The original Smashing Pumpkins lineup will play at American Airlines Center on July 18, 2018.
Photo by Paul Elledge
The Smashing Pumpkins' Shiny And Oh So Bright tour, their first tour in nearly 20 years to feature founding members Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin, and James Iha, will come to American Airlines Center in Dallas on July 18.
The tour is scheduled to hit 36 North American cities over the course of two months, starting in Glendale, Arizona, on July 12. They will also visit Austin on July 16 and Houston on July 17.
The tour, which coincides with the 30th anniversary of the band’s formation, will highlight music from the group’s inception through 2000, including the albums Gish, Siamese Dream, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Adore, and Machina.
The band formed in Chicago in 1988, but didn't find mainstream success until 1993’s Siamese Dream and 1995’s Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. They have gone on to sell over 30 million albums to date.
Tickets for the Shiny And Oh So Bright tour will go on sale to the general public on Friday, February 23 at 10 am. Tickets can be purchased at www.smashingpumpkins.com, LiveNation.com, or via the Live Nation app.
Of all the formulaic movie genres, Christmas/holiday movies are among the most predictable. No matter what the problem is that arises between family members, friends, or potential romantic partners, the stories in holiday movies are designed to give viewers a feel-good ending even if the majority of the movie makes you feel pretty bad.
That’s certainly the case in Oh. What. Fun., in which Michelle Pfeiffer plays Claire, an underappreciated mom living in Houston with her inattentive husband, Nick (Denis Leary). As the film begins, her three children are arriving back home for Christmas: The high-strung Channing (Felicity Jones) is married to the milquetoast Doug (Jason Schwartzman); the aloof Taylor (Chloë Grace Moretz) brings home yet another new girlfriend; and the perpetual child Sammy (Dominic Sessa) has just broken up with his girlfriend.
Each of the family members seems to be oblivious to everything Claire does for them, especially when it comes to what she really wants: For them to nominate her to win a trip to see a talk show in L.A. hosted by Zazzy Tims (Eva Longoria). When she accidentally gets left behind on a planned outing to see a show, Claire reaches her breaking point and — in a kind of Home Alone in reverse — she decides to drive across the country to get to the show herself.
Written and directed by Michael Showalter (The Idea of You), and co-written by Chandler Baker (who wrote the short story on which the film is based), the movie never establishes any kind of enjoyable rhythm. Each of the characters, including competitive neighbor Jeanne (Joan Chen), is assigned a character trait that becomes their entire personality, with none of them allowed to evolve into something deeper.
The filmmakers lean hard into the idea that Claire is a person who always puts her family first and receives very little in return, but the evidence presented in the story is sketchy at best. Every situation shown in the film is so superficial that tension barely exists, and the (over)reactions by Claire give her family members few opportunities to make up for their failings.
The most interesting part of the movie comes when Claire actually makes it to the Zazzy Sims show. Even though what happens there is just as unbelievable as anything else presented in the story, Showalter and Baker concoct a scene that allows Claire and others to fully express the central theme of the film, and for a few minutes the movie actually lives up to its title.
Pfeiffer, given her first leading role since 2020’s French Exit, is a somewhat manic presence, and her thick Texas accent and unnecessary voiceover don’t do her any favors. It seems weird to have such a strong supporting cast with almost nothing of substance to do, but almost all of them are wasted, including Danielle Brooks in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo. The lone exception is Longoria, who is a blast in the few scenes she gets.
Oh. What. Fun. is far from the first movie to try and fail at becoming a new holiday classic, but the pedigree of Showalter and the cast make this dismal viewing experience extra disappointing. Ironically, overworked and underappreciated moms deserve a much better story than the one this movie delivers.
