Dallas-Fort Worth fans of Maroon 5 and Kelly Clarkson have barely stopped buzzing about their respective recent concerts in the area, and now they have another reason to be excited. The two superstar acts have announced that they are teaming up for a co-headlining tour that stops by Gexa Energy Pavilion on September 22.
Okay, technically it's "Maroon 5 with Kelly Clarkson," but as Clarkson is a hometown girl, we reserve the right to afford her a bit more respect. After all, she's carved out her own place in pop culture and has had success equivalent to Adam Levine's in hit songs and album sales.
Neither big-name acts have any plans to release new music prior to their tour, as both are still riding high off their latest projects.
Maroon 5 struck gold with the album Overexposed, which has spawned three hit singles. Clarkson recently released her first greatest hits album, which included three new songs, including "Catch My Breath."
Tickets for the upcoming tour go on sale to the general public on April 6, but you can go online to get early access to tickets starting April 2. PJ Morton, who helped Maroon 5 craft their latest album, serves as opening act.
Kelly Clarkson co-headlines the September 22 show at Gexa Energy Pavilion.
Kellyclarkson.com
Kelly Clarkson co-headlines the September 22 show at Gexa Energy Pavilion.
The opening scenes of the new drama Dreams are bracing, fictional sequences that call to mind real-life scenarios. In them, a young Mexican man named Fernando (Isaac Hernández) goes through a somewhat harrowing journey from the back of a semi truck in South Texas all the way to San Francisco. It’s a familiar immigrant story that seems to set the stage for a film with something interesting to say.
It turns out, however, that Fernando has not made the long and arduous trek for a job. Instead, it’s to be with Jennifer McCarthy (Jessica Chastain), a rich woman who helps lead a foundation dedicated to multiple things, including funding dance academies. Fernando, a talented dancer, and Jennifer have been in an off-and-on affair for years, with Jennifer wanting to keep their relationship a secret.
Although both are drawn to each other in an inexplicable, lustful way, their bond is tenuous, with each of them dissatisfied for different reasons. Fernando clearly sacrifices much more of himself than Jennifer, who wants for nothing except maybe more affection from her father, Michael (Marshall Bell), and brother, Jake (Rupert Friend).
Writer/director Michel Franco seems to try to inject tension into Fernando and Jennifer’s relationship from the start, an attempt that is only halfway successful. It’s clear from the way they greet each other - not to mention a steamy sex scene shortly thereafter - that they have known each other for a good length of time. Franco is able to get across this familiarity with an economy of scenes, and the intensity of their bond holds for a while.
But as the film progresses and both of them grow disenchanted with their arrangement, Franco starts taking the story in some odd directions. The biggest issue is that it’s never clear at what point in time the story is taking place. Fernando ends up making multiple trips back and forth across the border, with Jennifer doing the same at one point, and Franco’s use of flashbacks muddies the waters, wrong-footing the audience when he should be trying to draw them further into Fernando and Jennifer’s complications.
Revelations in the final act make the story even more confusing, as both main characters start saying and doing harsh things that seem to come out of nowhere. That would be all well and good if Franco actually committed to their changes of heart, but he keeps things wishy-washy for most of the final 15 minutes, resulting in an ending that makes little sense for either character.
Despite the story issues, both Chastain and Hernández give compelling performances. Chastain has been a little under the radar since winning an Oscar for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, but she keeps this character interesting longer than it should have been. Hernández has limited credits and appears to have been cast for his dancing ability, but he goes toe-to-toe with Chastain on more than one occasion and acquits himself well.
Dreams had all of the ideas to explore a more in-depth story about the complicated immigration policies between Mexico and the U.S., or how wealthy people take advantage of those less fortunate. But Franco never finds the right footing, settling instead for a titillating and somewhat mystifying relationship story that feels half-baked.
