Weekend Event Planner

Lone Star Film Festival and Jay Leno top best weekend events in Dallas-Fort Worth

It's a rare win for those living in the west end of Dallas-Fort Worth this weekend, as fully half of this weekend's best events will take place in Tarrant County. The slate is also heavy with movies, as it features two film festivals, a groundbreaking of another Alamo Drafthouse and music from classic Hitchcock films.

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, November 6

2014 Lone Star Film Festival
The 2014 edition of the Lone Star Film Festival kicked off on Wednesday, but there are plenty of other great movies to see before it ends on Sunday. They include a conversation with Julian Schnabel and screening of Before Night Falls, Wild starring Reese Witherspoon and Life Partners with Gillian Jacobs and Leighton Meester. Films will screen at both AMC Palace 9 and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Stars & Stripes Film Festival
You won't find any new films at the Stars & Stripes Film Festival, but it'll be worth attending to show your patriotism on Veteran's Day weekend. Thirteen military-themed movies, like Tora! Tora! Tora!, Saving Private Ryan and Platoon, will screen over four days at Angelika Film Center Dallas. You'll also be able to hear real accounts from Medal of Honor veterans who fought in the battles. Proceeds from the festival will benefit Sons of the Flag.

Jay Leno in concert
Love him or hate him, Jay Leno is still one of the most famous comedians on the planet, having served as host of The Tonight Show for 22 years. In advance of his first appearance on The Tonight Show since handing it over to Jimmy Fallon on Friday night, Leno will entertain the crowd at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth to benefit the UNT Health Science Center Foundation.

Friday, November 7

Eli Young Band's 2014 House Party
The Eli Young Band is one of the most successful country groups to come out of the area, forming at UNT in 2000 and going on to have two No. 1 songs and a recent No. 1 album, 2014's 10,000 Towns. For the second straight year, they'll take over Globe Life Park in Arlington for a country festival that will also feature Gary Allan, Pat Green, Cody Johnson and Maddie and Tae.

Fashion X Dallas
It'll be a fashion-filled weekend at Fashion Industry Gallery in downtown Dallas when Fashion X Dallas comes to town. For three consecutive nights, visitors can take in runway shows from a juried selection of emerging designers and nationally recognized contemporary brands, and shop at various pop-up shops.

Saturday, November 8

Alamo Drafthouse presents Dallas groundbreaking and Ferris Bueller's Day Off screening
It was a bolt of exciting and unexpected news when Alamo Drafthouse announced they were building a second location in the Cedars neighborhood just south of downtown Dallas. They'll celebrate an unofficial groundbreaking of the new theater with a party at The Cedars Social, along with an outdoor screening of Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Milan Gallery presents The Art of Dr. Seuss Collection
Dr. Seuss is beloved for his extensive collection of children's books, but few know that he took his unique artistic eye off of the printed page and applied it to paintings and sculptures, as well. Milan Gallery in Fort Worth will host an exhibit of his works through November 24, with special receptions being held on November 8 and 9.

Bastille in concert
British rockers Bastille broke out in 2013 thanks to hits like "Pompeii" and "Of the Night." This will be their second visit to the area in 2014, as they were also part of the Edgefest lineup back in April. They'll headline this time around at Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie, with Ella Eyre serving as opening act.

Sunday, November 9

2014 Dallas Sample Sale
It's never too early to start your Christmas shopping, and the annual Dallas Sample Sale will help you do so in style. The sale, taking place at Dallas Market Hall, has a little something for everyone, including gifts, apparel, jewelry, toys, children’s clothing, holiday decorations, home accessories and furniture. The event starts Thursday and goes through Sunday.

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra presents Hitchcock
The films of Alfred Hitchcock will likely never go out of style, and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra will be the latest local group to honor his work with a weekend full of concerts featuring scores from some of his most iconic works. Selections from To Catch A Thief, Vertigo and North By Northwest will be accompanied by scenes from each film played on the big screen at Bass Performance Hall. The series starts Friday and goes through Sunday.

Jay Leno will perform at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth on November 6.

Photo by Jon Shapley

Jay Leno will perform at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth on November 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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