Weekend Event Planner

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

Music once again rules the venues around Dallas this weekend, with no fewer than seven of the 10 top events featuring musical acts. The performers will range from favorite local acts to national music legends, with a nice mix of genres to please multiple palates. Also on tap are a new local theater production, a new art opening, and a visit from two comedy masters.

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

Thursday, October 12

Uptown Dallas, Inc. presents Uptown Block Party
The second annual Uptown Block Party will be a night full of music, beer, and food in the great outdoors. Taking place at Griggs Park, it will feature performances by Bob Schneider and The Gibbonses, free beer from Peroni, free sliders from the Katy Trail Ice House, and more.

Spoon in concert with Mondo Cozmo
Austin-based Spoon, which released its first album in 1996, took a while to get some national acclaim, but they've been going like gangbusters since 2007's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga thanks to hits like "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb,""Don't You Evah," and "Got Nuffin." They'll play at House of Blues Dallas in support of their new album, Hot Thoughts. They'll be joined by opening act Mondo Cozmo, known for providing the theme song to the podcast Anna Faris is Unqualified.

Friday, October 13

Aaron Lewis and Blackberry Smoke in concert with Alex Williams
It's been quite the career transition for Aaron Lewis. Formerly the lead singer of the rock band Staind, Lewis moved into country music in 2012 and has stayed there throughout the band's extended hiatus. He'll co-headline this concert at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving in support of his 2016 album, Sinner. Blackberry Smoke, playing in support of the 2016 album, Like An Arrow, will co-headline, with Alex Williams serving as opening act.

Herbie Hancock in concert
Now in the sixth decade of his professional life, Herbie Hancock remains where he has always been: at the forefront of world culture, technology, business, and music. In addition to being recognized as a legendary pianist and composer, Hancock has been an integral part of every popular music movement since the 1960s. He'll play a special concert at Annette Strauss Square.

WaterTower Theatre presents Pride and Prejudice
Following the runaway success of her adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, playwright Kate Hamill returns to the immortal English writer with a fresh take on Jane Austen’s most famous novel. As the story of the Bennet daughters and their formidable social-ladder climbing mother unfolds, strong-willed Lizzie charts an independent course as she negotiates mixed feelings about the aloof and seemingly snobbish Mr. Darcy. The production will run through November 5 at WaterTower Theatre in Addison.

Saturday, October 14

Nasher Sculpture Center presents "Paper Into Sculpture" opening day
The latest exhibit at Nasher Sculpture Center will pay tribute to an underappreciated artistic medium: paper. The artists in "Paper into Sculpture" — Noriko Ambe, Marco Maggi, Joshua Neustein, Nancy Rubins, and Franz West — play on tensions between commonly held understandings of sculpture and what paper can and cannot do, pushed to its physical limits. The exhibit opens on Saturday and will be on display through February 4, 2018. There will also be an artists panel on Saturday.

Dallas VideoFest presents 2017 Ernie Kovacs Award: Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald
Dallas VideoFest will honor Kids in the Hall co-founders Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald with the coveted Ernie Kovacs Award. Both Foley and McDonald will be in attendance at Alamo Drafthouse in Richardson to receive the award, and will participate in a panel discussion, a Q&A with fans, and a rare screening of the iconic Kids in the Hall film, Brain Candy.

Portugal. The Man in concert with Tank and the Bangas
It's amazing how one song can change a band's career. Up until this year, the oddly-punctuated Portugal. The Man had barely registered on a national scale, releasing seven albums without so much as a whiff of a hit. But their current single, "Feel It Still," is as inescapable a song as any in recent memory, raising their profile immeasurably. They'll play at the Bomb Factory alongside opening act Tank and the Bangas.

Sunday, October 15

KEGL Freaker's Ball featuring Mastodon, Halestorm, In This Moment, Beartooth, and Greta Van Fleet
Bad news for anyone who bought tickets to this event purely to see Marilyn Manson: The headliner canceled this and multiple other appearances after being injured during a recent concert. Mastodon, which was scheduled to be in Houston on Sunday, has ditched that concert to take Manson's place. They'll be joined by Halestorm, In this Moment, Beartooth, and Greta Van Fleet at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie.

Lampedusa: Concerts for Refugees featuring Joan Baez, Steve Earle, and Patty Griffin
Produced by Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, in partnership with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, Lampedusa: Concerts for Refugees is raising awareness and money to support expanded educational opportunities for displaced people through JRS's Global Education Initiative. Funds raised from the tour help refugees to heal, learn, and thrive. This special concert at Majestic Theatre will feature performances by Joan Baez, Lila Downs, Steve Earle, Patty Griffin, and James McMurtry.

WaterTower Theatre presents Pride and Prejudice starting October 13 and running through November 5.

Photo by Evan Michael Woods

WaterTower Theatre presents Pride and Prejudice starting October 13 and running through November 5.

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Movie Review

Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney go off in trashy film The Housemaid

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney in The Housemaid.

Both Amanda Seyfried (the upcoming The Testament of Ann Lee) and Sydney Sweeney (Christy) are starring in movies with Oscar ambitions this year. By sheer coincidence, the two actors are also co-starring in The Housemaid, a thriller coming out within weeks of their more ambitious works, one that is likely to be seen by many more people than those prestige plays.

Sweeney is given top billing as Millie, a down-on-her-luck ex-convict looking to land any type of job so as not to break her parole. She finds a too-good-to-be-true lifeboat with Nina (Seyfried), who hires her to be a housemaid for her large house on Long Island, where she lives with her husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), and daughter, Cecilia (Indiana Elle).

After a warm interview, Nina almost immediately becomes highly erratic, whipping back-and-forth between happy-go-lucky and rageful. It seems clear that Nina is suffering from mental health issues, as she’ll often accuse Millie of misplacing or stealing items that she didn’t take. Andrew, apparently used to Nina’s tirades, tries to protect Millie from the worst, something that grows increasingly difficult as Nina ups the ante.

Directed by Paul Feig (A Simple Favor) and adapted by Rebecca Sonnenshine from the bestselling book by Freida McFadden, the film is likely the trashiest mainstream movie to come out in 2025. The first half of the movie relies not on story but on moments as Nina embodies the word “hysterical” to an unbelievable extent. The resigned acceptance of the abuse by Millie, as well as the saintly patience of Andrew, make almost every scene laughable, as nobody seems to be acting anywhere close to how a person would normally react to such extreme situations.

The scenes and the performance of Seyfried are so over-the-top, in fact, that it’s clear that the filmmakers are in on the joke. It’s next to impossible not to have a little bit of fun while watching the actors react to outrageous incidents as if nothing is out of the ordinary. The worse Nina acts, the more Millie and Andrew retreat into their chosen roles, and the funnier the film becomes.

Fans of the book will know that the story changes course, eventually turning into a more stereotypical thriller that also has some relatively gnarly visuals to offer. But the trashiness continues, with Sweeney’s, um, assets repeatedly on display in both clothed and unclothed ways. The sex appeal of the R-rated movie makes it an outlier, as recent studio films have shied away from asking their big stars to disrobe completely.

Both Seyfried and Sweeney are far from their Oscar hopeful roles here. Seyfried is given free rein to act as brazenly as she pleases, and she takes full advantage of that ability. Sweeney seems to have been told to be much more reserved, and unfortunately that results in too many wooden line readings. Sklenar continues his breakout streak (It Ends with Us, Drop) with a role that allows him to show more range than either Seyfried or Sweeney.

The Housemaid is an unusual type of movie to be released at a time of year when most films are either those aiming for awards or more family-friendly fare. Despite its many flaws, it’s still an enjoyable watch that features a variety of crazy scenarios not typically seen in movies nowadays.

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The Housemaid is now playing in theaters.

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