The Balcones Heights Dave & Busters has added a human crane game as part of its renovation.
Photo courtesy of Dave & Buster's.
To turn heads with its revamped location, the Dave & Buster's at Wonderland of the Americas had to do a lot more than bring more beeps and bloops. When the 440 Crossroads Blvd. entertainment hub celebrates its grand reopening on Friday, March 20, it will have a massive new human claw machine.
The new attraction puts guests inside a classic crane machine. Instead of testing their hand-eye coordination, gamers strap into a harness to become the claw, wiggling to grab prizes like inflatables below.
The space also enhanced its sports-watching experience (go, Spurs, go) with a 40-foot screen, more than 30 oversized HDTVs, and an immersive sound system. New competitive arcade titles include NBA Hoops, Air Hockey, Tundra Toss, and the UFC Challenge, exclusive to Dave & Buster's through January 2027.
Dave & Buster’s also renovated its private event spaces and refreshed its dining and bar program with new steaks, shareables, and cocktails. Regular deals like the Eat & Play Combo and happy hour remained in place.
"San Antonio has always been an incredible home for us, and we can't wait for our guests to step into this reimagined space," said General Manager Chris Armitage in a release. "We've taken the classic Dave & Buster's fun and leveled it up with a sleeker, more vibrant atmosphere and an unbeatable sports-watching setup."
Dave & Buster's at 440 Crossroads Blvd in the Wonderland of the Americas is open Sunday and Monday through Friday from 11am-midnight and Saturday from 10 am-1 am. The first 100 guests in line at 11 am on reopening day will score free unlimited video game play for a year.
The reasons behind the success of 2015’s The Martian, which earned over $630 million worldwide and got nominated for seven Oscars, had as much to do with the novel written by Andy Weir as it did with star Matt Damon and director Ridley Scott. Weir’s commitment to making an entertaining story that was also scientifically accurate proved to be easy to translate into a blockbuster movie.
The same is true for Weir’s 2021 novel, Project Hail Mary, now a film starring Ryan Gosling. Gosling plays Dr. Ryland Grace, who opens the film waking up from an induced coma, alone on an interstellar spaceship named the Hail Mary. As his foggy mind clears, he — and the audience — learn that he was recruited to help an initiative to save the world after it’s discovered that a mysterious phenomenon is causing the sun to cool down, threatening all life on Earth.
The film toggles back and forth between Grace’s time on the ship and his whirlwind journey of scientific discovery on Earth, with revelations coming on both sides. On Earth, he mostly deals with Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller), the unflappable and unstoppable leader of the international coalition dedicated to solving the problem. And in space, orbiting the far-off star known as Tau Ceti, he encounters another being he names Rocky, a five-limbed creature that looks like a boulder which teams up with him to try to save both of their worlds.
Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, and written by Drew Goddard (who also wrote The Martian), the film melds multiple genres into an astonishingly great whole. It starts off as a mystery, morphs into science fiction, transitions into actual science, becomes a thriller, adds in plenty of drama, and — for good measure — features plenty of comedy along the way. Shifting tones like this film does is tricky for many filmmakers, but Lord and Miller prove to be masterful at knowing just how much of each to include before it becomes too much.
One of the biggest keys to the story is the fact that Grace is not a hero in the movie sense of the word. He’s very smart, but he’s also an everyman, teaching middle school science after being shunned from academia. The circumstances of how he ended up on the Hail Mary are doled out in pieces over the course of the film, but it’s clear from the start that Grace’s talents are not the ones found in your typical astronaut. Ironically, it’s him being forced to do heroic stuff that imbues him with an atypical type of bravery.
The relationship between Grace and Rocky is unique, and Rocky ends up being as endearing an alien that’s been featured in movies despite the fact that he has no face and speaks only in musical tones. The film does a very effective job of putting the audience in Grace’s shoes, having to figure out ways to communicate with Rocky at the same time as he’s trying to figure out how to complete a mission he wasn’t trained to do.
Gosling is the ideal actor to portray a man like Grace. Essentially alone for much of the film, his innate charm and humorous delivery keep the film from feeling like an extended monologue. The flashback scenes to his time on Earth feature solid performances from people like Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall), Lionel Boyce (The Bear), and more, who fill in the pieces of the story without feeling out of place.
Project Hail Mary is a crowd-pleaser in all the right ways, delivering plenty of thrilling action and funny moments while also digging deep into science nerd elements. With a movie star like Gosling in the lead and successful filmmakers like Lord, Miller, and Goddard behind the scenes, the film makes an early case for being one of best of the year.
