An out-of-town name in art supplies is coming to Dallas: Jerry's Artarama Art Supplies & Framing, a small chain based in North Carolina, will open a store at Preston Valley Shopping Center, taking over the former Tuesday Morning at 12817 Preston Rd., at the intersection of LBJ Freeway.
A spokesperson for Jerry's real estate broker, Bradford Commercial Real Estate Services, says in a release that Preston Valley was the only spot they toured, stating, "the demographics of the LBJ Freeway-Preston Road intersection are as good as you get in retail."
Jerry's sells art supply and materials and offers custom framing, canvas-stretching, demonstrations, and special events. It was founded in 1968 by Jerry Goldstein who began painting to help him quit smoking, and saw that no retailer was selling art supplies at a discount, and opened his first store in Great Neck New York with his wife Arline.
The chain has since grown slowly, with stores in 15 cities in 10 states. Dallas will be the fourth in Texas, following locations in Austin, Houston, and San Antonio — four out of the five cities where CultureMap has a bureau. Jerry's, maybe it's time for you to look at Fort Worth.
They only open one location per city, which is probably good news for Asel Art Supply, the Dallas-based art supplies chain founded in 1951, which is employee-owned and has locations in Dallas, Richardson, Plano, Arlington, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Lubbock.
Preston Valley's other tenants include Chili's, India Palace, Terry Costa, Boot Barn, Dougherty's Pharmacy, and Maple Leaf Diner, which will be Jerry's next-door neighbor.
Anthony Mackie in Captain America: Brave New World.
If it feels like it’s been a long time since the last Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, that’s because it has. Deadpool & Wolverine technically counts, but it was really its own thing that was mostly disconnected from the larger story the MCU is trying to tell. And two out of the three MCU movies in 2023 were underwhelming, so Marvel remains far from the highs of its Avengers days.
They’re trying to get things going again with Captain America: Brave New World, the first glimpse of Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) - formerly known as the Falcon - as the new Captain America. The film thrusts the audience right into the action, with Wilson on a mission to retrieve a MacGuffin stolen package for the U.S. government at the behest of President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford). The two men continue to have a symbiotic relationship for the majority of the movie, with each needing the other and hating the fact that they do.
The main story of the film improbably (unwisely?) brings together two of the MCU’s least well-received films, 2008’s The Incredible Hulk and 2021’s The Eternals. Dr. Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson), apparently holding a longtime grudge since the events of The Incredible Hulk, plays a big part, as does the Celestial Island, which was last seen at the end of The Eternals and not mentioned in any property since that time.
Directed by Julius Onah and written by Onah and four other screenwriters, the best that can be said for this return of the MCU is that Mackie makes for a compelling presence. The combining of the Captain America elements with his Falcon persona makes for some pretty good action, with the character showing off some unique moves. On the downside, though, he’s mostly facing off against anonymous henchmen, so most of his fight scenes feel repetitive and uninspired.
The story itself is a mishmash of characters that only hardcore Marvel/MCU fans will know, with barely any attempt at reintroducing them to a broad audience. Sidekick Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) and wronged super soldier Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) return from the Disney+ show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, providing some levity and gravity, respectively. Having Sterns back in the mix is never explained properly, nor is how he is able to wield influence over a large number of people.
If there’s to be any lasting memory from this film, it’s the introduction of the (fictional) indestructible material adamantium into the MCU. Previously known from the X-Men universe as what was used to strengthen Wolverine’s skeleton and give him his claws, adamantium is now a prized discovery found in the Celestial Island that, like any valuable material, causes normally level-headed people to get into fights over it.
Mackie brings enough charm to his acting that he can ably act as the lead, something he hadn’t previously been asked to do in the MCU. Ford is fine; his years of experience make him a natural for playing another president, although the transformation his character undergoes is goofier than it needed to be. Nelson has to act from behind some truly hideous makeup and he feels one-note most of the time.
For the MCU to make it back to their previous standing atop the blockbuster landscape, they’re going to have to deliver much more interesting characters and stories than are present in Captain America: Brave New World. It might be time to consider stand-alone stories instead of ones that rely on information that many moviegoers have long since forgotten.
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Captain America: Brave New World opens in theaters on February 14.
