William Shatner will be at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving on February 15, 2020.
Photo by Manfred Baumann
Star Trek fans will get to indulge in some good, old-fashioned nostalgia when Capt. James T. Kirk himself, William Shatner, makes an appearance at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory on February 15, 2020.
The event will feature a screening of the classic film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, followed by a live conversation with Shatner. While local appearances by Shatner aren't exactly rare — he's a near annual participant at Fan Expo Dallas — this will be a chance for fans to see some of his best work as the character, to hear his insights on the film and his career in person, and to have a chance to ask Shatner a question during a Q&A.
Despite debuting on TV over 50 years ago, the Star Trek franchise shows no signs of slowing. CBS All Access is currently or will soon be airing two different Star Trek series, Discovery and Picard, and rumors still abound that Quentin Tarantino may write and direct the next Star Trek movie.
A limited number of a la carte VIP photo ops with William Shatner will be available while supplies last. Tickets start at $49.95 (plus applicable service fees) and go on sale to the general public at 10 am October 11 am at LiveNation.com. Citi cardholders can take advantage of a presale that starts on October 8 and runs through October 10.
While the sport of pickleball was invented way back in the 1960s, it has exploded in popularity in the 2020s. It was only a matter of time before someone figured out a way to make a movie about the craze, and a comedy like the new Apple TV+ film The Dink provides the best way to honor and make fun of the divisive sport at the same time.
Dusty Boyd (Jake Johnson), aka The Hammer, is a former tennis phenom who’s now working as an instructor at a club owned by his dad, Chuck (Ed Harris). While the two don’t always see eye-to-eye, they have a mutual hatred for pickleball, which they have begrudgingly allowed on the property by giving it the worst court.
Dusty is hoping to stop all future pickleball expansion by winning a one-on-one grudge match, but when he injures his wrist, he’s given a prescription of pickleball as a form of rehab. Older women like Candace (Mary Steenburgen) are the only people he can find to play with, and despite his disdain for the sport, he soon falls prey to its low-key charms.
Directed by Josh Greenbaum (Will & Harper) and written by Sean Clements, the film is probably the best advertisement pickleball will ever have. Dusty’s introduction to the sport serves as a lighthearted tutorial for the uninitiated while still getting in some nice digs at its expense. The other players - Candace, Gail (Cleo King), and Judy (Lynn Marie Stewart) - are equally welcoming and critical of Dusty, who initially has trouble adjusting to the game’s different rules.
The film’s approach to the story is silly but never stupid. Dusty is a blowhard, but he’s also able to admit when he’s wrong, especially when Candace introduces him to multiple things he had never considered before. A long-standing feud between Dusty and Andy Roddick provides more than just a goofy cameo for the real-life tennis star. The film also pushes right to the edge of being over-the-top before pulling back, allowing it to keep a semblance of reality to it.
Clements’ story follows a tried-and-true formula, making the film very predictable but enjoyably so. Where it earns its comedy credentials is in its finer details, like Dusty’s love for his 1999 Buick LeSabre with under 200,000 miles on it, his trunk full of old VHS tapes, or his interactions with his assistant PJ (Aaron Chen), who manages to be the comic relief in an already funny film.
Johnson, probably best known for starring in the sitcom New Girl in the 2010s, has the right amount of smarm and niceness to pull off the role, letting viewers laugh at and root for him at the same time. The film is full of comedy all-stars in small roles like Oswalt, Chris Parnell, and Ben Stiller, but Harris steals everyone’s thunder. The line readings by the four-time Oscar nominee give an extra punch to his character’s jokes, especially one that hints at the sordid history of the tennis club.
It’s a shame that The Dink is only playing on a streaming service as there’s a dearth of good comedies like this in movie theaters. With a solid joke-telling approach, a respect for its subject matter, and a cast who all play off each other well, this is a film that deserves to be seen by more than just those with an Apple TV+ subscription.
