Every year, the Dallas Arboretum likes to decorate its iconic DeGolyer Mansion with different holiday-themed items to celebrate the season. For this year's Holiday at the Arboretum, happening November 29 through December 31, more than 500 angels will festoon the grounds as a centerpiece for the arboretum's annual celebration.
The angels come in multiple different forms, including straw, wood, crystal, brass and handmade, showing off the range of figures the Dallas Pi Beta Phi Alumnae Club has accumulated through the years. Some are ornate, some are whimsical, but all, combined with other traditional decorations, put visitors in the mood of the season.
Although it may seem like the arboretum is repeating itself with the angels display, in reality this is the first time they've decked out the DeGolyer in such a fashion. Past years have seen displays of multiple versions of Santa Claus, crèches aka nativity scenes, nutcrackers and dolls. The donation of the angels display was two years in the making.
While the angels are new, Holiday at the Arboretum will also see the return of favorite activities like pictures with Santa Claus, live reindeer, costumed characters and holiday tea. Visitors can enjoy the holiday tea any day of the week, while the reindeer, characters and Santa Claus will only be at the arboretum on Saturdays and Sundays.
Of course, the highly praised Rory Meyers Children's Adventure Garden will also be open, making a trip to the arboretum worth it on a number of levels this holiday season.
The angels run the gamut from finely crafted to handmade.
Photo courtesy of Dallas Arboretum
The angels run the gamut from finely crafted to handmade.
The career of actor Chris Hemsworth is a curious one, as it feels like he’s a huge star (mostly from playing Thor in Marvel movies) and not at the same time, with most of the non-MCU movies featuring him in a lead role failing to become big successes. But he still has a certain presence about him, which is why he’s being given another chance to prove his star power in the new thriller, Crime 101.
Hemsworth plays Davis, a talented thief who knows how to get what he wants without resorting to violence. When a job early in the movie turns slightly sideways, it makes him think twice about working with his handler (Nick Nolte), who seems to prefer someone with a stronger touch, like the up-and-coming Ormon (Barry Keoghan).
Davis is the main character, but two others who come into his orbit get their own subplots. Lou (Mark Ruffalo) is a slightly schlubby LAPD detective who’s convinced he knows the pattern of an unknown thief that likes to hit places close to Highway 101. Sharon (Halle Berry) works for a high-end insurance agency known for working with ultra-wealthy clients, the types who might be a great target for a thief like Davis.
Written and directed by Bart Layton, the film has a decent propulsion to it that comes with most crime thrillers. Davis and Ormon represent the yin and the yang of criminal approaches, and and it’s interesting to see the juxtaposition between the two as their simmering rivalry heats up over the course of the film. When the film commits to actually showing its crimes, it has an excitement that’s worth watching.
Unfortunately, Layton displays a real lack of focus, taking the audience into subplots with each of the three main characters that prove unnecessarily distracting. Lou’s marriage problems may explain his disheveled appearance, but there’s no need to see him deal with them with wife Angie (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Sharon’s troubles with her male-dominated company prove slightly pivotal, but still don’t merit the time put into exploring them.
The most baffling subplot is Davis pursuing a relationship with Maya (Monica Barbaro), a woman he randomly meets. At different points in the movie, including many of his interactions with Maya, Davis seems like the most uncomfortable, antisocial person in the world. And yet he somehow morphs into a suave smooth-talker who’s able to convince anyone to do what he wants at other key points, making it unclear exactly what kind of person he really is.
Hemsworth does relatively well in the lead role, but he’s still missing that certain something to make his character, and therefore the movie, truly compelling. The rest of the cast is fine, too, but each of them seem to be putting in just the minimal amount of effort to make the film watchable. Ruffalo and Barbaro come off the best, but with the talent in the cast (11 Oscar nominations and one win), they could have been used better.
Crime 101 has most of the ingredients to be another great entry in the genre, and it succeeds when it actually decides to deliver on its promise. But too much of the film is spent on things that have no real bearing on plot or character development, leaving the movie in the middle of the pack.
