Weekend Event Planner

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

Thanksgiving is when the holiday events really kick into high gear, with no fewer than six holiday events starting or taking place on that day. This weekend also features a sneak preview of an anticipated family movie, and performances from three big stars.

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.

Friday, November 25

NorthPark Center presents Reindeer Park and Festival
This special festival at NorthPark Center honors the most famous reindeer of all, Rudolph, as well as all of his friends from the story Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The event includes a live reindeer corral, holiday crafts, music, a performance by Dallas Summer Musicals, Angel Tree giving opportunities, and more fun.

2016 Texas Christkindl Market
Now in its sixth year, the Texas Christkindl Market is one of the largest open-air holiday markets in the Southwest. Inspired by a cherished German tradition, the market features a unique shopping experience for holiday gifts, decorations, and unique one-of-a-kind finds. Going on every day through December 23, it also includes festive music and new features like Peppermint Park and a 200-foot-long Artic Blast Tubing Run.

Prairie Lights 2016
Upon arriving at the entrance of Prairie Lights, you're dazzled with 4 million lights set along two miles of path. Taking place at Lynn Creek Park in Grand Prairie through January 1, it features hundreds of all-new displays in shapes of all kinds that line and arch over the roads. Halfway through the drive is the Holiday Village, which has food, gifts, Santa, the all-new indoor laser show, and the Holiday Magic Lighted Walk-Through Forest.

Dallas Summer Musicals presents Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
First airing in 1964, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has become a beloved Christmas classic, and now it soars off the screen and onto the stage at the Music Hall at Fair Park. Playing five times through Sunday, it features all of your favorite characters from the special, including Santa and Mrs. Claus, Hermey the Elf, Bumble the Abominable Snow Monster, Clarice, Yukon Cornelius, the Misfit Toys, and, of course, Rudolph.

Dallas Theater Center presents A Christmas Carol
Kick off the holiday season with A Christmas Carol, a reimagined take on Dickens’ enduring classic in which the audience is immersed in the story with magical ghosts flying above, scary ghosts bursting out of the floor, and snow falling from the sky. Playing through December 28 at Wyly Theatre, this year's rendition from Dallas Theater Center features a female Scrooge for the very first time, played by Sally Nystuen Vahle.

Texas Ballet Theater presents The Nutcracker
The final must-see holiday theater tradition, The Nutcracker, is once brought to life by Texas Ballet Theater. Playing at Winspear Opera House through December 4, the ballet features a score by Tchaikovsky and enduring characters such as Clara, the Sugar Plum Fairy, and the Nutcracker Prince.

Saturday, November 26

Universal Pictures presents Sing Saturday
After the craziness of Black Friday, Universal Pictures presents Sing Saturday, during which Universal is presenting a round of free first-come, first-served screenings for the new film, Sing, at participating AMC Theaters. At least 200 free tickets will be available at every location to see the new animated feature, which will be officially released on December 21. The film tells the tale of a koala named Buster Moon who has one final chance to restore his theater to its former glory by producing the world's greatest singing competition.

Tig Notaro in concert
Stand-up comedian Tig Notaro has been working hard for many years, but she didn't truly come to prominence until 2012, when she performed a now legendary set about her having cancer. Now cancer-free, she's enjoyed a string of successes, including a new book, comedy series, and more. She is performing at Texas Theatre.

Sunday, November 27

Henry Rollins: Spoken Word Tour
There won't be any music at this event at the House of Blues Dallas, but fans can expect Henry Rollins to mix timely commentary on the current state of politics with anecdotes on his latest L.A. experiences, as well as perspective gained from his extensive world travels. Rollins’ live talking shows are known for their energy, wit, anger, and humor.

Henry Rollins brings his Spoken Word tour to House of Blues Dallas on November 27.

Photo by Heidi May

Henry Rollins brings his Spoken Word tour to House of Blues Dallas on November 27.

music holidays event-planner dance shopping comedy kids theater movies concerts families

Movie Review

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first but not by much

Blumhouse

Five Nights at Freddy's 2

Blumhouse Productions first made their name with the Paranormal Activity series, establishing themselves as a leader in the horror genre thanks to their relatively cheap yet effective movies. In recent years, they’ve added on “soft” horror films likeM3GAN and Five Nights at Freddy’s to draw in a younger audience, with both films becoming so successful that each was quickly given a sequel.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 finds Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and his sister Abby (Piper Rubio) still recovering from the events of the first film, with Abby particularly missing her “friends.” Those friends just so happen to be the souls of murdered children who inhabit animatronic characters at the long-defunct Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, children who were abducted and killed by William Afton (Matthew Lillard).

A new threat emerges at another Freddy Fazbear’s location in the form of Charlotte, another murdered child who inhabits a creepy large marionette. Mike, distracted by a possible romance with Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), fails to keep track of Abby, who makes her way to the old pizzeria and inadvertently unleashes Charlotte and her minions on the surrounding town.

Directed by Emma Tammi and written by Scott Cawthon (who also created the video game on which the series is based), the film tries to mix together goofy elements with intense scenes. One particular sequence, in which the security guard for Freddy Fazbear’s lets a group of ghost hunters onto the property, toes the line between soft and hard horror. That and a few others show the potential that the filmmakers had if they had stuck to their guns.

Unfortunately, more often than not they either soft-pedal things that would normally be horrific, or can’t figure out how to properly stage scenes. The sight of animatronic robots wreaking havoc is one that is simultaneously frightening and laughable, and the filmmakers never seem to find the right balance in tone. Every step in the direction of making a truly scary horror film is undercut by another in which the robots fail to live up to their promise.

It doesn’t help that Cawthon gives the cast some extremely wooden dialogue, lines that none of the actors can elevate. What may work in a video game format comes off as stilted when said by actors in a live-action film. The story also loses momentum quickly after the first half hour or so, with Cawthon seemingly content to just have characters move from place to place with no sense of connection between any of the scenes.

Hutcherson (The Hunger Games series), after being the true lead of the first film, is given very little to do in this film, and his effort is equal to his character’s arc. The same goes for Lail, whose character seems to be shoehorned into the story. Rubio is called upon to carry the load for a lot of the movie, and the teenager is not quite up to the task. A brief appearance by Skeet Ulrich seems to be a blatant appeal to Scream fans, but he and Lillard only underscore how limited this film is compared to that franchise.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first film, but not by much. The filmmakers do a decent job of making the new marionette character into a great villain, but they fail to capitalize on its inherent creepiness. Instead, they fall back on less effective elements, ensuring that the film will be forgettable for anyone other than hardcore Freddy fans.

---

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 opens in theaters on December 5.

movies film