Weekend Event Planner

These are the 8 best things to do in Fort Worth this weekend

Although you can feel things in the world getting back to normal, the slate of events this weekend are still an indication that there's a while to go before big crowds become acceptable again. Among the choices this week will be two pop-up opera performances, a motorcycle rally, jazz in the great outdoors, a film festival, and more.

Below are the best ways to spend your precious free time this weekend.

Thursday, May 20

Fort Worth Opera presents FWO GO at Fort Worth Bike Sharing
The Fort Worth Opera will present a pop-up concert at The Trailhead at Clear Fork near Press Café to entertain bikers across Fort Worth in honor of National Bike Month. The 30-minute evening concert, in partnership with Trinity Metro, will feature a variety of opera and musical theater favorites.

Friday, May 21

Get On! Moto Fest
RevZilla, Cycle Gear, J&P Cycles, and REVER will host the inaugural Get On! Moto Fest, taking place at Texas Motor Speedway through Sunday. Industry giants like BMW, Kawasaki, Indian, and Volcon will present hands-on demos, activities for riders of all levels, and family-friendly fun. There will also be an American Flat Track Texas Half Mile race on Saturday.

Magnolia at the Modern: The Dry
In the Australian mystery film The Dry, Aaron Falk (Eric Bana) goes back home to attend a tragic funeral. However, his return reopens the door to the unsolved death of a teenage girl. The film will screen five times through Sunday at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Amphibian Stage Productions presents Parking Lot Comedy Festival II
The Parking Lot Comedy Festival II will feature two nights of comedy in the parking lot at Amphibian Stage Productions. The Friday night performance will be headlined by Paul Varghese, who will be joined by Scott Crisp, Angelia Walker, and Anna Barden. Hannah Vaughan, Peng Dang, and Reggie French will perform on Saturday. The events will be hosted by Dante Martinez on Friday and Paulos Feerow on Saturday.

Gary Allan in concert
Country singer Gary Allan may not have the same cachet as many of the top tier genre musicians, but he's had a big impact nonetheless, scoring 11 top 10 singles and six top 5 albums, including 2013's No. 1 album, Set You Free. While he hasn't released a proper album since then, he's released a number of singles, including 2020's "Waste of a Whiskey Drink." He'll play at Billy Bob's Texas on Friday and Saturday.

Saturday, May 22

National Theatre Live: Cyrano
James McAvoy stars in this inventive adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, screening at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Fierce with a pen and notorious in combat, Cyrano almost has it all — if only he could win the heart of his true love, Roxane. There’s just one big problem: He has a nose as huge as his heart. Will a society engulfed by narcissism get the better of Cyrano, or can his mastery of language set Roxane’s world alight? Presented by Amphibian Stage, this is a screening of a previously recorded live production; it is not a live performance.

Fort Worth Opera presents Lesley Resident Artist Recital Series: Megan Koch
To pursue: to go after, to seek, to continue. Whether or not we realize it, we all have short-term and long-term aspirations in life. We chase after our dreams no matter how extraordinary. Throughout this recital at The Post at River East, soprano Megan Koch explores the pursuit of fame and fortune, love and joy, and day-to-day survival, with selections from Massenet’s charming tragicomedy Manon, André Previn, Henri Duparc, and Johann Strauss II.

Stranger Mornings presents Queer 2 Queer Film Festival
Stranger Mornings will present the first-ever Queer 2 Queer Film Festival, showcasing the LGBTQ+ films that prime time can’t handle, celebrate queerness in all its forms, speak exclusively to the community, and tell stories unmarred by pandering decisions that allows for easier mainstream or crossover appeal. The event will be held in person at the Tilt Vision Art Gallery. Virtual viewers may also access the event through May 29.

Paul Varghese will be one of the headliners at Amphibian Stage Productions' Parking Lot Comedy Festival II, taking place on May 21 and 22.

Photo courtesy of Backdoor Comedy

Paul Varghese will be one of the headliners at Amphibian Stage Productions' Parking Lot Comedy Festival II, taking place on May 21 and 22.

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Movie Review

Music and Lady Gaga make for unusual Joker: Folie à Deux film sequel

Photo by Niko Tavernise

Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in Joker: Folie à Deux.

For a movie that was more about one man’s mental health condition than anything related to comic books, 2019’s Joker was shockingly successful, making over $1 billion worldwide and nabbing a Best Actor Oscar for Joaquin Phoenix. Phoenix and writer/director Todd Phillips are back with Joker: Folie à Deux(literally meaning "a madness of two"), a film that has some of the same themes but a story that could not feel more different.

After his murder spree in the first film, Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) now calls Arkham Asylum home, where he is alternately tortured and favored by the guards, and revered by his fellow patients. Arthur plays nice for the most part, which leads one of the guards, Jackie Sullivan (Brendan Gleeson), to allow him to attend a music class in the minimum security ward of the facility, where he meets Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga).

The immediate connection between Arthur and Lee allows Arthur to indulge in more than a few fantasies, ones that manifest themselves in the film as musical sequences involving the two of them. As his fortunes change and he is forced to stand trial for his crimes, Arthur returns to the fantasies repeatedly, with Lee giving him a sense of hope and security that has been missing from his life.

The film, co-written by Scott Silver, features songs so often that the boundary between reality and fiction within the story is completely blurred. Some of the songs show Arthur, Lee, or both singing at Arkham, while others emulate old musicals by creating numbers on a set meant to look like the Murray Franklin talk show from the first film. It’s fair to wonder how much, if any, of it is real or just things that Arthur has conjured to comfort himself.

Most of the songs - “Good Morning,” “Get Happy,” and “That’s Entertainment,” among others - are cribbed from the classic movie musical era of the 1930s-1960s. Their titles and lyrics have surface-level relevance to the story being told, but it’s hard to say their meaning goes deeper than that. They are also so chopped up and delivered so often that it’s difficult to tell what kind of importance Phillips was trying to put on any one individual song.

While the music is the obvious big change, the more significant one is the film’s almost total lack of action. The focus on Arthur and Lee’s possible relationship and Arthur spending most of the film at Arkham leads to very few scenes of mayhem. In fact, hardly anything of substance happens until the film’s final act, and what does happen is less impactful than what fans of the first film may want.

Phoenix, just as he did in Joker, commits fully to the role, appearing to become gaunt once again and making sure the character is sufficiently disturbing. The arc makes him quieter and less annoying this time around, which may or may not disappoint some viewers. Lady Gaga is fine as the character otherwise known as Harley Quinn, although it’s interesting that she was likely hired for her singing ability and the film rarely lets her truly let loose.

If the nihilistic tones of Joker made it a surprise billion-dollar movie, it would be even more of a shocker if Joker: Folie à Deux made anywhere near that type of money. The Joker character has been approached in many different ways, but this is one of the oddest yet.

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Joker: Folie à Deux opens in theaters on October 4.

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