Weekend Event Planner

These are the 9 best things to do in Fort Worth this weekend

This weekend around Fort Worth contains an interesting mixture of events, from a trio of country concerts to a visit from a famous comedian's brother to a one-stop gardening festival. There will also be a classical music event, a film about a famous dance company, movies based on a great writer's work, and a game featuring some funny basketball.

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

Thursday, August 12

The Cliburn presents Tessa Lark
Violinist Tessa Lark is consistently praised by critics and audiences for her range of sounds, technical agility, and musical elegance. In 2020 she was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category and received one of Lincoln Center’s prestigious Emerging Artist Awards: the special Hunt Family Award. She'll perform at Whiskey Ranch.

Improv Arlington presents Tony Rock
Being the brother of an established entertainer, Tony Rock was able to successfully elude the shadows of his older sibling, Chris, and step into his own limelight. After decades of experience, Tony has proven himself as a skillful comedian, actor, and executive producer. He'll perform six times through Sunday at Improv Arlington.

Friday, August 13

Fort Worth Fall Home and Garden Show
The Fort Worth Fall Home & Garden Show aims to turn all home improvement and outdoor projects from fantasy to reality. The three-day event at Will Rogers Memorial Center will give consumers the opportunity to learn about the latest in home and garden from hundreds of exhibitors. From educational seminars led by local home and garden experts to local companies and contractors showcasing both traditional and trending products and techniques, attendees can expect to find inspiration, solutions, and exclusive deals spanning from the front door to the backyard.

Magnolia at the Modern: Ailey
Alvin Ailey was a trailblazing pioneer who found salvation through dance. Ailey traces the full contours of this brilliant and enigmatic man whose search for the truth in movement resulted in enduring choreography that centers on the Black American experience with grace, strength, and unparalleled beauty. Told through Ailey's own words and featuring evocative archival footage and interviews with those who intimately knew him, director Jamila Wignot weaves together a resonant biography of an elusive visionary. The film will screen five times through Sunday at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Holly Tucker in concert
Country singer Holly Tucker is a Waco native who is best known as a contestant on Season 4 of NBC's The Voice in 2013. She made it to the quarterfinals of that season, which was eventually won by Danielle Bradbery, and she has gone on to release two albums — Steel in 2016 and Welcome to Waco in 2018, as well as an EP, You're Gonna Know My Name, in 2019. She'll play at Downtown Cowtown at the Isis.

Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit in concert with Lucinda Williams
Country singer Jason Isbell is an old-school musician in that he's taken the long road to success. He's been paying his dues for the past 20 years, slowly but surely building a fan base. That hard work has paid off, as his last three albums have each landed at No. 1 on the Billboard Country charts, as well as the top 10 of the Billboard 200. He and his band, The 400 Unit, will play at Billy Bob's Texas alongside Lucinda Williams. (This concert was moved to Billy Bob's from Panther Island Pavilion. The previously scheduled concert with Roger Creager at Billy Bob's has been postponed to October 30.)

Saturday, August 14

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth presents A Tribute to Larry McMurtry
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth will wrap up its tribute to the acclaimed novelist and screenwriter Larry McMurtry, Texas’s most famous literary and cinematic son, who passed away in March 2021. Guest host and McMurtry devotee Bud Kennedy, of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, hosts the exploration of McMurtry’s cinematic works, which this week will feature a 50th anniversary screening of The Last Picture Show on Saturday and Texasville on Sunday.

Casey Donahew in concert
Country singer Casey Donahew had a nice run of success on the national country music scene, charting four straight albums in the top 10 on the Billboard Country charts in the 2010s, including the No. 3 All Night Party. He hasn't let the pandemic slow him down, releasing an all-acoustic album, Lost My Brother's Goat, in 2020. He'll play at Billy Bob's Texas.

Sunday, August 15

The Harlem Globetrotters Spread Game Tour
The World Famous Harlem Globetrotters are bringing their newly reimagined Spread Game tour to Fort Worth. Ankle-breaking moves, jaw-dropping swag, and rim-rattling dunks are only some of the thrill that can be expected from this fully modernized show. Part streetball from the players who defined it, part interactive family entertainment, the new tour will show off the best of the Globetrotters in a dazzling exhibition of talent and game. There will be one game at Dickies Arena.

The Harlem Globetrotters Spread Game Tour will be at Dickies Arena on August 15.

Photo courtesy of Harlem Globetrotters

The Harlem Globetrotters Spread Game Tour will be at Dickies Arena on August 15.

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Movie Review

Oscar-worthy film A Complete Unknown digs deeply into Bob Dylan

Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

Timothée Chalamet in A Complete Unknown.

Music biopics never seem to go out of style, although they’re rarely very good because most of them tend to tell the same story. A musician/band gets discovered, rises to popularity, experiences trouble at their peak due to (insert sex/drugs/alcohol/ego), and either finds a measure of redemption once they’ve been sufficiently humbled or dies due to their lack of control.

Paradoxically, what few music biopics fail to do is properly showcase the music that made the person popular in the first place, a mistake that A Complete Unknown doesn’t repeat, becoming a smashing success in the process. The film follows Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) over a roughly four-year period from when he first arrived in New York City in 1961 to his then-revolutionary electric set at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

Dylan seeks out well-known folk singers Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) and an ailing Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) when he first arrives, with Seeger taking him under his wing. Dylan starts to establish himself in the local club scene with his unique songwriting voice, meeting fellow singer Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), with whom he starts an on-and-off relationship. As his popularity grows, his reaction is antithetical to what’s expected, as he rarely engages with fans and focuses on his next song(s) instead of the ones for which he became known.

Directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line) and written by Mangold and Jay Cocks, the film may not be much of a revelation for Dylan superfans, but for casual fans or those who know nothing about him, it is one of the most effective music biopics in recent memory, if not ever. Not only does Mangold track the musical evolution of Dylan, but he gives the full context of the people who influenced him most, including Guthrie, Seeger, Baez, and more.

The film is not a musical in the traditional sense, but the amount of music in it makes it the next best thing. Rarely does more than a few minutes go by before someone is singing, either on stage, for someone close to them, or as part of the songwriting process. Whether you’re a folk music fan or not, the way the genre is showcased in the film will make you believe in its power and why it was so popular at that particular point in time.

Dylan is famous for his enigmatic personality, and Mangold does a great job of maintaining that elusiveness while still exploring what drove Dylan early in his career. His relationships with Baez and the fictional Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning) give him some dimension, but why he continually went back-and-forth between them (or why they put up with him) is only lightly explored. The film keeps most of the drama focused on the music, and it’s this decision that makes it as compelling as it is.

Chalamet has been “The Next Big Thing” since his Oscar nomination for Call Me By Your Name, but the combination of the Duneseries, Wonka, and now this has firmly established him as the star he is. His Dylan impersonation (including singing) is subtle-yet-clear, and he has the cool factor that makes him completely believable in the role. The supporting cast is also off-the-charts good, with Norton and Barbaro making the best cases for awards notice.

While 2024 has had its fair share of great movies, A Complete Unknown - in this critic’s opinion - should now be the favorite to win Best Picture at next year’s Oscars. It bucks the trend of mediocre music biopics by giving moviegoers the transporting feeling of what it was like to experience Dylan’s meteoric rise, and why his early songs remain so indelible.

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A Complete Unknown opens in theaters on December 25.

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