Movie News

Drive-in movie concept sets up shop on grassy East Dallas field off US-75

They'll open with Grease and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Photo courtesy of Rooftop Cinema Club

A drive-in company with three locations in Texas is coming to Dallas. Called Rooftop Cinema Club, it'll set up an outdoor theater in East Dallas, at 2999 N. Carroll Ave.

According to a release, the Dallas location is called Drive-In at The Central — it's off US-75, where the ACS building used to be before it got imploded in 2015 — and will open August 25. The schedule of films and tickets are available Thursday, August 13.

This will be the company's fourth drive-in theater to open in Texas since March, following locations in Houston and San Antonio.

Rooftop Cinema Club started as a single rooftop in London in 2011 and has now three venues in the UK, plus venues in Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, and Houston. The rooftop venues have it pretty good, with state-of-the-art projectors, personal headphones, deck chairs, and blankets.

The Texas drive-ins are not on rooftops. Owner-founder Gerry Cottle says in a statement that they're reviving the tradition of the drive-in to accommodate the desire for socially distanced entertainment. There are more in the works for other U.S. cities.

"The return of this great American institution continues to grow in popularity as we've seen at our other Texas drive-ins," Cottle says. "[These] aren't week-long pop-ups, they are here to stay as long as people need this as a safe escape during this uncertain time."

Hmm, so maybe it'll be month-long pop-ups.

They'll host two screenings per night, seven nights a week, and all ages are welcome.

They'll debut with Grease and Raiders of the Lost Ark, and continue with a mix of modern and classic films geared towards family, friends, or date night.

Family-friendly flicks such as Frozen II and The Sandlot will screen first at around 8 pm. The second screening of the night begins at 11 pm with films such as A Star is Born, Love Jones, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Bohemian Rhapsody.

Tickets are as follows:

8 pm: $28 or $35 per vehicle, regardless of occupancy, depending on parking preference – either closer or further from the screen.
10:30-11 pm: $22 and $28, Sunday-Thursday, and $28 or $35 Friday-Saturday, also depending on parking preference.

You can bring your own snacks and drinks, or order concessions, food, and drinks from Rooftop Cinema Club or on-site food truck partners. All orders are made online and guests will be notified for pick up, to avoid time outside their cars. Concession items will include popcorn, candy, and soda.

Cars will enter the venue off North Carroll Avenue, where they’ll greet a 52-foot movie screen, and be ushered to a 10-foot by 15-foot parking space. All vehicles are spaced up to 10 feet apart. Audio can be picked up through local FM stereo in the car, or guests can bring a portable radio.

Safety rules include requirements to follow your usher's directions on where to park, and to watch the movie from within your vehicle, truck bed, or hatchback. Lawn chairs, picnic blankets, and other seating outside the vehicle are not allowed at this time.

Masks, face coverings, and social distancing are required anytime you step outside your car for any reason, whether it's using the restroom or buying snacks.

The schedule of films through September 6 is as follows:

August 25: Grease, Raiders of The Lost Ark
August 26: Sonic The Hedgehog, A Star Is Born
August 27: Selena, Dazed and Confused
August 28: Dirty Dancing, Friday
August 29: Jurassic Park, A Nightmare on Elm Street
August 30: The Little Mermaid, Pulp Fiction
August 31: Frozen II (Community Screening), Love Jones
September 1: Toy Story 4, Poetic Justice
September 2: Shrek, Bohemian Rhapsody
September 3: The Greatest Showman, Grease
September 4: The Lion King (2019), Friday
September 5: Jurassic Park, Texas Chainsaw Massacre
September 6: The Sandlot, Joker

movies

Movie review

Over-the-top The Bride! makes other Frankenstein movies seem subtle

Photo by Niko Tavernise

Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley in The Bride!.

The story of Dr. Frankenstein and his monster is now over 200 years old, with Mary Shelley’s book having been adapted or referenced in close to 500 films. Less common is the character of The Bride of Frankenstein, which existed in the original text but has more often than not been excised in adaptations. Writer/director Maggie Gyllenhaal has tried to rectify that by giving the character a big showcase in her new film, The Bride!.

Gyllenhaal has reimagined the story as one in which a woman named Ida (Jessie Buckley) becomes possessed by the spirit of Shelley (also Buckley). At the same time, the already-existing Frankenstein’s monster (Christian Bale) approaches Dr. Euphronius (Annette Bening), who specializes in reanimation, with the request to make him a wife. When Ida falls to her death in an “accident” involving her boyfriend (John Magaro), the ideal corpse becomes available.

After Ida’s resurrection, she and the monster become restless being studied by Dr. Euphronius and decide to break out to experience the world. The world, naturally, is not exactly welcoming to them, and soon the couple are on the run for causing mayhem, including a few murders. In hot pursuit are detective Jake Wiles (Peter Sarsgaard) and his assistant, Myrna Mallow (Penélope Cruz), as well as other authorities.

It’s clear that Gyllenhaal wanted to merge the Frankenstein story with Bonnie & Clyde, especially since she sets the film in the mid-1930s. And that wouldn’t have been a bad idea if having the monster and The Bride going on a crime spree was truly the focus of the movie. But most of the time there’s less intentionality in their misdeeds and more confusion, leading to a muddled plot with no clear direction or end goal in mind.

One of the biggest problems is that Gyllenhaal starts the energy of the film at an 11, giving her and everyone else nowhere to go but down. She dabbles in multiple different tones, at times going the straight drama route and other times making what seems like full-on camp. At one point, she even has the monster and the Bride in a dance sequence set to “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” which would be hilarious as an homage to Young Frankenstein if the film weren’t so disjointed.

Most baffling of all is what Gyllenhaal wants from The Bride character. She morphs multiple times over the course of the film, from close to unintelligible at the beginning to rough-and-tumble at the end. There are hints at the lack of control she has over her autonomy, including Shelley’s possession of her and the monster lying to her about her past, but any commentary that Gyllenhaal might be trying to make gets lost amid the oddity of the film as a whole.

Both Buckley and Bale are all-in for their performances, which definitely fall in the “love it or hate it” dichotomy. Each scene is pitched so high that there’s little nuance to either of them, and neither is on par with their previous Oscar-caliber roles. The high-powered supporting cast of Bening, Sarsgaard, Cruz, and Jake Gyllenhaal is watchable based on previous roles, but none of them elevate this particular movie.

Whatever intentions Maggie Gyllenhaal had in making The Bride! are only halfway legible in a film that can never find its tonal footing. There has rarely been subtlety in movies featuring Frankenstein’s monster and related characters, but this one makes all the others seem like stuffy dramas in comparison.

---

The Bride! is now playing in theaters.

movies film