Weekend Event Planner

Superstars Kanye West and Beyoncé top best extended weekend events in Dallas

It's going to take some hearty souls to go out and about this weekend, as the temperatures are predicted to drop close to or below the freezing mark, with sleet and snow to boot.

But with the line-up in the next five days, it'll be worth the effort. There's even a special bonus on Monday that we couldn't resist.

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

Thursday, December 5

How the Edge Stole Christmas 2013
Rock station 102.1 The Edge has been presenting this annual holiday blowout for years, and this year's line-up is as strong as ever. Among the bands performing at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie are Stone Temple Pilots with Chester Bennington, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Blue October, Panic! At the Disco, Capital Cities and New Politics.

Uptown Players presents The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told
There are lots of traditional holiday theater productions around the area, and then there's the offering from Uptown Players, which puts the troupe's typical humorous spin on assorted tales from the Bible, from Adam and Eve to the Nativity scene. The play runs at Kalita Humphreys Theater through December 15.

Friday, December 6

Reliant Lights Your Holidays 2013 (Rescheduled for Friday, December 13)
The first of several outdoor events this weekend, this one in Sammons Park at AT&T Performing Arts Center features entertainment from country singer Jack Ingram, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet and characters from the Dallas Theater Center’s production of A Christmas Carol. But the showcase is the official lighting of the six-and-a-half miles of lights lining the Winspear Opera House, Wyly Theatre and surrounding trees. The night is capped by a fireworks show.

Kanye West in concert with Kendrick Lamar
Hardly any other performer thinks more highly of himself than Kanye West, and the media's adulation of his relationship with fiancee Kim Kardashian and their baby North only heightens that egotism. But his music will be front and center at American Airlines Center, as the rapper makes his first solo appearance in Dallas in five years. Kendrick Lamar opens.

Saturday, December 7

2013 Children’s Medical Center Holiday Parade (CANCELED)
If you enjoyed the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Dallas' version should be equally as fun. Running mostly down Commerce Street before making a few twists and turns to end up at Dallas City Hall, the annual parade features the expected array of floats, balloons and performers. Although there are some free spots to watch, your best bet is to buy a ticket for one of the grandstands, especially given how cold it will be that morning.

U.S. Olympic Committee presents Road to Sochi Tour (CANCELED)
The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, are a mere two months away, and to get people excited about the U.S. athletes' push for gold, the U.S. Olympic Committee is bringing select athletes and sport demonstrations to Klyde Warren Park. On both Saturday and Sunday, you can sit in a bobsled, try your hand at curling, and meet people like ice dancers Maia and Alex Shibutani and speedskating champion Chad Hedrick.

Bob Newhart in concert
Bob Newhart has been a television icon for so long that it's easy to forget he first came to prominence as a stand-up comedian. The 84-year-old has a patented deadpan style that's far removed from the in-your-face delivery favored by many modern stand-ups, but he can still bring down the house. He shows how in this performance at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth.

Sunday, December 8

2013 MetroPCS Dallas Marathon (CANCELED)
Even if you're not competing, the annual ~~White Rock~~ Dallas Marathon is sure to affect anyone going out in Dallas on Sunday morning. Starting and finishing in downtown Dallas, the full course is a rough circle that takes runners across Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge through Uptown, Oak Lawn and Highland Park before heading east to go around White Rock Lake. Runners can always use encouragement, especially toward the end, so get out and cheer if you have the chance.

Monday, December 9

Beyoncé in concert
Yep, this isn't the weekend, but when a star of Beyoncé's caliber makes her second stop of 2013 at American Airlines Center, it deserves some recognition. Although her last album, 4, came out more than two years ago, her fifth album is rumored to almost be finished, so fans are likely to get previews of some songs at this concert.

The ever-brooding Kanye West brings his Yeezus act to town on December 6 at American Airlines Center.

Photo courtesy of livebyblovely.com

The ever-brooding Kanye West brings his Yeezus act to town on December 6 at American Airlines Center.

unspecified

Movie Review

Faces of Death returns with modern twist on cult horror film

Photo courtesy of of IFC Films

Dacre Montgomery in Faces of Death.

True horror fans will likely be familiar with the 1978 cult film Faces of Death, which purported to be a documentary showing real-life killings in gory detail. It didn’t, of course, but that didn’t stop rumors from continuing to spread for decades. Now, almost 50 years and multiple sequels later, comes a new version of Faces of Death, an actual movie that pays homage to the original in interesting ways.

Margot (Barbie Ferreira) works at a YouTube-like company called Kino as a content moderator, flagging videos that violate the company’s policies. This means her job often involves seeing some truly despicable things from all manner of depraved people. One day, though, she comes across a video that seems a little too real, and after seeing more similar videos, she starts to believe they’re genuine murders.

Going against her company NDA, she starts to investigate the videos on her own, which puts her on the radar of Arthur (Dacre Montgomery), who is actually kidnapping people and killing them on camera through methods seen in the original Faces of Death film. It’s not long before Arthur tracks her down, with a plan to make her one of his next victims.

Written and directed by Daniel Goldhaber (How to Blow Up a Pipeline) and co-written by Isa Mazzei, the film is not so much scary as it is creepy, with the occasional gross-out sequence. The idea of having someone emulate the killings in the cult film is a good idea, and pairing it with the modern-day attention economy - in which content creators go to increasing lengths for clicks - is a clever twist on a concept that other films have done.

The film as a whole is a commentary on how social media and video sharing sites have often decided to prioritize profits over the well-being of their users. Margot is shown allowing videos involving violence and sexual assault to stay on the site while nixing ones depicting how to use Narcan or demonstrating putting on a condom on a banana. Josh (Jermaine Fowler), Margot’s boss, is even explicit in the company mandate that outrageous videos drive views.

While Arthur has the makings of a good villain, there are few attempts to make him seem truly diabolical. His kidnappings often seem more spur-of-the-moment than calculated, and even though he has a well thought-out dungeon at home, the house’s location in the suburbs seems to make him vulnerable to easy discovery. Goldhaber and Mazzei leave more than a few unanswered questions along the way that take away from the intensity of the story.

Ferreira is yet another actor from Euphoria who’s capitalizing on her exposure from that show. She plays Margot’s increasing anxiety well, and when the action ratchets up in the final act, she meets the moment in a satisfying way. Montgomery returns to the vibe he had while playing the evil Billy on Stranger Things, and even though his character doesn’t fully live up to his potential, Montgomery sells his evil for all it’s worth.

The new Faces of Death may not be what some are expecting given the reputation of the previous films, but it’s a solid horror/thriller that uses the brand as a launching pad into something different. It doesn’t make much of a dent in the scare department, but it does give its violence and gore a degree of relevance in today’s often desensitized world.

---

Faces of Death is now playing in theaters.

movies film