Weekend Event Planner

These are the 6 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

While the majority of events around Dallas have either been postponed or canceled, there are a few that have popped up to offer the masses some entertainment while still adhering to the social distancing necessary during the coronavirus pandemic.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. While they're not all outside of the house, they all promise to provide a nice distraction from the everyday life.

Thursday, September 3

The Texas Tribune Festival
The annual Texas Tribune Festival, which normally takes place in Austin, will be almost entirely virtual this year, opening it up to people all over the world. It will feature a month of programming with more than 250 speakers, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, Hillary Clinton, Andrew Yang, Joaquin Castro, Julián Castro, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Eric Holder, Jeb Bush, Cecile Richards, Chasten Buttigieg, Gloria Steinem, and more. The festival continues through September 30.

Friday, September 4

Brass, Organ & Percussion of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Sarah Hicks and the DSO musicians will present a patriotic return to Meyerson Symphony Center filled with brass-tastic arrangements of spirited anthems and marches. The concert, taking place through Sunday, will feature Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, selections from Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks, and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, as well as Bradley Welch playing the 4,500-pipe Lay Family Concert Organ. These concerts and other forthcoming concerts are currently available to subscribers only.

Southfork Ranch Fall Concert Series
The Southfork Ranch Fall Concert Series will present concerts featuring area tribute bands every two weeks through October 2, starting with Beatlemania '64, a tribute to The Beatles. Guests will be socially distanced in “viewing pods,” a 13-by-25-foot space marked off in the Southfork Ranch parking lot. Each pod holds up to six guests and tickets may be purchased as a group or individually. Masks must be worn when a guest leaves their pod to use the restroom or concession area.

Tupps Brewery presents Summer Drive-In Concert Series
Tupps Brewery in McKinney will host the final installment in their series of drive-in concerts, featuring a performance by Cody Canada and The Departed. Each vehicle will have a 20’ x 20’ block of space, and all guests are asked to remain in their assigned block for the duration of the concert. Portable chairs or a blanket on the ground inside a block are welcome. Face masks must be worn when leaving a block in order to visit the restrooms, brewery tent, or food truck.

Saturday, September 5

Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary presents Dinosaurs Live opening day
At Heard Natural Science Museum's 15th annual Dinosaurs Live exhibit, visitors can travel back in time along a half-mile nature trail with 10 life-size animatronic dinosaurs. The exhibit features the infamous Tyrannosaurus rex, a spitting Dilophosaurus, a Brachiosaurus, and more. There will be the opportunity to play on stationary baby dinosaurs, a photo-op Tyrannosaurus rex, and a photo op Pachyrhinosaurus. The exhibit will remain on display through February 25.

Sunday, September 6

Rulli Torres Fashion Design Studio presents Disturbance
Disturbance is a non-traditional gallery-style fashion show designed to keep everyone safe while following COVID-19 guidelines. Rulli Torres is a fashion designer who has produced numerous fashion shows benefiting nonprofits. The exhibition will be be a mock-up of pop culture as if one was going to a grocery store. Social distancing stickers will be placed throughout the exhibit, featuring around 15 installations in total. The event will be at Urban Arts Center in Dallas.

Hillary Clinton will be one of the speakers during the virtual Texas Tribune Festival, taking place through September 30.

Hillary Clinton/Facebook

Hillary Clinton will be one of the speakers during the virtual Texas Tribune Festival, taking place through September 30.

event-planner

Movie Review

Glen Powell bumps off rich family in How to Make a Killing

Photo courtesy of A24

Glen Powell in How to Make a Killing.

Becoming a star in Hollywood and maintaining that stardom are two very difficult things to achieve, but Glen Powell has been adept at doing so over the past few years. A key supporting role in Top Gun: Maverick led to lead parts in films like Hit Man, Anyone But You, Twisters, and The Running Man. Powell is looking to keep his star power shining in the new dark comedy/thriller, How to Make a Killing.

He plays Beckett, an outcast member of the ultra-wealthy Redfellow clan. Struggling to get by in a menial job in New York City while still living in New Jersey, Beckett’s only smidgen of hope is that he remains an heir to the vast Redfellow fortune. The only trick? Every other remaining family member must die before he’ll see a dime of that money. When even that menial job goes away, Beckett indulges the fantasy of bumping off his familial competition.

Among those standing in his way are cousins Taylor (Raff Law), a finance bro, Noah (Zach Woods), a pretentious artist, and Steven (Topher Grace), a celebrity pastor; Uncle Warren (Bill Camp) and Aunt Cassandra (Bianca Amato); and grandfather Whitelaw (Ed Harris). Complicating matters, however, are an old childhood friend, Julia (Margaret Qualley), who starts asking more of Beckett than he can give; and new flame Ruth (Jessica Henwick), who happens to be dating Noah when he meets her.

Written and directed by John Patton Ford (Emily the Criminal), the film is a tale of two halves. Narrated by Beckett in the form of telling his story to a prison chaplain, the story plays with audience expectations on multiple occasions. As Beckett ramps up to detailing exactly how he got started down the road toward being a serial killer, the film has a fun-if-macabre vibe.

Under normal circumstances Beckett would be someone to despise, but since he’s an underprivileged person who’s taking aim at people who (mostly) don’t seem to appreciate their good luck, it feels okay to cheer for him. This follows a recent trend in “eat the rich” films, one that’s been influenced by a turn against real-life billionaires. Ford plays heavily into the theme and it works for a good portion of the film.

However, things get a little murky in the second half of the movie. A few of the planned killings get less attention than others, making their - pardon the pun - execution less interesting/fun than the others. Also, Ford does a poor job of indicating just how much weight should be put on Beckett’s relationship with Julia, someone with whom he only has occasional interactions for the bulk of the film.

It’s difficult to know the exact right way to showcase Powell, but this film doesn’t seem to be the best fit. Whether it’s the odd hairstyle/wig he’s given, or the varying degrees of confidence his character shows, his performance is up and down. Qualley’s acting style is over-the-top, and she needed to dial it down in this particular role. Henwick and Camp are the grounding forces in the film, keeping the story somewhat tethered to reality while almost everyone else makes a meal of their scenes.

How to Make a Killing is serviceable entertainment that gives viewers a decent number of laughs and thrills. But Ford can’t find a way to make the story work all the way through, and a so-so performance by Powell keeps the film from rising above its mediocre station.

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How to Make a Killing opens in theaters on February 20.

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