Weekend Event Planner

These are the 14 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Another big weekend across Dallas will feature a wide variety of events. Music lovers will appreciate a piano competition, a three-day festival-style event, and two big concerts. Theater lovers will get three new local productions. Dance lovers have three events from which to choose, including the national tour of an iconic show. Throw in an Oscar winner, a fan event with big celebrities, and a unique visual experience, and this weekend has something for everybody.

Below are the best ways to spend your precious free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, June 8

Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition
Through four rounds of competition, including a final round with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, elite young artists will showcase their virtuosity and touch hearts with their musicality during the Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition. There will be two rounds of concerts over four days at Caruth Auditorium on the SMU campus this weekend, followed by the semifinal and final rounds next week. There will also be a free public concert at NorthPark Center on Sunday.

Events with Oscar winner Roger Deakins
One of the most acclaimed cinematographers of all time, Roger Deakins will be in town this weekend for a series of events. On Thursday will be a Byways Book Signing with Roger & James Deakins, at which Deakins and his longtime collaborator and wife, James, will talk about their new book and career, followed by a screening of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Other Deakins films to be screened include Sicario on Friday, No Country for Old Men on Saturday, and Blade Runner 2049 on Sunday, the latter of which will include Q&A with Roger and James Deakins. All events will be at Texas Theatre.

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents Hubblo Immersive Cinema Dome Experiences
The Hubblo Immersive Cinema Dome uses cutting-edge 360° film technology to create a fully immersive experience. Audiences recline comfortably as 4k films surround them during an hour-long journey of light and sound. There are three different experiences to enjoy, including the Family 360° Film Experience, Music Lovers 360° Film Experience, and Explorer’s 360° Film Experience. The event will take place daily through July 9 at Wyly Theatre.

Broadway Dallas presents Riverdance 25th Anniversary Show
Riverdance's 25th anniversary show is a powerful and stirring reinvention of the beloved favorite, celebrated the world over for its Grammy award‐winning score and the thrilling energy and passion of its Irish and international dance. The ground-breaking show has been completely reimagined with innovative lighting, projection, stage, and costume designs. After playing on Tuesday and Wednesday, there will be one final show on Thursday at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

Rover Dramawerks presents Lobby Hero
Jeff is a young security guard trying to get his life together after being thrown out of the navy. But he is drawn into a local murder investigation involving his supervisor, a tightly wound young man called upon to bear witness against his troubled brother, and an overzealous rookie cop who finds she must stand up to her unscrupulous, seasoned partner. Truth becomes elusive and justice proves costly. The production runs through June 24 at Cox Playhouse in Plano.

Kitchen Dog Theater presents 25th Annual New Works Festival
The 25th annual New Works Festival from Kitchen Dog Theater will be headlined by the mainstage production, The Last Truck Stop. The world premiere production centers on a tenacious trucker-turned-truck-stop-owner and her poetic, gun-toting postal carrier, who debate staying or going when their desert town becomes a no-go zone. The production runs through June 25 at Trinity River Arts Center The festival also includes PUP Fest on June 10 at Booker T. Washington High School, and a Staged Reading Series at Trinity River Arts Center (June 17 and 24).

Shakespeare Dallas presents Shakespeare in the Park: Much Ado About Nothing
For some in Much Ado About Nothing, love begins at first sight. For others, love has been forsworn. The war is over. Pedro Prince of Aragon, with his followers Benedick and Claudio, visits Leonato, Duke of Messina, father of Hero and uncle of Beatrice. Claudio who fights for his love for Hero, and Benedick, who has forsworn women until his friends make him believe that he has caught the eye of Lady Beatrice. Much Ado About Nothing will play in repertory with Two Gentlemen of Verona (opening June 14) through July 16 at Samuell-Grand Amphitheater.

Friday, June 9

Fan Expo Dallas
Fan Expo Dallas is the largest sci-fi, horror, anime, and gaming event in Texas, featuring family-friendly attractions, events, and celebrities. Celebrity guests will includehttps://dallas.culturemap.com/news/entertainment/fan-expo-lampoons-stranger-things/ Zachary Levi from Shazam!; Hayden Christensen from Star Wars; Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Christie Brinkley, and Randy Quaid from National Lampoon's Vacation; Carrie-Anne Moss from The Matrix; Rosario Dawson from Ahsoka; Jon Bernthal from The Punisher; Christina Ricci from Wednesday and Yellowjackets; Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, and other actors from Clerks; and more. The event goes through Sunday at Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.

AEG presents Re:SET
Re:SET, a fresh take on the multi-artist outdoor concert, is coming to the grounds of Texas Trust CU Theatre in Grand Prairie, featuring headliners boygenius, Steve Lacy and LCD Soundsystem. The concert series creates a unique, localized experience for fans, with each headliner curating the lineup for their respective day. On Thursday, boygenius will be bringing along indie standouts Clairo, Dijon, and Bartees Strange. On Friday, Steve Lacy will feature James Blake, Toro y Moi, and Fousheé. Travelling with LCD Soundsystem on Sunday are Jamie xx, IDLES, Big Freedia, and more.

TITAS / Dance Unbound presents Ballet BC
Bold, innovative, and uniquely great, Ballet British Columbia is an internationally acclaimed Canadian contemporary dance company. The program includes Crystal Pite’s The Statement, as well as Garden by Medhi Walerski and Bedroom Folk by Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar. The performance takes place at Winspear Opera House.

Saturday, June 10

Duran Duran in concert
English new wave band Duran Duran - which was named after a character from the movie Barbarella, of all things - has endured for over 40 years, much longer than most '80s bands. Though their biggest hits - "Hungry Like the Wolf," "A View to a Kill," "Ordinary World" - all come from the '80s and '90s, they have continued to evolve their sound so that they remain relevant amid much younger bands. They'll play at American Airlines Center in support of their 2021 album, Future Past, joined by Bastille and Nile Rodgers & Chic.

Parker McCollum in concert
Country singer and Texas native Parker McCollum has been a fixture on the local festival scene since releasing his debut album in 2015, but in 2021 he skipped over all the smaller venues in the area and went straight to Dos Equis Pavilion. Now playing there for his third year in a row. McCollum is touring in support of his just-released fourth album, Never Enough.

Bruce Wood Dance presents Grace
Bruce Wood Dance will close its 22-23 season with Grace, featuring the world premiere of Ghost by Emmy Award-winning choreographer Ben Needham-Wood. Artistic director Joy Bollinger premieres And Heaven and Nature, a look at the seemingly divine design of planet Earth. The reprise of Bruce Wood’s jazzy blockbuster, Rhapsody in Blue, closes the innovative mixed bill. There will be performances on both Saturday and Sunday at Moody Performance Hall.

Photo by Stephanie Pistel

Duran Duran will play at American Airlines Center on June 10.

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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.

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Faces of Death is now playing in theaters.

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