Mixmaster presents “100 Creatives,” in which we feature cultural entrepreneurs of Dallas in random order. Some of the best art shows in Dallas happen in the smallest spaces. Take The Safe Room at the Texas Theatre, the lovely little room turned gallery tucked away at the top of the mostly…
If you’ve ever loved a terrible person, Mike Leigh’s quietly sensational Mr. Turner — a biopic, of sorts, covering the last 25 years of the life of the great 19th-century British painter J.M.W. Turner — is the movie for you. In his seascapes and landscapes, Turner found the perfect visual…
Describing Ava DuVernay’s quietly remarkable Selma to a friend, I caught myself referring to the civil rights era as a historical event, a thing of the past, and then backtracked. The killing of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice at the hands of police officers — not to mention…
Paul Thomas Anderson was making serious movies long before he started making “serious” movies, ponderous works of certified art like There Will Be Blood and The Master. His earliest pictures, like Hard Eight and Boogie Nights, and even the later Magnolia, were wily, imperfect, vibrating with life like yeast springing…
Without dropping spoilers right and left, how do I explain that I’m completely baffled by the Spierig Brothers’ retro-futuristic thriller Predestination? So the she that’s really a he is the earlier version of the he we meet later on, and the later version of the she who shows up near…
All you need to know about Taken 3 is that Liam Neeson survives an explosive car crash — twice. Director Olivier Megaton even rewinds the second blast to show us how his hero escaped. It still doesn’t make sense. But who cares? The Taken franchise is rooted in implausibilities, specifically…
There’s nothing like a good, old fashioned horror movie. The screams and scares make your heart beat a little faster. The tense moments heighten your senses. Rampant dismemberment and death remind you that, unlike the victims on the screen, you’ll be able to walk away unscathed when the credits roll…
Some may remember Elvis Presley as the bloated king of rock ’n’ roll who bought Cadillacs like they were Kleenex and invented recipes that could make a diabetic keel over by scent alone. But there was a time when the Mississippi-born musician was young and fresh-faced. When he breathed new…
These days, technology evolves at hyperspeed. Computers and phones that were top of the line just a few years ago are now obsolete. But ever to be relied upon, artists know just what all of that outdated equipment is good for. Since the ’70s, Lillian Schwartz, Stan Vanderbeek and John…
Whenever a new year rolls across the calendar, resolutions to meet new people or find a serious relationship abound. This time, instead of wasting your money on overpriced matchmakers or on the hell that is speed dating, spend it with the ultimate guarantee of a pile of removed clothes and…
Want to add a bit of a bang to your weekend? Or rattle? Or gong, even? Then you should spend some time in the company of Scottish percussionist Colin Currie, who zips between drums, cymbals, marimbas, bells, and anything else that elicits a jangle or tremor, during his insanely athletic…
A Different Kind of Madness For a weekend in the rainy spring of 2014, NCAA’s Final Four rolled into town to complete the annual madness of March. The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, performed for free amidst a carnival and other family-friendly activities. For the 2015 football edition of sporty madness, we…
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra opens the new year with a deep program that includes Rachmaninoff’s final composition for piano and orchestra, the riveting Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Newly appointed artist-in-residence, Conrad Tao — a prodigious pianist, violinist and composer — is set to bring the virtuosic concerto to…
Every family is dysfunctional in its own way. If for some reason you’d forgotten that yours is no exception, the holidays were surely a great reminder. (There’s a reason why family gatherings are few and far between.) The Dallas Museum of Art’s 24th annual Arts and Letters Live will kick…
Let’s all take a momentary break from running marathons for breast cancer awareness and focus on the booze. Or better yet, the booze competition. Or the bartending competition. Whatever it is, you don’t have to run and there’s alcohol. On Wednesday, Life in Deep Ellum (2803 Taylor St.) will host…
There’s a little freak in all of us — and not, like, the American Horror Story kind. We all have a part that’s unsettled, that wants more, that burns for a crazy experience. Some of us manage to tame that flame, while others let their freak flag fly. Why Things…
April may be the cruelest month, but January is the suckiest. Moviegoing sucks because we’re wedged between the Oscar-bait and summer movie seasons; the weather sucks, as the cold lingers like a bum relative who won’t move off your couch; and the New Year serves as a sucky reminder that…
One of my first swings and misses at art was a small painting of a zebra. I’m fairly certain my big sister told me I got the stripes wrong. Black on white, not white on black, or something similarly absurd. Not that it mattered because it was barely recognizable as…
So many things happen at the dining room table: Marriages are made and broken; families are dreamed of, then nourished; decisions are agonized over, then set in motion. It’s the central hub of our homes — the place where the mail is piled, the dinner is eaten and the important…
It’s not music or beer that makes a great party — that’s 97 percent of it, tops — but the variety of people assembled under one roof. You’ve got your bright and happy party girls; your conversationalists, who can talk about anything to anyone; your cerebral folks, who often take…
So much attention to detail goes into every show that Pegasus Theatre does in its trademarked “Living Black and White” style. Presented as a vintage piece of silver screen silliness come to life, the plays written by and starring Pegasus founder Kurt Kleinmann strip all the color from everything on…
Flowers of War In grad school I spent one winter break in Los Angeles, which of course required a trip to Malibu to visit, among other sites, the Adamson House, known in some circles as the “Taj Mahal of Tile.” Since then, I’ve moved back to Dallas and fallen eyes…
