Weekend Event Planner

These are the 10 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

The arrival of September means that temperatures are finally starting to drop down to bearable, which makes it the perfect time to enjoy some outdoor fun. Four separate concerts in and around Dallas will allow you to do just that, as well as an art gallery appreciation day. There will also be two new theater productions, a new art exhibit, a classical appreciation of female singers, and an appearance by a sitting Supreme Court justice.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, September 6

Dallas Arboretum presents Cool Thursdays Concert Series
After a two-month break, the Dallas Arboretum picks its Cool Thursdays Concert Series back up with a concert by The Wildflowers, a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers tribute band. In addition to the coolest view of White Rock Lake, attendees can bring picnics and beverages or purchase food items from food trucks. The series will continue every Thursday through October 25.

Friday, September 7

AT&T Performing Arts Center and Interabang Books present An Evening with Sonia Sotomayor
While the confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh go on in Washington, D.C., current Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will come to Wyly Theatre to celebrate the release of her two new children’s books, Turning Pages: My Life Story and The Beloved World of Sonia Sotomayor. Sotomayor will discuss her life story, from her birthplace in the South Bronx through her journey to become the first Hispanic and third woman appointed to the Supreme Court.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Women Rock"
This concert by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra was always going to be a fun one, but as it will feature the music of the recently departed Aretha Franklin, along with Tina Turner and Pat Benatar, it will be even more special. The concert, taking place at Meyerson Symphony Center through Sunday, will feature songs like “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” “Proud Mary,” “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” “I Love Rock and Roll,” “Respect,” and more.

South Dallas Cultural Center presents Hollow Roots
Hollow Roots, by award-winning playwright Christina Anderson, questions the notion of a “post-racial” society. Diving into one woman’s quest to understand her identity, she asks if it is possible for a person to live their life unaffected by race or gender. The play, running at South Dallas Cultural Center through Sunday, follows the woman’s journey, accompanied by a vivid videoscape of her mind’s eye and live cello music recalling the sounds of her childhood.

Echo Theatre presents Hurricane Diane
In Echo Theatre's latest production, Greek god Dionysus comes back to Earth disguised as permaculture specialist "Diane." She plants seeds of seduction in a quiet little cul-de-sac to launch her ultimate plan: take back Mother Earth with a Backyard Bacchanal that ushers in a new era of Dionysian Worship and destroys the cookie cutter HGTV-obsessed America. The play will run at Bath House Cultural Center through September 22.

Saturday, September 8

DADA Fall Gallery Walk
The Dallas Art Dealers Association will present its annual Fall Gallery Walk, where art enthusiasts, private and corporate collectors, artists, designers, and visitors to Dallas can enjoy a full spectrum of gallery openings and special exhibitions. From downtown to north Dallas, DADA member galleries will showcase new exhibitions, art talks, and more. Go to the event website for a full list of participating venues.

Luke Bryan in concert with Jon Pardi and Morgan Wallen
If you haven't seen Luke Bryan in concert in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in recent years, you haven't been trying. Bryan is as consistent a performer as they come, appearing somewhere in the area every year since at least 2012. He'll be back at Dos Equis Pavilion to play in support of his 2017 album, What Makes You Country. He'll be joined by opening acts Jon Pardi and Morgan Wallen.

Alice in Chains in concert
Alice in Chains is part of the quartet of rock bands that made it big out of Seattle, Washington in the late '80s/early '90s, alongside Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. Thirty years later, despite the deaths of two of their founding members, Alice in Chains is still rocking, touring in support of their sixth album, 2018's Rainier Fog. They'll play at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving.

Sunday, September 9

Meadows Museum presents "Dalí: Poetics of the Small, 1929–1936"
The Meadows Museum at SMU presents the first in-depth exploration of the small-scale paintings of Salvador Dalí (1904-1989). The exhibition will include nearly two dozen of Dalí’s small-scale paintings that reflect Dalí’s distinctive Surrealist style, with familiar but distorted figures often set against a dramatic or barren landscape. The exhibition will be on display through December 9.

Scorpions in concert with Queensryche
Believe it or not, German rock band Scorpions has been around for over 50 years, though they didn't release their first album until 1972. Best known for hits like "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and "Wind of Change," they've released 18 albums in their career, including 2015's Return to Forever. They'll be joined at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory by the equally legendary rock band, Queensrÿche.

Luke Bryan will perform at Dos Equis Pavilion on September 8, with support from Jon Pardi and Morgan Wallen.

Photo by Michelle Watson/Catchlight Group

Luke Bryan will perform at Dos Equis Pavilion on September 8, with support from Jon Pardi and Morgan Wallen.

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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.

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Faces of Death is now playing in theaters.

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