Weekend Event Planner

These are the 12 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

It will be a nice, diverse weekend in and around Dallas, with events to please many different tastes. Choices include a tribute to a late acclaimed author, a dance production, a visit from a famous comedian, two new local theater productions, a symphony concert, five other concerts with acts of varying genres and popularity, and the start of a notable art exhibition.

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, September 7

Dallas Contemporary presents An Evening Remembering Larry McMurtry
The author of treasured novels such as Lonesome Dove and The Last Picture Show, and co-author of the screenplays for Brokeback Mountain and Streets of Laredo, Larry McMurtry was one of America’s most revered writers. The new book Pastures of the Empty Page brings together nearly 40 fellow writers to honor the man and his impact on American letters. At this event at Dallas Contemporary, editor George Getschow and various book contributors will discuss their respective relationships to McMurtry and his work.

Friday, September 8

Ballet Papillon presents Revival
Ballet Papillon will present Revival, the commencement of their inaugural 2023-2024 season. The production is a choreographic creation of six original, never-before-performed works that exemplify the versatility and unique personalities of the company's artists, choreographers, and artistic staff. There will be two performances through Saturday at Latino Cultural Center, and a third performance on September 23 at Addison Conference and Theatre Centre.

Anthony Jeselnik: Bones and All
Comedian Anthony Jeselnik's recent stand-up special, Fire in the Maternity Ward, premiered on Netflix to critical acclaim. In addition to Comedy Central podcasts and roasts, Jeselnik has performed on Conan, The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. He'll bring his latest show, Bones and All, to Majestic Theatre for two performances.

Garland Civic Theatre presents Crimes of the Heart
The three MaGrath sisters are back together in their hometown for the first time in a decade. One is the caretaker of the sisters’ cantankerous Old Granddaddy, another left home to pursue stardom as a singer in Los Angeles, and the youngest has just been arrested for the murder of her abusive husband. Past resentments bubble to the surface and each sister must come to terms with the consequences of her own “crimes of the heart.” The production runs through September 24 at Granville Arts Center in Garland.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Prohibition: The Music of Moulin Rouge, Boardwalk Empire and More!"
This concert from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra will take audiences on a journey through the 1920s, from Rudy Vallée to Josephine Baker, from Kurt Weill to King Oliver, featuring the top hits of the decade authentically arranged for orchestra by conductor Jeff Tyzik, accompanied by vintage imagery and video from the period. There will be three performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Lyric Stage presents The Great American Trailer Park Musical
There’s a new tenant at Armadillo Acres - and she’s wreaking havoc all over Florida’s most exclusive trailer park. When Pippi, the stripper on the run, comes between the Dr. Phil-loving, agoraphobic Jeannie and her tollbooth collector husband, the storms begin to brew. The production, Lyric Stage's first in their brand new Studio Space in the Design District, runs through October 14.

Joshua Radin in concert
Folk rock musician Joshua Radin is the epitome of a music lifer. He earned acclaim in the early 2000s, getting his songs played on TV shows like Scrubs and Grey's Anatomy. But, despite appearing multiple times on Ellen, he's never truly achieved breakout status, with his biggest success coming on the Billboard Indie or Folk charts. But he remains undaunted, continuing to churn out music like his two 2023 EPs, Though the World Will Tell Me So, Vol.1 and 2. He'll play at The Kessler.

Maná in concert
Mexican pop-rock band Maná has been making music for over 40 years, and for the last 30 they've been at or near the top of the Billboard Latin charts. Every album since 1992's ¿Dónde Jugarán Los Niños? has reached at least the top 6 on both the Latin and Latin Pop charts, with the last five, including 2015's Cama Incendiada, going to No. 1 on both. They'll play at American Airlines Center on both Friday and Saturday as part of their México Lindo Y Querido tour.

Saturday, September 9

Kraig Parker: Symphonic Tribute to Elvis
Despite dying in 1977, Elvis Presley has remained a musical icon because of numerous tribute acts who refuse to let him and his music fade into oblivion. Kraig Parker returns to the Eisemann Center in Richardson with Symphonic Tribute to Elvis, which features a full 18-piece orchestra conducted by Dallas’ own Bryan English.

Marisela in concert
The Latin Madonna, "The diva of romantic music," and "La Dama de Hierro" are some of the titles that Marisela has received throughout her career. The Mexican-American singer reached fame in the 1980s, selling more than 25 million records. She is the only singer in Spanish to take over the Top 10 of Billboard magazine with all the songs from the same album. She'll perform at Texas Trust CU Theatre in Grand Prairie.

Sunday, September 10

Dallas Museum of Art presents Abraham Angel: "Between Wonder and Seduction" opening day
Assembling nearly all his known surviving works, Abraham Ángel: "Between Wonder and Seduction" introduces U.S. audiences to this legendary artist with the first major survey of his work in over 35 years. During his brief three-year career, Ángel developed a unique artistic style that successfully captured the rapidly changing society and culture of Mexico in the early 20th century. The exhibition will remain on display at the Dallas Museum of Art through January 28, 2024.

5 Seconds of Summer in concert
Australian pop rock band 5 Seconds of Summer long ago shed the erroneous "boy band" title, thanks to their distinct rock sound and the fact that, unlike most boy bands, they actually play their own instruments. Each of their five albums have landed at either No. 1 or No. 2 on the Billboard 200, including their latest, 2022's 5SOS5. They'll play at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving.

Photo courtesy of Marisela

Marisela will perform at Texas Trust CU Theatre in Grand Prairie on September 9.

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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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