Weekend Event Planner

These are the 8 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

With the Fourth of July falling on a Thursday, the rest of the weekend in and around Dallas is relatively light on new events. But there will still be some fun things to do, including three big-name concerts, new local theater, a visit from some favorite TV characters, wrestling from across the Pacific Ocean, and Texas teacher-turned-comedian.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, July 4

There are plenty of Fourth of July celebrations taking place all over Dallas-Fort Worth. Click here for a roundup of the biggest and best ones.

Friday, July 5

Summer Block Party Festival with Jill Scott, Faith Evans, and Tweet
The entertainment at the Summer Block Party Festival, taking place at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, will continue a five-year tradition and commitment to excellence in soul and R&B. Among the performers will be headliner Jill Scott, whose most recent release was 2015's Woman. Other performers will include Faith Evans and Tweet.

Cry Havoc Theater Company presents Sex Ed
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, conversations about sexual impropriety are front and center in our collective consciousness. Yet, we seem to have collective amnesia when it comes to our own teenage years and the lack of honest, accurate information we received about our bodies. Cry Havoc Theater Company's devised work discusses the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees... and how "the talk" has become so politically divisive in our culture. Performances, taking place in Hamon Hall inside Winspear Opera House, will take place through July 14.

Saturday, July 6

Sesame Street Road Trip
Sesame Street will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a stop in Dallas as part of a nationwide tour. The fun, interactive family festival and stage show, taking place at Main Street Garden, will feature a giant maze, a treasure dig, photo opportunities, sweepstakes, a cookies-and-milk snack station, and more.

New Japan Pro Wrestling presents G1 Climax Tournament
New Japan Pro Wrestling will hold the opening night of the 29th annual G1 Climax tournament at American Airlines Center, taking place for the first time ever in the United States. The G1 Climax is the most prestigious tournament in pro wrestling, continuing across Japan until the August 12 finale in Tokyo. The best of NJPW’s roster will be represented in the tournament with around 20 wrestlers participating.

Santana in concert with The Doobie Brothers
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist Carlos Santana comes back to Dallas with his band as part of his Supernatural Now tour. The tour commemorates two of the most important milestones in the iconic guitarist’s career: the 20th anniversary of his groundbreaking, multiple Grammy-winning album Supernatural and the 50th anniversary of his momentous performance at Woodstock. He will be joined by The Doobie Brothers at Dos Equis Pavilion.

Eddie B: I'm Already Professionally Developed Tour
Houston comedian Eddie B has established himself as the official voice of teachers across the globe, presenting an uncensored, raw, and hysterically realistic portrayal of a teacher’s hectic life, from the point of view of an actual teacher. He'll perform at Winspear Opera House as part of his new tour, I'm Already Professionally Developed.

Young The Giant in concert with Fitz and the Tantrums and COIN
Fans of alternative rock will get a chance to enjoy some of the top bands in the subgenre at this concert at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory. Headliner Young The Giant is a California band that has released four albums in its career, including 2018's Mirror Master. They'll be joined by indie pop band Fitz and the Tantrums, which just released their new album, All the Feels, and COIN.

New Japan Pro Wrestling presents the 2019 G1 Climax Tournament at American Airlines Center on July 6.

New Japan Pro Wrestling presents 2019 G1 Climax Tournament

Photo courtesy of NJPW-TV Asahi

New Japan Pro Wrestling presents the 2019 G1 Climax Tournament at American Airlines Center on July 6.

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Movie Review

Jessica Chastain drama Dreams stumbles through steamy romance

Photo courtesy of Teorema

Isaac Hernández and Jessica Chastain in Dreams.

The opening scenes of the new drama Dreams are bracing, fictional sequences that call to mind real-life scenarios. In them, a young Mexican man named Fernando (Isaac Hernández) goes through a somewhat harrowing journey from the back of a semi truck in South Texas all the way to San Francisco. It’s a familiar immigrant story that seems to set the stage for a film with something interesting to say.

It turns out, however, that Fernando has not made the long and arduous trek for a job. Instead, it’s to be with Jennifer McCarthy (Jessica Chastain), a rich woman who helps lead a foundation dedicated to multiple things, including funding dance academies. Fernando, a talented dancer, and Jennifer have been in an off-and-on affair for years, with Jennifer wanting to keep their relationship a secret.

Although both are drawn to each other in an inexplicable, lustful way, their bond is tenuous, with each of them dissatisfied for different reasons. Fernando clearly sacrifices much more of himself than Jennifer, who wants for nothing except maybe more affection from her father, Michael (Marshall Bell), and brother, Jake (Rupert Friend).

Writer/director Michel Franco seems to try to inject tension into Fernando and Jennifer’s relationship from the start, an attempt that is only halfway successful. It’s clear from the way they greet each other - not to mention a steamy sex scene shortly thereafter - that they have known each other for a good length of time. Franco is able to get across this familiarity with an economy of scenes, and the intensity of their bond holds for a while.

But as the film progresses and both of them grow disenchanted with their arrangement, Franco starts taking the story in some odd directions. The biggest issue is that it’s never clear at what point in time the story is taking place. Fernando ends up making multiple trips back and forth across the border, with Jennifer doing the same at one point, and Franco’s use of flashbacks muddies the waters, wrong-footing the audience when he should be trying to draw them further into Fernando and Jennifer’s complications.

Revelations in the final act make the story even more confusing, as both main characters start saying and doing harsh things that seem to come out of nowhere. That would be all well and good if Franco actually committed to their changes of heart, but he keeps things wishy-washy for most of the final 15 minutes, resulting in an ending that makes little sense for either character.

Despite the story issues, both Chastain and Hernández give compelling performances. Chastain has been a little under the radar since winning an Oscar for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, but she keeps this character interesting longer than it should have been. Hernández has limited credits and appears to have been cast for his dancing ability, but he goes toe-to-toe with Chastain on more than one occasion and acquits himself well.

Dreams had all of the ideas to explore a more in-depth story about the complicated immigration policies between Mexico and the U.S., or how wealthy people take advantage of those less fortunate. But Franco never finds the right footing, settling instead for a titillating and somewhat mystifying relationship story that feels half-baked.

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Dreams is now playing in select theaters.

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