Weekend Event Planner

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

As April gives way to May, there are quite a few eclectic events on tap. Among them are a farewell to a legend; the return of an iconic humorist; three big events celebrating great art, music, and movies; and a living legend performing perhaps his best work.

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, April 28

Purple Rain Tribute Screenings
The death of Prince on April 21 left a hole in many of his fans' lives, one that can only be filled honor the amazing artist he was. All Studio Movie Grill locations in Dallas-Fort Worth will help in the grieving process by showing Prince's 1984 film Purple Rain, a film that spawned monster hits like "Let's Go Crazy" and the title song, on Thursday. In addition, both Alamo Drafthouse locations will screen the film on Saturday night.

Theatre Three presents Memphis
The latest from Theatre Three is its production of the 2010 Tony Award-winning musical Memphis. It’s the 1950s and an up-and-coming DJ at a white radio station starts to play records coming out of the black underground music scene in Memphis, Tennessee. The joyously raucous musical is about breaking down barriers and singing the song of your soul. It will run through May 22.

Arts & Letters Live: David Sedaris
It's never a bad time to welcome back the renowned humorist David Sedaris, who slays whether you're reading his many books, listening to him on NPR, or seeing him live. For this Arts & Letters Live event, he appears at Dallas City Performance Hall for three straight nights (starting on April 27), reading new and unpublished material.

Diana Sheehan Sings: The Jerome Kern Songbook
Singer Diana Sheehan is a local treasure who usually only gets to showcase her voice in small venues around the area. That will change on Thursday when she takes the stage at Winspear Opera House to sing songs by Jerome Kern, who helped write classics like "All the Things You Are," "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," "A Fine Romance," and "The Way You Look Tonight."

Friday, April 29

2016 Denton Arts & Jazz Festival
The annual Denton Arts & Jazz Festival is a three-day event celebrating the arts, with more than 3,000 professional and amateur performers on seven stages showcasing the best in jazz, pop, rhythm and blues, and full orchestra music. Taking place at Quakertown Park, it also features a wide variety of dance, choral, storytelling, and theater performances, as well as visual artists.

2016 Texas Frightmare Weekend
If you're a horror movie fan, there's no better event to attend than Texas Frightmare Weekend, the Southwest’s premier horror convention. Featuring celebrity appearances, autograph signings, screenings, exclusive parties, and horror memorabilia vendors, this year's event, primarily taking place at Hyatt Regency DFW Airport, will include Robert Englund, George A. Romero, Rose McGowan, Peter Criss, James Remar, John Carroll Lynch, Lance Henriksen, and many others. The event will go through Sunday.

Saturday, April 30

Edgefest 2016
Toyota Stadium in Frisco seems to be the new go-to place for music festivals, as it hosted the Off the Rails Country Music Fest last weekend and now Edgefest on Saturday. This year's Edgefest will feature performances from Cage The Elephant, The 1975, Bastille, Silversun Pickups, Chrvches, Foals, The Struts, The Joy Formidable, Good Charlotte, Blue October, XAmbassadors, JR JR, Nothing But Thieves, and The Strumbellas.

Taco Libre Dallas 2016
The second annual Taco Libre will include an expanded event site at Main Street Garden and food from 21 taquerias around the state, but this event is about much more than just tacos. The music lineup will feature Mariachi El Bronx, Grupo Fantasma, Larry G(ee), and Mayta. And all of that will be competing with the unique sight of a ring full of lucha libre wrestlers.

Sunday, May 1

Brian Wilson in concert
Just as we lament the loss of one music legend gone too soon, you can also celebrate the seminal work of another musician who's still with us. Brian Wilson will celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Beach Boys' iconic 1966 album, Pet Sounds, by playing it in its entirety for the very last time. He'll be joined by special guests Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie.

Brian Wilson will sing The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds in its entirety in a special concert at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie on May 1.

Brian Wilson The Beach Boys solo tour 2015

Brian Wilson/Facebook

Brian Wilson will sing The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds in its entirety in a special concert at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie on May 1.

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Movie Review

Horror comedy film Y2K goes for nostalgia but maybe too soon

Photo courtesy of A24

Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler, and Julian Dennison in Y2K.

Movies that rely on nostalgia can be successful if they’re timed right. Generally, 25-30 years seems about the right amount of time to try to take advantage of people’s fond feelings for a certain era, which is why movies/TV shows about the ‘80s have been prevalent for much of the 21st century, and ‘90s-set films started to pop up in the last 10 years.

Y2K, a horror comedy that plays on the fears of technological mayhem many people thought would happen at the turn of the century, is right on the cusp of that rule, taking place 24 years after its timeline. It centers on two teenage boys, Eli (Jaeden Martell) and Danny (Julian Dennison), who are opposite in demeanor but have an unshakeable bond. Eli likes a popular girl, Laura (Rachel Zegler), and Danny convinces him to crash a New Year’s Eve party where she’ll be.

As the clock strikes midnight and the year moves from 1999 to 2000, everything that uses an electrical current goes haywire, with many of them combining forces to attack the humans around them. Eli and Danny find themselves on the run with Laura, as well as two stoners, Ash (Lachlan Watson) and CJ (Daniel Zolghadri), with each of them trying to use their unique skillset to help defeat a growing robot army.

Directed by Kyle Mooney and written by Mooney and Evan Winter, the film lands some solid jokes about the era in its opening 20 minutes or so, whether it’s the extreme slowness of dial-up internet, the goofy user names from AOL Messenger, or the various high school cliques of the time. However, many of them seem to echo ones told in 1999’s American Pie, a weird kind of art-imitating-art moment instead of commenting on real life.

The jolt of the machines attacking partygoers seems to promise a fun-if-bloody romp, but Mooney and Winter don’t seem to know where to take the story. They establish the computer bona fides of Eli and Laura early on, but when it comes time for them to put their talents in action, it feels like two actors going through the motions instead of real people who know what they’re doing. Almost none of the characters are believable or entertaining, and the few that rise above are dispatched way too early.

And because the filmmakers don’t make you care about the main group, nothing they face is that interesting, either. The villainous robots are made up of a bunch of disparate parts, which would seem to offer the opportunity for funny sight gags. Mooney and his team fumble most of their chances, though, leaving that side of the story stuck in limbo where it’s not absurd enough to be hilarious or scary enough to really count as horror.

Martell, Dennison, and Zegler are each rising stars who have their individual charms, but only Dennison is able to make much of an impact. Zegler, who starred in West Side Story and will soon be Snow White, is especially misused. They try to shoehorn in a cameo by Limp Biskit lead singer Fred Durst, but his appearance makes little sense and adds almost nothing to the story.

Filmmakers who want to mine nostalgia, especially in a comedy, need to really commit to the bit instead of throwing in a few references and needle drops. Mooney, who’s making his directorial debut, demonstrates little feel for timing, and so most of the film is like a car spinning its wheels, going nowhere.

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Y2K opens in theaters on December 6.

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