Weekend Event Planner

These are the 10 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

The slate of events in and around Dallas this weekend can be divided into two sections. Thursday and Friday see the start of five different theater productions, ranging from one aimed at kids to one featuring two drag queens and a transsexual. Saturday and Sunday feature comedy and music, including concerts from up-and-comers and long-established veterans.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, July 12

My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy
Brad Zimmerman’s My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy is the story of one man’s struggle to fulfill his dream and "make it" as a comedic actor in New York. The show is one part standup, one part theatrical, and all parts uproarious. Zimmerman tells of his pursuit, along with stories about his childhood, family, and misbegotten love life with warmth, wit, self-deprecating humor, and wicked charm. The show will run at Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson through July 29.

Junior Players presents Dogfight: The Musical
In Dogfight, three young Marines set out for one final boys' night of debauchery, partying, and maybe a little trouble. But when Corporal Eddie Birdlace meets Rose, an awkward and idealistic waitress whom he enlists to win a cruel bet with his fellow recruits, she rewrites the rules of the game and teaches him the power of love and compassion. Junior Players will present four performances through Sunday at the University Theatre on the campus of the University of Texas at Dallas.

Friday, July 13

Theatre Arlington presents Stellaluna
This all-youth production is about baby bat Stellaluna, whose life is flitting along right on schedule — until an owl attacks her mother one night, knocking the bewildered batlet out of her mother’s loving grasp. The tiny bat is lucky enough to land in a nest of baby birds, but her whole world has just turned upside down. Stellaluna’s adoptive bird mom accepts her into her nest, but only on the condition that Stellaluna will act like a bird, not a bat. The production will run at Theatre Arlington through July 22.

Uptown Players presents Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Adapted from the 1994 Academy Award-winning film, Priscilla Queen of the Desert is the heartwarming, uplifting musical adventure of three friends, Tick, Bernadette, and Adam (two drag queens and a transsexual), who take their show to the middle of the Australian Outback. Aboard a battered old bus called Priscilla, they search for love and friendship and end up finding more than they ever could have dreamed. The production will run at Kalita Humphreys Theater through July 29.

Festival of Independent Theatres
The Festival of Independent Theatres aids local theater companies without a permanent performance space. The eight shows are all one-act plays, paired in two-show blocks and will continue in rotating repertory at Bath House Cultural Center through August 4. In addition to the eight main stage productions, the festival also includes the art exhibition "Revived with Light: An Exploration of Expired Photographic Media," a variety of live music on select weekend afternoons, and FIT Underground.

Saturday, July 14

Funnier Than a Mutha#*@%!& Comedy Festival
This comedy showcase at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie will likely live up to its profane name, as it features five of the funniest comedians working today. Among the performers will be Lavell Crawford (aka Huell from Breaking Bad), Bill Bellamy, Dominique, Huggy Lowdown, and Guy Torry.

Paramore in concert with Foster the People
For a band that's only had one top 10 song, Paramore has an outsized reputation in the music world. Led by singer Hayley Williams, who's fronted the band for half of her 29 years, the band has released five albums in 14 years, including 2017's After Laughter. They'll be joined by opening act Foster the People at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving.

Sunday, July 15

Dallas CASA presents Parade of Playhouses final day
Sunday is your final day to get an entry in for one of the whimsical playhouses being given away as part of Dallas CASA's Parade of Playhouses, taking place at NorthPark Center. Each of the custom-built children's playhouses can be won by entering a raffle, which will take place on Sunday. Proceeds go to Dallas CASA, which recruits, trains, and supervises community volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children living in foster care.

Say Indie! Summer Music Festival
The Say Indie! Summer Music Festival will showcase some of the nation's most talented and prosperous unsigned bands. Performers at this event at Deep Ellum Art Company will include The Band Camino; Phangs; Natalie Clero; Alex Di Leo; The New Schematics; Moth Wings; Guys on a Bus; Quiet, Please.; McAllister; Makeshift Cities; and more.

Violent Femmes and Echo & The Bunnymen in concert
Violent Femmes have been a cult group since their debut in 1983. After disbanding in 2009, they came back together in 2013, going on to release their first album in 16 years, 2016's We Can Do Anything. They'll be joined at this co-headlining concert at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory by Echo & The Bunnymen, who are touring in support of their new album, The Stars, The Oceans & The Moon.

Uptown Players presents Priscilla Queen of the Desert at Kalita Humphreys Theater, July 13-29.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert at Uptown Players

Photo by Mike Morgan

Uptown Players presents Priscilla Queen of the Desert at Kalita Humphreys Theater, July 13-29.

event-planner

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.

---

Y2K opens in theaters on December 6.

movies film