Weekend Event Planner

These are the 15 best things to do in Fort Worth this Halloween weekend

Halloween weekend in and around Fort Worth will be about more than just spooky events. Choices include the national tour of a Broadway musical, a trio of concerts, an annual film festival, a holiday lights event, a charity basketball game, an opera production, a local theater production, a fall festival, an art show, a seasonal movie accompanied by an orchestra, and the end of an art exhibition.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, October 31

Halloween events
With Halloween kicking off the weekend, there's no better way to celebrate than attending one of the many themed events around the area. Pumpkin Nights at Howell Farms in Arlington offers 5,000 real and artificial pumpkins in themed lands like Forbidden City and Pirate's Cove. But haunted houses are the favorite choice, with options including Fright Festat Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, Cutting Edge Haunted House in Fort Worth, The Parker House in Denton, Hangman's House of Horrors in Fort Worth, and Moxley Manor Haunted House in Bedford.

Broadway at the Bass presents Beetlejuice
Another Halloween treat is the arrival of the Broadway musical Beetlejuice in Fort Worth. Based on Tim Burton’s 1988 film, the musical version tells the story of Lydia Deetz, a strange and unusual teenager whose whole life changes when she meets a recently deceased couple and a demon with a thing for stripes. Beetlejuice is a show about family, love, and making the most of every Day-O. The production runs through Sunday at Bass Performance Hall.

Marc Anthony in concert
Latin music singer Marc Anthony has been breaking down the barrier between English language and Spanish language music for 30 years. He's only had a couple of crossover hits - 1999's "I Need to Know" and 2000's "You Sang to Me" - but he's maintained his popularity thanks to his connection with his Spanish-speaking fans. He'll perform at Dickies Arena in support of his new album, Muevense.

Friday, November 1

Lone Star Film Festival
The 2024 Lone Star Film Festival will feature a variety of feature films, documentaries, and short films over the course of four days. Highlights include opening night film Lars Shrike Walks the Night starring Kelsey Grammer; a special screening of acclaimed film Sing Sing starring Colman Domingo; a screening of the pilot episode of Taylor Sheridan's new show, Landman, starring Billy Bob Thornton; and the world premiere of the documentary, Charros. Screenings, happening through Monday, will take place mostly at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, with other events taking place at Kimbell Art Museum and The Crescent Hotel.

The Light Park
The day after Halloween, The Light Park will officially kick off the "real" holiday season. It is a mile-long, drive-thru spectacular where guests will witness millions of lights synchronized to a mix of music by DJ Polar Ice. Priced per vehicle, rather than per person, the more is truly merrier for visitors who want to travel through the longest light tunnel in the world. It will take place both at Hurricane Harbor Arlington through January 5.

Grand Kyiv Ballet productions
The Grand Kyiv Ballet will bring two separate productions to Fort Worth. On Friday they'll present Snow Queen, a classic fairytale transformed into a ballet about love and friendship, and how the warmth of a friend’s devoted heart removes the spell of a wicked Queen. On Saturday will be The Nutcracker, in which a young girl befriends a nutcracker that comes to life on Christmas Eve. Together, they embark on a fantastical journey to a magical kingdom filled with dancing sugar plum fairies, toy soldiers, and other whimsical characters. Both productions will be at Arts Fort Worth.

TCU-Arkansas Men’s Basketball Charity Exhibition Game
Before TCU and Arkansas kick off their regular season basketball schedules next week, they'll face off in a special charity exhibition game. TCU is coming off three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in program history, while Arkansas is starting a new era under Hall of Fame coach John Calipari. The game will provide fans with a unique in-game experience never done before at Dickies Arena.

Opera Arlington presents Cinderella
Opera Arlington will present Cinderella, Pauline Viardot’s charming and whimsical operetta. Audiences can step into a world of enchantment as the opera brings to life the beloved story of Cinderella, as never seen before: set in a storybook reimagining of Paris. There will be performances on Friday and Saturday at Trinity United Methodist Church in Arlington.

Theatre Arlington presents The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley Jr.
Flat Stanley, the beloved children’s book written by Jeff Brown, is a literary and pop culture phenomenon. Everyone’s favorite two-dimensional hero has a new life in The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley Jr., filled with infectious songs and non-stop adventure. The production runs through November 10 at Theatre Arlington.

Tracy Lawrence in concert
Country singer Tracy Lawrence was part of the early 1990s boom for the genre, with six of his first 12 singles going to No. 1, including "Sticks and Stones," "Alibis," and "If the Good Die Young." Lawrence reflected on his 30 years in the business with his last three albums, each of which started with the appropriate title Hindsight 2020. He'll play at Billy Bob's Texas.

Saturday, November 2

Fort Worth Botanic Garden presents Fall Japanese Festival
The Fort Worth Botanic Garden will present the Fall Japanese Festival, offering an exploration of Japanese art and culture. Hosted in collaboration with the Fort Worth Japanese Society, the event includes cultural demonstrations, performances, unique shopping experiences, and traditional foods celebrating the Japanese zodiac's year of the wood dragon. The event takes place on Saturday and Sunday.

Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo presents 58th Annual Cowboy Artists of America
The 58th Annual Cowboy Artists of America, presented by the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo, will showcase Western art for art enthusiasts, collectors, and Western lifestyle connoisseurs from across the country. The one-night show takes place at Will Rogers Memorial Center.

Chris Tomlin in concert
Christian singer Chris Tomlin has been at the top of the genre's charts for over 20 years. Starting with See the Morning in 2006, he ran off a strong of five No. 1 albums in six tries, including one that also went to No. 1 on the overall Billboard 200. He'll play at Dickies Arena as part of his Holy Forever World Tour, joined by Tauren Wells.

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra presents Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas follows the earnest-but-misguided adventures of Jack Skellington, Halloween Town's beloved Pumpkin King, as he attempts to take over the Christmas holiday. Against the advice of Sally, a lonely rag doll who has feelings for him, Jack enlists three mischievous trick-or-treaters to help him kidnap Santa Claus. The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra will play the score of the film live while the film plays at Will Rogers Auditorium.

Sunday, November 3

Arlington Museum of Art presents "She Said, She Said: Contemporary Artists from the Rubell Museum" closing day
Sunday will be the final day to view "She Said, She Said" at the Arlington Museum of Art. Continuing the museum's ongoing collaboration with Miami's Rubell Museum, the exhibition of work by women artists curated from the Rubell Museum’s expansive contemporary art collection. Curated by the Rubell Museum’s Alexandra Perez, the exhibition features over 50 works spanning painting, photography, sculpture, video, and installation by more than 30 artists of different generations, cultures, and disciplines.

Photo by Matthew Murphy

The national tour of Beetlejuice will be at Bass Performance Hall through November 3.

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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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