Weekend Event Planner

Steve Martin and Sarah McLachlan headline best weekend events in Dallas

Concerts dominate the events landscape in Dallas-Fort Worth this weekend, whether it's jazz-accompanied storytelling, a well-known comedian showing off his bluegrass skills, local groups teaming up with local beer or a hugely popular songstress returning to spotlight after an extended break.

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 31

Rawlins Gilliland One-Man Show
Few people in the Dallas-Fort Worth area can tell a story like Rawlins Gilliland. The man who's won a grant for poetry, worked in sales for Neiman Marcus and been a commentator at KERA takes the stage at The Kessler to regale the audience with tales from his life, accompanied by the smooth jazz styles of a Matt Tolentino-led jazz trio.

311 in concert
There are probably more than a few of you who are surprised that 311 is still making music. They've been putting out albums since 1990, and although they've had the occasional top 40 song, they've never become superstars. That appears to be just fine with them and their small but loyal following, who can celebrate the band's longevity with this concert at S outh Side Ballroom in support of their latest album, Sterolithic.

Friday, August 1

Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers in concert with Edie Brickell
Not many people get a chance to make a career out of multiple passions in their lifetime, but Steve Martin is one of the lucky few. After decades of proving his worth as an actor and comedian, he's spent the past five years showing the world his banjo skills and love of bluegrass music. He, his band the Steep Canyon Rangers and collaborator Edie Brickell showcase their award-winning music — and maybe a little comedy — during this concert at Winspear Opera House.

Toad the Wet Sprocket in concert
Everything old is new again, and there's no better musical example than Toad the Wet Sprocket, the oddly named band that had their heyday in 1990s. They put out their first new album in 16 years, New Constellation, last October, so even though they've done the occasional local show in recent years, this concert at House of Blues Dallas is the first chance for fans to hear the new material live and in person.

Saturday, August 2

Lone Star Film Society presents ArthouseFW: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
The Lone Star Film Society has been taking square aim at film geeks recently, putting on retrospectives of Akira Kurosawa and John Carpenter. They start another with this screening of Nausicaa, the film that announced Hayao Miyazaki as a master animator and filmmaker. This and future Miyazaki screenings, happening throughout August, take place at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Local Brews, Local Grooves Craft Beer and Music Festival
Pairing local music and craft beer is the popular thing to do nowadays, but this one has something the others usually don't — an indoor location. Bands like Cursed Diamond, Jessie Frye, The O’s and Nicholas Altobelli perform at House of Blues Dallas while area breweries like 903 Brewers and Rahr & Sons dole out tastings of their latest and greatest concoctions.

Ray LaMontagne in concert with the Belle Brigade
The Music Hall at Fair Park doesn't see a ton of non-theater events, but when concerts do happen there, they're always worth seeing. Ray LaMontagne has established himself as a singular voice on the folk rock scene, and his songs have become favorites on television soundtracks. He comes to Dallas in support of his 2014 album, Supernova, and he's joined by opening act Belle Brigade.

Sunday, August 3

2014 Dallas CASA Parade of Playhouses
If you notice a string of odd-looking structures in NorthPark Center over the next couple of weeks, it's not a new art exhibit. It's actually Dallas CASA's annual Parade of Playhouses, in which an array of cool playhouses are raffled off to benefit Dallas CASA's mission of advocating for abused children in court. You can try to win your favorite playhouse through August 17, and the winners are announced that day.

Sarah McLachlan in concert
If you know Sarah McLachlan these days, it's as much for her support of the ASPCA as it is for her music. Her ad, and its use of her song "Angel," has been ubiquitous since 2007, to the point where it has overshadowed other work she has done. She's trying to rectify that with her new album, Shine On, which is showcased along with the rest of her catalog in this concert at Winspear Opera House.

Toad the Wet Sprocket plays House of Blues Dallas on August 1.

Toad the Wet Sprocket/Facebook

Toad the Wet Sprocket plays House of Blues Dallas on August 1.

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Movie Review

White Lotus alum Meghann Fahy combats cellphone in film thriller Drop

Photo by Bernard Walsh/Universal Pictures

Meghann Fahy in Drop.

The smartphone age has forever changed how people communicate, including in movies. However, save for a few exceptions, their depiction on screen is still limited to characters using them solely for phone calls and regular text messages. The new film Droptakes a relatively underutilized function of smartphones and amplifies it to create a new but familiar type of thriller.

Violet (Meghann Fahy) is the mother of a young boy, Toby (Jacob Robinson), and also a widow who survived an abusive marriage. After years of waiting, she’s finally ready to get back on the dating scene, agreeing to meet Henry (Brandon Sklenar) at a fancy restaurant after a few months of only communicating with him through a dating app.

Soon after arriving at the restaurant, she starts receiving unsolicited messages that are dropped onto her phone by an anonymous person using a special app. What at first seem to be harmless pranks turn deadly serious, with Violet being blackmailed to do whatever the person wants her to do under the threat of Toby being killed. With instructions not to confide in anybody, even Henry, Violet has to cope with the menace alone.

Directed by Christopher Landon and written by Jillian Jacobs and Christopher Roach, the film is a clever twist on the whodunit, making it into a who’s-doing-it. With a 50-foot range on the ability to drop messages onto someone else’s phone, virtually everyone in the restaurant is a suspect. The filmmakers ramp up the tension expertly as Violet tries to figure out who is tormenting her.

With the source of the drama remaining a mystery for much of the film, different methods are used to communicate Violet’s anxiety to the audience. First and foremost is the buzzing of her phone; every time it goes off feels like an electric shock, with Violet’s reactions (or sometimes non-reactions) selling the intensity of the situation. Instead of looking at her phone, the film displays the messages all around her, a great visual representation of the metaphorical walls closing in on Violet.

Many films of this ilk play fast and loose with the believability factor, but Landon and his team keep things on the up-and-up for the most part. The things Violet is asked to do are well within her ability, even if they require her to be sneaky at times. The relatively calm way she handles most of the requests belies the pressure that is building on her. The film does get a little wonky toward the end, but earlier scenes do enough to forgive those missteps.

The structure of the film requires a good lead performance, and Fahy, in her first major role since her appearance in season 2 of HBO series The White Lotus, delivers. She does a great job of vacillating back-and-forth between absolute terror and normal pleasantness to maintain the illusion of Violet enjoying the date. Sklenar (It Ends With Us) provides a handsome face and a demeanor that’s just understanding enough for a character to put up with a date who’s distracted almost the entire time she’s with him. The smaller roles are filled well, including the person revealed as the blackmailer.

Drop finds a way to utilize modern technology in a way few other movies have done before. It may or may not hold up well on a rewatch, but the setup of the story, the execution of the scenes at the restaurant, and the acting of the people charged with bringing it to life all combine for a great one-time experience.

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Drop opens in theaters on April 11.

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