Trinity Groves, the restaurant and entertainment center in West Dallas, has a new activity that seems made for social distancing: a trapeze.
Skyline Trapeze, which claims in a release to be Dallas' only trapeze rig and aerial training facility, has opened to the public, at 2720 Bataan St., formerly home to West Dallas Floors.
Skyline Trapeze was founded in 2013 under the name Dallas Circus Center by Donovan Chandler, a former trapeze artist. He's had a trapeze facility previously in Dallas, as well as in Addison and Lewisville.
In addition to the Trinity Groves location, he's planning to open a covered/indoor location at 2355 W. Northwest Hwy., just west of I-35.
Prices for the one-hour classes range from $55 to $60. You can fly solo or bring a group, currently limited to groups of 4. (During non-COVID times, the classes can hold up to 8 people.)
They'r also not doing any "catches" right now to minimize contact. "This is a great time to work on those swing progressions or turn-around swings," their class description says.
Classes feature on-the-ground introductions and safety procedures, followed by practice time attempting various tricks and catches over a safety net.
"We’re excited to welcome Skyline Trapeze to Trinity Groves,” says Trinity Groves co-owner Phil Romano. “It’s completely unique for the area and a great addition to our diverse collection of restaurants and shops. It’s the latest initiative to make Trinity Groves the number one entertainment destination in Dallas."
The history of DC Comics in movies has been hit-and-miss, especially when it comes to anything not directly involving Batman or Superman. Over the years, films have been headlined by heroes like Catwoman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Shazam, the Flash, and more, and while some succeeded, none left a lasting mark on moviegoers’ imaginations.
Much like they did with Joker, the powers-that-be behind DC Studios productions are trying to entice viewers with a no-holds-barred story in Clayface. Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) is an A-list movie actor with both critical and commercial appeal. Unfortunately, a night of celebration for his recent Oscar nomination leads to him sleeping with Theresa (Ruby Sear), the girlfriend of Markos Szabo (David Dencik), a prominent mobster in Gotham City. Markos then enacts revenge by taking a razor to Matt’s face.
Desperate to find a way to look like his old self again, Matt seeks out Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie), who’s conducting cutting-edge nanotechnology research that can heal any kind of damage. While the solution works on Matt, it also has the side effect of his body doing unintended things, even morphing into those with whom he comes into contact. After initially struggling with his new body, Matt decides to use his powers to enact revenge on those who’ve done him wrong.
Directed by James Watkins (Speak No Evil) and written by Mike Flanagan (The Life of Chuck) and Hossein Amini, the film is only intermittently entertaining as it tries to sell its ridiculous premise. Right from the start, it seems like the filmmakers have been given a limited budget, as everything from the sets to the CGI to the stilted dialogue feels cheap. For a film coming from a major studio, the whole thing comes off as schlocky and undercooked.
Watkins and his team try to make up for that shoddiness by delivering R-rated thrills like nudity and body horror, but those elements can only distract for so long. Much of the film is spent dealing with Matt’s trauma, and the downbeat nature of his body issues combined with very little action makes the movie not very fun to watch. The film also tries to make hay with more than a doctor-patient bond between Caitlyn — who has a boyfriend on the police force — and Matt, but like the most of the film, it never connects.
It’s not until the final third of the movie that the filmmakers land on the tone they should have been using the whole time. Matt’s ability to transform himself, while illogical and confounding, provides multiple over-the-top, funny moments and some legitimately creative kills. Instead of taking forever to set up Matt/Clayface’s origin story, Watkins and his team should have just cut to the chase and let him loose to see what the character could truly do.
This is the first big role for Welsh actor Harries, and while he’s not exactly magnetic, he proves himself worthy of the lead role. Ackie is also fine, but after several years of trying to advance up the Hollywood ladder, she may be running out of time to show she’s a star. The supporting cast has a couple of familiar faces, but it’s mostly lesser-known actors who do nothing to indicate they deserve bigger showcases.
It’s difficult to imagine any non-DC Comics fans having a strong attachment to the character of Clayface, and the film fails to make the case that he should be a continuing character. The poor quality of almost everything that appears on screen is indicative of the kind of effort and money that was put into the film, and sometimes you really do get what you pay for.
