Whenever I tell someone I’ve been binging on Hallmark Christmas movies all day, there’s a certain amount of apology involved. “I know, they’re the worst,” I’ll concede, before the other person has had a chance to say anything. “The one I watched this morning was a real winner.” Usually whomever…
The cussedness of La La Land is almost enough to recommend it. Damien Chazelle’s sumptuous tribute to romantics trying to keep lit the fire of a guttering culture is defiantly old-fashioned in form and style. It is, among other things, a throwback to the great MGM musicals of the Gene…
Here’s a promise few movies can make. If you sink two hours into Collateral Beauty now, it’s guaranteed that for the rest of your life, when conversation stalls, you can save the night by asking, “Did you ever see that movie where Will Smith plays an ad executive so shut…
In the pantheon of American First Ladies, Jacqueline Kennedy was no Eleanor Roosevelt. She didn’t push for policy, didn’t relinquish her pillbox hat to walk among the needy, didn’t travel to foreign countries as an ambassador and certainly didn’t advise her husband on matters of war. Jackie Kennedy’s role was…
Pablo Larraín is having a good year. The Chilean director, Oscar-nominated a few years ago for his 2012 political drama No, has just released Jackie, featuring a striking Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy in the immediate aftermath of her husband’s assassination. He is also about to release Neruda, a complex,…
The Perot Museum of Nature and Science is a place of enchantment, especially now with the very organic exhibit “Birds of Paradise” taking place. In addition to the usual touch-and-feel science displays aimed at children, the backstory of the exhibit is what makes it come alive. When National Geographic sent…
What’s the cure for a good girl with a bad heart? A transplant. From a criminal. And a whole lot of Stevie Nicks. That’s the premise of Heartthrob, a philosophical joyride of a comic that’s illustrated by Dallas’ own Robert Wilson IV. Its first five issues have just been released…
The first thing to say about Rogue One is that it might be the most visually splendid Star Wars movie to date — with its mist-covered mountains, its tsunamis of dust and fire, its X-wing fighters blazing through rainswept nights. I’ve never been a big fan of director Gareth Edwards…
History was made during the second round of the 2015 NBA draft when the Dallas Mavericks drafted the NBA’s first Indian-born player in the organization’s 70-year history. But the player they signed, Satnam Singh, has the potential to make an impact that reaches far wider and change the game itself…
If you’ve caught Jeremy Snead’s Video Games: The Movie on Netflix and want to see a deeper exploration of the world of video games, he’s about to release a project that’s much bigger in scope. Unlocked: The World of Games, Revealed is an eight-part documentary series that will be available…
Nao the robot is a little over a month old but can already recite poetry as if it feels passion. It speaks with a soft high-pitched voice while it moves with elegant precision. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate,” it says…
Nick Viall is making his fourth appearance on The Bachelor franchise as the lead guy in the 21st season of The Bachelor. After almost proposing to Bachelorettes Andi Dorfman and Kaitlyn Bristowe, and then dating Jen Saviano on Bachelor in Paradise, why the hell not go up to bat for…
Winning a comedy competition like the annual Funniest Comic in Texas can be both a blessing and a burden. Just ask this year’s winner Dez O’Neal. The Dallas-born comedian won the title out of a pool of 500 comics in the competition’s final round last Friday at the Arlington Improv…
Tue 12/13It’s Christmas time and that means it’s time to get ready to strap yourself in and watch all those classic Christmas movies you see on TV every year during the holidays. Die Hard, the classic ’80s action flick starring Bruce Willis as the chain-smoking, cowboy-loving, sleeveless T-shirt sporting cop…
On the night of Dec. 26, 2015, nine tornadoes ripped through Dallas’ eastern suburbs and leveled houses and schools, overturned vehicles and uprooted half-century old trees. In the hardest hit areas, Garland and Rowlett, parts of communities were destroyed, 13 people were killed and thousands of homes were damaged. This…
Incorporated comes on like the kind of TV show you think you have to pay close attention to. There’s more consideration of climate change in the tense Syfy dystopian thriller than in all four-and-a-half hours of this fall’s presidential debates. As the series opens, stern white titles on a black…
How often has a mainstream film tackled the real-life anxieties of the kind of questioning teens who turn to Tumblr and Reddit to learn the facts of life? Mostly because it’s complicated and uncharted territory, a lot of adults just don’t get it. The flourishing variety of gender and sexual-preference…
Did you ever wonder what happened to Frosty the Snowman after his 15 minutes of fame in the movie? Well, he took a turn for the worse. Now a depressive drug addict, Frosty has a new life in House Party Theatre’s musical Frosty: Songs of Redemption, The Musical!. House Party…
A group of rogue artists destroyed the internet yesterday by driving a car into a pile of electronic devices. Donald Trump initiated the ceremony, proclaiming the internet as the “greatest shackling of humanity since the Atlantic passage” so its destruction is in America’s best interest, he says. So – obviously…
Maestra Marin Alsop is sitting near the harpist. She’s leaning back with her index finger resting across her cheek, observing the interaction between conductor Chaowen Ting and the orchestra. You can tell she wants more than she’s getting from this overture. Alsop gestures a cutoff and walks toward the podium…
Dear Stoner: ESPN just did a survey of players that shows they prefer medical marijuana to prescribed medications to deal with pain. So if a player gets legal medical marijuana and then fails an NFL drug test, who wins? Sports Fan Dear Fan: Compared with other professional sports entities, the…
Look, Shia LaBeouf was approximately the 27th worst thing in that last Indiana Jones movie, and his intense-yet-distracted turns in the Transformers series aren’t legit strikes against him. Would you have turned down all that money to be posed by Michael Bay for a couple months every few years? Now,…
