Most Admired Woman

Michelle Obama returns to Dallas' Winspear to lead off star-filled speaker series

Michelle Obama will appear in Dallas on September 26.

Photo courtesy of ABC13

UPDATE: Single tickets will go on sale at 10 am Friday, August 30, the Winspear has announced. Tickets may be purchased online at www.attpac.org/hearhere, by phone at 214-880-0202, or in person at the AT&T Performing Arts Center Winspear Opera House Box Office at 2403 Flora Street.

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Former first lady Michelle Obama will return to Dallas for a one-night-only speaking engagement in the fall. The event will take place at 7:30 pm September 26 at the Winspear Opera House and will open the AT&T Performing Arts Center's 2019-2020 "hearhere" distinguished speaker series.

Obama, whose memoir, Becoming, sold more copies than any other book published in the United States in 2018, recently was named the most admired woman in the world in a poll conducted by online research firm YouGov. She last appeared in Dallas in December 2018, at a stop on her book tour, at the American Airlines Center. She spoke on the "hearhere" series at the Winspear in March 2018.

ATTPAC announced her new appearance in a release on July 22. Other speakers in the series will include renowned film director and actor Spike Lee, astronaut Scott Kelly, culinary expert Samin Nosrat, and science expert Neil deGrasse Tyson.

“Everyone in this season is preeminent in their field, and we’re excited to bring them to Dallas,” says Debbie Storey, president and CEO of AT&T Performing Arts Center, in a release. “All of these shows will be cerebral, inspiring, and fun.”

Current subscribers can renew their seats now through July 29. New subscriptions will go on sale at 10 am August 2. Five-show packages will range from $211.50 to $852.50. Tickets may be purchased online at www.attpac.org/hearhere, by telephone at 214-880-0202 or in person at the AT&T Performing Arts Center Winspear Opera House Box Office at 2403 Flora St.

Here's a closer look at the season, with descriptions provided by ATTPAC:

An Evening with Former First Lady Michelle Obama — 7:30 pm Thursday, September 26, 2019
Michelle Robinson Obama served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. As a transformative first lady, Obama launched and led four key initiatives: Let’s Move!, to address the challenge of childhood obesity; Joining Forces, to support veterans, service members, and their families; Reach Higher, to inspire young people to seek higher education; and Let Girls Learn, to help adolescent girls around the world go to school. Now a best-selling author, she and husband Barack Obama currently live in Washington, D.C., and have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

Spike Lee — 8 pm Saturday, December 14, 2019
Oscar-award winning Spike Lee is a director, writer, actor, producer, author, and NYU Graduate Film tenured professor whose body of work continues to grow over the last three decades. Recent projects include BLACKkKLANSMAN, based on a true story by Ron Stallworth, an African-American police officer who infiltrates the local Ku Klux Klan during the 1970s, which also premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and received the esteemed Prix de la Jeunesse Award. Lee’s filming of the play Pass Over, premiered at Sundance. He also directed all 10 episodes of the hit Netflix series She’s Gotta Have It, which will be returning for a second season. Spike has directed and produced more than 30 films since his first feature film, the independently produced She’s Gotta Have It, which also premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1986 and received the esteemed Prix de la Jeunesse Award.

Captain Scott Kelly — 7:30 pm Thursday, January 23, 2020
Captain Scott Kelly’s epic Year In Space, now a New York Times best-selling book, solidified his status as one of the greatest pioneers in history. In his acclaimed speech appearances, he now brings audiences to the edge of their seats with transcendent insights that inspire and challenge them to dream big, test the status quo, and “choose to do the hard things.” One of a select group of Americans who embody a defining moment in the nation’s history, he captivated the world and seized the imagination of millions during his record-breaking voyage — proving that the sky is not the limit when it comes to the potential of the human spirit.

Samin Nosrat — 8 pm Saturday, June 13, 2020
As an undergraduate studying English at UC Berkeley, Samin Nosrat took a detour into the kitchen at Chez Panisse restaurant that happily determined the course of her life and career. Since 2000, she pursued her twin passions of food and words with equal vigor, aiming to create work that inspires, creates community, and raises cultural, social, and environmental awareness. Her book, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking is a New York Times bestseller, and also 2018 James Beard General Cookbook of the Year, 2018 Fortnum & Mason Debut Cookbook, 2018 IACP Cookbook of the Year, 2018 IACP Julia Child First Book Award, and Sunday Times Food Book of the Year 2017. A documentary series based on the book is now streaming on Netflix.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, “Delusions of Space Enthusiasts” — 7:30 pm Monday, June 22, 2020
Neil deGrasse Tyson earned his bachelor of arts degree in physics from Harvard and his Ph.D. in astrophysics from Columbia. Tyson's professional research interests are broad, but include star formation, exploding stars, dwarf galaxies, and the structure of our Milky Way. In addition to dozens of professional publications, Tyson has written and continues to write for the public. For five seasons, beginning in the fall of 2006, Tyson appeared as the on-camera host of PBS-NOVA's program NOVA ScienceNOW, which is an accessible look at the frontier of all the science that shapes the understanding of our place in the universe. During the summer of 2009 Tyson identified a stable of professional standup comedians to assist his effort in bringing science to commercial radio with the NSF-funded pilot program StarTalk. Now also a popular podcast, and a limited-run television series on the National Geographic channel, StarTalk combines celebrity guests with informative yet playful banter. The target audience is all those people who never thought they would, or could, like science.

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Movie Review

Michelle Pfeiffer is an unappreciated mom in Oh. What. Fun.

Photo courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios

Michelle Pfeiffer in Oh. What. Fun.

Of all the formulaic movie genres, Christmas/holiday movies are among the most predictable. No matter what the problem is that arises between family members, friends, or potential romantic partners, the stories in holiday movies are designed to give viewers a feel-good ending even if the majority of the movie makes you feel pretty bad.

That’s certainly the case in Oh. What. Fun., in which Michelle Pfeiffer plays Claire, an underappreciated mom living in Houston with her inattentive husband, Nick (Denis Leary). As the film begins, her three children are arriving back home for Christmas: The high-strung Channing (Felicity Jones) is married to the milquetoast Doug (Jason Schwartzman); the aloof Taylor (Chloë Grace Moretz) brings home yet another new girlfriend; and the perpetual child Sammy (Dominic Sessa) has just broken up with his girlfriend.

Each of the family members seems to be oblivious to everything Claire does for them, especially when it comes to what she really wants: For them to nominate her to win a trip to see a talk show in L.A. hosted by Zazzy Tims (Eva Longoria). When she accidentally gets left behind on a planned outing to see a show, Claire reaches her breaking point and — in a kind of Home Alone in reverse — she decides to drive across the country to get to the show herself.

Written and directed by Michael Showalter (The Idea of You), and co-written by Chandler Baker (who wrote the short story on which the film is based), the movie never establishes any kind of enjoyable rhythm. Each of the characters, including competitive neighbor Jeanne (Joan Chen), is assigned a character trait that becomes their entire personality, with none of them allowed to evolve into something deeper.

The filmmakers lean hard into the idea that Claire is a person who always puts her family first and receives very little in return, but the evidence presented in the story is sketchy at best. Every situation shown in the film is so superficial that tension barely exists, and the (over)reactions by Claire give her family members few opportunities to make up for their failings.

The most interesting part of the movie comes when Claire actually makes it to the Zazzy Sims show. Even though what happens there is just as unbelievable as anything else presented in the story, Showalter and Baker concoct a scene that allows Claire and others to fully express the central theme of the film, and for a few minutes the movie actually lives up to its title.

Pfeiffer, given her first leading role since 2020’s French Exit, is a somewhat manic presence, and her thick Texas accent and unnecessary voiceover don’t do her any favors. It seems weird to have such a strong supporting cast with almost nothing of substance to do, but almost all of them are wasted, including Danielle Brooks in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo. The lone exception is Longoria, who is a blast in the few scenes she gets.

Oh. What. Fun. is far from the first movie to try and fail at becoming a new holiday classic, but the pedigree of Showalter and the cast make this dismal viewing experience extra disappointing. Ironically, overworked and underappreciated moms deserve a much better story than the one this movie delivers.

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Oh. What. Fun. is now streaming on Prime Video.

movies film