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This Week's Hot Headlines

Hot new restaurants and mosquito control top 5 most popular stories this week

Lindsey Wilson
Jun 6, 2015 | 12:05 pm

Editor’s note: Another week has come and gone, and there’s a lot we all probably missed. But we’re looking out for you, kid. Here are the most popular stories from this past week:

1. Texas farmer deploys 5 strategies to control mosquitoes after heavy rains. The recent rains have submerged much of the land Marshall Hinsley farms south of Dallas, and the sudden, shallow ponds have become habitats for mosquitoes, who make being outdoors in the evening intolerable. Here is his approach to mitigating their annoyance — without eradication.

2. Where to eat in Dallas right now: 10 new restaurants for on-top-of-it foodies. For this rendition of Where to Eat, the theme is all about new. In a propitious set of circumstances, June 2015 has plenty of contenders. If you live to dine at the newest restaurants around Dallas-Fort Worth, you’ve come to the right list.

3. Dallas city officials shut down streets and gird for possible flooding. Lake Lewisville climbed to its highest point yet late on Saturday, May 30, following another wave of rain that swept through the Dallas area the night before. Water levels at the lake were at a 537.02-foot elevation, a 100-year flood mark. The flooding was the result of rain in the upper basins of the Trinity, which filled the reservoirs upstream of Dallas, exceeding capacity and overflowing area lakes.

4. Highly rated North Dallas neighborhood restaurant forced to close too soon. If you loved the mezze platter and the charming hospitality of Oso Food & Wine, then you were disappointed to learn that the Preston-Forest restaurant closed on May 30. Owner Michael Cox announced the abrupt closing in a note, in which he thanked his family, staff and customers.

5. No more 5-cent fee: City of Dallas repeals current plastic bag law. Plastic bags are now back on the table as the Dallas City Council voted to repeal the 5-cent fee on disposable shopping bags, as well as a vote against banning plastic bags entirely.

Lime cream is on the menu at Uchi Dallas, now open.

Lime cream at Uchi Dallas
Photo by Erica Wilkins
Lime cream is on the menu at Uchi Dallas, now open.
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Movie Review

The Magic Faraway Tree is a whimsical family lark that fails to take root

Alex Bentley
Aug 21, 2026 | 11:44 am
Andrew Garfield, Delilah Bennett-Cardy, Claire Foy, Phoenix Laroche, and Billie Gadson in The Magic Faraway Tree
Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment
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.

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