Cue the sad songs

Real-life local heavies make wake-scene cameos as Dallas lays J.R. Ewing to rest

This time J.R. Ewing really is dead. Episode 8 of the second season of Dallas on TNT put the character in the ground once and for all, with veteran cast members from ye olden days standing graveside: Steve Kanaly as Southfork ranch hand Ray Krebbs; Ray’s once-upon-a-time hayloft canoodling partner, Lucy Ewing, played again by Charlene Tilton; her daddy, Gary Ewing (Ted Shackelford); J.R.’s mistress, Mandy Winger (Deborah Shelton); and his last young bride, Cally (Cathy Podewell).

It remains a mystery exactly who killed J.R. Was it a petty thief in Nuevo Laredo who broke into J.R.’s hotel room and shot him? Or did new Ewing nemesis Harris Ryland (Mitch Pileggi) have something to do with it?

Exec producer Cynthia Cidre wrote this week’s script, titled “J.R.’s Masterpiece.” Directed by Michael M. Robin, it was certainly the strongest hour of the season so far (seven more episodes to go), featuring a heart-tugging emotional breakdown by Patrick Duffy as Bobby.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban all uttered nice bits of dialogue.

Linda Gray, the strongest player in this series reboot, turned in a beautiful performance with her reading of a letter from former hubby J.R. as she stood over his casket. Seems the ol’ rascal had fallen back in love with the former Miss Texas. His letter, delivered to Sue Ellen the day before he died, expressed apologies for all his misdeeds and asked if he could take her to dinner sometime.

Gray’s tears were genuinely moving. She and actor Larry Hagman were close friends for 30 years, so she probably didn’t need to dig too far into The Method to feel her character’s grief. (Hagman died November 23, having completed five episodes this season.)

More highs, lows and in-betweens:

Sad songs: The slowed-down arrangement of the opening theme set the somber tone for this week’s send-off of the show’s central character. Sue Ellen’s visit to J.R.’s Southfork bedroom, where she caressed their wedding photo, was set to the bittersweet tune “The Bottom” by Houston singer-songwriter Charlie Robison. Lyrics: No need to worry about tomorrow/Cause you're not here/I'm going all the way down/To the bottom.

As cast members old and new watched J.R.’s coffin lowered, the music was “Down to the River to Pray,” from the soundtrack to O, Brother, Where Art Thou? (Get it?)

Nobody mentioned frackin’ methane: What this season of Dallas has lacked is exploration of personal relationships instead of all that phony passion for the exploration of oil and methane. Less shop talk and more family drama made this week’s show the kind of compelling experience for viewers that keeps us tuning in.

Best line: “I’m a bit drunk now,” said Sue Ellen, standing at J.R.’s grave and admitting she fell off the wagon the night before. (Linda Gray at 72 is at least twice the actress she was 30 years ago.)

Wake-up call: The wake for J.R. at Dallas Petroleum Club stirred up interesting new couplings. Sue Ellen flirted with brother-in-law Gary (though maybe just for oil lease reasons). And J.R.’s son, John Ross (Josh Henderson), engaged in some steamy smooch-fu with step-cousin Emma (Emma Webb) in the back seat of his (or somebody’s) car.

Locals paying tribute: Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban all uttered nice bits of dialogue in their wake-scene cameos.

J.R.’s favorite cocktail: Bourbon and Branch, which was served at the wake. Here’s the recipe.

Damn, Pam: Before he was killed in Nuevo Laredo, J.R. had been in Abu Dhabi searching for Pamela Barnes Ewing, birth-mom to Christopher (Jesse Metcalf). This is where the new Dallas breaks the mythology of the old one. Pam, played back in the day by Victoria Principal, was shown being blown to smithereens in a car wreck with an oil tanker in series one’s episode 282.

They made a half-baked attempt at bringing on a “new” Pam with a reconstructed face (played only once by Margaret Michaels), but even that Pam said she had only weeks to live. Because Principal has turned down all requests to reprise her role, it’s a mystery who will be playing the new-new Pamela Barnes Ewing.

Coming up: Joan Van Ark returns at Gary’s wife, Valene. (They were the couple at the center of Dallas spin-off Knots Landing.) And Bobby has to reexamine his life and marriage in the post-J.R. universe.

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New episodes of Dallas air at 8 pm, Mondays on cable’s TNT, with frequent reruns.

Larry Hagman had shot five episodes of Dallas before his death in November 2012.

Photo courtesy of TNT

Larry Hagman had shot five episodes of Dallas before his death in November 2012.

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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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