Deep Ellum News

New live music venue Puzzles opens in Deep Ellum Dallas

The band Novelists will be at Puzzles on October 8.

Courtesy

There's a new live music venue eager to bring the music to Dallas' Deep Ellum: Called Puzzles Deep Ellum, it just softly opened at 2824 Main St. in the former Quixotic World Magical Event Space, where it already has lineup of acts booked for the summer and beyond.

Puzzles is from Mike Ziemer and Orlando Mendoza, owners of Third String Productions, who have been concert promoters for 20 years — bringing shows all over the DFW metroplex, as well as in Houston, San Antonio and Austin. Their long history has given them relationships with promoters and booking agents, all of whom are eager to find a new stage.

They also own Texas Tea Room, another bar across the street from Puzzles. But Quixotic held special allure, Ziemer says.

“This place holds some mystery and magic, and we want to keep the same energy," he says.

For that reason, they kept much of the decor from the old space, with its black and red colors, and dubbed it with a name that carries playful and curious vibes. But one investment they did make was to update the air conditioning.

As a live music venue, it will be open on the nights that shows are booked, but not on a regular schedule like a bar. The space is 5,000 square feet, with private rooms that are available for corporate and social gatherings — providing a revenue stream that extends beyond live music shows.

Acts booked for the fall include French metalcore band Novelists, Montana gypsy jazz quartet Night Blooming Jasmine, Canadian singer-songwriter ThxSoMch, and Oh Sleeper, a metalcore band from Fort Worth.

There is a full bar with beer, liquor and cocktails, as well as Ghost Energy Drinks, the non-alcoholic sugar free drink with assorted flavors.

They won't be serving food, but are planning on pop-ups from restaurants in the area. They're both committed to supporting the local scene.

“It is exciting to have a space that is our own and continue to build the music scene in Deep Ellum," Mendoza says. "We lost a lot of clubs in the past decade, so we are working on rebuilding."

"We grew up here in Deep Ellum, we saw our first concerts at Trees and The Door, and we don’t want it to see it go away," Ziemer says.

Movie Review

Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney go off in trashy film The Housemaid

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney in The Housemaid.

Both Amanda Seyfried (the upcoming The Testament of Ann Lee) and Sydney Sweeney (Christy) are starring in movies with Oscar ambitions this year. By sheer coincidence, the two actors are also co-starring in The Housemaid, a thriller coming out within weeks of their more ambitious works, one that is likely to be seen by many more people than those prestige plays.

Sweeney is given top billing as Millie, a down-on-her-luck ex-convict looking to land any type of job so as not to break her parole. She finds a too-good-to-be-true lifeboat with Nina (Seyfried), who hires her to be a housemaid for her large house on Long Island, where she lives with her husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), and daughter, Cecilia (Indiana Elle).

After a warm interview, Nina almost immediately becomes highly erratic, whipping back-and-forth between happy-go-lucky and rageful. It seems clear that Nina is suffering from mental health issues, as she’ll often accuse Millie of misplacing or stealing items that she didn’t take. Andrew, apparently used to Nina’s tirades, tries to protect Millie from the worst, something that grows increasingly difficult as Nina ups the ante.

Directed by Paul Feig (A Simple Favor) and adapted by Rebecca Sonnenshine from the bestselling book by Freida McFadden, the film is likely the trashiest mainstream movie to come out in 2025. The first half of the movie relies not on story but on moments as Nina embodies the word “hysterical” to an unbelievable extent. The resigned acceptance of the abuse by Millie, as well as the saintly patience of Andrew, make almost every scene laughable, as nobody seems to be acting anywhere close to how a person would normally react to such extreme situations.

The scenes and the performance of Seyfried are so over-the-top, in fact, that it’s clear that the filmmakers are in on the joke. It’s next to impossible not to have a little bit of fun while watching the actors react to outrageous incidents as if nothing is out of the ordinary. The worse Nina acts, the more Millie and Andrew retreat into their chosen roles, and the funnier the film becomes.

Fans of the book will know that the story changes course, eventually turning into a more stereotypical thriller that also has some relatively gnarly visuals to offer. But the trashiness continues, with Sweeney’s, um, assets repeatedly on display in both clothed and unclothed ways. The sex appeal of the R-rated movie makes it an outlier, as recent studio films have shied away from asking their big stars to disrobe completely.

Both Seyfried and Sweeney are far from their Oscar hopeful roles here. Seyfried is given free rein to act as brazenly as she pleases, and she takes full advantage of that ability. Sweeney seems to have been told to be much more reserved, and unfortunately that results in too many wooden line readings. Sklenar continues his breakout streak (It Ends with Us, Drop) with a role that allows him to show more range than either Seyfried or Sweeney.

The Housemaid is an unusual type of movie to be released at a time of year when most films are either those aiming for awards or more family-friendly fare. Despite its many flaws, it’s still an enjoyable watch that features a variety of crazy scenarios not typically seen in movies nowadays.

---

The Housemaid is now playing in theaters.

movies film