Olympics Fever

Watch the 2024 Olympics for free at these Dallas restaurants & bars

Grand Prairie's Jasmine Moore will compete iat the 2024 Olympics.

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All eyes on the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, starting July 26 when the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad takes place in Paris through August 11.

Aside from Wingstop, not all of us are going to make it to the real thing, but not to worry — quite a few local spots are hosting watching parties to fill the gap. It's especially important since there are several athletes from Dallas who are going for gold with Team USA, and we're here to cheer them on.

Here’s our list of where to watch the Olympics in Dallas:

Al Biernat’s
Steakhouse will show the games through the duration of the Olympics and have concocted three themed cocktails: "Team USA" with El Tesoro Reposado, strawberry, and lime agave; "Go For Gold," with Moet Chandon, Angostura Bitters, and gold sugar; and "Closing Ceremonies" with Aspen Vodka, Cointreau, Vermouth, and orange. The games will be shown during happy hour Monday-Friday 3-7 pm. Best spots to watch: the bar at the North location and the patio at Oak Lawn.

AMC Theaters
In a first for the movie theater chain, AMC Theaters is showing the games on their big screens at select movies across Dallas for each day of the Olympics. Adult tickets start at $11. Locations include: Addison, Arlington, Dallas, Frisco, Garland, Irving, and Mesquite.

Artpark Trinity Groves
Trinity Groves outdoor park will have three weeks of Olympics pop-up activities ranging from inflatable games to a market. Every weekend, from July 26-August 11 will feature food & drink specials, a market, photo booth, and DJs. Friday is 5-10 pm, while Saturday-Sunday are 12-5 pm. Entry is free.

Dallas Public Library
The J. Erik Jonsson Central Library will have a watch party on August 2 starting at 2 pm. Watch events include archery, women's judo, men's fencing, and BMX gold medal races. There will also be an Eiffel Tower Lego set available for tinkering.

Hilton Anatole
Dallas hotel will have Olympic-inspired games and food and drink specials throughout the week. Games include shotput, 100m dash, and long jump. Watch the games and enjoy Parisian menu specials in Media Grill + Bar. For a more private experience, watch the games at the TopGolf Swing Suite with cocktails, food towers, and interactive games.

Jaquval
Bishop Arts bar is inviting guests to dress in red, white, and blue to watch the opening ceremonies and enjoy a lineup of brews paired with fish & chips for $15 on July 26.

Little Daisy
Thompson Dallas’ Parisian-inspired brassiere will offer a Spritz Bar with French-inspired drinks, passed apps, and party favors on July 26, starting at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $35.

Loro
Asian smokehouse will be showing the games with events showing on all TV screens indoors and on the patio during happy hour on weekdays from 2-6 pm at both Dallas and Addison locations.

Maguire’s Bistro
Family-owned concept will run special happy hours during the Olympics on Monday-Thursday from 11 am-6 pm. Specials include $7 house martinis, $2 off appetizers, cocktails, and wines by the glass; $1 off all beers, and $10 cheeseburgers. Weekend hours when the special apply are Friday from 8 am-9pm and Saturday 4-9 pm.

Oak Cliff Brewing Co
Brewery will show live coverage of the opening ceremony on July 26 starting at 7 pm, with a selection of brews and tacos by Tromporrey.

The Porch
Knox-Henderson restaurant will offer daytime coverage of the Olympic events, including during happy hour Monday-Thursday 3-6 pm, featuring half off cocktails such as espresso martini, passionfruit margarita, and cosmonaut. Don''t miss the men's and women's swimming on July 27, which they'll broadcast during brunch, starting at 12 pm.

Renny’s Grill
Family-owned concept will run special happy hours during the Olympics on Monday-Thursday from 11 am-6 pm. Specials include $7 house martinis, $2 off appetizers, cocktails, and wines by the glass, $1 off all beers, and $10 cheeseburgers.

Other Olympic specials

Bar Bourbon at Live! by Loews Arlington
Bar Bourbon has a special drink available for the Olympics called “Rumble in Paris,” created by bartender and mixologist, Jay Colson. It’s made with Waco-based Balcones Rumble Whiskey, strawberry syrup, jalapeno, lemon, and honey and topped with dehydrated raspberry shavings. It's available through August 11.

SusieCakes
The bakery is supporting Team USA with a cupcake box featuring “Team USA” written on top. The cupcake box includes four cupcakes: chocolate cupcake with chocolate buttercream, chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream, vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream, and red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting. The cupcakes are available for the entirety of the Olympic games.

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Movie Review

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first but not by much

Blumhouse

Five Nights at Freddy's 2

Blumhouse Productions first made their name with the Paranormal Activity series, establishing themselves as a leader in the horror genre thanks to their relatively cheap yet effective movies. In recent years, they’ve added on “soft” horror films likeM3GAN and Five Nights at Freddy’s to draw in a younger audience, with both films becoming so successful that each was quickly given a sequel.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 finds Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and his sister Abby (Piper Rubio) still recovering from the events of the first film, with Abby particularly missing her “friends.” Those friends just so happen to be the souls of murdered children who inhabit animatronic characters at the long-defunct Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, children who were abducted and killed by William Afton (Matthew Lillard).

A new threat emerges at another Freddy Fazbear’s location in the form of Charlotte, another murdered child who inhabits a creepy large marionette. Mike, distracted by a possible romance with Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), fails to keep track of Abby, who makes her way to the old pizzeria and inadvertently unleashes Charlotte and her minions on the surrounding town.

Directed by Emma Tammi and written by Scott Cawthon (who also created the video game on which the series is based), the film tries to mix together goofy elements with intense scenes. One particular sequence, in which the security guard for Freddy Fazbear’s lets a group of ghost hunters onto the property, toes the line between soft and hard horror. That and a few others show the potential that the filmmakers had if they had stuck to their guns.

Unfortunately, more often than not they either soft-pedal things that would normally be horrific, or can’t figure out how to properly stage scenes. The sight of animatronic robots wreaking havoc is one that is simultaneously frightening and laughable, and the filmmakers never seem to find the right balance in tone. Every step in the direction of making a truly scary horror film is undercut by another in which the robots fail to live up to their promise.

It doesn’t help that Cawthon gives the cast some extremely wooden dialogue, lines that none of the actors can elevate. What may work in a video game format comes off as stilted when said by actors in a live-action film. The story also loses momentum quickly after the first half hour or so, with Cawthon seemingly content to just have characters move from place to place with no sense of connection between any of the scenes.

Hutcherson (The Hunger Games series), after being the true lead of the first film, is given very little to do in this film, and his effort is equal to his character’s arc. The same goes for Lail, whose character seems to be shoehorned into the story. Rubio is called upon to carry the load for a lot of the movie, and the teenager is not quite up to the task. A brief appearance by Skeet Ulrich seems to be a blatant appeal to Scream fans, but he and Lillard only underscore how limited this film is compared to that franchise.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first film, but not by much. The filmmakers do a decent job of making the new marionette character into a great villain, but they fail to capitalize on its inherent creepiness. Instead, they fall back on less effective elements, ensuring that the film will be forgettable for anyone other than hardcore Freddy fans.

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Five Nights at Freddy's 2 opens in theaters on December 5.

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Watch the 2024 Olympics for free at these Dallas restaurants & bars

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