Weekend Event Planner

Darius Rucker and Neon Trees headline best weekend events in Dallas-Fort Worth

Music, movies and the great outdoors take center stage this weekend in Dallas-Fort Worth, sometimes at the same time. Among the worthy events include a block party in downtown Dallas, a country music extravaganza and a celebration of one of Hollywood's greatest living composers.

Below are the best options for your precious free time Thursday through Sunday. Don't like what you see? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, June 18

Ben Folds in concert
You can barely go six months without Ben Folds making another appearance in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and so it is that five months after playing with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, he's back in town to play at the House of Blues Dallas. This time he's coming to town in support of his forthcoming new album, So There, done in collaboration with the classical music sextet yMusic.

Neon Trees in concert with Alex Winston and Yes You Are
If you're not already on the Neon Trees bandwagon, this is the perfect time to start. The band behind hits like "Animal" and "Everybody Talks" has yet to truly make the jump to the big time, which is why you can still see them play at a venue like the Granada Theater. They play songs from their latest album, Pop Psychology, with support from opening acts Alex Winston and Yes You Are.

Friday, June 19

Dallas Arts District Summer Block Party
As they do at the start of each new season, the three art museums in the Dallas Arts District — Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher Sculpture Center and Crow Collection of Asian Art — team up for a summer block party. Each venue throws open its doors to host special concerts, film screenings and more, and Flora and Harwood streets are lined with food trucks and other activities.

Darius Rucker in concert with Brett Eldredge, Brothers Osborne and A Thousand Horses
This concert at Gexa Energy Pavilion is a step up for Darius Rucker, who last played in the area at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie in 2013. Rucker, who comes to town in support of his latest album, Southern Style, is now getting close to the heights he reached with Hootie and the Blowfish, which is quite the second act. He's joined by opening acts Brett Eldredge, Brothers Osborne and A Thousand Horses.

Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy
A hit on Broadway, Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy is inspired by nature’s unpredictable creations that are brought to life by a cast that includes soaring aerialists, spine-bending contortionists, acrobats, jugglers and musicians. You're also bound to be impressed by the production's lavish costumes and special effects. It runs through Sunday at Winspear Opera House.

2015 Shakespeare in the Park: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised]
The annual tradition of Shakespeare in the Park, staged by Shakespeare Dallas, kicks off with this rendition of a play that tries to encapsulate almost every single work from the Bard. If you haven't been able to make it to the staged readings of the complete works the company has been doing for the past few years, this might be the next best thing. It plays at Samuell-Grand Amphitheatre through July 24.

Saturday, June 20

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents The Music of John Williams and Hollywood's Great Composers
It's practically impossible to laud the career of composer John Williams enough. He's made some of the most famous movie music of all time, including Jaws (which celebrates its 40th anniversary on June 20), Star Wars, Indiana Jones and many more. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra pays tribute to his music and other great Hollywood compositions with this concert at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Uptown Players presents The Nance
For fans of its unique theatrical offerings, it's been a long wait to officially start Uptown Players' 2015 season. The time has finally arrived in the form of The Nance, a Tony Award-winning play that re-creates the naughty, raucous world of burlesque's heyday while telling the backstage story of Chauncey Miles and his fellow performers. It runs at Kalita Humphreys Theater through July 5.

Sunday, June 21

First Baptist Church Dallas presents Gretchen Carlson
Although only one side of the political aisle agrees with what Gretchen Carlson and her Fox News cohorts report on a daily basis, it's hard to deny that Carlson has had an enviable career, rising from Miss America in 1989 to the current host of her own show. Carlson talks and signs copies of her book, Getting Real, following services at First Baptist Church in Dallas.

ATTPAC Sunset Screenings: His Girl Friday
As part of its Sunset Screenings series, the AT&T Performing Arts Center presents the screwball comedy classic His Girl Friday. In it, Cary Grant, playing a newspaper editor, tries every trick he can think of to steal the affections of a reporter played by Rosalind Russell. The free screening plays at Annette Strauss Square.

Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy plays at Winspear Opera House through June 21.

Photo courtesy of AT&T Performing Arts Center

Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy plays at Winspear Opera House through June 21.

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Movie Review

Andrew Garfield leads peasant rebellion in medieval film The Uprising

Photo by Betina La Plante/Focus Features

Andrew Garfield in The Uprising.

Writer/director Paul Greengrass made his name with a cinéma vérité style of filmmaking that brought immediacy and depth to three Jason Bourne films, United 93, Captain Phillips, and more. In The Uprising, he uses those skills to tell the story of the so-called Peasants’ Revolt in 14th century England.

Greengrass wastes no time starting the main plot as Ploughman (Andrew Garfield) and his fellow villagers object to onerous taxes put on them by the country’s nobility, led by the young King Richard II (Woody Norman), to fund an ongoing war. Ploughman initiates a violent response over the tone-deaf — and unseemly — way the king’s guard go about their business, and the rebellion soon starts to spread across the countryside, with the citizens looking for a degree of autonomy.

The ever-expanding group makes their way toward London to try to make their case to the king himself. Meanwhile, the king’s top advisors, including Archbishop Sudbury (Stephen Dillane) and Treasurer Hales (Tom Hollander), try to usurp power from the inexperienced monarch even as the king’s mother (Katherine Waterston) tries to get him to be more assertive.

The history of the English monarchy is long and lurid, as Shakespeare detailed in multiple plays, including Richard II. Though the events in the film took place almost 650 years ago, it’s easy to see parallels between what the peasants were fighting for and modern-day politics. Greengrass’ storytelling intent is solid, and the righteous anger the citizens feel is initially relatable and palpable.

But the populism theme of the story soon gets bogged down in drudgery and minutiae that is difficult to understand, especially when the details are lost in the thick regional English accents. The leaders of the rebels — including John Ball (Jamie Bell), Wat Tyler (Cosmo Jarvis), and Alyce (Thomasin McKenzie) — are shown doing a lot of planning, but the strong feelings they have about their quest don’t come across well, leaving the audience as passive observers.

When there is action, Greengrass and his team employ a frenetic style that is not great for comprehension. While the gist of what is happening and what side is winning is legible, individual moments go by so quickly so as to be nearly meaningless. Save for Ploughman, any connection that has been made with various characters proves futile, as Greengrass doesn’t seem to have any time for emotion. Scenes that should feel thrilling or heartbreaking instead come off as empty.

Garfield is a two-time Oscar nominee who has done great work across multiple genres. He’s fine in this role, but whether it’s the story, the filmmaking, or something else, he’s not as captivating as usual. The same goes for other strong actors like Bell, McKenzie, Dillane, Hollander, and Waterston, who each seem to be giving their all to their performances but are somehow muted in the process.

Done right, The Uprising could have been a rip-roaring account of people standing up against their oppressors. What Greengrass has made, though, is a film that can’t translate its medieval story for a modern audience and concentrates too much on unexciting elements and too little on thrilling ones.

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The Uprising is now playing in theaters.

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