Weekend Event Planner

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

With Thanksgiving just a week away, holiday events are starting to ramp up in Dallas. Half of the offerings this weekend are holiday-themed in one way or another. If it's still too early for you to be celebrating the season, you can also see a famous newsman, sing along with a variety of big-name musicians, or spend time with arguably the most well-known political couple living today.

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, November 16

Chi Omega Christmas Market 40th Anniversary
The Chi Omega Christmas Market offers a unique, one-of-a-kind shopping experience with more than 180 merchants showcasing gifts for every age including holiday décor, women’s clothing/accessories, home accents, children’s clothing and toys, food items, and more. You can get a jump on your holiday shopping at this event, taking place through Saturday at Centennial Hall at Fair Park.

2017 DIFFA Holiday Wreath
Another holiday tradition is DIFFA/Dallas' annual Holiday Wreath Collection, which is celebrating its 22nd anniversary. Featuring one-of-a-kind wreaths, as well as works of art and curated accessories from designers around the world, the one-night-only event takes place at Fashion Industry Gallery in downtown Dallas.

Arts & Letters Live: Dan Rather
Dan Rather was one of the most respected evening news anchors for many years, and now he has evolved into a voice of wisdom in the Facebook age. At this event, Rather will discuss his new book, What Unites Us, a collection of original essays that celebrates shared values and what matters most in America. Krys Boyd, host and managing editor of Think on KERA, will moderate the conversation at First United Methodist Church of Dallas.

Tori Amos in concert
Even though she was never quite as successful as other singer/songwriters from the 1990s, Tori Amos still holds a draw for anyone who came of age during that time. Her fearlessness in tackling subjects that others wouldn't touch made her stand apart. She'll play at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in support of her new album, Native Invader.

Friday, November 17

People Generation presents Magical Winter Lights
Magical Winter Lights is unlike any other holiday lighting event in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The festival bases its designs from Chinese lanterns and transforms them into larger-than-life remakes of well-known landmarks like the Dallas County Courthouse, a giant cowboy, and Dallas’ iconic Pegasus. The festival, which has multiple different areas, will be open every day at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie through January 7.

An Evening with President Bill Clinton & the Honorable Hillary Clinton
It's likely only those of a certain political persuasion will be on hand at this event at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, featuring the most well-known power couple of the past 25 years, Bill and Hillary Clinton. The Clintons will participate in a conversation with Danny Eaton, chief operating officer at Live Nation Entertainment Dallas office, about their eponymous foundation, Hillary's new book about the 2016 election, and, without a doubt, President Trump.

Niall Horan in concert
The five former members of One Direction have all scattered to the wind to pursue solo careers, with each slowly but surely making their way back to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Following Harry Styles' appearance on October 10 and in advance of Liam Payne's appearance at Jingle Ball on November 28, Niall Horan will play at South Side Ballroom in support of his debut solo album, Flicker, featuring the hit songs "This Town" and "Slow Hands." Horan will also perform at Jingle Ball if you miss him this time around.

Saturday, November 18

The Trains at NorthPark
Benefiting Ronald McDonald House of Dallas, The Trains at NorthPark will mark its 30th year with more than 750 railcars on a 1,600-foot elaborate configuration of tracks and scenes. The annual holiday exhibit features cityscapes like Dallas, replete with the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and Fair Park; New York with Times Square and Grand Central Terminal; Washington, D.C. with The White House; and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. The exhibit will be on display through January 7.

Moscow Ballet presents Great Russian Nutcracker
Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker is known for its award-winning dancers; lavish costumes in the style of the Victorian era; and Russian focus including life-sized matryoshka dolls and Russian folk legends Ded Moroz (Father Christmas) and Snegurochka (Snow Maiden). The memorable production will have three performances through Sunday at McFarlin Auditorium.

Sunday, November 19

Fantasia in concert
Former American Idol winner Fantasia has not been as hugely successful as fellow champions Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood, but she has firmly established herself in the R&B genre. Each of her five studio albums has reached the top 5 on the Billboard R&B/Hip Hop charts, and her just-released holiday album, Christmas After Midnight, has sold well, too. She'll perform at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

Magical Winter Lights will be at Lone Star Park starting on November 17 and going through January 7.

Photo courtesy of Magical Winter Lights

Magical Winter Lights will be at Lone Star Park starting on November 17 and going through January 7.

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Movie Review

Forrest Gump team reunites for unusual film experiment Here

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in Here.

The quality of the career of director Robert Zemeckis can almost be broken evenly in half. His first 12 films, which included the Back to the Future trilogy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Forrest Gump, and Cast Away, were mostly hits both with critics and audiences. But in his last 10 films starting with The Polar Express in 2004, Zemeckis has become obsessed with pushing technological boundaries, which has ironically hindered the success of those movies.

His latest boundary-pushing film is Here, which uses the highly unusual technique of never moving the camera. Instead, it’s what happens at this one particular corner of the world that’s of interest, from the time of dinosaurs to the rise of COVID, and many other things in between. The film sees a small parcel of land go through many changes, finally resulting in a house built around 1900, a home that goes on to be occupied by a number of people over the course of 120 years or so.

The most prominent among them are Al (Paul Bettany) and Rose (Kelly Reilly), who buy the house soon after Al comes home from World War II. They raise a family of three children, with one of them, Richard (Tom Hanks), becoming the main focus of the film. He falls in love with Margaret (Robin Wright), has a child of his own, discovers a love of painting, gives up that passion to provide for his family, and more as he spends almost his entire life under the same roof.

The marketing for the film wants to make sure you know that it is the long-awaited reunion of Zemeckis, Hanks, and Wright following the Oscar-winning smash hit that was Forrest Gump (Eric Roth, who wrote Gump, also co-wrote this film with Zemeckis). Zemeckis clearly liked the storytelling from Gump, as much like Forrest being part of many historical 20th century moments, the small area of land in an unnamed Eastern state in Here somehow sees it be both the home of the son of Benjamin Franklin and the inventor of the La-Z-Boy recliner (fact check: not true).

Zemeckis was inspired to use just one angle in the film from the graphic novel by Richard McGuire on which it is based. Similar to the novel, Zemeckis inserts rectangles that show small glimpses of different time periods overlaid on the current scene, fading them in and out to help with transitions. Although at times the film can feel more like theater than a movie, these brief looks at other eras within another era help the film feel more dynamic.

What doesn’t work is the computer-generated imagery in the film. Before the house is built, everything on screen (save for the actors) is CGI and it feels wholly unnatural. And for some reason, Zemeckis has the nearly 70-year-old Hanks and nearly 60-year-old Wright play themselves as young as teenagers, and the de-aging technology simply isn’t believable. As their characters age, the effect improves, but only slightly.

Because the performances of everyone in the film are chopped up into small pieces, it’s tough to say any one of them stands out. As the bigger stars, Hanks and Wright naturally draw attention, and they acquit themselves well. Bettany and Reilly are fine, but they seem to be playing mid-century caricatures instead of actual human beings. Actors in other time periods aren’t given enough to do to be judged properly.

Alternately cheesy and poignant, Here is a bold swing from a filmmaker who has made many in his long career. Because of the inherent emotions that come with following characters over a long period of time, the story has an impact, although it constantly has to contend with Zemeckis trying to distract viewers with displays of technical prowess.

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Here opens in theaters on November 1.

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