Weekend Event Planner

These are the 11 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

You can tell that the world is inching its way back toward a semblance of normalcy with this week's slate of events in and around Dallas, which includes two events — a PGA golf tournament and an arts festival — where crowds are almost guaranteed. Other in-person choices include a symphony concert, local theater, two dance productions, the return of improv comedy, an Instagram-able exhibit, and more.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend.

Thursday, May 13

2021 AT&T Byron Nelson
Fans will be allowed back on the course for the 2021 AT&T Byron Nelson, and they'll get not only a top-notch field of players, but also a new venue to explore. The tournament, going on through Sunday, will take place at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney for the first time. Among the expected participants will be defending champion Sung Kang, Bryson Dechambeau, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, Dallas' own Jordan Spieth, and more.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Mendelssohn & Ravel"
This concert, conducted by Gemma New and featuring violinist Angela Fuller Heyde, will include Mendelssohn's Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave) Overture, the world premiere of Kareem Roustom's Violin Concerto No. 2, and Ravel's Mother Goose Suite. The concert will have three performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Rover Dramawerks presents Butterflies Are Free
Plano's Rover Dramawerks makes their return to the stage with Butterflies Are Free. Don Baker has recently moved to Manhattan and made his overprotective mother agree not to visit for two months. Don has been blind since birth, and although he’s a little lonely, he is enjoying his newfound freedom as he pursues his songwriting ambitions. Then he meets his kooky new neighbor Jill, a beautiful actress. The two quickly become close, and Mrs. Baker’s unexpected arrival a month earlier than agreed upon results in her controlling instincts going into overdrive, as she fears Jill will break her son’s heart. The production will have eight performances through May 22 at The Core Theatre in Richardson.

mixtamotus presents #DigitalConnection
#DigitalConnection is presented by mixtamotus, a human-digital interface art exploration. It is a diverse collaborative work that blends dance, music, and video mapping to create a weekend-long immersive installation in the 6th Floor Studio Theatre in the Wyly Theatre. The performance concludes with a post-show, behind-the-scenes experience educational component including a facilitated Q&A with the collaborators, photo/video opportunities, and technology playtime. The production, part of AT&T Performing Arts Center's Elevator Project, will run through Sunday.

Friday, May 14

Four Day Weekend Dallas
After more than a year without performing at their home base, Four Day Weekend Dallas will return to the stage for weekly performances on Fridays and Saturdays. The comedy troupe started their improv comedy show in Fort Worth and expanded the show to Dallas on Lowest Greenville in 2018. The troupe performs a 105-minute show created from audience suggestions and participation, so it's guaranteed to be something different every time.

Texas Ballet Theater presents "Ballet al Fresco"
Texas Ballet Theater will presents "Ballet al Fresco," a collection of classic and contemporary pieces showcasing the range of the company. The production, which will have four performances through Sunday at Annette Strauss Square, will feature selections from Three Preludes, Afternoon of a Faun, Sylvia, The Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake.

Saturday, May 15

Galleria Dallas presents "Pop! by Snowday"
"Pop! by Snowday" is an experiential exhibit that is twice the size of the previous "Snowday" installation at Galleria Dallas. Around every corner, secret entrances lead to unique visuals and experiences. Visitors could find themselves inside a laundry machine, a unique curved photography studio, or in a one-of-a-kind tunnel of music and light. Photo opportunities allow for sharable photos or videos featuring a secret garden, a vintage automobile, or even a trip through the clouds. The exhibit, located on Level One in Galleria Dallas adjacent to Grand Lux Café, will be open daily through Labor Day, September 6.

Historic Grapevine's 37th Annual Main Street Fest "Reimagined"
Historic Grapevine's 37th Annual Main Street Fest, "Reimagined," will feature European-style theatrical street performances with gravity-defying stunts, live music performances on three stages, and the Craft Brew Experience, featuring more than 50 craft brews from 11 states. During the event, taking place on Saturday and Sunday, bistros, cafes, and boutiques will extend their storefronts onto Main Street to provide alfresco dining and shopping experiences.

Dallas Pizza Fest
Pizza lovers — which is pretty much everybody — will be in heaven at Dallas Pizza Fest, a pizza trucks block party featuring a pizza eating contest, a kids bounce land, live shows and performances, a beer & wine garden, and more. Taking place at Bottled Blonde, which is already known for its pizza, the event will feature trucks like Bellatrino Pizza, Serious Pizza, Olivella's Pizza, i Fratelli Pizza, and more.

Sunday, May 16

Dallas Museum of Art presents "Dalí’s Divine Comedy" closing day
Sunday will be the final day to view the exhibition "Dalí’s Divine Comedy" at the Dallas Museum of Art. This exhibition showcases artist Salvador Dalí's most ambitious illustrated series: his colored wood engravings of the Divine Comedy, an epic poem by the medieval Florentine writer Dante Alighieri. Selected prints from this series highlight the artist’s distinctive Surrealist interpretation of each realm and how his images interact with Dante’s text.

Dallas Summer Musicals presents "Hershey Felder: Live from Florence"
Dallas Summer Musicals will present the third and final production in the series "Hershey Felder: Live from Florence," in which Felder brings famous composers to life through storytelling and their works. The final production is called Anna & Sergei, the story of a very strange meeting between Rachmaninoff and Anna Anderson, the woman who claimed to be the sole surviving member of the Romanov Dynasty, the Princess Anastasia. The production features Rachmaninoff’s most beloved melodies and music.

Jordan Spieth and other top PGA golfers will be playing in the AT&T Byron Nelson, taking place May 13-16 at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney.

Jordan Spieth/Facebook

Jordan Spieth and other top PGA golfers will be playing in the AT&T Byron Nelson, taking place May 13-16 at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney.

event-planner

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