The Topgolf sabbatical is almost over: The Allen location of Topgolf will reopen on August 26, representing the final Dallas-Fort Worth location to come back online.
Allen will join Topgolf's other three locations — Dallas, Fort Worth, and The Colony — who've all reopened following the big pandemic shutdown in March.
Like its siblings, the Allen location, which is at 1500 Andrews Pkwy., has instituted new protocols to help make the experience feel safe.
One of the biggest changes has been the installation of plastic dividers between every golfing bay, and between every table, which keeps groups enclosed in their own little bubble.
According to a release, they're enforcing social distancing in public guest areas, and masks must be worn at all times and all locations such as the lobby, bar/restaurant, walkways, restrooms, until groups get in their own reserved bay. At that point, masks are allowed to come off.
All associates wear masks and gloves, and they're cleaning all bays, computers, clubs, and balls between use.
The company is also introducing a new game that will incorporating imagery from Angry Birds, the mobile game first introduced in 2009.
It's an interactive golf experience that uses Topgolf's ball-tracing technology to blend the physical act of hitting a golf ball with Angry Birds' digital setting.
Guests can partner with Angry Birds characters Red, Chuck, and Bomb to demolish virtual structures placed on the Topgolf targets. There's a preview on their website.
Michaela Coel and Ian McKellen in The Christophers.
Director Steven Soderbergh is one of those filmmakers who — aside from the Ocean’s series — never seems to make the same kind of movie twice. He is somehow able to adapt his abilities to all sorts of different stories, making each of them as compelling as any other. His latest masterclass is in the London-set film, The Christophers.
Lori Butler (Michaela Coel), who restores art for a living, is approached by brother and sister Sallie and Barnaby Sklar (Jessica Gunning and James Corden) with a scheme. They want her to become the new assistant for their aging father, Julian (Ian McKellen), a famous artist known for a series called “The Christophers,” in order to gain access to unfinished paintings from the series and complete them herself.
Lori accepts the deal despite having some uneasy feelings about Julian, with whom she had a bad interaction years ago. Julian is just as wary, both because he knows of his children’s interest in the unfinished works, and because he would prefer to be left in peace. Although the trepidation on both sides continues for the bulk of the story, a grudging respect arises between two artists who know skill when they see it.
Directed by Soderbergh and written by Ed Solomon, who last collaborated on No Sudden Move, the film is astonishing in its ability to be compelling with such a small story. Much of the film is spent inside Julian’s multi-story home as Julian and Lori have low-level confrontations about a variety of things, including the meaning of his art, her abilities, the fate of the remaining “Christophers,” and more. Each conversation brings out more detail about their worldviews and their thoughts about their lot in life.
Much of the success of the film lies in the performances of McKellen and Coel. The 86-year-old McKellen has not lost his ability to astonish with the spoken word, and the monologues he delivers are engrossing even when they’re about mundane things. Coel, best known for the 2020 HBO show I May Destroy You, is a great foil for McKellen, never backing down from his challenges and giving her own unique takes on her lines.
While the film can be enjoyable for non-art lovers, those who appreciate the vagaries of the art world will have a lot to chew on. Soderbergh and Solomon debate a lot of aspects of art, including whether it’s possible to separate the art from the person making it, why some art is valued more than others, the ethics of forgery, and more. Because the film is about a fictional artist, it gives the filmmakers a bit more freedom in their criticisms.
Aside from McKellen and Coel, Gunning (Baby Reindeer) and Corden are the only other two people who get significant screen time in the film. Both of them are, let’s say, acquired tastes, and each gives an elevated performance that matches the energy of their respective characters. Tilly Botsford makes a nice impression in a small role as Julian’s masseuse.
Soderbergh’s last three films — Presence, Black Bag, and now The Christophers — have nothing in common other than the expert filmmaker helming all of them. When you can make a ghost story, a spy film, and a small film about artists equally interesting, you know you’re doing something right.
