Reba McEntire will play at Dickies Arena on October 14.
Photo courtesy of Reba McEntire
Country music legend Reba McEntire, known as the Queen of Country for her extensive popularity, is extending her arena tour, Reba: Live in Concert, including a stop at Fort Worth's Dickies Arena on October 14.
The fall leg of the tour, which will kick off on October 13 in Lafayette, Louisiana, will travel to 17 cities in about a month, including stops in Austin on October 28 and Corpus Christi on October 29. The tour will feature special guest Terri Clark at all shows.
This is McEntire's first solo tour since the All the Women I Am Tour in 2011-2012, but that tour did not come to Texas. You have to go back to 2004, when she toured in support of her album Room to Breathe, for the last time she came to Texas as part of a tour, playing at what was then known as Nextstage at Grand Prairie.
McEntire is one of the most notable country singers of all time, notching 35 No. 1 hits over the course of 45-year career. She hasn't had an album of new songs fail to reach the top 10 on the Billboard country charts since 1985, and she is one of the most awarded female country singers of all time, earning seven Top Female Vocalist and one Entertainer of the Year awards from the Academy of Country Music Awards alone.
Her most recent album is My Chains Are Gone, in which she performs some of the most beloved hymns of all time.
Tickets for the tour go on sale on Friday, July 15 at 10 am. McEntire fans can access a special fan presale starting Tuesday, July 12 at 10 am by signing up for her email list. Fans must be signed up by 11:59 pm Monday, July 11 to receive the presale code. The presale code will be emailed out on Tuesday morning prior to the presale.
Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets beginning Tuesday at 10 am until Thursday at 10 pm through the Citi Entertainment program.
The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu in The Mandalorian and Grogu.
At one point in the 2010s, there were plans to release a different Star Wars movie every year, with an “Episode” film (like The Rise of Skywalker) alternating with anthology movies like Rogue One. But when 2018’s Solo underperformed, those plans changed, and the pandemic made any Star Wars movie less appealing, with Lucasfilm shifting heavily toward TV shows like The Mandalorian.
The popularity of that show in particular has led to the return of Star Wars to the theaters in the form of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu. The film follows the bounty hunter (Pedro Pascal) and his Force-sensitive adopted child as they travel around the universe, hunting down the remaining members of the Galactic Empire (the film, like the series, is set in the years following The Return of the Jedi).
The main thrust of the film has the duo, at the behest of Colonel Ward (Sigourney Weaver) of the New Republic, trying to track down Rotta the Hutt (voiced by Jeremy Allen White), the son of the late Jabba the Hutt, who’s supposedly been kidnapped. The discovery of the ultra-buff Rotta sets them down a different path than they thought, one that puts Mando and Grogu in the crosshairs of Rotta’s twin cousins.
Directed by Jon Favreau and written by Favreau, Dave Filoni, and Noah Kloor, the film is perfectly fine if you consider it to be an extended Mandalorian episode, but at no point does it rise to the level of a great movie experience.
The film, like the show, is defined by the Mandalorian’s unflappable nature and strict code, as well as Grogu’s mischievousness and unquenchable appetite. Right from the start, the Mandalorian has a “take no prisoners” approach, laying waste to all comers in a PG-13 sort of way. Grogu is mostly along for the ride, occasionally breaking out the Force to help out, but mostly serving as the comic sidekick. Their relationship keeps the film watchable, but only just barely.
The biggest issue, one which was starting to affect the Disney+ show as well, is that the story never seems to go anywhere despite the fact that its two main characters are constantly on the move. No matter how big or ferocious the opponent they face, the overall stakes are so low as to almost be nonexistent. If Favreau and Filoni (who has a small part in the film) are trying to build toward some larger story, it doesn’t come through on screen.
The film’s action fits in well with sequences that have been put forth in previous Star Wars films, but to call them “cinematic” would be stretching things. There are all manner of monstrous creatures that the duo comes across in their adventures, but only a few of them are memorable. The most interesting sequence features a snake/dragon hybrid that Mando fights in a watery pit that is reminiscent of the trash compactor scene in the original Star Wars. Much of the rest of the film blends together in a mish-mash of uninteresting opponents.
For a live action film, there are precious few actors who actually show their faces. The Mandalorian removes his helmet exactly once, making it clear that Pascal is merely providing the voice for the character. White affects a tough voice for Rotta that may be canon, but frankly sounds ridiculous coming from the character’s body and in no way resembles White’s actual voice, which negates his casting altogether. Weaver is close to a non-factor in her small role, but Martin Scorsese is kind of fun voicing a four-armed fry cook/informant.
The cachet of Star Wars and the fun of The Mandalorian series may be enough for many to enjoy the inoffensive lark that is The Mandalorian and Grogu. But the film does not come close to reaching the heights of the best Star Wars movies, and does nothing to indicate what to expect from the valuable intellectual property going forward.
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Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu opens in theaters on May 22.
