Weekend Event Planner

These are the 11 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

UPDATE: This piece originally included the Art of Rap Festival at Gexa Energy Pavilion, which has been cancelled. Refunds for all tickets for the festival will be available at point of purchase.

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This weekend is going to be an emotional one in Dallas. One week after the tragic events of July 7, there's a memorial honoring the five fallen police officers and celebrating the freedom that they and others like them afford to us on a daily basis. The fact that the two can coexist is a testament to what makes Dallas great.

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, July 14

Bastille Day Celebrations
Anyone who knows and loves the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff is used to it hosting the annual Bastille on Bishop, a chance for people to celebrate French culture by indulging in wine, food, and other activities. This year, a second event, Bastille Day Celebration in Dallas Arts District, is taking place the following day, and it coincides with the three art museums opening up their doors for free events on the third Friday of the month.

2016 Asian Film Festival of Dallas
The Asian Film Festival of Dallas celebrates its 15th year with 33 feature-film screenings and six shorts over the course of eight days at Angelika Film Center in Dallas. The festival boasts its first Iranian film this year, as well as films from the U.S., China, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Vietnam. Organizers will be showcasing past film festival favorites from its first, fifth, and 10th years.

Dallas Sing/Dallas Strong
Two days after President Obama delivered a stirring address at a private service at Meyerson Symphony Center, the public is invited to the same location to honor the lives of the five fallen police officers through song. Dallas singers Denise Lee, Paul Mason, and Liz Mikel; local opera star Ava Pine; and members of the Credo Choir, Turtle Creek Chorale, and Dallas Symphony Chorus are going to be among the performers at the free event.

Pegasus Theatre presents It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder!
If you've never seen Pegasus Theatre's patented Living Black & White style of theater, you owe it to yourself to go at least once. Using a combination of lighting, makeup, and other tricks, the actors look as if they've stepped out of a 1930s movie. The latest Harry Hunsacker adventure has him trying to track down someone who's been knocking off department store Santas. The play runs at Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson through August 7.

Friday, July 15

Dallas CASA presents 2016 Parade of Playhouses
The annual Parade of Playhouses at NorthPark Center features imaginative playhouses designed, built, and donated to Dallas CASA by local designers, architects, and builders. All playhouses are available to win by raffle at the end of the event, which goes through July 31. All proceeds from the raffle benefit abused and neglected children served by Dallas CASA.

Weezer and Panic! at the Disco in concert
Weezer and Panic! at the Disco are co-headlining a concert at Gexa Energy Pavilion, in support of their respective new albums. Weezer put out their 10th album, the so-called White Album, on April 1, while Panic! at the Disco released their sixth album, Death Of A Bachelor, earlier in the year. Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness is the featured special guest.

Uptown Players presents It's Only A Play
Uptown Players continues its 2016 season with the regional premiere of Terrence McNally's 2014-15 Broadway hit, It’s Only a Play, through July 31 at Kalita Humphreys Theater. The play centers around a group of actors, producers, and other theater people nervously waiting for the late-night reviews of their latest production. Hilarity ensues as each person reacts in different ways.

Saturday, July 16

Weird Al Yankovic in concert
Singer Weird Al Yankovic has been entertaining the masses with comedy songs for well over 30 years, so he knows when he's got a good thing going. Less than a year after playing at Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie, he returns to play for his fans yet again at Winspear Opera House, as part of his Mandatory Fun Tour.

Sunday, July 17

Texas Theatre and Majestic Theatre present Rock 'N' Roll Summer Series
The music film collaboration between Texas Theatre and Majestic Theatre continues this week at Texas Theatre, with a screening of Gimme Shelter. Not only is the documentary about the Rolling Stones one of the most famous of all time, as it details their fateful concert at Altamont, but it was also the first documentary of note from the Maysles brothers, who went on to make many other acclaimed documentaries.

Deep Blue Something in concert
If you were in high school or college in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in the early 1990s, the band Deep Blue Something definitely has meaning for you. The Denton band hit it big with their hit, "Breakfast at Tiffany's," but unfortunately, superstardom did not follow. After a 14-year hiatus, the band is back with an EP, Locust House; they'll play songs from that and other albums at Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts in Arlington.

Samurai Hustle Returns opens the 2016 Asian Film Festival, running June 14-21 at Angelika Film Center Dallas.

Photo courtesy of Asian Film Festival of Dallas

Samurai Hustle Returns opens the 2016 Asian Film Festival, running June 14-21 at Angelika Film Center Dallas.

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Movie review

Nick Jonas steals song from Paul Rudd in music-heavy Power Ballad

Photo by David Cleary for Lionsgate

Nick Jonas and Paul Rudd in Power Ballad.

Writer/director John Carney is one of the great purveyors of movies featuring music (as opposed to musicals) in the 21st century. Starting with Once in 2007 (which was turned into a Broadway musical several years later), he has made music-themed stories like Begin Again, Sing Street, Flora and Son, and now Power Ballad.

Rick Power (Paul Rudd) is a former wannabe rock star who is now the lead singer of “Ireland’s #1 Wedding Band,” The Bride & Grooves. While they mostly play smaller weddings, a gig at a country estate leads to an encounter with Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas), a former boy band member struggling to make it as a solo artist. Rick and Danny wind up bonding in a booze- and pot-filled jam session, sharing various song ideas.

After returning to Los Angeles and desperate for a hit, Danny steals one of Rick’s songs, which miraculously turns into the No. 1 “How to Write a Song (Without You).” Rick, initially overjoyed that something he wrote has become big, is crushed when he finds out Danny didn’t give him credit. His quest to find a way to prove his worth sends him into a spiral, upending the ordinary life he had built.

Co-written by Peter McDonald, the film is a nice exploration of two men trying to hold on to their music dreams. Their individual circumstances could not be more different, but each of them knows the ups and downs of the business as well as the other, as well as the ineffable magic of creating that one great song. While the music scenes are hit-and-miss because of a reliance on lip synching, the scene featuring Rick and Danny trading ideas is electric with creativity.

Oddly, though, the film could have used a bit less music and more of a focus on the two men’s personal lives. Rick wound up living in Ireland after falling in love with his future wife, Rachel (Marcella Plunkett), while on tour with his former American band. He spends a decent amount of time with her and his daughter, Aja (Beth Fallon), but his story needed a few more family scenes to drive the point home. Danny’s personal life is all but nonexistent, giving his arc less impact than it could have had.

Instead of loved ones, Carney and McDonald try to give Rick and Danny more depth through friends and business associates. Rick’s bandmate Sandy (McDonald) is a ride-or-die kind of guy for him, but his presence is only good for a few humorous distractions. Danny’s manager Mac (Jack Reynor) is difficult to parse, as he goes to bat for Danny on multiple occasions, but also seems to keep him at arm’s length.

It’s long been joked that Rudd never ages, and that youthfulness serves him well in this role, in which his character is supposed to be much younger than his actual age of 57. His energy and enthusiasm make his character appealing throughout, even when Rick starts to go off the deep end. Jonas is decent in his role, selling the music side well, but there might be a reason his character doesn’t have many scenes requiring him to show emotions.

While Power Ballad has all the hallmarks of another great Carney music movie, it’s missing a few pieces that could have put it over the top. It’s still a fun film with an insanely catchy song at its center, but it’s not quite as memorable as most of the filmmaker’s previous efforts.

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Power Ballad is now playing in theaters.

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