Weekend Event Planner

These are the 12 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

With just a week to go until Christmas, holiday events are everywhere you look. New ones this weekend include a quintet of concerts, theater, dance, a circus, and a stage light show you have to see to believe. On the non-holiday side will be another circus, a local theater production, and a visit from some well-known comedians.

Below are the best ways to spend your precious free time this weekend. Looking for the best places to view Christmas lights? That list is here.

Thursday, December 16

Laughter League presents Circo Metropolis
Laughter League, in collaboration with Shakespeare Dallas, will ring in the holidays by gathering a band of merry circus artists together. Hosted by the zany and dynamic clown duo Slappy and Monday, Circo Metropolis will engage audiences with spine-tingling acts, magical mirth, and general mayhem. The production will run through January 2 at Samuell-Grand Amphitheatre.

Friday, December 17

Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis' Holiday Shindig
Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis return to Dallas to celebrate the holidays, like only they can. Each renowned for crafting some of the most enduring music on the vast country and Americana landscape, the Texas twosome will perform sawdusty favorites from their recent duet record, Beautiful Lie, songs from their own extensive solo catalogs, and, of course, holiday favorites, old and new. There will be two concerts at The Kessler.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Hollywood Holidays"
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra will present "Hollywood Holidays," featuring music from Christmas movies past. Conductor Richard Kaufman will lead the symphony in a weekend of holiday favorites from films like White Christmas, Meet Me in St. Louis, and The Polar Express. There will be three performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Garland Civic Theatre presents Uh-Oh, Here Comes Christmas
Garland Civic Theatre will present Uh-Oh, Here Comes Christmas, a charming show that takes a funny and heartwarming look at the struggle to find the spirit of the holidays. Audiences will experience Christmas pageants that go wrong, hilarious and touching holiday weddings, and the joy and curse of poinsettia stories as they are creatively crafted into an engaging (and hilarious) evening of storytelling and song. There will be three performances through Sunday at Granville Arts Center in Garland.

Turtle Creek Chorale presents "Sure Stars Shining"
To wrap up its 41st season, Turtle Creek Chorale will return to Moody Performance Hall to present its holiday production, "Sure Stars Shining." The holiday presentation features heartwarming traditional carols, new renditions, and dancing. There will be four performances through Sunday.

LeAnn Rimes: "Home for the Holidays"
Garland's own LeAnn Rimes will come back home to present an intimate evening full of holiday classics and iconic hits. The Grammy Award-winning superstar is no stranger to Christmas music, having released one solo Christmas album and another tied to her 2018 Hallmark movie, It's Christmas, Eve. The concert will take place at Winspear Opera House.

A Merry Cirque: A Family Holiday Spectacular
During A Merry Cirque, presented by Lone Star Circus, audiences will be on the edge of their seats enjoying thrilling daredevils, electrifying jugglers, mesmerizing acrobats, hilarious clowns, and endearing four-legged performers. The production, taking place at Coppell Arts Center, will have four performances through Sunday.

MainStage Irving-Las Colinas presents Never Swim Alone
Never Swim Alone is a swift, funny satire about two Alpha-males and their ruthless competition for the title of Top Dog. The play is structured as a surreal egotistic boxing match: Frank and Bill, two guys in dark suits and bad ties, square off in a 13-round Battle Royale of vicious undermining and one-upmanship. There will be three performances through Sunday at MainStage Irving-Las Colinas.

Saturday, December 18

Tuzer Ballet presents The Nutcracker
Tuzer Ballet presents its annual production of Tchaikovsky's holiday ballet, The Nutcracker. Audiences will be transported to the wondrous world of swirling snowflakes, magical gifts, and the land of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Professional soloists and bright young dancers light up the stage with some of the most technically advanced choreography by Tanju and Pat Tuzer. There will be performances on both Saturday and Sunday at Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson.

The Polyphonic Spree's 18th Annual Holiday Extravaganza
The Polyphonic Spree's annual Holiday Extravaganza is an all-ages, family-friendly event at Majestic Theatre. In addition the the music, there will be host of other fun activities, including face painting, balloon animals, photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus, and servings of milk and cookies. Guests are asked to bring a new toy for Toys for Tots and a canned food item for the North Texas Food Bank.

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents "Vets of SNL "
"Vets of SNL" will feature performances by four well-known past Saturday Night Live cast members, including Jon Lovitz, Chris Kattan, Tim Meadows, and Finesse Mitchell, with special guest Jeff Richards. The comic legends will have the audience laughing and reminiscing during this special one-night-only stand-up comedy event at Winspear Opera House.

Lightwire Theater presents A Very Electric Christmas
Lightwire Theater’s A Very Electric Christmas, taking place at Annette Strauss Square, follows the story of a young bird, named Max and his family, as they begin their journey south for the winter. When Max gets blown off course and ends up at the North Pole, his adventure begins. Dancing toy soldiers, caroling worms and performing poinsettias, light up the stage. The magical and captivating tale of family, friendship and hope is set to timeless holiday hits, including Nat King Cole, Mariah Carey, and Tchaikovsky.

Garland native LeAnn Rimes returns to Dallas for a "Home for the Holidays concert on Friday, December 17.

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Garland native LeAnn Rimes returns to Dallas for a "Home for the Holidays concert on Friday, December 17.

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Movie Review

Film sequel Avatar: Fire and Ash is a technical and visual feast

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Oona Chaplin in Avatar: Fire and Ash.

For a series whose first two films made over $5 billion combined worldwide, Avatar has a curious lack of widespread cultural impact. The films seem to exist in a sort of vacuum, popping up for their run in theaters and then almost as quickly disappearing from the larger movie landscape. The third of five planned movies, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is finally being released three years after its predecessor, Avatar: The Way of Water.

The new film finds the main duo, human-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his native Na’vi wife, Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), still living with the water-loving Metkayina clan led by Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis). While Jake and Neytiri still play a big part, the focus shifts significantly to their two surviving children, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as two they’ve essentially adopted, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Spider (Jack Champion).

Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who lives on in a fabricated Na’vi body, is still looking for revenge on Jake, and he finds help in the form of the Mangkwan Clan (aka the Ash People), led by Varang (Oona Chaplin). Quaritch’s access to human weapons and the Mangkwan’s desire for more power on the moon known as Pandora make them a nice match, and they team up to try to dominate the other tribes.

Aside from the story, the main point of making the films for writer/director James Cameron is showing off his considerable technical filmmaking prowess, and that is on full display right from the start. The characters zoom around both the air and sea on various creatures with which they’ve bonded, providing Cameron and his team with plenty of opportunities to put the audience right there with them. Cameron’s preferred viewing method of 3D makes the experience even more immersive, even if the high frame rate he uses makes some scenes look too realistic for their own good.

The story, as it has been in the first two films, is a mixed bag. Cameron and co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver start off well, having Jake, Neytiri, and their kids continue mourning the death of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) in the previous film. The struggle for power provides an interesting setup, but Cameron and his team seem to drag out the conflict for much too long. This is the longest Avatar film yet, and you really start to feel it in the back half as the filmmakers add on a bunch of unnecessary elements.

Worse than the elongated story, though, is the hackneyed dialogue that Cameron, Jaffa, and Silver have come up with. Almost every main character is forced to spout lines that diminish the importance of the events around them. The writers seemingly couldn’t resist trying to throw in jokes despite them clashing with the tone of the scenes in which they’re said. Combined with the somewhat goofy nature of the Na’vi themselves (not to mention talking whales), the eye-rolling words detract from any excitement or emotion the story builds up.

A pre-movie behind-the-scenes short film shows how the actors act out every scene in performance capture suits, lending an authenticity to their performances. Still, some performers are better than others, with Saldaña, Worthington, and Lang standing out. It’s more than a little weird having Weaver play a 14-year-old girl, but it works relatively well. Those who actually get to show their real faces are collectively fine, but none of them elevate the film overall.

There are undoubtedly some Avatar superfans for which Fire and Ash will move the larger story forward in significant ways. For anyone else, though, the film is a demonstration of both the good and bad sides of Cameron. As he’s proven for 40 years, his visuals are (almost) beyond reproach, but the lack of a story that sticks with you long after you’ve left the theater keeps the film from being truly memorable.

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Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19.

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