Weekend Event Planner

Les Miserables and Asleep at the Wheel headline best weekend events in Dallas

Even though we've officially started summer, temperatures remain relatively bearable in Dallas-Fort Worth. By chance, many of the best events this weekend take place outside, although the inside options definitely take the cake.

Below are your 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 26

FC Dallas 2014 World Cup Tour: USA vs. Germany
Soccer fans and bandwagon jumpers, this is the big one. If the U.S. manages to beat or even tie Germany, they'll be moving on to the knockout round of the World Cup. There's still a chance of proceeding even if they lose, but let's not take chances, okay? FC Dallas will once again host a watch party, this time outside of American Airlines Center in AT&T Plaza.

Eddie Izzard: Force Majeure
British comedian Eddie Izzard has a long comic and acting resumé, but he's still way more popular in his native land than he is on this side of the pond. He's on tour in support of his 2013 comedy album, Force Majeure, a tour that will hit some 25 countries by its end. Izzard has actually taken over the Majestic Theatre this week, as this performance is the last of a three-day stint.

Friday, June 27

Dallas Theater Center presents Les Miserables
Dallas Theater Center closes out its 2013-2014 season with one of the classics of musical theater, Les Miserables. But even those who have seen multiple different productions of Les Mis may be surprised by what DTC has done, with a unique stage arrangement that promises to put the audience in the middle of the action. The musical will play at Wyly Theatre through August 17.

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra presents Music of the Rolling Stones
Classical and rock music have a lot more in common than you might think, which is why this pairing of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and singer Brody Dolyniuk is being brought back for the second year in a row. Taking place outside at Fort Worth Botanic Garden, the concert will feature all of the Stones' hits like "Paint It Black," "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Satisfaction."

Saturday, June 28

2014 Celebrate Freedom Festival
While the title of this festival, coming just days before the Fourth of July, is patriotic, the theme is heavily bent toward Christian music. The all-day festival, taking place at Southfork Ranch and presented by 94.9 KLTY, features an all-Christian music lineup, including Michael W. Smith, Crowder, Britt Nicole, Jamie Grace and Group 1 Crew. The day will be finished off with fireworks.

Allen USA Celebration 2014
Most cities wait until the actual Fourth of July to put on their Independence Day celebrations, but Allen would rather have the day to themselves. This free event at Celebration Park includes a variety of musical acts, including headliners Pentatonix, family activities and, of course, fireworks to end the night.

The Fray in concert with Barcelona and Oh Honey
The popularity of The Fray stems largely from their hugely popular 2005 debut album, How to Save a Life, which featured massive hits like the titular song and "Over My Head (Cable Car)." They haven't hit those heights since then, but they're far from unpopular, as their 2014 album Helios still hit the top 10. They'll play at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie with Barcelona and Oh Honey.

Sunday, June 29

Resounding Harmony presents Heartfelt Paws, Tails of Love
Classical music aficionados and animal lovers will have a common cause on Sunday when Resounding Harmony presents the special concert, Heartfelt Paws, Tails of Love. Proceeds from the concert, taking place at Dallas City Performance Hall and narrated by former NBC5 anchor Scott Murray, will benefit Paws in the City, a charity that works to find homes for adoptable dogs and cats.

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra presents Asleep at the Wheel
While the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra will be collaborators for the Rolling Stones concert on Friday, they'll be relegated to backup band on Sunday when country legends Asleep at the Wheel takes the stage. The group, last seen as one of many paying tribute to George Strait during his final tour stop at AT&T Stadium, will honor Bob Wills and the Western Swing genre with this concert at Fort Worth Botanic Garden.

The Fray will play at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie on June 28 with Barcelona and Oh Honey.

Photo courtesy of The Fray

The Fray will play at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie on June 28 with Barcelona and Oh Honey.

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Movie Review

Korean monster movie Hope delivers thrills despite its lengthy runtime

Photo courtesy of Neon

Hwang Jung-Min and Hoyeon in Hope.

Monster movies can take on all sorts of different flavors, from all-out mayhem to quieter ones where the monster can sometimes be the protagonist. The new South Korean film Hope splits the difference to a degree, delivering action-packed sequences while also attempting to understand the non-humans in a way.

The story starts in medias res, with an unseen creature having already done great damage to a huge bull and laying waste to much of a small Korean town. The local sheriff, Beom Seok (Hwang Jung-Min), tries to take control of the situation in the town, while a group of hunters led by Sung Ki (Zo In-Sung) travel into the nearby woods to see what they can find there.

Thus starts a nearly nonstop, 160-minute epic of each side trying (and mostly failing) to defend themselves against gigantic creatures who seem hellbent on destroying everything in their path. It’s not until 40 minutes into the film that the audience is shown one of the monsters in detail, and the less said the better about what it actually looks like, as the mystery behind it keeps the intrigue going.

That initial section of the film is the best, as Beom Seok — eventually joined by deputy Sung Ae (Hoyeon) — goes on a frantic hunt around the town, always just far enough behind the monster to keep from seeing it. The utter destruction he witnesses and his interactions with various locals are intense and oddly funny, with the hectic conversations he has laced with fear and incredulity over how different people choose to act.

Writer-director Na Hong-jin bounces back and forth between the people in the town and the group in the forest, doing his best to maintain the momentum of the first section. This approach works for a while as each group makes their own discoveries about the creatures and has run-ins with them that more often than not are ill-fated. Using a mixture of relatively good CGI, great production design, and an abundance of gore, the filmmaker shows he knows how to make an effective blockbuster-style film.

The trouble is, he doesn’t know when to stop. Somewhere around the two-hour mark of the movie, the story starts to become repetitive and Hong-jin introduces elements that don’t mesh well with what has come before. For some reason, he decides that some of the creatures should speak, a move that is baffling on several fronts. The biggest one is that they are voiced by English-speaking actors like Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, and Taylor Russell, but each speaks a non-human language, rendering their performances moot.

Jung-min puts in a fantastic lead performance, one that requires him to vacillate between abject terror and in-control leadership. In-Sung is almost as good, although his character requires him to play one note over and over again. Hoyeon, who some may recognize from Squid Game, delivers an extra shot of energy when she enters the film, something she keeps going despite her character being forced to say some bad lines.

If Hong-jin had kept the focus Hope a little tighter, the sci-fi thriller might have ended up toward the top of this year’s films. But by choosing to extend the story into territories that don’t add much to the plot or make much sense, the filmmaker puts a damper on what was a fun and brutal monster movie.

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Hope is now playing in theaters.

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