Brash yet intimate, writer-director-editor Trey Edward Shults’ observant, unnerving first feature transcends the notion of a “promising debut.” Here, the promise is already fulfilled on the screen, which bustles with chaotic family life — and prickles with anxiety. Krisha is a heartsick family story that plays as psychological horror, its…
The joke was on me when I first saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding back in 2002: I watched the film at a press screening that also happened to be attended by a large group of older female tourists. While I grimaced through the movie’s obvious gags and not-ready-for-prime-time direction,…
Thunderous, ponderous and occasionally exciting, Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opens with one of those grim proclamations that the creators of modern superhero movies are so fond of: “There was a time above, a time before,” intones the voice of Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), over a by-now…
Will Eno has much to say about life in the 21st century and a deft way of saying it in The Realistic Joneses, a play which premiered on Broadway in 2014 (in a production directed by Sam Gold) to rave reviews. The same could be said of director David Denson’s…
When Margo Jones opened a Dallas theater she wanted to establish a theater community outside of New York. Jones created much of what would become the regional theater model- theater that existed within a city’s own community and reflected its identity without just regurgitating Broadway hits. Jones wanted theater that…
FOUND at Level Gallery After seeing pollution in the ocean and researching the effects, longtime underwater fashion photographer Jeremy McKane decided he wanted to do more than take pretty pictures. McKane uses his art to raise awareness of this urgent issue. FOUND is McKane’s latest ocean conservation exhibit featuring eleven…
Given the amount of rain we’ve had in the Metroplex this winter (and now, this spring), it’s fitting that the most anticipated musical to hit Music Hall at Fair Park takes place under the sea. Disney’s The Little Mermaid, part of the Dallas Summer Musical series, is wowing sold-out audiences…
Prestige cable flatters us about the past. It lets us vacation in the backwardness of previous generations, usually while throwing some empathetic side-eye. Gape at Mad Men’s blithe white dudes, each convinced he earned every bit of authority he commands over women and minorities. Or thank Jezebel that we’ve evolved…
Can you oversaturate yourself in culture? Overdose on the arts? Get lit on literature? Because if that’s a thing, we are in serious danger this week. Local cultural offerings over the next several days offer an amazing array of experiences—highlighting gender issues in the arts, bringing a New Orleans flavor…
Take heart, Newsroom fans. If you were hankering for more scenes of Jeff Daniels standing around talking, you’ll find an unlikely ally in the new young-adult sci-fi sequel Allegiant, the third entry in the Divergent series based on Veronica Roth’s hit novels. Too bad the stuff he’s saying is so…
These days, buying new stuff just isn’t cool anymore. No one cares about your expensive Italian leather couch from a swanky furniture store, but a rare designer divan (that’s fancy talk for sofa) from the 1950s is a conversation piece. More importantly, that old-ass couch says that you’re a cool-ass…
I knew I was in trouble when I saw the subject line: “Reminder for Career Expo at Richardson High School.” I had committed to appearing to represent journalism as a profession to thousands of impressionable kids. My reaction was immediate and vulgar and aimed at Dallas Observer staff writer Eric…
Do This! Each year the Dallas St. Patrick’s Parade and Festival treks down two miles of Greenville Avenue from Blackwell Street to Yale Boulevard with somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 floats in tow, each flinging approximately 7 millions strands of dangerously projectile green necklaces. Parade-goers can expect green-hued dogs, a…
Drone warfare is a moral gray area, and this movie is on it. Gavin Hood’s Eye in the Sky stands alongside Drones and Good Kill as the cinematic equivalent of online commenters shouting “First!” on a hot topic but not bothering to say anything new or insightful about it. As…
Why is it that little movies about being out of step so often wind up feeling the same? Not long into Michael Showalter’s Hello, My Name Is Doris, a comedy about a misfit frump pining for a much younger hunk, the unlikely target of the heroine’s affections muses to his…
The Pee-wee Productions logo that kicks off the new Netflix film Pee-wee’s Big Holiday trumpets comedian-turned-actor Paul Reubens’ comeback as the formerly ubiquitous man-child. Forget about The Pee-wee Herman Show, Reubens’ fan-service-intensive Broadway extravaganza. Big Holiday (which premieres March 18 on Netflix) plays like an un–self-conscious continuation of the character’s…
For the protagonists of cable dramas, sex and death are twin forces of titillation, pressure valves for frustrated middle-aged men or steely-eyed careerists. That’s also true for the audience of cable dramas, of course, but there’s a reason we eagerly pursue onscreen what often makes us squirm in real life:…
In Jeff Nichols’ gripping domestic thriller Take Shelter, Michael Shannon played a family man convinced that Armageddon was upon us. But even as the character’s visions compelled him to take more and more extreme precautions, the film remained fixed in the world of the real. It was a portrait of…
This patchy comedy about a cossetted, obnoxious gymnast who has slid deep into sloth in the decade or so since her Olympic triumph gets an occasional laugh from the American ills it sends up: jingoism, the sports-industrial complex, home-schooling, fast-food gluttony. The scattershot jabs pepper the flaccid storyline of the…
The Brothers Grimsby is a movie for those who thought Kingsman: The Secret Service didn’t go far enough. If all the exploding heads and anal-sex jokes and creative impalements of Matthew Vaughn’s tongue-in-cheek spy thriller didn’t do it for you, rest assured: This time, we get to see British super-agent…
We hereby declare 3/16 Stone Cold Steve Austin Day. The Texas Rattlesnake, Stone Cold Steve Austin is the most popular wrestler of all-time. Yes, I will happily put Austin ahead of Hulk Hogan and The Rock. So what does March 16th have to do with Steve Austin? Well, Stone Cold’s…
Six Flags Over Texas may have found an answer for people who are afraid of roller coasters. The New Revolution Virtual Reality Coaster is 200 feet high and moves at high speed with twists and turns. But a smart phone strapped across your eyes will put you in a virtual…
