Miley Cyrus will bring her newly-adult show to American Airlines Center on March 12, 2014.
Photo courtesy of the Alamo Drafthouse
Depending on your perspective, the transformation of Miley Cyrus from teen idol into sexpot has either been highly distressing or highly entertaining. Dallasites will now have an opportunity to judge the new Miley in person when she comes to American Airlines Center on March 12, 2014 as part of her upcoming Bangerz tour.
The Bangerz tour will hit 38 cities in North America, starting February 14 in Vancouver and ending April 24 in Uniondale, New York. In addition to the Dallas stop, Cyrus will play two other dates in Texas, San Antonio on March 15 and Houston on March 16.
Cyrus has been an inescapable force the past few months as she ramped up for the release of her latest album, Bangerz. She released the videos for "We Can't Stop" and "Wrecking Ball" in quick succession, with over-the-top partying, nudity and her ever-protruding tongue showing exactly what to expect from her new persona. Her appearances at the MTV Video Music Awards and Saturday Night Live only served to seal the deal.
The official on-sale date for the tour is Saturday, November 16, but American Express cardholders will have pre-sale opportunities starting November 12. Additionally, anyone who RSVPs to this Facebook page will have a chance to buy tickets early.
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.
