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

Korean film No Other Choice uses dark comedy to tell deeper story

Photo courtesy of Neon

Lee Byung-hun in No Other Choice.

When Parasite won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2020, it signaled a shift in how international feature films were viewed not only by Academy voters, but also American filmgoers, who made it the fifth-highest grossing non-English language film of all time. Extra attention has been paid to other international films in the intervening years, including the new South Korean film, No Other Choice.

Starring Lee Byung-hun of Squid Game fame, the dark comedy chronicles the increasingly desperate actions of Man-su, a middle manager at a paper factory who is laid off due to automation. After months of trying to find a job at another paper company, he finally finds a good prospect only to learn that several other men may be better candidates. Man-su decides that the only solution is to eliminate the competition.

The only problem is Man-su is a bit of a coward; an early plan at standing up to his company in the face of the lay-offs meets an anticlimactic end. His wishy-washy ways seem to permeate his life, from putting off treatment on a painful tooth to not communicating with his more willful wife to actually going through with his vengeful ideas. He bumbles his way through every aspect of his life, virtually daring anyone to call him out on his poor decision-making.

Written and directed by Park Chan-wook, and co-written by Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar, and Jahye Lee, the film initially seems to be another approach toward telling the class division story that’s at the center of Parasite and Squid Game. And it is that to a degree, as those in charge of the paper companies and the hiring committees are either indifferent or unsympathetic to the plight of those who have been forced out of work.

But the more we see of Man-su, the more it becomes clear that his is a story all its own, one where a man claims there is “no other choice” when in fact there are plenty of other options. The men in the film in general don’t come across well, with many of them reacting to stress by turning into whiners who believe the world is out to get them. Some situations turn violent as the film goes along, events that most of the time could have been avoided if the people involved actually took the time to think things through.

The film features a somewhat confusing story made even more puzzling if you don’t speak Korean. On first viewing, it’s initially unclear why Man-su is doing what he’s doing, or why he’s going after certain people in particular. The plot becomes more understandable as the film progresses, but Chan-wook includes several side plots that muddle things further even as they broaden certain characters. There are also a couple of visual text jokes that can easily be missed if you don’t know where to look.

Byung-hun is great as a man who can’t seem to get out of his own way. The role is almost in direct contrast to the one he played on Squid Game, making it easy to see how well he can adapt to different stories. Son Ye-jin as Man-su’s wife Miri and Lee Sung-min as Bummo, one of Man-su’s intended victims, are also highly engaging.

Like any film not in English, No Other Choice requires viewers to pay strict attention to the screen to get full enjoyment of the actors and their dialogue. While it doesn’t hit as hard as a comedy because of this factor, it’s still a greatly entertaining film whose underlying message makes it become a little deeper.

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No Other Choice is now playing in theaters.

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