Weekend Event Planner

These are the 12 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Even though holiday events have been going on for a couple of weeks already, there's something about the calendar turning over to December that makes it feel more like the season. Accordingly, two-thirds of the events in this week's round-up will be holiday-related. The only non-holiday ones will be a new theater production, a visit from two celebrity best friends, and two concerts from some very big names.

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

Thursday, November 30

Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden presents Outdoor Movie: Elf
Visitors to the Dallas Arboretum on Thursday will get a 2-for-1 deal, as they can take in the garden's popular 12 Days of Christmas exhibit and also be on hand for its first-ever outdoor movie screening, Elf. Bring a blanket and picnic, or order from the two food trucks onsite, and watch as Will Ferrell does his hilarious thing in this modern-day holiday classic.

Friday, December 1

Texas Ballet Theater presents The Nutcracker
Texas Ballet Theater's version of The Nutcracker is a must-see holiday tradition. The ballet, which features a score by Tchaikovsky and enduring characters such as Clara, the Sugar Plum Fairy, and the Nutcracker Prince, will play at Winspear Opera House four times through Sunday before it makes its way over to Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, December 8-24.

WaterTower Theatre presents The Great Distance Home
The latest production from WaterTower Theatre is the rare non-holiday offering in December. Boy, like all of us, is searching for something, but he’s not sure what. He’s certain it’s not in his home. He’s certain it’s not in his town. But beyond that, he’s not sure where it is. Nevertheless, he goes looking for it, and in the end what he finds is the last thing he expected. The play will run through December 17.

AC2: An Intimate Evening with Anderson Cooper & Andy Cohen
Bravo's Andy Cohen and CNN's Anderson Cooper will present an unscripted, uncensored, and unforgettable night of conversation. The late-night talk show host and the journalist, who are longtime friends, will interview each other and take questions from the audience at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving. It's a live, interactive look behind the scenes of pop culture and world events.

Dead & Company in concert
When it comes to a venerated group like the Grateful Dead, nothing is ever truly the end. Dead & Company features original Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, and Bob Weir alongside John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, and Jeff Chimenti. Continuing in the tradition of the iconic band, the group draws from the Dead’s vast catalog of songs to keep their tradition alive. They will play at American Airlines Center.

Saturday, December 2

Dallas Holiday Parade
The Dallas Holiday Parade has had bad luck in recent years, with a cancellation due to weather a couple of years ago and a lack of funding this year. But the show will go on, and this year the parade, which features marching bands, festive floats, and fun family activities, will have a Grand Opening in front of The Adolphus Hotel and a Grand Finale in front of The Statler Hotel.

Klyde Warren Park presents Nissan’s Winter Wonderlights
Nissan's Winter Wonderlights at Klyde Warren Park will feature free photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus, kids’ crafts, food trucks, activities and demonstrations from Dallas arts and cultural friends and neighbors, music entertainment, and a holiday show culminating with the lighting of the Klyde Warren Park Christmas tree. At the end of the event, characters from Lightwire Theater’s A Very Electric Christmas will lead the crowd to the AT&T Performing Arts Center where the Reliant Lights Your Holidays festivities will be under way.

Reliant Lights Your Holidays
Reliant Lights Your Holidays features hundreds of thousands of dazzling LED lights placed on the AT&T Performing Arts Center's iconic venues and trees. There will also be live performances by En Vogue and RaeLynn, who will perform a selection of hits and holiday classics; free photos with Santa; and a fireworks display in Elaine D. and Charles A. Sammons Park. The lights will remain on throughout the holiday season.

Jackopierce Christmas
The Dallas duo Jackopierce is about to celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2018, but a now-annual Christmas Show is only in its third edition. The show, taking place at McFarlin Auditorium on the SMU campus, is an all-ages event where Jack O'Neill and Cary Pierce will be playing many of the Jackopierce hits along with several Christmas classics. There will be a full band, special guests, and lots of surprises.

Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith in concert with Jordan Smith
Grammy winners Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith co-bill their popular Christmas tour this holiday season, which will be joined for the second consecutive year by Jordan Smith, Season 9 winner of NBC’s The Voice. The seasonal crowd-pleaser, which will be at Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie, incorporates a full symphony orchestra under the direction of musical director and conductor David Hamilton.

Sunday, December 3

CultureMap Holiday Pop-up Shop
With only 22 days left in the Christmas shopping season, the CultureMap Holiday Pop-up Shop is a great opportunity to get that perfect gift. It's a curated holiday boutique featuring our favorite local retailers for men, women, kids and pets, selling jewelry, home decor, gourmet food, and more. The event, taking place in Food & Fiber Pavilion at Fair Park, will have cocktails, festive food, crafting, holiday tunes, complimentary gift wrapping, and more while you shop.

Ashanti and Ja Rule in concert
Ashanti and Ja Rule have been collaborators ever since their 2001 No. 1 hit, "Always on Time." They've gone on to collaborate multiple times, including on "Mesmerize" in 2002, "Wonderful" in 2004, and most recently on "Helpless" as part of The Hamilton Mixtape. They'll be sure to sing those songs and a few of their solo hits as part of this concert at the Bomb Factory.

The CultureMap Holiday Pop-up Shop will take place in Food & Fiber Pavilion at Fair Park on December 3.

Photo by WJNPHOTO

The CultureMap Holiday Pop-up Shop will take place in Food & Fiber Pavilion at Fair Park on December 3.

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Movie Review

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first but not by much

Blumhouse

Five Nights at Freddy's 2

Blumhouse Productions first made their name with the Paranormal Activity series, establishing themselves as a leader in the horror genre thanks to their relatively cheap yet effective movies. In recent years, they’ve added on “soft” horror films likeM3GAN and Five Nights at Freddy’s to draw in a younger audience, with both films becoming so successful that each was quickly given a sequel.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 finds Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and his sister Abby (Piper Rubio) still recovering from the events of the first film, with Abby particularly missing her “friends.” Those friends just so happen to be the souls of murdered children who inhabit animatronic characters at the long-defunct Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, children who were abducted and killed by William Afton (Matthew Lillard).

A new threat emerges at another Freddy Fazbear’s location in the form of Charlotte, another murdered child who inhabits a creepy large marionette. Mike, distracted by a possible romance with Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), fails to keep track of Abby, who makes her way to the old pizzeria and inadvertently unleashes Charlotte and her minions on the surrounding town.

Directed by Emma Tammi and written by Scott Cawthon (who also created the video game on which the series is based), the film tries to mix together goofy elements with intense scenes. One particular sequence, in which the security guard for Freddy Fazbear’s lets a group of ghost hunters onto the property, toes the line between soft and hard horror. That and a few others show the potential that the filmmakers had if they had stuck to their guns.

Unfortunately, more often than not they either soft-pedal things that would normally be horrific, or can’t figure out how to properly stage scenes. The sight of animatronic robots wreaking havoc is one that is simultaneously frightening and laughable, and the filmmakers never seem to find the right balance in tone. Every step in the direction of making a truly scary horror film is undercut by another in which the robots fail to live up to their promise.

It doesn’t help that Cawthon gives the cast some extremely wooden dialogue, lines that none of the actors can elevate. What may work in a video game format comes off as stilted when said by actors in a live-action film. The story also loses momentum quickly after the first half hour or so, with Cawthon seemingly content to just have characters move from place to place with no sense of connection between any of the scenes.

Hutcherson (The Hunger Games series), after being the true lead of the first film, is given very little to do in this film, and his effort is equal to his character’s arc. The same goes for Lail, whose character seems to be shoehorned into the story. Rubio is called upon to carry the load for a lot of the movie, and the teenager is not quite up to the task. A brief appearance by Skeet Ulrich seems to be a blatant appeal to Scream fans, but he and Lillard only underscore how limited this film is compared to that franchise.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first film, but not by much. The filmmakers do a decent job of making the new marionette character into a great villain, but they fail to capitalize on its inherent creepiness. Instead, they fall back on less effective elements, ensuring that the film will be forgettable for anyone other than hardcore Freddy fans.

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Five Nights at Freddy's 2 opens in theaters on December 5.

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