Weekend Event Planner

These are the 9 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

It's another big weekend for events in the Dallas area, with four big-name concerts, another Van Gogh-centric exhibition, two new local theater productions, a fair/rodeo that will whet your appetite for the State Fair next month, and best of all, a chance to celebrate local restaurants with your friends at CultureMap.

Below are the best ways to spend your precious free time this weekend.

Thursday, August 19

"Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience"
Not to be confused with "Immersive Van Gogh," a similar exhibition taking place in downtown Dallas, "Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience" allows visitors to fulfill the dream of stepping into a masterpiece painting. The 360-degree, immersive digital art experience illuminates and transforms a unique physical space into a fully immersive exhibit, where Van Gogh’s work takes over the walls via digital projections and VR experiences. The exhibition will run almost daily through November 28 at Globe Life Park in Arlington.

CultureMap Dallas-Fort Worth Tastemaker Awards
The CultureMap Tastemaker Awards is the annual celebration of the top talent in Dallas-Fort Worth's restaurant and bar communities, as selected by their peers. The mission of the event is to shine a spotlight on the people making the local restaurant scene special and honor their innovation, energy, and creativity. At the event, taking place at Fashion Industry Gallery and emceed by comedian CJ Starr, we will celebrate all of the nominees and unveil the winners, and guests will be able to sample bites and sip specialty drinks along the way.

Second Thought Theatre presents Libra Season
Second Thought Theatre will present the virtual production Libra Season, commissioned as part of their 2020 S.T.E.P. Program (Second Thought Emerging Playwrights). The play, which will be performed live each night and streamed from each actor’s own home, is about the employees of Libra Ltd., who are having a bad fall. After several stressful months of working from home, they now face a leaked memo with possible disastrous consequences. The production will run through September 4.

Friday, August 20

North Texas Fair & Rodeo
Just like the State Fair of Texas, the North Texas Fair & Rodeo returns after a year off due to the pandemic. The nine-day event, taking place through August 28 at North Texas Fairgrounds in Denton, offers activities for all ages, including live concerts, horse & livestock shows, contests, cook-offs, food, fun, games, and more. Music performers will include Midland, Flatland Cavalry, Terri Clark, Sawyer Brown, Randall King, and more.

Jelly Roll in concert
Rap and country music aren't usually two things that go well together, but Jason DeFord (aka Jelly Roll) has been carving his own unique path. The prolific artist has released 16 albums in just 10 years, including three in 2020 alone. His biggest success has come with his four Waylon & Willie albums, on which he's collaborated with Struggle Jennings, Waylon's step-grandson. He'll perform at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving.

Uptown Players presents Fun Home
Uptown Players will present Fun Home, the 2015 Tony Award winner of Best Musical based on Alison Bechdel’s 2006 graphic memoir of the same name. After her father’s sudden death, Alison dives into her past and tells the story of her untraditional family dynamic, with her strict, temperamental father defining a large part of her childhood. The production, running at Kalita Humphreys Theater through August 29, is hailed as the first mainstream musical with a lesbian protagonist, and the musical explores themes of family, sexuality, and secrets.

Kesha in concert
Somehow, despite her scoring a No. 1 album with her 2010 debut, Animal, and notching multiple hits over the past decade, Kesha has never had a solo headlining concert in Dallas until now. It was supposed to happen last year, but, you know, pandemic. She'll perform at South Side Ballroom in support of her 2020 album, High Road, joined by special guest Betty Who.

Saturday, August 21

Chris Stapleton's All-American Roadshow
The third time's the charm when it comes to this all-star country music blowout event. Originally scheduled for last summer, it was postponed to November 2020 and then to this date because of the pandemic that just won't quit. The lineup is about as big as you can get, featuring headliner Chris Stapleton, Willie Nelson & Family, Jamey Johnson, and Yola. The concert takes place at Globe Life Field in Arlington.

Megadeth in concert with Lamb of God
For over 35 years, Megadeth has been one of the standard-bearers for the heavy metal genre. Their biggest success came in the early 1990s, when they had two top 5 albums in the Billboard 200, Countdown to Extinction and Youthanasia. Unlike some other metal bands, though, they've soldiered on into the 21st century, releasing a new album every few years, including the forthcoming The Sick, The Dying ... and the Dead. They'll play at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, joined by Lamb of God.

Kesha will perform at South Side Ballroom on August 20.

Photo courtesy of Kesha

Kesha will perform at South Side Ballroom on August 20.

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Movie Review

Supergirl loses the sense of fun that Superman brought to DC Comics films

Photo courtesy of DC Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures

Milly Alcock in Supergirl.

The new Superman in 2025 brought with a renewed sense of optimism for, if not the concept of the comic book movie, then at least the DC Comics universe. After more than a decade of DC films that felt mostly creatively bankrupt, the leadership of James Gunn gave the story a sense of fun. That included the brief introduction of Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, who’s now getting her own showcase in, naturally, Supergirl.

When we first met her in Superman, Supergirl was in rough shape, arriving at the Fortress of Solitude visibly inebriated. Nothing has changed at the beginning of this film, save for her aimlessly traveling around the universe with her rambunctious dog, Krypto. One of her random stops puts her in the same bar as Ruthye (Eve Ridley), who is looking for help tracking down Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts) and a group known as the Brigands after they brutally murdered her family.

Kara is initially loath to offer aid, but when Krem shoots a poison dart into Krypto while escaping, her motivation goes way up, especially since Krem holds the antidote. Kara, with Ruthye doggedly following her, uses every means available to her to find Krem, a journey that is hampered by galaxies having different colored suns than the one that gives her powers, the yellow sun.

Directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Ana Nogueira, the film is a big step back in the fun category, not least because Supergirl is deep in her feelings for much of the film. Her personal trauma, which is detailed in occasional flashbacks, gives a reason for her depression, but fails to land fully. The story seems to want everyone to be sad, as it includes a child trafficking ring and multiple instances of families being murdered.

Milly Alcock and Krypto in Supergirl.Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

To try to counteract that downer material, the filmmakers give Supergirl many opportunities to show off her fighting skills. While still CGI-heavy, the action scenes contain enough of a semblance of reality that they feel exciting. Unfortunately, this is undercut by the inclusion of several slow-motion sequences, giving the impression that the filmmakers didn’t trust the actors to deliver the goods on a consistent basis.

Superman (David Corenswet) makes a handful of appearances in the film, and while his presence is welcome given how well the character came across in the previous movie, it also doesn’t allow Supergirl to become her own person. Almost everything she does is colored by either her cousin or her parents, and since her powers are identical to those of Superman, there is very little that makes her story unique aside from how she’s dealing with the fallout.

Alcock (House of the Dragon, Sirens) gives an appealing performance despite her character being drunk and/or moody most of the time. She definitely sells what Supergirl is going through, so if given a better story in a future film, she’s proven her capability. Schoenaerts makes for a pretty good villain, although he’s aided by a look that includes a face full of studs. Jason Momoa has a memorable supporting role as the bounty hunter Lobo, even if his character doesn’t add much to the story.

While not a full-on disaster, Supergirl does not continue the momentum that Superman started. With a story that’s more concerned with showing audiences death scenes than a hero saving people, the film doesn’t seem to understand the appeal of a character like Supergirl or how to make her someone audiences will return to over and over again.

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Supergirl is now playing in theaters.

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