There are few hard-and-fast rules in screenwriting, but here’s one I think we can agree on: Something’s gone wrong if your crowd-pleasing family drama asks audiences to hope a child’s father proves to be a crackhead. That’s one baffling turn in Mike Binder’s Black or White, a movie about race…
Who says award-season winners have to be epic? If you’re looking for an alternative to the lengthy features vying for recognition and box-office glory, ShortsHD and Magnolia Pictures have on offer the full slate of 2014 Oscar-nominated short films. Divided into three categories (documentary, animation, live action), each featuring five…
Look, if it’s going to have any chance of stirring in us that warm, giddy, life-saving thrill of love actually working out, a romantic comedy with a happy ending probably has to cheat a little bit, to inflate its obstacles, to make those final moments truly momentous. To honor that…
Late last year, artists Thor Johnson and Joachim West brought their delectably irreverent sense of humor to an artist talk ruminating on the pretensions of the art world, and it was as much a performance as it was a serious conversation. These two will be back at it at 7…
Despite the unforgiving bitterness of Russia’s winters and the country’s history of political unrest and oppressive social laws, Russians know how to have a good time. And you too can party Northern Asia-style, when Hotel St. Germain (2516 Maple Ave.) hosts its annual Russian Winter Festival. The fun begins at…
Have you ever searched Rei Kawakubo’s designs and found yourself falling down a Google-image rabbit hole? Do you keep your gold Comme des Garcons button-up — it’s the perfect hybrid of menswear and disco queen — in a garment bag? Are you still obsessed with Junya Watanabe’s honeycomb dress from…
Artistic process as artistic product — you’ve probably heard some version of this idea before. The idea that the act of creation is as important as the final output isn’t particularly new. It’s in the same vein as the notion that the journey is as valuable as the destination. To…
Well, it’s officially Super Hero month in North Texas. For the last few weeks we’ve hosted the Marvel Experience, which has delighted the area’s youths with its interactive games, 3-D tech and rides. Now the Marvel super heroes and villains are taking over the American Airlines Center. What can you…
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra finishes out a strong month with yet another fantastic program. The evening begins with Prokofiev’s suspenseful Symphony No. 3, a work primarily sourced from the composer’s long-delayed opera The Fiery Angel. After a short intermission, the DSO welcomes accomplished pianist Peter Serkin to perform Mozart’s sinewy…
From the outside, Texas has a lot going on. To some, it’s a state struggling to reconcile its outlaw reputation with its cultural riches; to others, it’s a place full of good ol’ boys who keep us mired in ’60s-era social policy; and there are those who regard us a…
For those of you hoping for a lectures series that explores the challenges of straight, white men in theater, we deeply apologize. WaterTower Theatre wanted to do that, they really did — the stories were so interesting and captivating! — but it seems that stories of men in performing arts…
Even those of us who consider ourselves art junkies are guilty of not giving architecture its props. It surrounds us, supports us, inspires us and makes its way into all manner of media, but it’s not talked about in the same terms as sculpture, paintings and photographs. It’s taken for…
There aren’t many situations in which 2-for-1 is a bad thing, except, perhaps, if you’re unprepared for twins. Lucky for you, the Dallas Opera isn’t having twins. Instead, it’s offering a powerful double feature of La Wally and the world premiere of Everest at the end of this month. The…
They say that love comes in all shapes and sizes. That you should take risks for love. That love is an adventure. Or, in the case of Chop — the one-man play from funnyman Brad McEntire — they say all of those things at once. The dark comedy tells the…
We humans have done some pretty amazing things in our time: We’ve built temples and walls and giant pyramids that seemingly defy engineering principles; we’ve created technologies that allow us to see and interact with friends and family on the other side of the planet; and scientists have mapped out…
People who have been married for 25 years do not expect a romantic epiphany during a weekend at a swanky hotel. Trust me on this. To stay together that long involves a much better grasp of practicality than it suggests. But never mind — theater is all about the willing…
When you step into the Ochre House Theater (825 Exposition Ave.), you enter another world — a world entirely of artistic director Matthew Posey’s creation. His small group of ruffians puts together shows every six weeks, and they’re consistently magical mixtures of music and storytelling. For the next production, Soft…
Melvin Edwards: Five Decades Melvin Edwards has spent the last five decades working in steel. His most famous body of work is a series of small, steel reliefs titled “Lynch Fragments.” These 3-dimensional pieces, which Edwards has been making for much of his career, aren’t overwhelming in size, but carry…
Dark Circles Contemporary Dance is back with their annual Winter Series, but don’t go to their usual performance location, because they’ve moved. Get your phones out and type this in to Google Maps: Erma Lowe Hall, 3000 S University Drive, Fort Worth. Dark Circles will be premiering two new pieces…
Drinks and sexist attitudes fly in The Explorers Club, the protofeminist farce now playing in a chortle-worthy production at Addison’s WaterTower Theatre. Nell Benjamin’s 2013 play is set in 1879 Victorian London in the polished and paneled saloon of a poncy men’s club whose starchy members fancy themselves scientists and…
Amidst all the recent talk of a “vinyl resurgence” and the renewed admiration for physical media in music, one niche seems to miss its fair share of the attention. Countless reissues, think pieces and brick-and-mortar retail stores have sprung up in favor of re-emphasizing the importance of tangible music formats;…
Mixmaster presents “100 Creatives,” in which we feature cultural entrepreneurs of Dallas in random order. Fresh off the 18th year anniversary party, the guys at Crown & Harp have a lot to be thankful for, particularly our next Dallas luminary, Moody Fuqua. Since 2013, Fuqua’s been doing everything there, from…
