Weekend Event Planner

These are the 12 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

The weekend before the start of school is packed full of great events all around the Dallas area. They include four big-name concerts, two unique film festivals, a visit from a Tony Award-winning musical, comedy from a jackass, and, because it can't be ignored, a back-to-school event.

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, August 18

Heart, Cheap Trick, and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Summer Tour
When you get to be a certain age in the music industry, your best hope for survival is to team up with other groups of your era. Thus the trio of Heart, Cheap Trick, and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, each of whom had their heydays in the 1970s and '80s. You can go back in time and rock out at this special concert at Gexa Energy Pavilion.

AT&T Performing Arts Center presents A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder sounds like an old-fashioned show, but it's actually a relatively new musical based on an old book. A winner of four Tony Awards in 2014, including Best Musical, it tells the uproarious story of Monty Navarro, a distant heir to a family fortune, who sets out to jump the line of succession by any means necessary. The farce plays at Winspear Opera House through August 28.

Improv Addison presents Steve-O
The number of degrading, disgusting, and downright crazy things Steve-O has done over the years as a member of the cast of Jackass defies belief. Luckily, you won't have to witness any of those feats during Steve-O's six-performance stint at the Improv Addison, going on through Sunday, although we can't guarantee he won't regale you with gut-twisting stories.

Friday, August 19

Dallas Museum of Art presents Nicolas Party: Pathway opening day
Starting on Friday, Swiss graffiti artist Nicolas Party is creating a site-specific commissioned mural in the Dallas Museum of Art’s Concourse Gallery. For this installation, the first solo US museum presentation for the artist, Party will make an all-over mural on the walls and ceiling of the Museum's main central corridor. You can be witness to art in action for the mural, which will be on display through February 12, 2017.

Dallas Arts District after hours events
The DMA is also hosting its monthly Late Nights at the DMA event on Friday evening, using an Olympics theme this time around. Among other activities, there will be a screening of the Jesse Owens' biopic Race and an activity called the ARTmazing Race. Over at the Nasher Sculpture Center, its monthly 'til Midnight features a concert by Gollay, followed by a screening of Brooklyn.

Women Texas Film Festival
The first ever Women Texas Film Festival promotes established and emerging female storytellers in film, TV, and VR, celebrating the grit and range of women's voices. Over the course of three days at Texas Theatre, the festival is screening 10 feature films and shorts blocks that have women in at least one key creative role, such as writer, producer, director, cinematographer, editor, or composer.

Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa in concert with Kevin Gates, Jhene Aiko, Casey Veggies, and DJ Drama
When you're known for two things, there's no sense in hiding them. Noted marijuana enthusiasts and rappers Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa understand this, which is why their co-headlining tour, which makes a stop at Gexa Energy Pavilion on Friday, is called The High Road Tour. Joining them for rhymes and maybe more are opening acts Kevin Gates, Jhene Aiko, Casey Veggies, and DJ Drama.

2016 McKinney Classic Film Festival
If you prefer your movies the way they used to be, then the annual McKinney Classic Film Festival is for you. Taking place over three days at McKinney Performing Arts Center, this year's festival focuses on the films of Cary Grant, including Arsenic and Old Lace, His Girl Friday, and The Philadelphia Story.

Fun House Theatre and Film presents Old McDonald’s Farm: A Children’s Fable About the Obama Presidency
As the showdown between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump continues, our local theater companies are getting more political as well. There was the recent Citizen Drumpf at Ohlook Performing Arts Center in Grapevine, and now this play, which uses the classic children's story to tell the story of the last eight years in America. The play runs at Plano Children's Theatre through August 27.

Saturday, August 20

NorthPark Center presents ABCs of Back-to-School and ArtRocks!
Yes, in case you missed it, the majority of kids go back to school on Monday, which means it's time to get down to the business of getting ready for classes. This event at NorthPark Center helps by featuring programs at Bookmarks, a kid's fashion presentation, an afternoon of art activities, and a dance performance.

Dierks Bentley in concert with Randy Houser, Cam, and Tucker Beathard
Dierks Bentley makes his annual return to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, headlining a concert for the second straight year. Bentley, who is touring in support of his recently released ninth album, Black, plays at Gexa Energy Pavilion, with support from opening acts Randy Houser, Cam, and Tucker Beathard.

Kenny Rogers in concert with Linda Davis
As we've said before in 2016, when music legends come to town, it's best to appreciate them when you have the chance. That goes double for the 77-year-old Kenny Rogers, who is playing at Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie as part of what he says is his final world tour. He may not look exactly like you remember, but his music is as timeless as ever. He's joined by opening act Linda Davis.

Dierks Bentley plays at Gexa Energy Pavilion on August 20.

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo RodeoHouston entertainers January 2015 Dierks Bentley

Photo courtesy of Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

Dierks Bentley plays at Gexa Energy Pavilion on August 20.

theater movies festivals concerts event-planner galleries comedy music

Movie Review

Tom Cruise goes for broke in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning

Photo courtesy of

Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, and Hayley Atwell in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning.

Over the course of 30 years and eight films, the Mission: Impossible film series has proven to be the most reliable of any action movie franchise. Not all of them are equally good, but with Tom Cruise (who will be surprising fans at Dallas screenings) in the lead as Ethan Hunt, they can be counted on for at least a couple of mind-blowing stunt sequences per film, enough to keep fans clamoring for more.

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning has the feel of being the last film in the series, and not just because the 62-year-old Cruise is getting up there in age. Following up closely on the events of 2023’s Dead Reckoning Part One (Part Two changed to The Final Reckoning for unknown reasons), the film has Hunt trying to stop an A.I. villain known as The Entity from taking over the world’s collective stash of nuclear weapons.

To do so, Hunt and his cobbled-together team - Luther (Ving Rhames), Benji (Simon Pegg), Grace (Hayley Atwell), and Paris (Pom Klementieff) - must hopscotch around the world, tracking villain Gabriel (Esai Morales) and trying to figure out a way to get The Entity’s source code, which is located on a sunken Russian submarine. Oh, and they also have to evade capture by a disgruntled U.S. government, led by now-President Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett).

Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie and co-written by Erik Jendresen, the film might just be the most convoluted one in the series so far. The filmmakers layer on tons of exposition, with lots of flashbacks to previous events in the series to explicate the events of the present, as well as providing unexpected connections to previous films. The plan for stopping The Entity and the references to the past are so dense that the first half of the film is relatively boring.

Things pick up in the final 90 minutes of the three-hour film, mostly because that’s when the majority of the action takes place. More than other entries in the series, the film considers the geopolitical implications of Hunt’s actions, and he has to negotiate with a variety of high-powered people to do what he deems best. While his efforts are somewhat preposterous, even by the standards of the series, they lead to a bunch of fun sequences that provide levity among the world-changing drama.

Ultimately, what makes the film succeed are its action scenes. Cruise has done stunts on planes/helicopters before in the series, but what he does during a biplane sequence toward the end of the film is almost beyond belief. Yes, he’s attached to the plane with harnesses that are digitally erased, but he’s still doing it hundreds of feet in the air at great bodily risk considering how often he gets tossed around. There has been other spectacular stunt work in the series, but this one deserves to be near the top of the list.

The flashbacks to scenes from throughout the series underscore just how much Cruise has changed in the past 30 years, but also make it amazing that he’s still willing to sacrifice his body as much as does in this film. No other actor goes as far as he does to entertain the masses, and the events of the story even give him opportunities to show off his dramatic acting skills.

The supporting cast is more packed than usual, and all of them enhance the film. In addition to Hunt’s team, the President has a group of advisers that includes actors like Henry Czerny, Holt McCallany, Nick Offerman, and Janet McTeer. Other recognizable faces like Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso), Trammell Tillman (Severance), and Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding) show up for impactful roles.

Whether or not this is the last film in the current incarnation of the series, The Final Reckoning has a lot to offer for longtime fans, as well as some fresh great action that remains some of the best Hollywood has to offer. The story may be completely baffling, but with Cruise and other appealing actors leading the way, there’s more than enough great entertainment to go around.

---

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning opens in theaters on May 23.

movies film