the future is now

Usher heads to Houston on big Past Present Future tour

Usher will perform at Toyota Center on Wednesday, November 27.

Photo by Bellamy Brewster

Fresh off his big Super Bowl LVIII halftime show appearance, R&B superstar Usher will capitalize on that massive exposure on his Past Present Future tour that now includes a stop at Toyota Center on Wednesday, November 27.

His 51-date Past Present Future tour will kick off in Atlanta on August 16. In addition to Dallas, Usher will also perform in Austin on October 7 and 8. Usher just added a third show in Dallas along with the Houston date. He will now play a third show at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Thursday, October 3, to go along with the two previously announced shows on Friday, October 4, and Saturday, October 5.

The tour is in support of his new album, Coming Home, his ninth overall and his first since 2016. He'll also be celebrating the 30th anniversary of his 1994 self-titled debut album.

Usher, who previously made a cameo during the halftime show at Super Bowl XLV in 2011, says he will "honor black artists of the past" at his headlining gig. There's no official word on what other singers may join him, but guesses include Lil Jon, Ludacris, Justin Bieber, and BTS.

The tour announcement comes on the heels of the end of Usher's two-year My Way: The Las Vegas Residency run, which saw him play 100 shows at Dolby Live at Park MGM.

Tickets will be available starting with Citi and Verizon presales beginning on Wednesday, February 7. Additional presales will run throughout the week ahead of the general on-sale beginning on Monday, February 12 at 10 am at LiveNation.com.

USHER: PAST PRESENT FUTURE NORTH AMERICA 2024 TOUR DATES:

Fri Aug 16 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena ADDED DATE

Sat Aug 17 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena ADDED DATE

Tue Aug 20 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena

Wed Aug 21 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena

Fri Aug 23 – Baltimore, MD – CFG Bank Arena

Sat Aug 24 – Baltimore, MD – CFG Bank Arena

Tue Aug 27 – Boston, MA – TD Garden

Wed Aug 28 – Boston, MA – TD Garden

Fri Aug 30 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center

Sat Aug 31 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center

Mon Sep 02 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena

Tue Sep 03 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena

Fri Sep 06 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center

Sat Sep 07 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center

Mon Sep 09 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center

Tue Sep 10 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center

Thu Sep 12 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena

Fri Sep 13 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena

Tue Sep 17 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena

Wed Sep 18 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena

Sat Sep 21 – Los Angeles, CA – Intuit Dome

Sun Sep 22 – Los Angeles, CA – Intuit Dome

Tue Sep 24 – Los Angeles, CA – Intuit Dome

Wed Sep 25 – Los Angeles, CA – Intuit Dome

Sat Sep 28 – Oakland, CA – Oakland Arena

Sun Sep 29 – Oakland, CA – Oakland Arena

Thu Oct 03 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center ADDED DATE

Fri Oct 04 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center

Sat Oct 05 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center

Mon Oct 07 – Austin, TX – Moody Center ATX

Tue Oct 08 – Austin, TX – Moody Center ATX

Fri Oct 11 – Miami, FL – Kaseya Center

Sat Oct 12 – Miami, FL – Kaseya Center

Mon Oct 14 – Miami, FL – Kaseya Center

Thu Oct 17 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena

Fri Oct 18 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena

Sun Oct 20 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena

Tue Oct 22 – Charlotte, NC – Spectrum Center

Wed Oct 23 – Charlotte, NC – Spectrum Center

Fri Oct 25 – St Louis, MO – Enterprise Center

Sat Oct 26 – St Louis, MO – Enterprise Center

Mon Oct 28 – Chicago, IL – United Center

Tue Oct 29 – Chicago, IL – United Center

Thu Oct 31 – Chicago, IL – United Center

Sat Nov 02 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Center ADDED DATE

Thu Nov 07 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena ADDED DATE

Sun Nov 10 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena ADDED DATE

Fri Nov 15 – Las Vegas, NV – T-Mobile Arena ADDED DATE

Mon Nov 18 – Anaheim, CA – Honda Center ADDED DATE

Sat Nov 23 – Phoenix, AZ – Footprint Center ADDED DATE

Wed Nov 27 – Houston – Toyota Center ADDED DATE

concerts music

Movie Review

Meta-comedy remake Anaconda coils itself into an unfunny mess

Photo by Matt Grace

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda.

In Hollywood’s never-ending quest to take advantage of existing intellectual property, seemingly no older movie is off limits, even if the original was not well-regarded. That’s certainly the case with 1997’s Anaconda, which is best known for being a lesser entry on the filmography of Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez, as well as some horrendous accent work by Jon Voight.

The idea behind the new meta-sequel Anaconda is arguably a good one. Four friends — Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) — who made homemade movies when they were teenagers decide to remake Anaconda on a shoestring budget. Egged on by Griff, an actor who can’t catch a break, the four of them pull together enough money to fly down to Brazil, hire a boat, and film a script written by Doug.

Naturally, almost nothing goes as planned in the Amazon, including losing their trained snake and running headlong into a criminal enterprise. Soon enough, everything else takes second place to the presence of a giant anaconda that is stalking them and anyone else who crosses its path.

Written and directed by Tom Gormican, with help from co-writer Kevin Etten, the film is designed to be an outrageous comedy peppered with laugh-out-loud moments that cover up the fact that there’s really no story. That would be all well and good … if anything the film had to offer was truly funny. Only a few scenes elicit any honest laughter, and so instead the audience is fed half-baked jokes, a story with no focus, and actors who ham it up to get any kind of reaction.

The biggest problem is that the meta-ness of the film goes too far. None of the core four characters possess any interesting traits, and their blandness is transferred over to the actors playing them. And so even as they face some harrowing situations or ones that could be funny, it’s difficult to care about anything they do since the filmmakers never make the basic effort of making the audience care about them.

It’s weird to say in a movie called Anaconda, but it becomes much too focused on the snake in the second half of the film. If the goal is to be a straight-up comedy, then everything up to and including the snake attacks should be serving that objective. But most of the time the attacks are either random or moments when the characters are already scared, and so any humor that could be mined all but disappears.

Black and Rudd are comedy all-stars who can typically be counted on to elevate even subpar material. That’s not the case here, as each only scores on a few occasions, with Black’s physicality being the funniest thing in the movie. Newton is not a good fit with this type of movie, and she isn’t done any favors by some seriously bad wigs. Zahn used to be the go-to guy for funny sidekicks, but he brings little to the table in this role.

Any attempt at rebooting/remaking an old piece of IP should make a concerted effort to differentiate itself from the original, and in that way, the new Anaconda succeeds. Unfortunately, that’s its only success, as the filmmakers can never find the right balance to turn it into the bawdy comedy they seemed to want.

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Anaconda is now playing in theaters.

movies film