Weekend Event Planner

These are the 11 best things to do in Fort Worth this weekend

Gymnastics fans can get their Olympic spirit started this weekend when the national championships come Fort Worth. That big event will be joined by others featuring the end of a dinosaur exhibition, a well-known comedian, screenings of an acclaimed new film, a trombone festival, two new local theater productions, two country music concerts, a craft beer festival, and a hard rock music festival.

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

Thursday, May 30

Fort Worth Botanic Garden presents "Dinosaurs Around the World: The Great Outdoors" closing day
After four months, the outdoor exhibition "Dinosaurs Around the World: The Great Outdoors" will come to a close at Fort Worth Botanic Garden. Visitors can get their passport to Pangea stamped on every continent while engaging with animatronic dinosaurs. The exhibition allows visitors to experience the Age of Reptiles brought back to life in an outdoor environment.

Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships
The Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships are part of the run-up to the Paris Olympic Games and will determine national champions in men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics. They will also set the National Team lineups that will compete for Olympic berths at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, June 27-30 in Minneapolis. Champion gymnasts like Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Asher Hong, Shilese Jones, and Khoi Young will be among the competitors (however, 2012 Olympic all-around champ Gabby Douglas has withdrawn). The event takes place through Sunday at Dickies Arena.

Improv Arlington presents Bill Bellamy
Using his experiences growing up in Newark, Bill Bellamy started doing stand-up while he was a student at Rutgers University. His long comedy career has led to multiple roles in both television and movies, including Love Jones, How to Be a Player, Any Given Sunday, and Insecure. He also hosts the podcast Top Billin’ With Bill Bellamy. He'll perform at Improv Arlington through Saturday.

Friday, May 31

Magnolia at the Modern: The Dead Don't Hurt
When the man she loves, Holger Olsen (Viggo Mortensen), goes off to fight in the Civil War, Vivienne Le Coudy (Vicky Krieps) must fend for herself in a place controlled by a corrupt mayor and his unscrupulous business partner. When Holger returns from the war, he and Vivienne must confront and make peace with the person each has become. The film will screen four times through Saturday at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and TCU School of Music present The International Trombone Festival
The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and TCU School of Music will present the International Trombone Festival, a four-day brass extravaganza bringing the finest brass talent from around the globe. The highlight of the festival will be a weekend of concerts: Trombonist Peter Steiner and pianist Constanze Hochwartner will perform TCU alum Kevin Day's world premiere of "Departures: Double Concerto for Trombone, Piano, & Orchestra." The piece will be accompanied by Jennifer Higdon's "River Sings A Song To Trees" and the grand finale, Mahler's "Symphony No. 5." All concerts will be at Bass Performance Hall.

Jubilee Theatre presents Thoughts of a Colored Man
Thoughts of a Colored Man explores the lives, pressures, and passions of seven contemporary Black men who live in one Brooklyn neighborhood. The characters - never given names - are identified by traits they embody: Lust, Love, Anger, Passion, Wisdom, Depression, and Happiness. The production runs through June 30 at Jubilee Theatre.

Roger Creager in concert
Country singer Roger Creager has been plugging away at his singing career for over 20 years, but it's only in the last 10 that he's started to get some national acclaim. Creager has released seven albums in his career, including 2014's Road Show, which made it to No. 20 on Billboard's Country Albums chart. He'll play at Billy Bob's Texas.

Saturday, June 1

Photo courtesy of Peter Steiner

The International Trombone Festival will put on concerts at Bass Performance Hall, May 31-June 2.

Martin House Brewing presents Glizzy Fest
Martin House Brewing and Fletcher's Original Corny Dogs will present Glizzy Fest, where visitors can indulge in corn dogs, hot dogs, State Fair treats, and a selection of Martin House Brewing's beers. Martin House Brewing and Fletcher's have collaborated to create a special mustard beer exclusively for Glizzy Fest. The festival will also feature live music performances and unique Glizzy-themed crafts from local vendors. The one-day event takes place at Martin House Brewing Company.

So What?! Music Festival
The 2024 So What?! Music Festival will feature performances from 60 bands over two days, headlined by hard rock bands Underoath and Skillet. Other notable bands include Boys Like Girls, Asking Alexandria, Mayday Parade, P.O.D., Silverstein, Switchfoot, The Devil Wears Prada, Relient K, and The Amity Affliction. The festival takes place on Saturday and Sunday at Panther Island Pavilion.

Casa Mañana presents Grease
Everyone’s favorite rock-and-roll musical, Grease, features electrifying hits “You’re the One that I Want,” “Summer Nights,” “Greased Lightnin’” and more. Audiences will fall back in love with the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies and see why Greaseis still the word. The production, which is suitable for mature audiences only, will run through June 9 at Casa Mañana.

Joe Nichols in concert
Country star Joe Nichols has been crafting hits since his breakout in 2002 with his sophomore album, Man with a Memory. Thanks to songs like "Brokenheartsville," "Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off," and "Gimmie That Girl," he's remained at the top of the genre for over 20 years, releasing 10 albums in his career, most recently Good Day for Living in 2022. He'll play at Billy Bob's Texas.

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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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