Weekend event planner

These are the 13 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Aretha: A Tribute," featuring Capathia Jenkins, at the Meyerson Symphony Center, October 14-16.

Photo courtesy of John Such Artists' Management

This weekend across Dallas is a busy one, kicked off by the newest signature event from CultureMap. There will also be four local theater productions, a fandom festival, a big film festival, a tribute to one of the best singers of all time, two country stars together in concert, two big comedians, and two new art exhibitions.

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

Thursday, October 13

CultureMap Dallas presents The Tailgate
CultureMap Dallas presents the launch of our newest signature event series: The Tailgate, a celebration of the culture of sports - all sports - and the fans who cheer them on. This event combines the best parts of tailgating with an elevated but playful experience featuring chef-driven food, signature cocktails, game-day-inspired activities, entertainment, and more. The event takes place at The Empire Room.

Dallas Theater Center presents Trouble in Mind
The 1955 comedy-drama Trouble in Mind - planned for Broadway but canceled when the playwright wouldn’t tone down its message - made a triumphant premiere in New York in 2021. The play follows an experienced Black stage actress through rehearsals of a major Broadway production in Alice Childress’s funny, moving, and ultimately shattering look at racism, identity, and ego in the high-stakes world of New York theater. The production runs through October 30 at Kalita Humphreys Theater.

Theatre Three presents Young Frankenstein
From the creators of the Broadway sensation The Producers comes the monstrously fun musical, Young Frankenstein. When the grandson of the infamous Victor Frankenstein, Frederick Frankenstein, inherits his family’s estate, his mad scientist genes come to fruition. With the help of his assistant, Igor, he brings a monster to life and hilarity ensues. With memorable tunes like "The Transylvania Mania," "Don’t Touch Me," and "Puttin' on the Ritz," Young Frankenstein is an electrifyingly good time. The production runs through November 13 at Theatre Three.

Rover Dramawerks presents Stone Cold Murder
Newlyweds Robert and Olivia Chappell have bought a small hotel in the English Lake District. At the end of their first season they settle down with a drink in front of a warm fire, but their evening is interrupted by the arrival of a rugged hiker seeking shelter from the snowstorm outside. Could the stranger have anything to do with Olivia’s dark past? A desperate fight for survival begins, with twists and turns for all those involved, while ratcheting up the suspense until the very end. The production runs through October 29 at Cox Building Playhouse in Plano.

Friday, October 14

Dallas Fan Festival
At Dallas Fan Festival, guests can participate in the pop culture playground’s many activities, contests, and special events that put creativity front and center. A number of celebrities will make appearances, including Colton Haynes, Matt Smith, Tom Sturridge, Jenna Coleman, Stephen Amell, Gates McFadden, and more. The festival runs through Sunday at Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas.

16th Dallas International Film Festival
More than 80 films will screen during the 16th Dallas International Film Festival, including opening night film Armageddon Time, starring Anthony Hopkins, Anne Hathaway, and Jeremy Strong; closing night film Call Jane, starring Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver; The Banshees of Inisherin, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson; and Hargrove, a documentary executive produced by Erykah Badu about Jazz trumpet legend Roy Hargrove. Screenings will take place through October 20 at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Cedars and various other Dallas landmarks.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Aretha: A Tribute"
Broadway diva Capathia Jenkins and three-time Grammy nominee Ryan Shaw will perform during this concert featuring all the favorite Aretha Franklin hits. Led by Grammy Award-winning conductor John McLaughlin Williams, this high-energy, glittering tribute to the Queen of Soul includes iconic favorites like "Respect," "Think," "A Natural Woman," "Chain of Fools," "Amazing Grace," and more. There will be three performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Travis Tritt and Chris Janson in concert
Two generations of country will come together when Travis Tritt and Chris Janson co-headline this concert at Texas Trust CU Theatre at Grand Prairie. Tritt is the veteran, with a career going back more than 30 years that's featured multiple No. 1 songs. Janson is only seven years into his career, but he's already released four albums, including 2022's All In. The two singers also collaborated on Janson's recent song "Things You Can't Live Without."

Richardson Theatre Centre presents A Few Good Men
Two Naval soldiers are accused of murder. When the two accused plead guilty, Lt. Daniel Kaffee and Lt. Cmdr. Joanne Galloway are assigned to be their lawyers. Galloway doesn’t believe Dawson and Downey came up with the idea to kill; she has suspicions that they were following orders. Kaffee, on the other hand, couldn’t care less – about this trial, about the Navy, or, at first, about Galloway’s opinion. The two need to work together to figure out what exactly happened in Guantanamo Bay – but before they can bring anyone to justice, they need to learn how to work with one another. The production runs through October 30 at Richardson Theatre Centre.

JB Smoove: Physical Therapy Tour
JB Smoove is a multi-talented writer, comedian, and actor perhaps best known for playing Leon in the iconic HBO comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm. He tours as a standup internationally, bringing the ruckus to sold-out audiences all over the world. He'll perform for one night only at Majestic Theatre.

Saturday, October 15

Nasher Sculpture Center presents Nairy Baghramian: "Modèle vivant" opening day
Nasher Sculpture Center will open "Modèle vivant," the new exhibition from 2022 Nasher Prize Laureate Nairy Baghramian. For her Nasher exhibition, Baghramian will create a new series of sculptures that explore the provisional body as the site of trauma by disrupting the habits of the conditioned eye. The sculptures will be presented in dialogue with works from the Nasher’s permanent collection. The exhibition will remain on display through January 8, 2023.

Tom Papa: Family Reunion Tour
With more than 20 years as a stand-up comedian, Tom Papa is one of the top comedic voices in the country, finding success as an author, in film, TV, radio, and podcasts, as well as on the live stage. He's written two books, including 2020's You’re Doing Great! - And Other Reasons To Stay Alive, and has released four hour-long stand-up specials. He'll perform at Majestic Theatre.

Sunday, October 16

Dallas Museum of Art presents Matthew Wong: "The Realm of Appearances" opening day
The first museum retrospective and U.S. museum exhibition devoted to the late painter Matthew Wong premieres at the Dallas Museum of Art, the only museum that collected the artist’s work during his lifetime. Featuring approximately 60 paintings created by Wong during his short yet prolific career, Matthew Wong: "The Realm of Appearances" offers the first formal account of the full scope of Wong’s six-year oeuvre. The exhibition will remain on display through February 5, 2023.

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Movie Review

Film sequel Avatar: Fire and Ash is a technical and visual feast

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Oona Chaplin in Avatar: Fire and Ash.

For a series whose first two films made over $5 billion combined worldwide, Avatar has a curious lack of widespread cultural impact. The films seem to exist in a sort of vacuum, popping up for their run in theaters and then almost as quickly disappearing from the larger movie landscape. The third of five planned movies, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is finally being released three years after its predecessor, Avatar: The Way of Water.

The new film finds the main duo, human-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his native Na’vi wife, Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), still living with the water-loving Metkayina clan led by Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis). While Jake and Neytiri still play a big part, the focus shifts significantly to their two surviving children, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as two they’ve essentially adopted, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Spider (Jack Champion).

Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who lives on in a fabricated Na’vi body, is still looking for revenge on Jake, and he finds help in the form of the Mangkwan Clan (aka the Ash People), led by Varang (Oona Chaplin). Quaritch’s access to human weapons and the Mangkwan’s desire for more power on the moon known as Pandora make them a nice match, and they team up to try to dominate the other tribes.

Aside from the story, the main point of making the films for writer/director James Cameron is showing off his considerable technical filmmaking prowess, and that is on full display right from the start. The characters zoom around both the air and sea on various creatures with which they’ve bonded, providing Cameron and his team with plenty of opportunities to put the audience right there with them. Cameron’s preferred viewing method of 3D makes the experience even more immersive, even if the high frame rate he uses makes some scenes look too realistic for their own good.

The story, as it has been in the first two films, is a mixed bag. Cameron and co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver start off well, having Jake, Neytiri, and their kids continue mourning the death of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) in the previous film. The struggle for power provides an interesting setup, but Cameron and his team seem to drag out the conflict for much too long. This is the longest Avatar film yet, and you really start to feel it in the back half as the filmmakers add on a bunch of unnecessary elements.

Worse than the elongated story, though, is the hackneyed dialogue that Cameron, Jaffa, and Silver have come up with. Almost every main character is forced to spout lines that diminish the importance of the events around them. The writers seemingly couldn’t resist trying to throw in jokes despite them clashing with the tone of the scenes in which they’re said. Combined with the somewhat goofy nature of the Na’vi themselves (not to mention talking whales), the eye-rolling words detract from any excitement or emotion the story builds up.

A pre-movie behind-the-scenes short film shows how the actors act out every scene in performance capture suits, lending an authenticity to their performances. Still, some performers are better than others, with Saldaña, Worthington, and Lang standing out. It’s more than a little weird having Weaver play a 14-year-old girl, but it works relatively well. Those who actually get to show their real faces are collectively fine, but none of them elevate the film overall.

There are undoubtedly some Avatar superfans for which Fire and Ash will move the larger story forward in significant ways. For anyone else, though, the film is a demonstration of both the good and bad sides of Cameron. As he’s proven for 40 years, his visuals are (almost) beyond reproach, but the lack of a story that sticks with you long after you’ve left the theater keeps the film from being truly memorable.

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Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19.

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