Weekend Event Planner

These are the 9 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Holidays take center stage this weekend in and around Dallas, as both the holiday season and Veterans Day are being celebrated at different events. There are also performances by a legendary country music singer and one of the top comics in the country, a major music and beer festival, and an insider theater production.

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, November 10

Holiday events galore
Every weekend leading up to Christmas features some kind of new holiday event. This weekend you can choose between shopping at the 21st annual 'Neath the Wreath Holiday Gift Market at Plano Centre (taking place through Sunday), checking out the festivities at the 13th annual Lone Star Christmas at Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine (going on through January 1), or raising money for a good cause at DIFFA/Dallas' 21st annual Holiday Wreath Collection at Fashion Industry Gallery.

Undermain Theatre presents 10 out of 12
The second production of Undermain Theatre's 2016-2017 season is a behind-the-scenes look at a theater company engaged in the very peculiar task of making a new play. The audience eavesdrops as the sound designer mixes cues, backstage gossip flies over headsets, and the director struggles to contain the uncontainable. 10 Out of 12 runs through December 3.

Louis C.K. in concert
If you don't already have tickets for this, the second of Louis C.K.'s two dates at the Music Hall at Fair Park, it's too late: His shows sold out quickly, and he's very effective at shutting down the secondary ticket market. But for anyone who actually has tickets, C.K.'s cathartic brand of comedy is sure to be a welcome respite during this stressful week.

Friday, November 11

2016 Stars & Stripes Luncheon and Film Festival
Held annually on or near Veterans Day, the Stars & Stripes Film Festival features a variety of military-themed movies. The list for this year's festival, taking place through Sunday at Highland Park Village Theatre, includes An Officer and a Gentleman, Glory, and South Pacific, among others. This year, there's also a kick-off luncheon on Friday featuring United States Congressman Sam Johnson at Dallas Country Club.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Patriotic Pops
Another Veterans Day tribute takes place all weekend long at Meyerson Symphony Center, as the Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Patriotic Pops. Principal Pops conductor Jeff Tyzik brings the United States Naval Academy Men’s Glee Club to town to perform patriotic favorites in celebration of those who have served.

Loretta Lynn in concert
When most living legends come to town, they do so as a way to look back on their past successes. While Loretta Lynn's appearance at Majestic Theatre will undoubtedly be partly about that, the 84-year-old is very much in the here-and-now, having released Full Circle, her first new album in 10 years, in March 2016, and her second-ever Christmas album, White Christmas Blue, in October.

Saturday, November 12

TEDxSMU 2016
The annual TEDxSMU, taking place at the Bomb Factory, features a day-long lineup of speakers, performers, and musicians riffing on this year’s theme of “Illuminate.” Among the speakers are Jason Roberts, founding director of Better Block; Paige Chenault, founder of the Birthday Party Project; Douglas Newby, owner and founder of Architecturally Significant Homes; and Garnette Cadogan, author of Walking While Black.

2016 Untapped Festival Dallas
The annual Untapped Festival once again sets up at Fair Park in Dallas, where guests can enjoy a full day of live music while sampling over 400 unique craft beers and snacking on delicious food from local restaurants. Performers include TV On the Radio, Gogol Bordello, Kaleo, Bishop Briggs, Adia Victoria, Bassh, and more.

Sunday, November 13

Knife at Highland Dallas presents Sunday Cinema Series: Wes Anderson WesFest
The final event in Knife's Wes Anderson WesFest, which started way back in May, takes place on Sunday with a screening of The Grand Budapest Hotel. Along with the movie comes themed gourmet bites by Knife chef John Tesar and craft beer from Four Corners Brewing Company.

Louis C.K. performs at the Music Hall at Fair Park on November 10.

Louie/Facebook

Louis C.K. performs at the Music Hall at Fair Park on November 10.

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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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