Weekend Event Planner

These are the 12 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

The weekend before the start of school is packed full of great events all around the Dallas area. They include four big-name concerts, two unique film festivals, a visit from a Tony Award-winning musical, comedy from a jackass, and, because it can't be ignored, a back-to-school event.

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, August 18

Heart, Cheap Trick, and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Summer Tour
When you get to be a certain age in the music industry, your best hope for survival is to team up with other groups of your era. Thus the trio of Heart, Cheap Trick, and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, each of whom had their heydays in the 1970s and '80s. You can go back in time and rock out at this special concert at Gexa Energy Pavilion.

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder sounds like an old-fashioned show, but it's actually a relatively new musical based on an old book. A winner of four Tony Awards in 2014, including Best Musical, it tells the uproarious story of Monty Navarro, a distant heir to a family fortune, who sets out to jump the line of succession by any means necessary. The farce plays at Winspear Opera House through August 28.

Improv Addison presents Steve-O
The number of degrading, disgusting, and downright crazy things Steve-O has done over the years as a member of the cast of Jackass defies belief. Luckily, you won't have to witness any of those feats during Steve-O's six-performance stint at the Improv Addison, going on through Sunday, although we can't guarantee he won't regale you with gut-twisting stories.

Friday, August 19

Dallas Museum of Art presents Nicolas Party: Pathway opening day
Starting on Friday, Swiss graffiti artist Nicolas Party is creating a site-specific commissioned mural in the Dallas Museum of Art’s Concourse Gallery. For this installation, the first solo US museum presentation for the artist, Party will make an all-over mural on the walls and ceiling of the Museum's main central corridor. You can be witness to art in action for the mural, which will be on display through February 12, 2017.

Dallas Arts District after hours events
The DMA is also hosting its monthly Late Nights at the DMA event on Friday evening, using an Olympics theme this time around. Among other activities, there will be a screening of the Jesse Owens' biopic Race and an activity called the ARTmazing Race. Over at the Nasher Sculpture Center, its monthly 'til Midnight features a concert by Gollay, followed by a screening of Brooklyn.

Women Texas Film Festival
The first ever Women Texas Film Festival promotes established and emerging female storytellers in film, TV, and VR, celebrating the grit and range of women's voices. Over the course of three days at Texas Theatre, the festival is screening 10 feature films and shorts blocks that have women in at least one key creative role, such as writer, producer, director, cinematographer, editor, or composer.

Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa in concert with Kevin Gates, Jhene Aiko, Casey Veggies, and DJ Drama
When you're known for two things, there's no sense in hiding them. Noted marijuana enthusiasts and rappers Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa understand this, which is why their co-headlining tour, which makes a stop at Gexa Energy Pavilion on Friday, is called The High Road Tour. Joining them for rhymes and maybe more are opening acts Kevin Gates, Jhene Aiko, Casey Veggies, and DJ Drama.

2016 McKinney Classic Film Festival
If you prefer your movies the way they used to be, then the annual McKinney Classic Film Festival is for you. Taking place over three days at McKinney Performing Arts Center, this year's festival focuses on the films of Cary Grant, including Arsenic and Old Lace, His Girl Friday, and The Philadelphia Story.

Fun House Theatre and Film presents Old McDonald’s Farm: A Children’s Fable About the Obama Presidency
As the showdown between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump continues, our local theater companies are getting more political as well. There was the recent Citizen Drumpf at Ohlook Performing Arts Center in Grapevine, and now this play, which uses the classic children's story to tell the story of the last eight years in America. The play runs at Plano Children's Theatre through August 27.

Saturday, August 20

NorthPark Center presents ABCs of Back-to-School and ArtRocks!
Yes, in case you missed it, the majority of kids go back to school on Monday, which means it's time to get down to the business of getting ready for classes. This event at NorthPark Center helps by featuring programs at Bookmarks, a kid's fashion presentation, an afternoon of art activities, and a dance performance.

Dierks Bentley in concert with Randy Houser, Cam, and Tucker Beathard
Dierks Bentley makes his annual return to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, headlining a concert for the second straight year. Bentley, who is touring in support of his recently released ninth album, Black, plays at Gexa Energy Pavilion, with support from opening acts Randy Houser, Cam, and Tucker Beathard.

Kenny Rogers in concert with Linda Davis
As we've said before in 2016, when music legends come to town, it's best to appreciate them when you have the chance. That goes double for the 77-year-old Kenny Rogers, who is playing at Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie as part of what he says is his final world tour. He may not look exactly like you remember, but his music is as timeless as ever. He's joined by opening act Linda Davis.

Snoop Dogg performs alongside Wiz Khalifa and others at Gexa Energy Pavilion on August 19.

Idolator.com

Snoop Dogg performs alongside Wiz Khalifa and others at Gexa Energy Pavilion on August 19.

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Movie Review

Ana de Armas brings John Wick-level violence to spinoff Ballerina

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Ana de Armas in Ballerina.

The John Wickfranchise has been successful due to two things: The hyper-violence inflicted by its protagonist, and its star, Keanu Reeves, who has used a bare minimum of words to create a great antihero. Trying to capitalize on its popularity, Lionsgate - the studio behind the franchise - has made Ballerina, a spin-off focusing on a character inspired by another minor character from John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum.

That convoluted set-up is the first of a variety of missteps for the film. An opening scene introduces the audience to a young Eve (Victoria Comte), who gets taken in by a criminal group known as the Ruska Roma after her father is killed. The bulk of the film takes place 12 years later when a now-adult Eve (Ana de Armas) is finishing her training as a ballerina/assassin-for-hire, led by The Director (Anjelica Huston).

Hungry to prove her worth, Eve starts going out on various jobs. One of those jobs puts her in the orbit of the group responsible for her father’s death, and she dedicates herself toward finding the leader known as The Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne) and exacting revenge. Oh, and for funsies, the film - set between John Wick 3 and 4 - also brings in Wick himself to juice the action.

Directed by Len Wiseman and written by Shay Hatten (who’s written the last two John Wick films), the film is at its best when the filmmakers are going all-in on the action. Like all films in the series, the actual body count soon becomes negligible, with the film more interested in how inventively Eve can slaughter everyone in her path. And there are some creative methods employed, including ice skates, hatchets, and - most memorably - a flamethrower.

What Wiseman and Hatten are not able to do, however, is make us care about Eve herself. The main John Wick films got increasingly complicated, but they were tolerable because of how compelling a character Wick was. There’s no such connection with Eve, and for all her personal tragedy, she might as well be a faceless person. A lack of explanation as to why Ruska Roma is training women as ballerinas - you know, the title of the movie - only underscores how little the filmmakers cared about creating a good story.

Consequently, despite plenty of gory kills, the film is actually quite boring to watch play out. The film goes through the paces of having Eve take on all-comers, but the end result is never in doubt and most of the action runs together. The inclusion of Wick into the story feels like the afterthought, whether it actually was or not. It also has the unfortunate effect of comparing a character fans know and love to one who hasn’t been given a chance to establish herself.

Although her character as a whole is lacking, De Armas shows that she can easily handle the physical aspects of the role. The 37-year-old actor is oddly asked to play a 24-year-old (or so), but she mixes it up with the best of them. Byrne makes for a so-so new villain, while Reeves, Huston, Ian McShane, and Lance Reddick (making his final film appearance after passing away in 2023) all reprise their roles well.

Ballerina has the look and feel of the four previous John Wick films, but it fails to be as compelling of an action film as any of them. True, it has just as much violence as fans have come to expect from the series, but its lead character is one that never reaches the level of John Wick, and it doesn’t seem like the filmmakers even tried to accomplish that goal.

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Ballerina opens in theaters on June 6.

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