Canadian-born pop singer and Teen Vogue hot topic Shawn Mendes has finalized the dates for his Wonder: The World Tour, a seven-month journey in 2022 that will include a stop at American Airlines in Dallas on October 1.
Mendes is touring in support of his most recent album, Wonder, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 upon its release in December 2020. That feat made Mendes one of three male artists ever to score four No. 1 albums by the age of 22.
His biggest hits to date have included "Señorita," a collaboration with Camila Cabello, "If I Can't Have You," "Monster," another collaboration this time with Justin Bieber, and "Stitches."
In all, Mendes will perform at 64 arenas across North America, the UK, and Europe. The Dallas show will be during the third and final leg of the tour, which will also include stops in Austin (October 3) and Houston (October 4).
On the tour, Mendes will be joined by King Princess in the UK and Europe, and Dermot Kennedy and Tate McRae in North America; McRae will be the opening act for all three Texas dates.
Ticket sales for the tour will begin with the American Express presale & North America FirstAccess presale on September 29.
The General Fan presale will begin on September 30, with the public on sale starting on October 7.
To access the FirstAccess and General Fan presales, download the ShawnAccess app or sign up at ShawnAccess.com.
While the horror genre is still capable of producing some innovative filmmaking, most of the output tends to fall back on jump scares and other tropes to deliver their terror. So when a film like the new Undertone tries something different, it should be applauded for the effort, even if it’s not as successful in its execution.
Evy (Nina Kiri) is a podcaster who co-hosts a show called Undertone, which focuses on paranormal videos and sounds they find on the internet. Her co-host, Justin (Adam DiMarco), lives in London, so - for kind of contrived reasons - in order to make the time difference between them work, Evy records at around 3 am her time. Evy - who lives at home with her bedridden, dying mother - is the skeptic of the two, consistently debunking clips that Justin presents to her.
Her doubts are tested when Justin brings in a series of 10 audio clips that purport to be about a boyfriend recording his girlfriend as she talks in her sleep. The audio begins in a lighthearted manner and quickly turns creepy and then sinister as unexplained things start happening. Evy senses that what she’s hearing is bleeding into her own world, especially when inexplicable actions take place in her mother’s bedroom.
Written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Ian Tuason, the film is effective early on when it introduces the story concept. Making great use of sound design, Tuason essentially puts the audience inside Evy’s head, where every little sound is heightened. Setting the podcast sessions in the middle of the night ups the anxiety level for both her and the audience.
However, as the film goes along it gets a little tedious watching Evy listen to the audio, even as Tuason attempts to keep the film dynamic by moving the camera around her. The premise of the story - progressively going through 10 clips - and Tuason’s framing of shots that focus as much on the background as they do on Evy seem to promise more interesting results than actually transpire.
What ultimately holds the film down more than anything is its lack of different viewpoints. The only other person who’s actually seen is Evy’s mother, who is unable to speak. Evy speaks to Justin, another friend, and a doctor over the course of the story, and while each broadens our understanding of Evy somewhat, none of them make her a truly three-dimensional person. Getting a little more information about her history might have helped the story work better.
Kiri does her level best to vary her acting in the various podcast scenes, and even when they start to get repetitive, she remains compelling and watchable. It’s difficult to judge the other actors based on audio alone, but knowing that DiMarco also starred in season 2 of The White Lotus helps to visualize him and his acting style.
Undertone does well in creating a spine-chilling mood, but it needed something beyond that to become a truly great horror movie. Tuason shows some promise as a filmmaker, especially in the way he uses the camera to create tension, but a more complete story will serve him better the next time around.
