Event planner

Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year top the best events in Dallas this weekend

It's Valentine's Day weekend, which means there are plenty of romantic options out there for those of us lucky to be in love. But if you're kicking it single-style this year, don't fret: Most of this week's events don't require a partner.

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.

Thursday, February 14

Lexus Broadway Series presents Anything Goes!
The Cole Porter musical dates back to 1934, but it's as timeless as any song-and-dance production that's hit the Great White Way, as evidenced by its recent Tony Award-winning revival. That revival is currently on a national tour, and it makes a stop at Winspear Opera House through February 24. They even have a special Valentine's Day matinee for anyone looking to surprise a loved one.

Klyde Warren Park presents Valentine's Day at the Park
The first Valentine's Day in Klyde Warren Park's short existence promises to be an ultra-romantic one, as there will be champagne, desserts and sultry music all night long. Whether you hit up the park on the way to dinner or make it the main attraction, KWP is the place to be this Valentine's Day.

Patti Labelle in concert with Bobby Brown, Johnny Gill and Ralph Tresvant
If the soul/R&B lineup at American Airlines Center, appropriately labeled the Love Train tour, doesn't get you in the mood for love, then nothing will. It features three former members of New Edition —Brown, Gill and Tresvant — and the concert is headlined by one of the queens of R&B, Patti Labelle. At least five other singers are on the bill, so one thing the night won't be lacking is entertainment.

Friday, February 15

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Romeo and Juliet
The story of Romeo and Juliet is, of course, one of the most tragic love stories of all time, so there isn't any more appropriate time for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra to present Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet Suite than Valentine's Day weekend. The concert, which also features works by Debussy and Rodrigo, runs through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Crow Collection of Asian Art presents 2013 Chinese New Year Celebration
Yes, technically the Chinese New Year began last Sunday, but who wants to have a nighttime street fair on a Sunday? The Crow Collection of Asian Art takes over Flora Street with a parade, a variety of art-making activities, and food trucks like Nammi and Ssahm BBQ. As a bonus, visitors can get a sneak peek at the Crow's new collection, China Through the Lens of John Thomson 1868-1872, which doesn't officially open until Saturday.

Saturday, February 16

Dallas Summer Musicals presents Catch Me If You Can
Don't let the name fool you: Dallas Summer Musicals presents shows at the Music Hall at Fair Park year-round. The 2013 season kicks off with a crowd-pleaser, Catch Me If You Can, the musical based on the Steven Spielberg movie that was based on the book of the real life of con man Frank Abagnale. The show, which started Tuesday, runs through February 24.

2013 Monster Energy AMA Supercross
The confines of Cowboys Stadium are so large that it could likely fit two normal-sized stadiums inside, so when AMA Supercross is looking for a local spot to stage one of its competitions, Jerry World is the only logical choice. The best of the best from the Supercross tour will jump, skid and hopefully not crash on the dirt course set up right where the Cowboys crashed and burned.

Sunday, February 17

The Complete Works of Shakespeare - Henry VI, Part 1
With the fifth entry in the five-year quest to present staged readings of every single Shakespearean work, Shakespeare Dallas is finally going back to the beginning of the Bard's career with the presentation of Henry VI, Part 1. It is the first play in the War of the Roses tetralogy, which will be presented in order at Winspear Opera House over the next four months. This reading happens in Hamon Hall on Sunday and Monday.

500X Gallery presents EXPO 2013
If you're interested in seeing what's new and great in Texas art, you'd do well to stop by 500X Gallery the next few weekends. The annual EXPO, a showcase of works created by artists from around the Lone Star State, is now on display. The competition, judged by Iris Bechtol, runs through March 3.

Patti Labelle headlines the Love Train concert at American Airlines Center on Valentine's Day.

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Movie Review

Comedy all-stars Jack Black and Paul Rudd can't save Anaconda sequel

Photo by Matt Grace

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda.

In Hollywood’s never-ending quest to take advantage of existing intellectual property, seemingly no older movie is off limits, even if the original was not well-regarded. That’s certainly the case with 1997’s Anaconda, which is best known for being a lesser entry on the filmography of Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez, as well as some horrendous accent work by Jon Voight.

The idea behind the new meta-sequel Anaconda is arguably a good one. Four friends — Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) — who made homemade movies when they were teenagers decide to remake Anaconda on a shoestring budget. Egged on by Griff, an actor who can’t catch a break, the four of them pull together enough money to fly down to Brazil, hire a boat, and film a script written by Doug.

Naturally, almost nothing goes as planned in the Amazon, including losing their trained snake and running headlong into a criminal enterprise. Soon enough, everything else takes second place to the presence of a giant anaconda that is stalking them and anyone else who crosses its path.

Written and directed by Tom Gormican, with help from co-writer Kevin Etten, the film is designed to be an outrageous comedy peppered with laugh-out-loud moments that cover up the fact that there’s really no story. That would be all well and good … if anything the film had to offer was truly funny. Only a few scenes elicit any honest laughter, and so instead the audience is fed half-baked jokes, a story with no focus, and actors who ham it up to get any kind of reaction.

The biggest problem is that the meta-ness of the film goes too far. None of the core four characters possess any interesting traits, and their blandness is transferred over to the actors playing them. And so even as they face some harrowing situations or ones that could be funny, it’s difficult to care about anything they do since the filmmakers never make the basic effort of making the audience care about them.

It’s weird to say in a movie called Anaconda, but it becomes much too focused on the snake in the second half of the film. If the goal is to be a straight-up comedy, then everything up to and including the snake attacks should be serving that objective. But most of the time the attacks are either random or moments when the characters are already scared, and so any humor that could be mined all but disappears.

Black and Rudd are comedy all-stars who can typically be counted on to elevate even subpar material. That’s not the case here, as each only scores on a few occasions, with Black’s physicality being the funniest thing in the movie. Newton is not a good fit with this type of movie, and she isn’t done any favors by some seriously bad wigs. Zahn used to be the go-to guy for funny sidekicks, but he brings little to the table in this role.

Any attempt at rebooting/remaking an old piece of IP should make a concerted effort to differentiate itself from the original, and in that way, the new Anaconda succeeds. Unfortunately, that’s its only success, as the filmmakers can never find the right balance to turn it into the bawdy comedy they seemed to want.

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Anaconda is now playing in theaters.

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Event planner

Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year top the best events in Dallas this weekend

Patti Labelle headlines the Love Train concert at American Airlines Center on Valentine's Day.

Movie Review

Comedy all-stars Jack Black and Paul Rudd can't save Anaconda sequel

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