Weekend Event Planner

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

While many events in and around Dallas have either been postponed or canceled during the coronavirus pandemic, some organizations have pivoted to virtual or socially-distanced events to continue offering the masses some entertainment while we need it the most.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. While not every event is out of the house, they all promise to provide a nice distraction from the everyday life.

Thursday, December 17

Palace Theatre presents The Texas Tenors: Deep in the Heart of Christmas
From seasonal favorites, like "O Holy Night" and "Joy to the World," to The Righteous Brothers' crowd pleaser "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" and original hit "Bootdaddy," The Texas Tenors bring a unique blend of music to the stage with thrilling harmonies and award-winning arrangements. They'll perform at Grapevine's Palace Theatre two times on Thursday and two times on Friday.

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents Reliant Lights Your Holidays
The AT&T Performing Arts Center will wrap up their annual holiday tradition this weekend, which has been going on for the past two weeks instead of taking place on one night in years past. Visitors can see 50,000 LED lights illuminating the campus, festive projections, family photo-ops, and Friday and Saturday evening pop-up performances from local artists and organizations. The event will go on nightly through Sunday.

Texas Ballet Theater presents The Nutcracker & The Nutty Nutcracker
Texas Ballet Theater will present a filmed production of both The Nutcracker and The Nutty Nutcracker in lieu of in-person productions this year. Like many others, the ballet company made the decision to cancel its annual run of the production due to pandemic-related safety restrictions. A full-length film of The Nutcracker and a new, 30-minute version of The Nutty Nutcracker, the company’s popular annual spoof, will be available to stream at any time through December 26.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Pinchas Zukerman & Emanuel Ax
Longtime friends and legendary artists Pinchas Zukerman and Emanuel Ax will join the Dallas Symphony Orchestra to celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday. The concert, which will have three performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center, will feature Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major and Symphony No. 2 in D Major.

The Firehouse Theatre presents Estella Scrooge: A Christmas Carol with a Twist
The Firehouse Theatre presents the world premiere of Estella Scrooge: A Christmas Carol with a Twist. The modern-day take on Charles Dickens’ novella follows Estella Scrooge, a Wall Street tycoon with a penchant for foreclosing. The production also incorporates characters and plot lines from Dickens’ other great novels, Great Expectations, Little Dorrit, and Bleak House, among others. The production is available to stream at any time through January 3.

Friday, December 18

Lightwire Theater presents A Very Electric Christmas
Lightwire Theater, recognized internationally for their electroluminescent artistry, poignant storytelling, and performance in complete darkness, presents A Very Electric Christmas, which 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. The tale of family, friendship and hope set to timeless holiday hits, including Nat King Cole, Mariah Carey, and Tchaikovsky, will play for one night only at Winspear Opera House.

The Hip Hop Nutcracker
The Hip Hop Nutcracker, recorded at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, is a contemporary dance spectacle set to Tchaikovsky’s timeless music. The evening-length production is performed by a cast of a dozen all-star dancers, a DJ, a violinist, and MC Kurtis Blow, one of hip hop’s founding fathers, who opens the show with a short set. Presented by the Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson, the livestream will take place on Friday and be available to stream on-demand for 48 hours for VIP ticketholders.

Saturday, December 19

Jack Ingram in concert
Over the past 25 years, country singer Jack Ingram has become such a big part of the Texas music landscape that he's even teamed up with two other Texas celebrities — former UT football coach Mack Brown and actor Matthew McConaughey — for an annual fundraiser event in Austin. He's also released 10 albums in his career, including 2019's Ridin' High ... Again. He'll play twice on Saturday at The Kessler.

kNOwBOX Dance Film Festival
The kNOwBOX dance Film Festival will feature a drive-in art reception and screening of 20 national and international dance-related films at Tin Star Theater. The festival is interested in curating dance films that explore an innovative approach to collaboration, mixed media, and interdisciplinary filmmaking. It seeks dance-related films that challenge the possibilities of what dance can look like in video form.

The Women's Chorus of Dallas presents Love & Joy! A Virtual Holiday Concert
The Women's Chorus of Dallas is going virtual this holiday season. Love & Joy will feature virtual choir recordings and unique visuals. There will be a live premiere watch party on Saturday, and the concert will be available to stream at any time through Monday.

The Statler presents A Night of Comedy with Mo Amer & Michelle Wolf
The Statler will launch its new comedy series, A Night of Comedy, with performances by Mo Amer & Michelle Wolf, hosted by DJ Cipha Sounds. Amer is a Palestinian-American stand-up comedian who's has a supporting role in Hulu's Ramy, while Wolf worked as a contributor and writer for Late Night with Seth Meyers before hosting the Netflix comedy talk show series The Break with Michelle Wolf.

Sunday, December 20

Dallas Museum of Art presents "Moth to Cloth: Silk in Africa" opening day
Throughout the world, silk is used to make cloth and is associated with wealth and status. This rare natural fiber is also indigenous to sub-Saharan Africa. In this installation, cloths drawn from the DMA’s collection explore the production of silk and silk textiles in Ghana, Nigeria, and Madagascar. The exhibition will remain on display through October 24, 2021.

Texas Ballet Theater will present virtual versions of both The Nutcracker and The Nutty Nutcracker, available to stream at any time through December 26.

Photo courtesy of Texas Ballet Theater

Texas Ballet Theater will present virtual versions of both The Nutcracker and The Nutty Nutcracker, available to stream at any time through December 26.

event-planner holidays concerts dance

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.

---

Faces of Death is now playing in theaters.

movies film