Weekend Event Planner

Darius Rucker and Neon Trees headline best weekend events in Dallas-Fort Worth

Music, movies and the great outdoors take center stage this weekend in Dallas-Fort Worth, sometimes at the same time. Among the worthy events include a block party in downtown Dallas, a country music extravaganza and a celebration of one of Hollywood's greatest living composers.

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, June 18

Ben Folds in concert
You can barely go six months without Ben Folds making another appearance in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and so it is that five months after playing with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, he's back in town to play at the House of Blues Dallas. This time he's coming to town in support of his forthcoming new album, So There, done in collaboration with the classical music sextet yMusic.

Neon Trees in concert with Alex Winston and Yes You Are
If you're not already on the Neon Trees bandwagon, this is the perfect time to start. The band behind hits like "Animal" and "Everybody Talks" has yet to truly make the jump to the big time, which is why you can still see them play at a venue like the Granada Theater. They play songs from their latest album, Pop Psychology, with support from opening acts Alex Winston and Yes You Are.

Friday, June 19

Dallas Arts District Summer Block Party
As they do at the start of each new season, the three art museums in the Dallas Arts District — Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher Sculpture Center and Crow Collection of Asian Art — team up for a summer block party. Each venue throws open its doors to host special concerts, film screenings and more, and Flora and Harwood streets are lined with food trucks and other activities.

Darius Rucker in concert with Brett Eldredge, Brothers Osborne and A Thousand Horses
This concert at Gexa Energy Pavilion is a step up for Darius Rucker, who last played in the area at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie in 2013. Rucker, who comes to town in support of his latest album, Southern Style, is now getting close to the heights he reached with Hootie and the Blowfish, which is quite the second act. He's joined by opening acts Brett Eldredge, Brothers Osborne and A Thousand Horses.

Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy
A hit on Broadway, Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy is inspired by nature’s unpredictable creations that are brought to life by a cast that includes soaring aerialists, spine-bending contortionists, acrobats, jugglers and musicians. You're also bound to be impressed by the production's lavish costumes and special effects. It runs through Sunday at Winspear Opera House.

2015 Shakespeare in the Park: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised]
The annual tradition of Shakespeare in the Park, staged by Shakespeare Dallas, kicks off with this rendition of a play that tries to encapsulate almost every single work from the Bard. If you haven't been able to make it to the staged readings of the complete works the company has been doing for the past few years, this might be the next best thing. It plays at Samuell-Grand Amphitheatre through July 24.

Saturday, June 20

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents The Music of John Williams and Hollywood's Great Composers
It's practically impossible to laud the career of composer John Williams enough. He's made some of the most famous movie music of all time, including Jaws (which celebrates its 40th anniversary on June 20), Star Wars, Indiana Jones and many more. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra pays tribute to his music and other great Hollywood compositions with this concert at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Uptown Players presents The Nance
For fans of its unique theatrical offerings, it's been a long wait to officially start Uptown Players' 2015 season. The time has finally arrived in the form of The Nance, a Tony Award-winning play that re-creates the naughty, raucous world of burlesque's heyday while telling the backstage story of Chauncey Miles and his fellow performers. It runs at Kalita Humphreys Theater through July 5.

Sunday, June 21

First Baptist Church Dallas presents Gretchen Carlson
Although only one side of the political aisle agrees with what Gretchen Carlson and her Fox News cohorts report on a daily basis, it's hard to deny that Carlson has had an enviable career, rising from Miss America in 1989 to the current host of her own show. Carlson talks and signs copies of her book, Getting Real, following services at First Baptist Church in Dallas.

ATTPAC Sunset Screenings: His Girl Friday
As part of its Sunset Screenings series, the AT&T Performing Arts Center presents the screwball comedy classic His Girl Friday. In it, Cary Grant, playing a newspaper editor, tries every trick he can think of to steal the affections of a reporter played by Rosalind Russell. The free screening plays at Annette Strauss Square.

Darius Rucker plays at Gexa Energy Pavilion on June 19.

unspecified

Movie Review

Shaun the Sheep gets PG-spooky in new movie for the Halloween season

Photo courtesy of Aardman / Sky UK LTD / StudioCanal 2026

Shaun the Sheep in Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom.

Since his introduction over 30 years ago, the Aardman Animations character Shaun the Sheep has been almost as popular as the studio’s flagship characters, Wallace and Gromit. There is never a shortage of trouble Shaun can get into as he leads his flock and proves to be a thorn in the side of his farmer and Bitzer, the farmer’s loyal sheepdog.

His antics lead everyone down some slightly spooky roads in the new film, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom. At first, things are only slightly awry as Shaun and the flock are growing a secret pumpkin patch to have their own jack-o-lanterns. But when the farmer accidentally destroys the pumpkin patch, Shaun tries to regrow it quickly with a Frankenstein-esque experiment.

However, disaster looms when Shaun uses an old bottle of Hair-Gro as the container for the serum he creates. Naturally, the balding farmer uses it on his head, and everyone soon discovers how truly successful it is, with pumpkins growing out of control and the farmer sprouting hair all over his body. Through a series of mishaps, the farmer becomes the titular beast, creating mayhem while Shaun and others try to stop him.

Directed by Steve Cox and Matthew Walker, and written by Mark Burton and Giles Pilbrow, the film goes down just as easy as every other Aardman project has. They get the Halloween vibes started from the opening credits, with things like the sheep doing the “Thriller” dance, and continue the fun throughout, referencing everything from Psycho to Friday the 13th in a nice, PG way.

With no script — every character is mute save for reaction noises — the movie relies on sight gags for its humor, and the Aardman team is endlessly inventive in that respect. Sometimes it’s small things like a sheep using toilet paper rolls as binoculars, and sometimes it’s something like forcing the Bigfoot-like farmer to be shaped into a rectangle as he escapes through a window. But there’s a never-ending stream of such moments, so even if one doesn’t tickle your funny bone, chances are the next one will.

The biggest benefit of the characters not talking is that there’s no need for deep character development. The filmmakers do a great job of giving the basic traits of each character, and then use those attributes to color everyone’s actions for the rest of the film. Shaun is the troublemaker, the farmer is a bumbling fool, Bitzer is preternaturally smart, and the town’s vet is empathetic, and the combination of those characters and others makes for a highly entertaining blend.

Like all Aardman creations, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom is a fun lark that doesn’t make its audience think too hard. With just enough references to keep viewers engaged but not so many as to be overbearing, the film puts its well-worn characters to good use once again, delivering a Halloween season story that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

---

Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom is now playing in theaters.

movies film