Weekend Event Planner

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

The various events this weekend allow you to spread your wings — in one case, literally — and explore multiple areas in Dallas and beyond. Among the offerings are a major golf tournament, two big theater productions, an arts and music festival, comedy from one of the best, a concert from a big-time band, and dancing from stars of reality TV.

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, May 18

2017 AT&T Byron Nelson Championship
After 35 years at the Four Seasons Las Colinas Country Club, this is the final AT&T Byron Nelson Championship to take place in Irving. Next year, the tournament moves to Dallas' new Trinity Forest Golf Club. A high-powered group of golfers have come to say goodbye to the course, including defending champion — and newly-crowned Masters champion — Sergio Garcia, Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, and more. The tournament goes on through Sunday.

Commemorative Air Force presents AirPower History Tour
FIFI, the Commemorative Air Force’s iconic Boeing B‐29 Superfortress, flies into Dallas Executive Airport for a four-day barn-storming aviation event. The B-29 and other vintage military aircraft are on display for the tour, which features hands-on, interactive exhibits and activities, like flight simulators inside an authentic C-47 cockpit and trainer airplane. The event takes place through Sunday.

Dallas Theater Center presents Inherit the Wind
When a public school teacher is arrested for teaching Darwin’s Theory of Evolution to his sophomore students, two powerhouse lawyers face off in a court of law. The nation watches as science and faith collide, bringing a small southern town to its knees. Dallas Theater Center presents the play, inspired by the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial, through June 18 at Kalita Humphreys Theater.

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents Into the Woods
Into the Woods, the Tony Award-winning musical classic by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, is a mixture of multiple different fairy-tales you knew and loved as kids, with an adult twist. The show, which had a big-screen adaptation in 2014, includes dazzling songs like “Children Will Listen” and “No One Is Alone.” The production runs at Winspear Opera House through May 28.

Friday, May 19

2017 Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival
Celebrating 25 years in 2017, the Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival is an eclectic event that includes four main performance stages featuring national, regional, and local bands, including headliners Lynyrd Skynyrd and The B-52's. The festival, taking place through Sunday, also features a Singer/Songwriter contest, a Battle of the Bands contest, kids area, marketplace, and more.

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents Paula Poundstone
Heralded as one of the United States' foremost comics, Paula Poundstone’s quick-thinking, unscripted approach to comedy makes for a perfect fit as a regular panelist on NPR’s No. 1 show, the screwball weekly news quiz show Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, where she holds the record for game losses. Poundstone showcases her skills at this special concert at Majestic Theatre.

Saturday, May 20

Nasher Sculpture Center presents Roni Horn
The Nasher Sculpture Center presents its 2017 summer show "Roni Horn," featuring large-scale, cast glass works by the American artist. For her Nasher show, eight large-scale cylindrical cast glass sculptures of varying colors occupy the museum’s main gallery. It's the artist’s first U.S. museum presentation of her work since 2010 and the first to focus specifically on her cast glass sculpture. Horn also participates in the museum's speaker series on Saturday. The exhibit is on display through August 20.

Sunday, May 21

Train in concert with O.A.R. and Natasha Bedingfield
Train is one of those bands that manages to release just enough hits to stay relevant. They made their mark with "Drops of Jupiter" in 2001, then faded for a few years before rising back up with "Hey Soul Sister" in 2009, then faded again until 2012's "Drive By." They haven't had a hit recently, but they're obviously due. They play at Starplex Pavilion in support of their 10th studio album, A Girl, A Bottle, A Boat, alongside opening acts O.A.R. and Natasha Bedingfield.

Julianne and Derek Hough: Move - Beyond - Live on Tour
Brother and sister dancing duo Julianne and Derek Hough made their names on Dancing with the Stars, and after multiple championships for each (two for her, six for him), they've taken their personal show on the road. The siblings' show at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie features brand-new stage production inspired by the elements — earth, wind, fire, and water — as well as the Move Company Dancers for group performances.

Dallas native Jordan Spieth leads the field at the 2017 AT&T Byron Nelson Championship, taking place May 18-21 at Four Seasons Las Colinas Country Club.

Jordan Spieth/Facebook

Dallas native Jordan Spieth leads the field at the 2017 AT&T Byron Nelson Championship, taking place May 18-21 at Four Seasons Las Colinas Country Club.

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Movie Review

Andrew Garfield leads peasant rebellion in medieval film The Uprising

Photo by Betina La Plante/Focus Features

Andrew Garfield in The Uprising.

Writer/director Paul Greengrass made his name with a cinéma vérité style of filmmaking that brought immediacy and depth to three Jason Bourne films, United 93, Captain Phillips, and more. In The Uprising, he uses those skills to tell the story of the so-called Peasants’ Revolt in 14th century England.

Greengrass wastes no time starting the main plot as Ploughman (Andrew Garfield) and his fellow villagers object to onerous taxes put on them by the country’s nobility, led by the young King Richard II (Woody Norman), to fund an ongoing war. Ploughman initiates a violent response over the tone-deaf — and unseemly — way the king’s guard go about their business, and the rebellion soon starts to spread across the countryside, with the citizens looking for a degree of autonomy.

The ever-expanding group makes their way toward London to try to make their case to the king himself. Meanwhile, the king’s top advisors, including Archbishop Sudbury (Stephen Dillane) and Treasurer Hales (Tom Hollander), try to usurp power from the inexperienced monarch even as the king’s mother (Katherine Waterston) tries to get him to be more assertive.

The history of the English monarchy is long and lurid, as Shakespeare detailed in multiple plays, including Richard II. Though the events in the film took place almost 650 years ago, it’s easy to see parallels between what the peasants were fighting for and modern-day politics. Greengrass’ storytelling intent is solid, and the righteous anger the citizens feel is initially relatable and palpable.

But the populism theme of the story soon gets bogged down in drudgery and minutiae that is difficult to understand, especially when the details are lost in the thick regional English accents. The leaders of the rebels — including John Ball (Jamie Bell), Wat Tyler (Cosmo Jarvis), and Alyce (Thomasin McKenzie) — are shown doing a lot of planning, but the strong feelings they have about their quest don’t come across well, leaving the audience as passive observers.

When there is action, Greengrass and his team employ a frenetic style that is not great for comprehension. While the gist of what is happening and what side is winning is legible, individual moments go by so quickly so as to be nearly meaningless. Save for Ploughman, any connection that has been made with various characters proves futile, as Greengrass doesn’t seem to have any time for emotion. Scenes that should feel thrilling or heartbreaking instead come off as empty.

Garfield is a two-time Oscar nominee who has done great work across multiple genres. He’s fine in this role, but whether it’s the story, the filmmaking, or something else, he’s not as captivating as usual. The same goes for other strong actors like Bell, McKenzie, Dillane, Hollander, and Waterston, who each seem to be giving their all to their performances but are somehow muted in the process.

Done right, The Uprising could have been a rip-roaring account of people standing up against their oppressors. What Greengrass has made, though, is a film that can’t translate its medieval story for a modern audience and concentrates too much on unexciting elements and too little on thrilling ones.

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The Uprising is now playing in theaters.

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