This weekend in San Antonio you can rock out with a Texas music legend or dance with the stars. For a full list of happenings in Alamo City, visit our events calendar.
Thursday, July 13
Classic Theatre presents Burning Patience Teatro Farolito brings the premiere of Burning Patience to San Antonio as part of the Classic Presents series. The beloved production, which was later adapted to the screen in the 1994 film Il Postino: The Postman, closes this weekend. Performances through Sunday.
Friday, July 14
Jimmie Vaughan in concert with Lou Ann Barton Texas music legend Jimmie Vaughan, founding member of the Fabulous Thunderbirds and renowned guitarist, takes the stage at the Aztec Theatre for one night only.
Saturday, July 15
Dancing with the Stars Live! - Hot Summer Nights Hit television show Dancing with the Stars is bringing the magic to the Majestic Theatre for one night. Fans will watch dazzling live performances by cast members, including 2017 winning team Rashad Jennings and Emma Slater, plus many more stars.
Ghostland Observatory in concert Austin-based electro-rock group Ghostland Observatory plays Whitewater Amphitheater in support of their 2015 EP, Life of the Party. Tickets are still available.
Sunday, July 16
2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup San Antonio is one of nine cities hosting early round games of the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Head to the Alamodome to watch Jamaica play El Salvador and Curacao go up against Mexico.
Texas music legend Jimmie Vaughan hits the stage with Lou Ann Barton.
Photo courtesy of Jimmie Vaughan
Texas music legend Jimmie Vaughan hits the stage with Lou Ann Barton.
When a studio releases a movie in January (aka Dumpuary), the general rule of thumb is that they’re trying to get rid of a movie that isn’t very good. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, as M3GAN was in 2023, which rode the comedy of a killer AI robot who likes to dance to over $180 million worldwide.
A sequel was a given, and now with a built-in fanbase, M3GAN 2.0is a prime summer release. After running into trouble with her robot invention, Gemma (Allison Williams) has seemingly seen the error of her ways, now focused on creating things like a mechanical exoskeleton that can benefit society. Little does she know that the code she used to create M3GAN (aka Model 3 Generative Android) has been co-opted to create AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno), a new robot which is being used for nefarious purposes.
Naturally, the only thing to do is to bring M3GAN (played by Amie Donald, voiced by Jenna Davis) back from the “dead,” which is easy to do because — surprise! — she has been lurking inside the smart house in which Gemma and her niece Cady (Violet McGraw) now live. The inevitable showdown between the two robots is alternately helped and hindered by people like billionaire Alton Appleton (Jemaine Clement), fellow tech entrepreneur Christian (Aristotle Athari), co-worker Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez), and others.
Written and directed by Gerard Johnstone, who also directed the first film, M3GAN 2.0 doesn’t stray from the original formula, delivering way more laughs than scares. Because there’s a familiarity with the character, Johnstone leans into the campy side of things, essentially winking at the audience for much of the film. Whether it’s temporarily imprisoning M3GAN in an innocuous desktop robot or a number of one-liners, there is a lot of comedy to be found.
The film is a type of horror, though, and it delivers in the mild, PG-13 way that won’t offend non-horror fans. AMELIA (aka Autonomous Military Engagement Logistics and Infiltration Android) gives off Terminator vibes, and she lays waste to virtually all challengers. M3GAN doesn’t get to show off her skills as much as she did last time, which might be a tad frustrating for some, but she gets in enough punches and kicks for the experience to be worth it.
The story itself starts off strong before devolving into an overly complicated mess. The arc of AMELIA is particularly strange, as the strength of her powers and the level of her autonomy seem to change at will in the second half of the film. Gemma develops a rivalry with another character that might have worked better if it had been hinted at early in the film instead of being dropped in as a surprise.
Davis’ voice performance as M3GAN is once again fantastic, as she delivers sarcasm and menace equally well. Sakhno isn’t asked to do much but look terrifying, and she accomplishes that job. Williams is up and down in her role, stronger in the moments when she’s not being asked to prove her tech bona fides. Clement is his usual over-the-top self, which suits his character.
As with the first film, if you go into M3GAN 2.0 not expecting anything more than some goofy violent robot action, you’ll walk away satisfied. The unlikely breakout hit for Blumhouse Productions may not be able to support a good story, but it entertains in the way it’s supposed to do.