Music to the ears of H-town Beliebers, pop star Justin Bieber will make a stop in Houston next year as of part of an expansive 58-city concert tour to promote his upcoming fourth LP, according to an announcement on Wednesday.
The news comes ahead of the release of Bieber's latest album, Purpose, due out Friday.
The 21-year-old’s career has suffered in recent years due to a lack of hits —Purpose is Bieber's first album since 2012 excluding Journals, his 2013 compilation — and a surplus of negative press for the teen titan’s bad boy behavior, from egging a neighbor’s house to urinating in public.
On the rise again, the Biebs has had a recent string of hit singles including “Sorry,” “What Do You Mean?” and "Where R Ü Now," a collaboration with electronic dance music masters Diplo and Skrillex. Bieber premiered two new tracks, “The Feeling” and “Love Yourself” this week.
Bieber's North American tour kicks off March 9, 2016 in Seattle and ends July 18, 2016 at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, November 20, 2015 at 10 am on the AEG Live website.
American Express Card Members can purchase tickets before the general public beginning November 16, 2015 at noon through Thursday, November 19, 2015 at 10 pm.
Justin Bieber's Purpose World Tour stretches 50+ markets across the United States and Canada.
Justin Bieber/Facebook
Justin Bieber's Purpose World Tour stretches 50+ markets across the United States and Canada.
While the sport of pickleball was invented way back in the 1960s, it has exploded in popularity in the 2020s. It was only a matter of time before someone figured out a way to make a movie about the craze, and a comedy like the new Apple TV film The Dink provides the best way to honor and make fun of the divisive sport at the same time.
Dusty Boyd (Jake Johnson), aka The Hammer, is a former tennis phenom who’s now working as an instructor at a club owned by his dad, Chuck (Ed Harris). While the two don’t always see eye-to-eye, they have a mutual hatred for pickleball, which they have begrudgingly allowed on the property by giving it the worst court.
Dusty is hoping to stop all future pickleball expansion by winning a one-on-one grudge match, but when he injures his wrist, he’s given a prescription of pickleball as a form of rehab. Older women like Candace (Mary Steenburgen) are the only people he can find to play with, and despite his disdain for the sport, he soon falls prey to its low-key charms.
Directed by Josh Greenbaum (Will & Harper) and written by Sean Clements, the film is probably the best advertisement pickleball will ever have. Dusty’s introduction to the sport serves as a lighthearted tutorial for the uninitiated while still getting in some nice digs at its expense. The other players — Candace, Gail (Cleo King), and Judy (Lynn Marie Stewart) — are equally welcoming and critical of Dusty, who initially has trouble adjusting to the game’s different rules.
The film’s approach to the story is silly but never stupid. Dusty is a blowhard, but he’s also able to admit when he’s wrong, especially when Candace introduces him to multiple things he had never considered before. A long-standing feud between Dusty and Andy Roddick provides more than just a goofy cameo for the real-life tennis star. The film also pushes right to the edge of being over-the-top before pulling back, allowing it to keep a semblance of reality to it.
Clements’ story follows a tried-and-true formula, making the film very predictable but enjoyably so. Where it earns its comedy credentials is in its finer details, like Dusty’s love for his 1999 Buick LeSabre with under 200,000 miles on it, his trunk full of old VHS tapes, or his interactions with his assistant PJ (Aaron Chen), who manages to be the comic relief in an already funny film.
Johnson, probably best known for starring in the sitcom New Girl in the 2010s, has the right amount of smarm and niceness to pull off the role, letting viewers laugh at and root for him at the same time. The film is full of comedy all-stars in small roles like Oswalt, Chris Parnell, and Ben Stiller, but Harris steals everyone’s thunder. The line readings by the four-time Oscar nominee give an extra punch to his character’s jokes, especially one that hints at the sordid history of the tennis club.
It’s a shame that The Dink is only playing on a streaming service as there’s a dearth of good comedies like this in movie theaters. With a solid joke-telling approach, a respect for its subject matter, and a cast who all play off each other well, this is a film that deserves to be seen by more than just those with an Apple TV subscription.
