Weekend Event Planner

Selena Gomez and Polyphonic Spree top best weekend events in Dallas

It's Halloween week, which means the slate for this weekend includes several holiday-themed events. But there is plenty of non-spooky stuff going on, including the opening of a new area in downtown Fort Worth, a big festival in Carrollton and the return of a hometown girl who's now one of the biggest stars on the planet.

Below are the best options for your precious free time Thursday through Sunday. Don't like what you see? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, October 31

Alamo Drafthouse presents Alaween Halloween Carnival
The folks at Alamo Drafthouse love to play dress up on normal weeks, so you can only imagine what Halloween is like for them. They'll have all sorts of fun stuff going on, including trick-or-treating in the theaters, pumpkin carving, a costume contest with prizes and more. For those of age, you can also stay late for a special screening of Halloween.

Avenue Q Halloween Sing-along
Avenue Q has more-or-less become the permanent show in the Theatre Too space at Theatre Three, playing off-and-on there since September 2012. The latest incarnation with a couple of new cast members just started up again, and they'll celebrate Halloween by inviting the audience to dress up as their favorite characters and sing along to their favorite tunes.

Friday, November 1

Sundance Square Plaza grand opening
Sundance Square has been a huge draw for downtown Fort Worth for decades, and it's about to get another big boost with the opening of Sundance Square Plaza, a walkable open space smack dab in the middle of the square featuring fountains, giant umbrellas and entrances to multiple new buildings. They'll celebrate the opening with a variety of performances and other activities Friday through Sunday.

Dallas Black Dance Theatre presents Black on Black 2013
The 2013-2014 season for Dallas Black Dance Theatre continues with Black on Black, an opportunity for the audience to see DBDT's space in the Dallas Arts District, watch intimate and personal performances by the company's dancers and then possibly get on the action themselves at the after-party.

Saturday, November 2

2013 Travel & Adventure Show
The Travel & Adventure Show is kind of a catch-all title for an event that has a bit of everything. Taking place Saturday and Sunday at the Dallas Convention Center, it features everything from animals from SeaWorld to bubble rollers on a big pool to Bachelor host Chris Harrison. It also has loads of travel experts, a culinary theater and a melange of international music performances.

2013 Carrollton Festival at the Switchyard
If you missed your chance for a little '90s nostalgia when Smash Mouth and Sugar Ray came to Allen a few months ago, you can catch them headlining the entertainment at the Carrollton Festival at the Switchyard. The day-long fest in Historic Downtown Carrollton also has food, shopping, arts and crafts, games, rides and more.

2013 North Oak Cliff Music Festival
Anyone who frequents The Kessler for concerts will find more than a few familiar names at this second annual music festival, taking place at Lake Cliff Park. Artists like Jason Eady, The Relatives, Daphne Willis, Seryn, Ruthie Foster and Bob Schneider will all perform, with your usual array of food trucks and kid-friendly activities rounding out the event.

The Polyphonic Spree presents 1st Annual Halloween Hootenanny
The Polyphonic Spree has occasionally broken out a song or two from The Rocky Horror Picture Show at its concerts, but this will be a full-on Rocky Horror fest at Lakewood Theater, complete with costume contest and a post-concert screening of the film. The Spree will also perform some original songs to close out Halloween in style.

Sunday, November 3

2013 Festival of Church Music
Church-goers can get a full day of church music on Sunday by starting off going to their regular service and then ending the day at Meyerson Symphony Center for the Festival of Church Music. 450 singers from 19 churches, accompanied by a brass ensemble, will sing a variety of hymns and anthems, including several with the audience.

Selena Gomez in concert
Grand Prairie native Selena Gomez has accomplished a lot in her 21 years, including starring in her own Disney Channel series and dating Justin Bieber. Although she's been a hot commodity on the music scene for several years with her band The Scene, her 2013 album Stars Dance marks her first official solo effort. She'll bring all of her talent to the table for this concert at American Airlines Center.

Grand Prairie native Selena Gomez will perform at American Airlines Center on November 3.

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Movie Review

Daniel Craig searches for elusive new bond in audacious film Queer

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

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Movie Review

Daniel Craig searches for elusive new bond in audacious film Queer