Elton John's final tour will come to Dallas on December 14 and 15, 2018.
Photo by Daniel Cavazos
Singer Elton John is launching what he says will be his final tour. Titled Farewell Yellow Brick Road in a nod to one of his biggest hits, the tour will include stops in three Texas cities — Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.
The Texas stretch of the tour starts in Houston on December 8-9, then hits San Antonio on December 12. The Dallas shows are on December 14-15, at American Airlines Center.
This will be one long farewell: The tour, which kicks off in Allentown, Pennsylvania on September 8, will consist of more than 300 shows across five continents before finally coming to an end in 2021.
John announced the tour with trademark fanfare at a pair of simultaneous press conferences in Los Angeles and New York, where he also performed two songs: "Tiny Dancer" and "I'm Still Standing."
He said he intends to spend more time with family; he has two young children.
John's music career started in 1967 when he first started working with his longtime songwriter, Bernie Taupin. John has gone on to record 30 albums, including 2016's Wonderful Crazy Night. He is responsible for a slew of iconic songs, including "Your Song," "Rocket Man," "Don't Go Breaking My Heart," "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues," "Candle in the Wind," and more.
Tickets for the Texas dates will go on sale on Friday, February 2. Fans can also sign up for Ticketmaster's Verified Fan Presale, which will allow them access to buy tickets on January 30 if they are chosen.
Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney in The Housemaid.
Both Amanda Seyfried (the upcoming The Testament of Ann Lee) and Sydney Sweeney (Christy) are starring in movies with Oscar ambitions this year. By sheer coincidence, the two actors are also co-starring in The Housemaid, a thriller coming out within weeks of their more ambitious works, one that is likely to be seen by many more people than those prestige plays.
Sweeney is given top billing as Millie, a down-on-her-luck ex-convict looking to land any type of job so as not to break her parole. She finds a too-good-to-be-true lifeboat with Nina (Seyfried), who hires her to be a housemaid for her large house on Long Island, where she lives with her husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), and daughter, Cecilia (Indiana Elle).
After a warm interview, Nina almost immediately becomes highly erratic, whipping back-and-forth between happy-go-lucky and rageful. It seems clear that Nina is suffering from mental health issues, as she’ll often accuse Millie of misplacing or stealing items that she didn’t take. Andrew, apparently used to Nina’s tirades, tries to protect Millie from the worst, something that grows increasingly difficult as Nina ups the ante.
Directed by Paul Feig (A Simple Favor) and adapted by Rebecca Sonnenshine from the bestselling book by Freida McFadden, the film is likely the trashiest mainstream movie to come out in 2025. The first half of the movie relies not on story but on moments as Nina embodies the word “hysterical” to an unbelievable extent. The resigned acceptance of the abuse by Millie, as well as the saintly patience of Andrew, make almost every scene laughable, as nobody seems to be acting anywhere close to how a person would normally react to such extreme situations.
The scenes and the performance of Seyfried are so over-the-top, in fact, that it’s clear that the filmmakers are in on the joke. It’s next to impossible not to have a little bit of fun while watching the actors react to outrageous incidents as if nothing is out of the ordinary. The worse Nina acts, the more Millie and Andrew retreat into their chosen roles, and the funnier the film becomes.
Fans of the book will know that the story changes course, eventually turning into a more stereotypical thriller that also has some relatively gnarly visuals to offer. But the trashiness continues, with Sweeney’s, um, assets repeatedly on display in both clothed and unclothed ways. The sex appeal of the R-rated movie makes it an outlier, as recent studio films have shied away from asking their big stars to disrobe completely.
Both Seyfried and Sweeney are far from their Oscar hopeful roles here. Seyfried is given free rein to act as brazenly as she pleases, and she takes full advantage of that ability. Sweeney seems to have been told to be much more reserved, and unfortunately that results in too many wooden line readings. Sklenar continues his breakout streak (It Ends with Us, Drop) with a role that allows him to show more range than either Seyfried or Sweeney.
The Housemaid is an unusual type of movie to be released at a time of year when most films are either those aiming for awards or more family-friendly fare. Despite its many flaws, it’s still an enjoyable watch that features a variety of crazy scenarios not typically seen in movies nowadays.
