UPDATE: Due to overwhelming demand, Live Nation and the Frank Erwin Center have announced that Paul McCartney will play a second date in Austin on May 23. Tickets for the second show went on sale as of 10 am on April 12.
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This time around, Austin won the bidding war to bring Sir Paul McCartney to Texas, sandwiched between tour dates in Brazil and Poland.
The "Out There" tour is bound to be as longwinded and successful as the last, "On the Run," which featured a stop in Houston and upwards of 40 tracks on the set list.
Though he's been a solo artist for 41 years, no one buys a Paul McCartney ticket wishing not to hear "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" or "Yesterday" — and the man pleases his fans with solo, Wings and The Beatles material.
The May 22 tour date will mark McCartney's first performance in Austin, and the capital city is sure to beg him to stick around and stay awhile after the show at the Frank Erwin Center.
Tickets go on sale April 12 at 10 a.m. at Livenation.com and TexasBoxOffice.com, but if you're an American Express cardholder, you can purchase tickets before the general public from April 9 at 10 a.m. through April 11 at 10 p.m.
Reason enough to open another credit card? No word on ticket price just yet, but it's bound to be hefty. That credit limit may come in handy.
Paul McCartney played Minute Maid Park in Houston in 2012.
Andrew Garfield, Delilah Bennett-Cardy, Claire Foy, Phoenix Laroche, and Billie Gadson in The Magic Faraway Tree.
With kids and families always on the hunt for entertainment, it’s typically a safe bet for a movie studio to offer up something new, even if it is a film based on an old property. The Magic Faraway Tree, based on a series of books that started in the 1930s, is a very old property, one that its filmmakers have tried to liven up with a few stars, a lot of whimsy, and a boatload of CGI.
The Thompson family, led by stay-at-home dad Tim (Andrew Garfield) and breadwinner mom Polly (Claire Foy), are forced to move to a rundown country home when Polly gets laid off. The kids - Joe (Phoenix Laroche), Fran (Billie Gadson), and Beth (Delilah Bennett-Cardy) - are used to the perks of city life like wifi and electricity, and each of them rebels in their own way to their new lot in life.
Fran, enticed by a fairy named Silky (Nicola Coughlan), is the first to venture out of the house, making her way to a magic tree that transports her to a world full of strange characters like Moonface (Nonso Anozie), Saucepan Man (Dustin Demri-Burns), Dame Washalot (Jessica Gunning), and more. Her adventures there not only broaden the world she thought she knew, but may be the key to helping her ailing family.
Directed by Ben Gregor and written by Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2, Wonka), the film is a pleasant enough lark, but it fails to fully capture the imagination. The five-member family has a lot going on, from an initially-mute Fran to a domestic situation that raises more questions than it answers. The film tries to incorporate an anti-technology message through Tim’s hatred of a smart refrigerator (voiced by Judi Dench!) and the kids' addictions to devices, but it’s quickly shed in favor of other options.
Once Fran makes it to the Magic Faraway Tree, there’s a nice shift in the storytelling, but it’s unclear what the ultimate goal is. It’s a good idea to have Fran, the youngest of the children, convince her older, more cynical siblings about the virtues of the magic world, but the conflict in the real world doesn’t seem to rise to the level needed for the escape the tree provides.
There also seems to be a missing link in the storytelling for viewers to understand the importance of the fantastical characters. The visuals of seeing Moonface and his crescent moon-shaped hair, a man with a suit full of banging pots, and more are fun for a while, but not enough to carry the whole film. A last-minute revelation feels like it was something that should have been disclosed much earlier to help strengthen the emotions of the story.
A two-time Oscar nominee, Garfield is making his first foray into family movies (if you don’t count playing Spider-Man), and while he does a good job, he doesn’t make the best fit for the semi-goofy role. The same goes for the Emmy-winning Foy, who isn’t given much of anything to do. The movie puts the story on the shoulders of the three child actors, and while each of them acquit themselves well, none of them are so outstanding as to be noteworthy.
With nearly 90-year-old source material, The Magic Faraway Tree needed to be something truly special to stand out in the 21st century movie world. Unfortunately, it features a mostly forgettable story that features some fun visuals, a couple of cute kids, and not much else.
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The Magic Faraway Tree is now playing in theaters.
