Hottest headlines of 2023

Hipster '80s roller rink skates into Dallas' most-read entertainment stories of 2023

New roller skating rink Ride On with '80s colors.

Courtesy rendering

Editor's note: Our most-read entertainment stories of 2023 spanned several "eras," from news of a hipster '80s roller rink, to a futuristic glow-in-the-dark playground, to - yep - Taylor Swift's own "Eras Tour" shows in Arlington. Readers also devoured roundups of spectacular Christmas lights, State Fair discounts, top spring festivals, and more.

Here were the 10 most popular entertainment stories of the year.

1. Hipster '80s-style roller skating rink to wheel into Dallas Design District. In March came the news that roller skating would be wheeling in to Dallas' Design District via Ride On, a new adult-oriented rink planned at 170 Pittsburg St., at the corner of Riverfront Boulevard.

2. Texas' first glow-in-the-dark playground to light up in Farmers Branch. Fair warning to parents: A new Dallas-area playground will have kids wanting to stay up past their bedtimes. Joya at Oran Good Park in Farmers Branch, set to open January 20, 2024, will be the first glow-in-the-dark playground in DFW and all of Texas.

joya glow in the dark neon Joya glow in the dark park in Farmers Branch. Courtesy rendering

3. 'Yellowstone' stars to greet fans at Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. Yellowstone fans got their comfy shoes ready for long lines when it was announced that Cole Hauser, a.k.a. "Rip Wheeler," and Taylor Sheridan, the show's co-creator, would meet fans and sign autographs at the 2023 Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo on February 3.

4. Where to see the most spectacular Christmas lights in Dallas-Fort Worth for 2023. Dallas-Fort Worth started decking the halls before Halloween, and when places around town started flipping the switch, we rounded up the area's most dazzling Christmas light displays. Among the most popular? A sensational new drive-thru Light Park that would electrify Frisco for the 2023 holidays.

The Light Park Frisco The new Light Park in Frisco will be on through January 1. Photo courtesy of The Light Park

5. How to get every possible discount at the 2023 State Fair of Texas. The 2023 State Fair of Texas started its 24-day run at Fair Park on September 29, bringing with it music, games, food, and more. There were a multitude of discount ticket options offered by the State Fair and other groups, meaning there was no reason to pay full price.

6. Check out these 28 festivals hitting Dallas-Fort Worth in spring 2023. There are a lot of things that spring brings to Dallas-Fort Worth, and at that top of that list are festivals. In early April, we rounded up dozens of can't-miss 2023 festivals, from film to nature to food to music to the environment.

Wildflower-Festival-4 Wildflower! in Richardson is always a can't-miss event. Photo courtesy of Wildflower! Festival

7. Controversial comedian Dave Chappelle plots out 4 Texas arena shows, including Dallas. Comedian/actor Dave Chappelle announced he would bring his "Dave Chappelle Live" stand-up comedy show to arenas in four cities in Texas, including American Airlines Center in Dallas, on June 29. He then added a show at Fort Worth Dickies Arena on the following night.

8. Busy Dallas hard rock music venue Amplified Live to close this week. A Dallas live music venue was shutting down: Amplified Live, which has been one of the city's most popular venues for live rock music shows for the past decade, said it would close its doors at the end of March, with the final show on March 31, featuring Exciter and Night Cobra.

Gas Monkey Amplified Live Amplified Live unplugged for good. Courtesy photo

9. Country's largest hot springs pool complex coming to Grandscape in The Colony. The newest attraction headed to Grandscape in The Colony is a wellness spa-amusement park: WorldSprings, a nine-acre outdoor mineral springs experience, will debut in spring 2024. Announced in September, it will be WorldSprings' first location in Texas and the largest experience of its kind in the country.

10. Taylor Swift wows crowd at first of three sold-out nights in Arlington. On March 31, pop megastar Taylor Swift brought the first of three sold out nights to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, delivering a three-hour show that spanned highlights of her illustrious career. The "Eras Tour" was part of a U.S. tour that began in March and serves as a career retrospective, featuring tracks pulled from key albums including Lover, Fearless, and Evermore.

Taylor Swift on the "Eras Tour." Photo by John Medina/Getty Images

Movie Review

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck team up for Netflix crime thriller The Rip

Photo by Claire Folger/Netflix

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in The Rip.

For as closely tied together as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are, it might come as a surprise how few times they’ve led a movie together. They’ve appeared alongside each other in Good Will Hunting, The Last Duel, and Air, but the only time they were on equal footing in a story was Kevin Smith’s Dogma. So the fact that they are the two true stars of the new Netflix movie The Rip makes it a rare opportunity for the longtime friends to square off against each other.

Damon and Affleck play Lt. Dane Dumars and Detective Sgt. J.D Byrne, respectively, the two highest ranking members of a Miami police department squad that specializes in drug and drug money raids. A tragedy to begin the film already has the team - which includes Detectives Mike Ro (Steven Yeun), Numa Baptiste (Teyana Taylor), and Lolo Salazar (Catalina Sandina Moreno) - on edge, with the FBI and DEA breathing down their neck.

Going off a tip, Dumars gathers the team to raid a house in nearby Hialeah that is supposed to have a stash of a relatively small amount of money. But when they get to the house occupied only by Desiree Molina (Sasha Calle), they soon discover that there’s close to $20 million there instead. The team, required by law to count the money on site, must not only fight the urge to skim a little off the top for themselves, but also worry about the Cartel and other agencies that might want a slice of the pie.

Written and directed by Joe Carnahan, the film is a surprisingly effective crime thriller made even better by its high-quality cast, which also includes Kyle Chandler as a DEA agent. The story is designed for the audience to not know who’s trustworthy until the last possible second, and the various twists and turns it takes are well done, with barely a hint of narrative cheating.

Taking place entirely at night, the mood is set right from the start, with the only surprise being that Carnahan didn’t add in rain for extra effect. He keeps things tense with a number of subtle elements, including having the house located in a seemingly deserted cul-de-sac. This allows for the characters to remain on high alert at all times, with anything out of the ordinary - an unexpected noise, a flashing light, etc. - adding to the stress of the situation.

The only element that could have used a bit more of a punch-up is the characterization. The story is set up to cast suspicion on almost everybody, making it tougher to understand exactly what type of person each of them is. As the two leads, more time is spent with Dumars and Byrne, leaving everyone else with slightly underwhelming arcs. It’s to the credit of the actors that everyone else below Damon and Affleck is still compelling.

Damon and Affleck play their sometimes friendly, sometimes adversarial roles well, showing an ease together that’s a result of their friendship and the acting skills they’ve honed over 30+ years. Taylor, an Oscar hopeful for One Battle After Another, and Oscar nominee/Emmy winner Yeun have a pedigree that elevates their supporting roles. Chandler, Moreno, and Calle each get just enough to demonstrate why they were cast in their respective roles.

Damon and Affleck have had their individual ups and downs throughout their careers, but when they choose to work together, the results are usually good-to-great, as they are in The Rip. It’s a different take on a crime thriller that features a story that will keep viewers guessing until the very end.

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The Rip is now streaming on Netflix.

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