This year's hottest headlines

The 10 hottest stories that had Dallas talking in 2020

Editor's note: What was Dallas reading in 2020? We are so glad you asked. A curious thing happened as we began to compile our annual list of most popular stories: In a year of "bad news" headlines, our readers clamored for "good." They clicked on stories about new vacation destinations and travel deals, local cities earning prestigious distinctions, and most of all, Christmas lights that were sure to make spirits brighter at the end of the year. There were some sad restaurant closures that got a lot of attention, and important coronavirus news to keep up with. These are the stories that readers devoured this year. Find out our most popular dining, arts and entertainment, travel, and real estate stories in their own lists, too.

1. Where to see the most spectacular Christmas lights around Dallas in 2020. Never had we needed the joy of holiday lights to brighten a dark year like we did in 2020. Beginning Thanksgiving weekend, readers devoured our list of the biggest, brightest, most spectacular Christmas light displays in the area, making it our most-read story of the year. There was no better way to enjoy our socially distanced holidays than to pour the hot chocolate, load up the car, flip on the holiday tunes, and explore these merry, magical wonderlands.

2. Texas' largest crystal lagoon makes waves as cool new summer vacation spot. Texans looking to make a splash — but with a healthy distance from others — had a chance to dive into a massive island-style getaway this summer. A 12-acre lagoon opened to the public during the limited-capacity Summer Lagoonfest at Lago Mar in Texas City (in the Houston area) from July 15 through September 13. It then offered some special events in the fall.

3. New drive-thru 'holiday light spectacular' to debut in 3 North Texas cities. In October, a new holiday lights event was on its way to brighten up 2020 for North Texas. "Radiance! A Holiday Light Spectacular" announced it would be flicking on in Frisco, Weatherford, and Decatur this holiday season. (It runs through January 3, 2021.) Radiance hopped on the hottest trend of the year as a drive-thru experience that would be more than a mile long and take 20 to 30 minutes to complete.

4. Dallas suburb packs up title as America's best city for a staycation. In May, personal finance site WalletHub compared more than 180 cities across 15 key metrics, evaluating things like parks per capita, average home square footage, and the best summer weather, to determine the very best spots for staycationing. And guess who landed at No. 1? The North Texas suburb of Plano.

5. 6 affluent Dallas-Fort Worth cities cash in as the richest in Texas. Forget Beverly Hills. Move over, Manhattan. These Dallas-Fort Worth cities are cashing in as the richest in Texas for 2020. A list published in January from data provider HomeSnacks ranked six spots in North Texas among the 10 richest places in the state with at least 5,000 residents. Highland Park took the No. 3 spot statewide.

6. Dallas' Gas Monkey Live fronted by Fast N' Loud's Richard Rawlings closes. The live music spot Gas Monkey Live in Northwest Dallas confirmed in May it was closing, but the live music — and scheduled shows — would live on. The venue, which initially closed in late March due to COVID-19, would merge with its nearby sibling Gas Monkey Bar N' Grill, personnel said then. It is not open now. A December 9 message on Gas Monkey's website says it is "hibernating for the winter."

7. North Dallas steakhouse gets locked out and relocates to Frisco. The Dallas location of III Forks Steakhouse closed September 9 after being locked out by the landlord, but set up shop in a sister restaurant in Frisco. Located at 17776 N. Dallas Pkwy., the steakhouse shut down after nearly 23 years at that location, citing the impact of COVID-19 as a cause. It relocated to 1303 Legacy Dr., taking over the space occupied by its sibling steakhouse, Silver Fox.

8. Texas governor finally issues statewide shutdown of restaurants and bars. After avoiding the inevitable for more than a week into Texas' early outbreak of coronavirus, Gov. Greg Abbott on March 19 finally shut down dining in restaurants and bars across the state. Restaurants could still do takeout and delivery, and, notably, Abbott also allowed them to sell beer, wine, and mixed drinks to-go. They reopened later in spring, but limits on crowd capacities and other strict COVID-19 protocols have continued throughout the year.

9. Dallas-based Southwest Airlines takes off with new Texas route for $29. In early December, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines wheeled out a new way to get to Houston — cheap. Beginning April 12, 2021, Southwest customers can fly between Love Field and Houston's George Bush Intercontinental, nonstop, for $29 one way. The new flights are part of Southwest's new service in and out of Bush in Houston.

10. Master list of every Dallas restaurant and bar that closed in 2020. It's a gloomy CultureMap tradition to compile an annual list of restaurant closures, although it's usually framed as more as an homage to what came and went. But the 2020 version was more brutal than usual, since so many restaurants and bars closed due to COVID-19. Here was that end-of-year list, published on December 28.

Not one but two stories about Christmas lights appeared on the list.

Photo by Stevan Koye

Not one but two stories about Christmas lights appeared on the list.

closings hot-headlines holidays transportation lists vacation

Movie Review

Daniel Craig searches for elusive new bond in audacious film Queer

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

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