Weekend Event Planner

These are the 10 best things to do in Fort Worth this weekend

The first weekend in December brings more than a few holiday-themed events to the Fort Worth area, but it also features its fair share of non-holiday events. They include a huge car show, a possible Oscar-contending film, two competing versions of a Christmas theater classic, outdoor holiday fun, and more.

Below are the best options for your precious free time Thursday through Sunday. Don't like what you see? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, December 1

2016 DFW Auto Show
For more than 50 years, the DFW Auto Show in Fort Worth has been a must-see event where consumers are treated to the ideal opportunity to kick some tires and compare pricing of vehicles from almost every manufacturer, all under one roof. Featured vehicles at the event, going on through Sunday at the Fort Worth Convention Center, may include the 2017 Toyota 86, 2017 Land Rover Evoque Convertible, and 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV.

Friday, December 2

Magnolia at the Modern: Tower
Just over 50 years ago, a gunman rode the elevator to the 27th floor of the University of Texas Tower and opened fire. Tower, an animated and action-packed documentary, shares the untold story of that day, when the worst in one man brought out the best in so many others. The acclaimed film screens six times through Sunday at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Stolen Shakespeare Guild presents A Christmas Carol
Stolen Shakespeare Guild presents its version of A Christmas Carol, the classic Christmas story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation into a gentler, kindlier man after visitations by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Yet to Come. The production runs through December 18 at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center.

Theatre Arlington presents A Christmas Carol: Scrooge & Marley
The same story is told in a slightly different way by Theatre Arlington. Adapted by Israel Horovitz, Jacob Marley’s ghost becomes the narrator, providing the means to add inventive theatrical elements and fantastic special effects to a traditional holiday favorite. The production runs through December 18.

Kimbell Art Museum presents Red Party
Kimbell Art Museum's Red Party features music by French gypsy jazz band La Pompe and DJ Lucy Wrubel, heavy hors d'oeuvre, craft cocktails, a silent auction, and admission to the exhibit Monet: The Early Years. Proceeds benefit Kimbell Kids, the Museum's art education program that provides free learning experiences to thousands of North Texas families each year.

Saturday, December 3

Christmas in the Stockyards
The Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District at Stockyards Station hosts the annual Christmas in the Stockyards on the lawn of the Historical Livestock Exchange Building. Activities include live music with local children’s choirs, holiday face painters, Cowboy Santa pictures, armadillo races and cow milking, the Fort Worth Herd Cattle Drive, and Stockyards Christmas Parade.

Arthritis Foundation presents Fort Worth 2016 Jingle Bell Run
The Arthritis Foundation’s Jingle Bell Run is a festive race that champions arthritis research while bringing people from all walks of life together to say yes to furthering a great cause. Taking place at Panther Island Pavilion, this annual event helps conquer America’s No. 1 cause of disability once and for all by supporting the Arthritis Foundation’s search for a cure.

Performing Arts Fort Worth presents Cirque Dreams Holidaze
Cirque Dreams lights up the 2016 holiday season with its holiday stage extravaganza, Cirque Dreams Holidaze. Taking place at Bass Performance Hall on Saturday and Sunday, it’s a new Cirque show, Broadway musical, and family Christmas spectacular all in one. The holiday spectacle features over 300 costumes, 20 acts, and 30 artists from every corner of the globe.

Sunday, December 4

Amphibian Stage Productions presents The Pleasure Trials
Amphibian Stage Productions presents a staged reading of The Pleasure Trials, an insightful and entertaining examination of women, sexual desire, and the burden of meeting expectations. When Rachel and Callie start clinical trials on their new female libido enhancement drug, willing participants come out of the woodwork. Quickly after the first dose, the effectiveness of the medicine is undeniable, but the overwhelming pressure for its success may corrupt the experiment and everyone involved. There are two readings, one on Sunday and one on Monday.

Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis’ Holiday Shindig
Music and life partners Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis return to McDavid Studio to celebrate the holidays like only they can. The Texas twosome performs sawdusty favorites from their recent duet records, Our Year and Cheater’s Game; songs from their own extensive solo catalogs; and, of course, holiday favorites old and new.

The documentary Tower plays at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth December 2-4.

Photo courtesy of Kino Lorber

The documentary Tower plays at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth December 2-4.

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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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