The Great Pumpkin(s)

NorthPark Center presents a pumpkin patch with a purpose

CenterPark Garden will be transformed into a fairytale fall destination.

Photo courtesy of NorthPark Center

A big perk of fall is seeing pumpkins everywhere, but NorthPark Center is giving gourds an even greater purpose from October 11-November 3.

With its inaugural NorthPark Pumpkin Patch, CenterPark Garden will be transformed into a fairytale fall destination, filled with thousands of pumpkins, autumn plantings, a wishing well, a gnome village, and more. And it's all to benefit Community Partners of Dallas.

NorthPark Pumpkin Patch Enter a land of fall whimsy.Photo courtesy of NorthPark Center

Since 1989, Community Partners of Dallas has ensured safety and restored dignity and hope to abused and neglected children by providing crucial resources and support to the caseworkers of Dallas County Child Protective Services. Community Partners of Dallas provides items such as winter coats, diapers, formula, holiday gifts, school uniforms, personal hygiene products, food, and more to send the abused children in our community the message that someone does care.

Designed by Harold Leidner Landscape Architects and NorthPark’s renowned landscape team, the NorthPark Pumpkin Patch will give visitors photo opportunities, hot apple cider, story times with Bookmarks (a Dallas Public Library space located within the shopping center), and whimsical scavenger hunts.

“Providing seasonal, interactive experiences for families has always been important to us at NorthPark, and the Pumpkin Patch is a new way to give back to our community,” says Nancy A. Nasher, president of NorthPark Management Company. “We are honored to support Community Partners of Dallas through this festive celebration and help raise important funds for abused and neglected children.”

NorthPark Pumpkin Patch Just head outside to the CenterPark Garden.Photo courtesy of NorthPark Center

The first Pumpkin Patch is chaired by former NorthPark Ambassador Andrea Nayfa.

The fall fun kicks off with CPD’s Change is Good fundraiser on Sunday, October 13, from 3-6 pm. This year, Change is Good is chaired by Tina Lalangas and Gavin Minnis with their children Phoebe and Tessa, and Maria and Dino Sideris with their children Yioula and Georgia. Madison and James Strode, with their children Stella, Silvie, and Trip, will serve as honorary chairs.

This annual family fundraising event encourages children to collect change to help change the lives of abused and neglected children through the important work of CPD.

Participating children will collect coins and bills in adorable jars, and even “virtual change” online throughout the fall, and will turn in the funds raised at the event for a chance to win prizes and the title of top fundraiser.

“We are absolutely thrilled to partner with NorthPark Center as the beneficiary of the magical, extraordinary Pumpkin Patch. This is such a beautiful gift to our community! Not only will CenterPark be an amazing venue for our annual fundraiser, Change is Good, but the Pumpkin Patch will also serve as the ultimate spot for families to gather this fall,” says Joanna Clarke, president and CEO of Community Partners of Dallas.

Throughout the event, all change collected by the wishing well in the Pumpkin Patch, the Dillard’s Fountain, and the Neiman Marcus Fountain inside NorthPark will be donated to CPD.

NorthPark Pumpkin Patch Find photo opps galore.Photo courtesy of NorthPark Center

The Pumpkin Patch will be free and open to the public. Check NorthPark Center's website for an up-to-date list of events and activities.

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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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