Weekend Event Planner

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

You won't have to worry about not being entertained in Dallas this weekend, as it's yet another packed slate. You can start things off with a great CultureMap event on Thursday, and then take in one of two big-name concerts, two new theater productions, a new opera, a documentary film festival, women's soccer, TV drag queens, and more.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, October 11

West Village and CultureMap Dallas present It's Fall Y'All
This fun party will feature bites from favorite West Village restaurants like MidiCi, Pōk The Raw Bar, Paciugo, and more. There will also be beverages from Absolut Elyx and Peroni, fresh fall looks from West Village retailers, tunes, games, and more. Proceeds will benefit The Bridge Homeless Recovery Center.

Dallas VideoFest presents DocuFest
Dozens of documentary features and shorts will be screened over the course of five days. Films will include 13 Hours to Midnight, about former Texas State Senator Wendy Davis; opening night film The Great Buster, about filmmaker Buster Keaton; and Run Like the Devil, about the 2018 Senate race between Ted Cruz and Beto O'Rourke. Opening night takes place at the Texas Theatre, followed by four days of screenings at the Angelika Film Center in Dallas.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3
World-renowned pianist David Fray is performing two selections from Beethoven, along with the “Háry János Suite” by Kodály and Hindemith’s bracing and uplifting “Concert Music for Strings and Brass.” The concert, under the direction of Ruth Reinhardt, will have four performances through Sunday at the Meyerson Symphony Center.

Edie Brickell & New Bohemians in concert
It's always great when hometown bands stay true to where they came from, and Edie Brickell & New Bohemians will do just that with this album release concert at Granada Theater in support of their new album, Rocket. The band has only released five albums in its career, and this is their first new music in 12 years, so this concert is bound to be extra special.

Friday, October 12

Dallas Opera presents The Flying Dutchman
Dallas Opera opens its new season with Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. Cursed to roam the seas for all eternity and only allowed to go ashore every seven years, The Dutchman searches for the one who might finally bring him peace: a faithful wife. His fortune may have changed when he meets the father of Senta, a beautiful girl whose only wish is to free the mythical Dutchman from his curse, at any cost. The production will play four times through October 20 at the Winspear Opera House.

WaterTower Theatre presents A Doll’s House
Nora and Torvald Helmer are the perfect couple living a storybook life. But for years Nora has been paying off a secret debt, obtained through forging a signature, which saved her husband’s life. When Torvald is back in good health and has garnered a promotion at the bank, his first order of business is to fire the man who confidentially loaned Nora the money. Confronted with shame and blackmail, Nora is pushed to expose her secret to Torvald, but the true revelation might just be that their lives are not their own. Joanie Schultz's new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's thriller plays at WaterTower Theatre in Addison through November 4.

Uptown Players presents The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey
In The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, solo actor Terry Martin portrays about a dozen roles; male and female, old and young. Chuck DeSantis is a brash New Jersey detective looking into the disappearance of teenager Leonard Pelkey. Digging deeper and deeper into Leonard’s life, Chuck follows clues that lead him to unexpected places and show him how one boy’s bravery can light the way toward truth. Uptown Players presents the production at Bryant Hall through October 21.

Saturday, October 13

Trinity River Kite Festival (UPDATE: Due to anticipated rain all day Saturday, this event has been canceled.)
Let's try this one more time: After getting rained out back in September, the Trinity River Kite Festival at the Commerce Street Viaduct is once again on. The high-flying event celebrates all kinds of kites and wind-driven toys, featuring dragon kites from China, paper airplane crafts, and kite makers from Japan. Visitors can fly their own kite, or make one at the festival.

Dallas Chamber Symphony presents Our Hospitality
Buster Keaton will get another showcase when Dallas Chamber Symphony opens its season with his groundbreaking 1923 comedy, Our Hospitality. The classic helped pave the way for cinematic comedy, merging the physical gags for which Keaton became famous with a dramatic storyline. A live orchestra, featuring the world premiere of an original score by Scott Glasgow, will play along to the film at Moody Performance Hall.

Sunday, October 14

U.S. Women's National Soccer Team - CONCACAF Women's Championship
The only reliable U.S. national soccer team in recent years has been the women's team, which won the 2012 Olympic gold medal and the 2015 World Cup. In preparation for the 2019 World Cup and as part of the CONCACAF Women's Championship, they will play two matches against to-be-determined opponents at Toyota Stadium in Frisco. The match on Sunday will be followed by a second match on October 17, and both days will feature a second match featuring the other semi-finalist teams.

Bruno Mars in concert
It's been five long years since pop superstar Bruno Mars appeared in Dallas, an extended break made even more egregious since it's also been two years since he released his third monster album, 24K Magic. To make up for that absence, Mars will be playing not one but two shows at American Airlines Center, with help from opening act Charlie Wilson. The second show will be on Monday night.

RuPaul’s Drag Race: Werq The World Tour
RuPaul's Drag Race has been around since 2009, but it's only gotten its due as a great reality TV competition in the past few years, with RuPaul winning the Emmy for Best Host three years straight and the show winning for Best Program in 2018. This fierce new show, taking place at Majestic Theatre, is hosted by Bob The Drag Queen, and features performances by the queens from season 10 along with fan favorites Kim Chi, Valentina, Shangela, and Violet Chachki.

Bruno Mars performs at the American Airlines Center on October 14 and 15.

Photo by Kai Z. Feng

Bruno Mars performs at the American Airlines Center on October 14 and 15.

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Movie Review

Reminders of Him blends trauma and romance in slight but effective story

Photo by Michelle Faye / Universal Pictures

Maika Monroe and Tyriq Withers in Reminders of HIm.

Texas author Colleen Hoover has gone from being a popular writer to a full-on celebrity in the 2020s, with the new film Reminders of Him marking the third adaptation of her books in just 19 months (a fourth, Verity, is scheduled for release in October 2026). All of her books that have been adapted so far - most notably It Ends With Us - are female-led stories that feature elements of romance and trauma, catnip for studios looking to appeal to the underserved demographic of women.

Leading the way in this film is Kenna Rowan (Maika Monroe), who returns to her hometown of Laramie, Wyoming after spending years in prison for killing her boyfriend, Scotty (Rudy Pankow), in a car accident. That relationship resulted in a daughter, Diem (Zoe Kosovic), whom Kenna gave birth to while imprisoned and is now being raised by her grandparents, Patrick (Bradley Whitford) and Grace (Lauren Graham).

Yearning to be a part of Diem’s life, Kenna tries to reconnect with Patrick and Grace, only to be rebuffed by Scotty’s best friend, Ledger (Tyriq Withers), a former NFL player who now owns a local bar. In running interference, Ledger starts to become closer to Kenna, discovering that her tragic mistake shouldn’t be the only thing that defines her.

Directed by Vanessa Caswill and written by Lauren Levine, the film features mostly surface level examinations of its themes and average performances, yet it winds up being effective thanks to a willingness not to rush through its storytelling beats. The filmmakers take the slow and steady approach toward the coupling of Kenna and Ledger, setting up their bond through a series of heart-to-heart conversations that makes any romance feel earned.

The majority of the focus is on Kenna reclaiming her place in the world, and on Ledger coming to terms with the fact that the person who killed his best friend is not inherently a bad person. The film definitely could have gone deeper in its explorations of grief and anger, but the sheer amount of time it takes in addressing the characters’ doubts and fears turns out to be sufficient for a film that’s not aiming to be considered a dramatic masterpiece.

It also helps that Caswill and Levine do a solid job of establishing the variety of characters that inhabit the film. Kenna and Ledger don’t always feel like fully-formed people, but they become so through their interactions with each other and the other townspeople. Lady Diana (Monika Myers), a girl with Down syndrome who lives in Kenna’s apartment complex, and Roman (Nicholas Duvernay), Ledger’s co-worker at his bar, help to broaden the appeal of the two leads.

Monroe has, to this point, been best known for starring roles in horror films like It Follows and Longlegs. While she does somewhat well in this role, her delivery is often more flat than you’d expect for a character going through what she does. Withers thankfully doesn’t remind viewers of his recent bomb Him, demonstrating a crossover appeal that should serve him well in the future. Whitford and Graham don’t get to do much, but their combined experience gives their roles exactly what is needed.

It may sound like damning with faint praise, but Reminders of Him is a competently made film that knows how to serve its core audience without insulting anyone who may not automatically be all-in for such a story. The filmmakers don’t try to force any of the key moments down the audience’s throat, and that stands out in a genre that’s not always known for its subtlety.

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Reminders of Him opens in theaters on March 13.

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