Weekend Event Planner

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

Area children are now officially back in school, and this weekend's slate of events has a decidedly adult feel. Among the offerings are a slew of concerts featuring big-name performers, new productions from two of Dallas' finer companies, and, just to throw the kids a bone, a marathon of movies from a galaxy far, far away.

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 25

Slipknot in concert with Marilyn Manson
Following Slipknot lead singer Corey Taylor's unplanned surgery earlier this summer, their co-headlining concert with Marilyn Manson was moved from June 26 to August 25. For fans, it will have been worth the wait as Slipknot takes the stage at Gexa Energy Pavilion in support of 2014's .5: The Gray Chapter, while Manson is touring in support of his 2015 album, The Pale Emperor.

Dallas Theater Center presents Constellations
Dallas Theater Center has been on a well-deserved break after the stunning success of its last production, Dreamgirls. It's starting the 2016-2017 season with Constellations, the spellbinding, romantic journey between a theoretical physicist and a beekeeper that breaks the boundaries of the space-time continuum. The play runs through October 9 in the Studio Theatre at the Wyly Theatre.

AXS TV Concerts Hosted by Mark Cuban: Bret Michaels
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has hit the time machine with his concert series. He's brought us The Monkees, the Village People, and now Poison lead singer Bret Michaels. The singer, who's become almost as well-known for his reality TV appearances as he has for his music, plays all the hits at the Bomb Factory.

Friday, August 26

Diplo's Mad Decent Block Party
Now in its eighth year, DJ extraordinaire Diplo founded the Mad Decent Block Party as a way to showcase acts on his own album label, Mad Decent. This event, taking place outside Club Zouk, will be one to remember, as it features performances by Diplo, Kaskade, Tiësto, DJ Snake, Dillon Francis, Kesha, Flosstradamus, Zeds Dead, and many more.

Uptown Players presents The Toxic Avenger
You can always count on Uptown Players to come up with an outside-the-box idea for a play. The Toxic Avenger is a hot toxic love story and laugh-out-loud musical that has it all — an unlikely hero, his beautiful girlfriend, a corrupt New Jersey mayor, and two guys who play, well, everyone else. The love story with an environmental twist runs through September 11 at Kalita Humphreys Theater.

Saturday, August 27

Dallas Streetcar Community Block Party
The Bishop Arts District has been a hot spot for years, but parking has always been an issue. The arrival of the Dallas Streetcar line, which officially opens on August 29, promises to offer a nice alternative. This block party gives guests an exclusive sneak peek ride on the Dallas Streetcar extension from downtown Dallas into Bishop Arts.

Alamo Drafthouse presents Star Wars Marathon
Mea culpa: I jumped the gun previewing this event earlier this month. It’s been 39 years since audiences first saw the original Star Wars, but even after all those years, the Force is still strong with us all, especially with the Force awakening again last year. Alamo Drafthouse celebrates our love for the movie trilogy with rare digital screenings of the special edition versions of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi at Majestic Theatre.

Brad Paisley in concert with Tyler Farr and Maddie & Tae
The Dallas-Fort Worth area is never at a loss for visits from country music stars, but Brad Paisley has taken his sweet time getting back to town, last appearing locally over three years ago. He'll close out the summer season at Gexa Energy Pavilion with this concert in support of his forthcoming album, Life Amplified, and he's joined by opening acts Tyler Farr and Maddie & Tae.

Coldplay in concert with Alessia Cara and Bishop Briggs
In their 16-year career, Coldplay has seemingly gone through massive swings of popularity, but whether or not they're considered "cool" by certain segments of society has yet to dampen their album sales. Their most recent album, A Head Full of Dreams, was a top 5 hit around the world. They'll showcase that and other songs at this giant concert at AT&T Stadium, which also features appearances by Alessia Cara and Bishop Briggs.

Sunday, August 28

Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals in concert
Ben Harper has had one of the more eclectic careers of any singer out there. With music that has included genres like blues, folk, soul, reggae, and rock, Harper has collaborated with multiple people to satisfy his musical whims. Along with his regular band, the Innocent Criminals, he's playing at South Side Ballroom in support of his latest album, Call It What It Is.

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals are playing at South Side Ballroom on August 28.

Ben Harper/Facebook

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals are playing at South Side Ballroom on August 28.

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Movie Review

A-list actor Saoirse Ronan proves award-worthy in new film The Outrun

Photo by Yunus Roy Imer/courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

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In Hollywood, there are two levels of being an A-lister, with occasional overlap between the two. There are the movie stars who can be counted on time and again to deliver at the box office, and there are the actors who put on Oscar-level performances in nearly every film they’re in. Saoirse Ronan resides firmly in the latter category, which she proves yet again in The Outrun.

The first time we see Rona (Ronan), she is drunk in a pub in London, so far gone that she has to be thrown out by security. In quick succession, she is shown with a severe black eye while giving a police report, and then working on her family farm on Scotland’s Orkney Islands, accompanied by text stating simply “117 days.” With a modicum of storytelling, it’s readily apparent that Rona is an alcoholic, and that the film will spend time with her at various stages of her tumultuous life.

The “present” of the film is her time on the Orkney Islands, with Rona helping her dad, Andrew (Stephen Dillane), run the farm, putting up with her overtly religious mom, Annie (Saskia Reeves), and doing her level best to stay sober. The fact that the 29-year-old has no clue what to do with her life and that she’s still pining over her old boyfriend, Daynin (Paapa Essiedu), doesn’t exactly help her predicament.

Directed by Nora Fingscheidt and adapted by Fingscheidt and Amy Liptrot from Liptrot’s memoir of the same name, the film treads familiar ground seen in other movies about alcoholism, with the biggest difference being the setting. The harsh beauty of the landscape where she spends most of her time seems to be a metaphor for her life, a place that can be unforgiving but also capable of the occasional positive surprise.

Fingscheidt eschews a straightforward narrative in favor of one that offers glimpses of Rona’s life throughout her drunkenness and sobriety. While she is able to keep Rona’s story legible for most of the film, there are times when the back-and-forth takes extra effort to understand. A clever marker the film uses to help viewers track time is Rona’s changing hair color, which is bright blue when she’s in her drinking phase in London, with only blue tips remaining during her time of recovery.

The film contains other elements to try to enhance the central story, some of which are more successful than others. Rona recounts various Scottish legends through voiceover, most notably one about selkies, shapeshifters that can change between seal and human form. The idea is interesting, but the connection between the legend and Rona is not strong. A subplot involving her dad’s lifelong mental health issues hits a bit harder, although it rightly is not explored all that much.

Ronan is, as always, an acting force. When an actor plays an alcoholic, it can be easy for them to fall into clichés, but Ronan manages to avoid most of them. Her skills have always been in the smaller, quieter moments anyway, and it’s when her character has to delve into self-reflection that she shines the most. Dillane and Reeves are veteran actors who complement Ronan well, and Essiedu does nicely in a role that is chopped up.

The Outrun - named for a certain part of the landscape on Rona’s family farm - doesn’t necessarily have a lot of new things to say about the states of addiction or soberness, but the personal story is compelling enough to hold interest. And with Ronan in the lead, moviegoers are in good hands, as her performance proves to be award-worthy once again.

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The Outrun opens in theaters on October 4.

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