical Tree. In the historic DeGolyer House, the Dallas Arboretum debuts The Artistry Faith & Culture, featuring the three world holidays celebrated during the season: Christmas, Hannukah, and Kwanzaa. The event, which has both daytime and nighttime hours, will go on through December 31. (Check this list for spectacular Christmas lights around DFW.)

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Verdi Requiem
Music Director Fabio Luisi has been eager to conduct Verdi’s Requiem since he began his tenure with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. With its white-hot moments of bravado alternating with some of the most serene moments of Verdi’s music, his Requiem is a monumental work. Soprano Adriana Gonzalez, mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford, tenor Piero Pretti, and bass Wenwei Zhang will join the Dallas Symphony Chorus and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. There will be three performances through Sunday at the Meyerson Symphony Center.

Undermain Theatre presents Feeding on Light
Nora is a curious writer who seeks to understand her friend and collaborator Katherine’s obsession with 20th-century French philosopher and activist Simone Weil. As their discussion deepens, Nora and Katherine embody scenes from Simone’s life in an attempt to communicate with her across time and space. Feeding on Light is based on playwright Lenora Champagne’s personal relationship and discussions with Undermain Theatre’s late Founding Artistic Director Katherine Owens, to whom the play is dedicated. The production runs through November 27.

Friday, November 11

Commemorative Air Force presents Wings Over Dallas World War II Airshow
Time to coincide with Veterans Day, the Wings Over Dallas World War II Airshow is an interactive event that features flying demonstrations, battle reenactments, veteran appearances, living history encampments, hands-on family and educational activities, aircraft rides, cockpit tours, and more. The event goes on through Sunday at Dallas Executive Airport.

The Colony presents American Heroes: A Tribute to Veterans & First Responders
The Colony will celebrate Veterans Day with their annual patriotic festival, American Heroes: A Salute to Veterans & First Responders. Musical performers will include Spin Doctors, Blue Water Highway, Rodney Atkins, Rick Trevino, and Mo Pitney. The festival, taking place on Friday and Saturday at The Colony Five Star Complex, also includes a carnival, car show, silent auction, kids activities, vendor expo, fireworks, and more. (For a list of Veterans Day deals and discounts, go here.)

Over the Bridge Arts presents Burning Woman
Over the Bridge Arts will present the fifth annual Burning Woman, two full evenings of empowering performances by 40 Dallas performing artists in dance, music, spoken word, performance art, drumming, and film. Each evening will feature a pre-performance reception with film and art installation, followed by live performances. The event takes place on Friday and Saturday at Oak Cliff Cultural Center.

Toadies in concert
It's always a good day when Fort Worth originals Toadies take the stage again. While the band has only had a minimal impact on the national music stage, they've been beloved locally ever since their 1994 debut album, Rubberneck. They've gone on to release six more albums in their career, most recently 2017's The Lower Side of Uptown. They'll play at House of Blues Dallas.

TITAS/Dance Unbound presents BodyTraffic
BodyTraffic returns to Dallas with an evening of compelling works that embody the company’s energy, sophistication, and sheer joy for dance. This program features a new work by the collaborative team of Baye & Asa, fusing intricate patterns of rhythm and form along with Alejandro Cerrudo’s PacoPepePluto, featuring three dancers who move to the classic voice of Dean Martin with utter abandon. The production will be at Winspear Opera House.

The Classics Theatre Project presents Dutchman
Dutchman is an explosive, allegorical, one-act drama that uses the device of an encounter between Clay, a young, middle-class, Black man, and Lula, a white woman, who approaches him on a subway car, to demonstrate the tensions present between Black and white Americans during the tumultuous 1960s, and to illustrate the political, societal, and psychological conflicts facing Black men in America. The production runs through November 26 at Margo Jones Theatre at Magnolia Lounge.

Demetri Martin: I Feel Funny Tour
Writer, director, and stand-up comedian Demetri Martin has released three stand-up comedy albums and four hour-long standup comedy specials, including his latest for Netflix, The Overthinker. He also created and starred in his own television series for Comedy Central, Important Things with Demetri Martin. He'll perform at Majestic Theatre.

Saturday, November 12

Deadmau5 in concert
There have been an increasing number of successful electronic music producers/DJs in the 21st century, but Deadmau5 remains near the top of the list. Thanks in part to his signature enormous mouse mask, Deadmau5 has not only dominated dance music charts, but also placed a couple in the top 10 of the larger Billboard 200. He hasn't had an official release since 2019, but like any good electronic musician, he always has something new cooking. He'll perform at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving.

Champions of Magic
The Champions Of Magic cast present interactive magic, a daring escape from Houdini’s water torture cell, a mind-blowing prediction that has to be seen to be believed, levitation high above the stage, and a finale beyond explanation. The show happens all around the theatre and features spectacular illusions that can’t be seen anywhere else. The performance will be at Majestic Theatre.

Sunday, November 13

Clerks III: The Convenience Tour
The movie landscape has changed a lot over the last few years, and filmmakers have started to be creative in how they showcase their movies. Writer/director Kevin Smith is taking the city-by-city approach, going on tour with Clerks III, the long-awaited third installment of a film franchise that started way back in 1994. Smith will be in attendance for a Q&A after the film, which will have two screenings at Texas Theatre.

Holiday at the Arboretum 2022

Photo courtesy of Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden

Holiday at the Arboretum will be on display at the Dallas Arboretum through December 31.

music concerts symphony holidays kids families theater festivals dance comedy movies event-planner

MCM News

Dallas architecture firm nabs top floor of cool MCM Meadows Building

meadows building

Courtesy photo

You've seen it off US-75.

A Dallas design firm has snagged the top floor of an iconic building: SHM Architects, PLLC, has leased a 12,218-square-foot space at the historic Meadows Building at Energy Square, located at 5646 Milton St., relocating from their offices at 4514 Travis St. in the Knox District.

According to Michael Griffin of Transwestern Real Estate Services, who with Ethan Minter represented the tenant, SHM needed "a space that is both larger and inspiring."

"The penthouse space of the iconic mid-century modern Meadows Building, with massive balconies and a jewel box of glass in every direction, was the perfect solution," Griffin says in a release.

Completed in 1955, the Meadows Building was the first suburban office tower in Dallas and originally served as the headquarters for the General American Oil Company.

It has many wonderful little features such as nice hardware for the door handles and a beautiful terrazzo floor in the lobby.

Energy Square recently underwent a renovation that netted it a 10,000-square-foot fitness center, conference center, tenant lounges, revamped delis, campus park, and outdoor deck, spread out across five buildings that include the Meadows Building.

It was one of nine projects recognized with a Preservation Texas Honor Award in 2021 from Preservation Texas, who applauded the outstanding renovation it received from Glenstar and USAA Real Estate, which included going so far as to source replacement marble from the original quarry. "A lot of love went into saving this midcentury masterpiece,” wrote one of the Honor Award jury members.

It would surely be a gift to work there every day, and the release says that SHM is expanding its workforce. Wonder if they need writers.

The building is also steps away from the Lovers Lane stop on the DART Rail Red Line, perhaps making the idea of public transportation more enticing to the firm's cadre of young architects. Knox, home of their previous office, has no DART Rail stop, see what I'm saying.

SHM Architects, PLLC was founded in 2005 by David Stocker, Mark Hoesterey, and Enrique Montenegro. They also have a satellite studio in Crested Butte, Colorado, which they opened in 2019.

“Ever since the beginning of our firm, we have had our eye on the Meadows Building," says SHM founding Principal David Stocker. "We have great respect for Dallas architect J.N. MacCammon’s and the Meadows family’s vision for the building and the growth of Dallas."

He calls the building "a lovely example of mid-century modernism."

Tiki News

Beachy tiki-styled bar to surf into Downtown Plano, pina coladas in hand

pina colada

sweetlysteviausa.com

They'll have frozen pina coladas, what else do you need to know.

Surf's up in Plano with a fun new venue coming soon: Called Coco Beach, it's a tiki-themed bar and restaurant diving into historic Downtown Plano, with an opening targeted for December.

It's located at 1032 E. 15th St., in what was most recently a failed location of the Zalat Pizza chain but was at one time the Queen of Hearts magic shop at the corner of Avenue K.

Coco Beach is from Jacqulyn Hrna, an enthusiastic entrepreneur with experience in both the real estate and bar industries, who wanted to open something that celebrates her love for the beach.

"When I saw that building on the corner, I jumped in and said, 'I'm going for my beach bar'," she says. "I'm a beach girl, I was born in California, and my family was from Florida. We go to the beach every year, on the 4th of July — we go to Destin Beach, which forms the centerpiece of a big mural we've put in the restaurant."

The space has a full kitchen so they'll serve food as well as drink.

"My thought process is to start off with a limited menu — a half dozen appetizers, a handful of entrees, some desserts — and then add more items after we're sure we can execute it well," she says.

"For the bar, we'll definitely have frozen drinks including our signature pina colada, the Coco Colada," she says. "We'll also have a draft system, one that includes a mixed drink like mai tais on tap, with the idea to mix it up according to the season."

They'll keep late-night hours, too.

"We'll be open from 11 am-2 am, and eventually try to do breakfast, with early football games," she says. "We're putting in a bunch of 55-inch TVs to show as many games as we can."

The most distinctive decorative element will surely be the two thatched tiki huts they're installing on the front corners of the building, making this bar extra easy to find.

Beyond her beach crush, Coco Beach also serves as a tribute to a bar legend who passed away in 2021.

"In my 20s, I worked for Clark Boeken, a well-known operator, and learned so much about how to run a bar," she says. "He opened many bars in his lifetime, including a bar in San Antonio called Coco Beach — I think he would be honored."

nightlife openings downtown