Weekend Event Planner

The Marvel Experience at Fair Park headlines best weekend events in Dallas

For the next three weeks, the world of Marvel Comics takes over Dallas-Fort Worth with two massive events. But if superheroes aren't your thing, there are still plenty of other options on the docket, including a Disney musical, the continuation of Dallas Medianale and a celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.

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, January 15

The Marvel Experience: The World's First Hyper-Reality Tour
If you thought seeing Iron Man, Captain America or The Avengers was a spectacle, just wait until you get to virtually experience the world yourself. This unique event features multiple activities in seven domes, a life-size Avengers Quinjet, a 4-D motion ride and more, all located at Fair Park through January 31.

Disney's Beauty and the Beast
When national theater productions come to the area, Dallas and Fort Worth generally get them back-to-back. But it took a solid nine months for Disney's Beauty and the Beast to make its way from Winspear Opera House in Dallas to Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth. The tale is worth the wait, and it runs through Sunday.

Friday, January 16

Rhythm in Fusion Festival
The Rhythm in Fusion Festival is a chance for lovers of tap dance to immerse themselves in the art form. Over four days, top national dancers, choreographers and industry professionals take part in classes and workshops at the Majestic Theatre to teach locals the ins and outs of tap. The festival culminates with a showcase on Sunday night.

Dennis DeYoung: The Music of Styx (POSTPONED UNTIL APRIL 23)
Singer Dennis DeYoung, one of the founding members of the rock group Styx, hasn't been an official member of the group since a split in 1999. But the man responsible for such classic songs as "Lady," "Come Sail Away" and "Mr. Roboto" hasn't let that stop him, and he carries on the group's legacy with this concert at Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson.

Saturday, January 17

Video Association of Dallas presents Dallas Medianale
The Video Association of Dallas is presenting this experimental film festival at McKinney Avenue Contemporary through February 28. As part of that event, they open an exhibition titled "Call and Response" on Saturday, featuring works by artists like Bruce Nauman, Joe Sola, Francis Alys, Gary Hill and Owen Kydd.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Cameron Carpenter
You don't usually picture energy and showmanship when it comes to classical music, but that's exactly what organist Cameron Carpenter brings to the table. He shows off his considerable skills on the Meyerson Symphony Center's Fisk Opus 100 organ at this special, one-night-only concert.

2015 Artopia
The annual Artopia, put on by the Dallas Observer at Centennial Hall at Fair Park, blends culture, fashion, art, music and food for an unforgettable night. Not only is it an opportunity to see some of the best of the Dallas-Fort Worth arts world, it's a way to help the arts flourish, as proceeds go toward grants for local artists.

Sunday, January 18

Travis Tritt in concert
Travis Tritt is one of those country singers who can live forever on his best work. Despite not having any hit songs since the early 2000s, Tritt and his fans can still bring themselves back to his heyday thanks to songs like "I'm Gonna Be Somebody," "Here's a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)" and "Foolish Pride." He regales the crowd at Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts with songs new and old.

Anjelah Johnson in concert
You may not immediately recognize the name of comedian Anjelah Johnson, but chances are that you know her face. She was a featured performer on MADtv and she's starred in commercials for Taco Cabana since 2011. Johnson gets back to her stand-up roots with this show at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

The 32nd Annual Black Music & Civil Rights Movement Concert and Tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.
This year's Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which falls on Monday, January 19, is more high-profile than usual with the release of the Oscar-worthy film Selma. This event at Meyerson Symphony Center features a variety of presentations honoring the civil rights leader's legacy, including film, music, narration and dance features.

The Marvel Experience brings the world of Marvel comic books and films to life at Cotton Bowl Stadium through February 1.

Photo courtesy of Marvel Experience

The Marvel Experience brings the world of Marvel comic books and films to life at Cotton Bowl Stadium through February 1.

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Movie Review

Jennifer Lawrence plays overwrought mom in thriller Die My Love

Photo by Kimberley French/courtesy of MUBI

Jennifer Lawrence in Die My Love.

Writer/director Lynne Ramsay does not make feel-good movies. Her previous two films —You Were Never Really Here and We Need to Talk About Kevin — were about a traumatized veteran who tracks down missing girls for a living and parents reckoning with a child who might be a sociopath, respectively. Her latest, Die My Love, has a story as dark as its title.

Grace (Jennifer Lawrence) and Jackson (Robert Pattinson) are a married couple who move into a run-down house that used to belong to Jackson’s uncle, who shot and killed himself on the property. That doesn’t exactly scream “great vibes,” but the somewhat manic duo quickly introduce a child into the equation, an event that forms a schism between two people who previously seemed to be on the same off-kilter wavelength.

While Jackson works to provide for the family, Grace is left to take care of the baby and herself at the somewhat remote house. She doesn’t appear to be a big fan of the arrangement, engaging in all manner of odd behavior, like crawling around the floor, talking to herself, and taking the baby on miles-long walks to visit her mother-in-law, Pam (Sissy Spacek), who’s not doing well herself after recently losing her husband, Harry (Nick Nolte).

Ramsay, who co-wrote the film with Enda Walsh and Alice Birch, foregrounds Grace’s experience above all others, but the film is far from straightforward. The idea of post-partum depression is raised as a reason for Grace’s weird behavior, but as both she and Jackson are introduced as two people who skew to the “ab” side of normal, it’s difficult to say that everything she does is due to feelings that arise after giving birth.

Plus, Grace has plenty to be upset about in general, including living in a death house, being left alone with their child the majority of the time, and Jackson bringing home a yapping dog without even so much as a conversation. But the manifestation of her anger/depression is hard to parse, as Ramsay includes scenes of her carrying around a butcher knife, meeting up with a mysterious figure on a motorcycle, and other strange things that may or may not actually be happening.

There is clearly a lot of metaphorical work being done by seemingly random things like the reappearance of a black horse on multiple occasions, blaring rock music that accompanies several scenes, and the use of the 1x1 aspect ratio by Ramsay. It’s easy to feel the intensity of the film’s central relationship and their conflicts even if you can’t make heads or tails of the allusions that the filmmaker seems to love.

Lawrence is put through the wringer almost as much as she was in Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!, and her performance is one that can be felt strongly. Still, because the narrative is unclear, she often appears to be overwrought in certain scenes. Pattinson never fits well with his uncaring and/or oblivious character. Spacek makes a nice impression in a limited amount of screen time, but why Ramsay chose to use the ultra-talented LaKeith Stanfield in the nothing part of the motorcycle rider is baffling.

Those who love to dig into symbolism and non-linear storytelling will have a field day with the arty Die My Love. But for everyone else, anything Ramsay might have been trying to say about the difficulties of being a mother gets buried under many scenes that don’t make any logical sense and over-the-top acting that’s only fit to match the bizarreness of the film itself.

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Die My Love is now playing in theaters.

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