Weekend Event Planner

These are the 9 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

While many events in and around Dallas have either been postponed or canceled during the coronavirus pandemic, organizations have pivoted to virtual or socially distanced events to continue offering the masses some entertainment while we need it the most.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time. While not every event is out of the house, they all promise to provide a nice distraction from the everyday life.

Thursday, February 25

Junior Brown in concert
Country singer Junior Brown is a true original, best known for his signature instrument, the "guit-steel" double neck guitar that is a hybrid of an electric guitar and lap steel guitar. Active since the early '80s, Brown has released 11 albums in his career, including 2018's Deep in the Heart of Me. He'll play two shows on Thursday at The Kessler.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents The Concert Truck
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra will present the residency of The Concert Truck, collaborative community concerts across the city featuring musicians of the DSO and other arts organizations. Concerts will be held outdoors at various locations through March 14, with audiences and performers able to maintain a safe distance while enjoying live performances. Locations this weekend include Medical City Medical Center – Children’s Hospital on Thursday, Nasher Sculpture Center on Friday, and Klyde Warren Park and The Sound at Cypress Waters on Saturday.

Kitchen Dog Theater presents CRAFT: Art of the Hooch & Pooch
After a false start due to weather last week, Kitchen Dog Theater will celebrate their 30th Anniversary with this series that looks back at a few of the world premiere plays they’ve produced over the years written by Artistic Company Members. The series starts with Pompeii!! with creators Cameron Cobb, Michael Federico, and Max Hartman. Virtual episodes will begin with a mixologist walking viewers through the creation of an original craft cocktail, followed by a deep dive conversation into the craft behind the creation with artists from the productions. There will be other episodes monthly through June.

Cirque Italia presents Paranormal Cirque
After two other stops in the area, Cirque Italia's Paranormal Cirque heads north to Denton. Under the black and red big top tent of Paranormal Cirque exists a crazy yet fun fusion between circus, theater, and cabaret in perfect harmony with the evolution of a show that brings audiences back to when they dream ... and when they had nightmares and fantasies. The show, continuing through March 7 at the North Texas Fairgrounds, is only for teenagers and above; no kids under 13 will be admitted.

Friday, February 26

The Dallas Opera presents Tosca
Since the Dallas Opera is still unable to present live productions, they are going back into their archives again to stream the company’s 2015 production of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca. The passionate, star-studded production was originally presented in 2015, including a live simulcast at Klyde Warren Park. The stream will be available to view at any time through March 27.

Improv Addison presents DeRay Davis
Comedian DeRay Davis has been killing it on stage, in movies, and on TV for years. His film credits include Semi-Pro, both Barbershop movies, and Johnson Family Vacation. On the small screen, Davis has appeared in HBO's Entourage, Comedy Central's Reno 911, and provided numerous voices on The Boondocks. He'll perform five times through Sunday at Improv Addison.

Saturday, February 27

Jonathan Tyler in concert with Desure
Jonathan Tyler is a Dallas-based musician who has received national attention, opening for major acts like Erykah Badu, Leon Russell, Deep Purple, The Black Crowes, Kool and the Gang, and more. Tyler and his band, the Northern Lights, have released three studio albums in their career, including 2015's Holy Smokes. He'll perform at The Kessler, with Desure as the opening act.

Sunday, February 28

New exhibitions at Dallas Museum of Art (UPDATE: The opening of these exhibits is being postponed one week to March 7.)
The Dallas Museum of Art will open two new exhibitions on Sunday, most notably "Frida Kahlo: Five Works," which gives visitors the rare opportunity to see five exquisite works by the acclaimed Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. Also opening is "Devoted: Art and Spirituality in Mexico and New Mexico," which features devotional works drawn from the DMA’s Latin American collection, exploring interrelated artistic traditions in the two regions. The Frida Kahlo exhibition will run through June 20, while "Devoted" will remain on display through January 2, 2022.

Bruce Wood Dance presents WOOD/SHOP
Bruce Wood Dance presents the first installment of the virtual series WOOD/SHOP. The first event will feature two premieres: Gabriel Speiller's Roses in December, an emotive trio of dancers winding through the twisting terrain of loss, grief, and hope; and Megan Storey's The Silence That Wakes Us, a riveting rush of movement with a compelling play of sound and silence inspired by reflections of her personal experiences with loss. It also includes a unique film project made by Cole Vernon.

Bruce Wood Dance presents the virtual series WOOD/SHOP on February 28.

Photo by Sharen Bradford

Bruce Wood Dance presents the virtual series WOOD/SHOP on February 28.

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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.

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Faces of Death is now playing in theaters.

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