Weekend Event Planner

Pearl Jam and Pink top the best weekend events in Dallas

You won't have to travel very far if you want to catch most of this weekend's best events, as six of the nine we've chosen take place in just two different venues. But the quality of those six is so high that you won't mind seeing the same places over and over again.

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 14

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents Letters to Jackie screening
Just eight days remain until the official 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the latest tie-in event is the screening of a documentary about letters of sympathy and grief sent to Jackie Kennedy in the days and weeks following JFK's death. The screening at Winspear Opera House includes a Q&A with director Bill Couturié.

Dallas Opera presents Composing Conversation with Mark Adamo
Mark Adamo is a heavyweight in the opera world, having composed one classic, Little Women, and two other acclaimed operas, including 2013's The Gospel of Mary Magdalene. Dallas Opera general director and CEO Keith Cerny leads the conversation, which also includes opera critic Gregory Sullivan Isaacs, at Nasher Sculpture Center.

Friday, November 15

Pearl Jam in concert
It's 20 years later and Pearl Jam still hasn't lost any of its power to captivate, as the band's 10th album, Lightning Bolt, debuted at No. 1 when it was released in October. They kick off the second leg of their North American tour with this concert at American Airlines Center, their only stop in Texas and the band's first appearance in Dallas in 10 years.

Harry Connick Jr. in concert
Just a couple of miles down the road from the AAC, the Winspear Opera House hosts its second big event in as many days, bringing jazz/big band enthusiast Harry Connick Jr. to entertain the masses. It's been a busy year for Connick, as he's released not one but two new albums, in addition to becoming the newest judge on American Idol.

Saturday, November 16

Dallas City Lights 2013
Thanksgiving may still be two weeks away, but downtown Dallas gets the holiday season started early with Dallas City Lights all along Main Street. There will be loads of holiday-themed activities, performances by the Invisible Czars at Belo Garden, the opening of the crawl tubes at Neiman Marcus and the tree lighting at Main Street Garden.

Nick Offerman in concert
One day before he tastes the best meat Dallas has to offer, actor/comedian Nick Offerman from NBC's Parks & Recreation comes to the House of Blues Dallas to do another thing he does best: Make people laugh. Pick up Offerman's book, Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living, before you go or he will look down on you in disdain as only he can.

Pink in concert
If you're thinking that Pink was just here, that's pretty close to the truth. The pop star makes her second appearance at American Airlines Center in 2013, having played there on the first leg of her The Truth About Love tour back in February. The singer has got to be dragging by this point, with 117 shows around the world under her belt this year, but something tells us she'll have enough energy to bring the goods once again.

Sunday, November 17

The Complete Works of Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice
The 11th installment in Shakespeare Dallas' ambitious project to put on every single one of William Shakespeare's works also comes during a busy weekend at Winspear Opera House. But this staged reading of the classic The Merchant of Venice takes place in Hamon Hall at the Winspear, giving event planners the tiniest of breaks.

An Evening with Bill Maher
That is until Sunday night, when comedian Bill Maher invades the Winspear Opera House. Maher just finished the 11th season of his acclaimed HBO series, Real Time with Bill Maher, so you can bet that some of the world or political issues that have been at the forefront this week will work their way into his show.

Pearl Jam plays Dallas for the first time in 10 years when they take the stage at American Airlines Center on November 15.

Photo by Danny Clinch

Pearl Jam plays Dallas for the first time in 10 years when they take the stage at American Airlines Center on November 15.

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Movie Review

Podcaster lets creepy noises get under her skin in Undertone

Photo courtsy of A24

Nina Kiri in Undertone.

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.

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Undertone is now playing in theaters,

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