Weekend Event Planner

These are the 9 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

This weekend around Dallas is notable for the number of big-name concerts playing on nostalgia. No fewer than four concerts will feature singers or groups who made their names years ago yet still know how to draw a crowd. There will also be a big Broadway musical, a cat film festival, and three great comedy shows.

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, August 22

Dallas VideoFest presents #DVFCatFest
Dallas VideoFest presents CatFest, curated by the annual NY Cat Film Festival. The festival is a philanthropic celebration through film of humankind's relationship with the mysterious felines who share our world. Dallas Pets Alive! will be the event's beneficiary, with 10 percent of the box-office proceeds benefiting their work on behalf of cats and dogs in need of fostering and adopting in Dallas. The event takes place at Texas Theatre.

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents Broadway Series: Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka is opening his marvelous and mysterious chocolate factory … to a lucky few. That includes Charlie Bucket, whose bland life is about to burst with color and confection beyond his wildest dreams. He and four other golden ticket winners will embark on a mesmerizing joyride through a world of pure imagination. The Broadway musical will play at Winspear Opera House through Sunday.

Marc Maron: Hey, There's More Tour
For more than 20 years, Marc Maron has been writing and performing raw, honest, and thought-provoking comedy. He has appeared on Conan O’Brien's multiple shows more than any other comedian. He starred in his own sitcom, Maron, on IFC, co-stars in GLOW on Netflix, and continues to put out two episodes a week of his podcast, WTF with Marc Maron. He'll perform at Majestic Theatre.

Improv Addison presents Chris Redd
Chris Redd is an actor, writer, standup, sketch, and improv performer who most recently joined the cast of Saturday Night Live. He's appeared in movies like Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping, The House, A Futile and Stupid Gesture opposite Will Forte, and Fat Camp. He's also been on TV shows like Disjointed, Love, and more. He'll perform standup comedy at Improv Addison six times through Sunday.

Mary J. Blige and Nas in concert
Two of hip-hop and R&B’s most legendary artists — Mary J. Blige and Nas — will come to Dallas together for the first time ever. The hit-making heavyweights will be bringing a stacked setlist of songs spanning both of their careers. Blige's most recent album was 2017's Strength of a Woman, while Nas' latest album was 2018's Nasir. The concert will take place at Dos Equis Pavilion.

Friday, August 23

Heart in concert with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and Elle King
Classic and modern rock will join forces at Dos Equis Pavilion on Friday night. Heart is primarily known as a '70s and '80s group, but they continue to release new music, including 2016's Beautiful Broken. Joan Jett is also rock royalty for her time with The Runaways and as leader of the Blackhearts for the past 40 years. Elle King hopes to live up to that reputation one day, and she's off to a good start, thanks to songs like "Ex's and Oh's."

Saturday, August 24

The Smashing Pumpkins in concert with Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
While both The Smashing Pumpkins and Noel Gallagher (formerly of Oasis) continue to make music, many of their fans likely still love them because of their output in the late '90s/early 2000s, when both were at or near the top of charts. The concert at Dos Equis Pavilion will have the Smashing Pumpkins playing in support of their 2018 album, Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun, with Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds serving as opening act.

Desus & Mero in concert
If you don't already know who Desus Nice & The Kid Mero are, it's time to catch up, as they are quickly taking over the podcast world and late-night game. The comedians and podcasters are known for their podcast, The Bodega Boys, a late-night show on Viceland, and their new weekly late-night show on Showtime, Desus & Mero. They'll perform at Majestic Theatre.

Sunday, August 25

TLC, Nelly, and Flo Rida in concert
The weekend will close out with a throwback hip-hop concert featuring TLC, Nelly, and Flo Rida at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving. All three groups/artists are mostly working on nostalgia at this point in their careers, as TLC's latest album was 2017's TLC, Nelly's latest album was 2013's M.O., and Flo Rida's latest album was 2012's Wild Ones, although he is scheduled to release a new album later this year.

Heart will play at Dos Equis Pavilion alongside Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and Elle King.

Photo courtesy of Live Nation

Heart will play at Dos Equis Pavilion alongside Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and Elle King.

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Movie Review

Zootopia 2 Disney is an OK sequel that keeps the fun of the original

Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Animation Studios

Nick (Jason Bateman) and Judy (Ginnifer Goodwin) in Zootopia 2.

When Zootopia came out in 2016, Walt Disney Animation Studios was in the midst of a great run of original films, including Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6, and finally Moana. Their output since then has not been as good, including three mediocre sequels, three so-so originals, and only one truly great film, Encanto.

All of which is to say that the odds for Zootopia 2 breaking that trend were low even before they started working on it. The odd couple pair of rabbit Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) are now officially detectives in the Zootopia Police Department, but they still have a penchant for not following the orders of Chief Bogo (Idris Elba). Such mischievous behavior doesn’t sit well with the other detective teams, which include pairs of zebras, hippos, hogs, and goats.

Still, their slightly insubordinate ways put them on the path toward discovering the infiltration of Gary De’Snake (Ke Huy Quan), the first reptile to be seen in Zootopia in a long time. He’s trying to steal a book that would prove that his relative was the rightful inventor of a weather technology that gives all animals in Zootopia an ideal climate. But the high-powered Lynxley family, including father Milton (David Straithairn) and son Pawbert (Andy Samberg), lay claim to the idea and won’t give it up easily.

Written and directed by Jared Bush, and co-directed by Byron Howard, the film retains the fun of the first film if not the consistently interesting story. Though Judy and Nick get along much better than they did previously, they still don’t see eye-to-eye on everything. It’s Judy who takes more risks this time around, with Nick’s rule-breaking ways seeming to have rubbed off on her, a nice twist that leads to some ironic situations.

The filmmakers struggle to make the story as easily coherent this time around, with the new characters a decidedly mixed bunch. The Lynxleys are supposed to be the bad guys of the film, but they’re not featured enough to drum up any enmity for them. The detective duos are fun comic relief, especially the two who refer to themselves as the Ze-bros, but none of them factor very much in the actual story.

Instead, the filmmakers fall back on things like cameos from small characters from the first film and a flurry of groan-worthy animal puns. While it’s fun to see the sloth Flash (Raymond S. Persi), sheep Bellwether (Jenny Slate), and Gazelle (Shakira), their appearances are too brief to carry the movie overall. The visuals are as fantastic as expected of Disney films, especially the myriad fur/hides/scales of the different creatures, but the film is not designed to necessarily wow in that respect.

Both Goodwin and Bateman prove again that they were cast perfectly for their respective roles, as Goodwin fully embodies Judy’s relentless enthusiasm and Bateman brings the wry tone to his street smart character. If you know them, it’s fun to have people like Samberg, Straithairn, Quinta Brunson, and Patrick Warburton in supporting roles, but no one but Warburton and his distinctive voice elevates the film.

Like most of Disney’s recent sequels, Zootopia 2 is a pleasant enough movie that lets fans revisit some favorite characters. But when a bar is set high with the first film as it was with Zootopia, it takes more outside-of-the-box thinking to have the second one measure up in any significant way.

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Zootopia 2 opens in theaters on November 26.

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