It's a Celebration

Dallas Untapped Festival to bring Delta Spirit, Blackalicious and craft beer

The craft beer and indie music party Paste Untapped Festival is back in Dallas on September 7, with more than 200 beers from more than 60 breweries and a lineup for all musical tastes. Headliners include Delta Spirit, Freelance Whales, Cults, Blackalicious and Leagues.

That gives us, in order, roots rock, pop rock, indie pop, West Coast hip hop and pop rock. Okay, so maybe there’s some overlap. But still, Blackalicious and Cults.

Common Table and Spune are presenting the event, which began a ticket presale June 11 with four options. The VIP tickets are $55 presale and $62.50 after, but they probably won’t make it past the presale. Those will get you early admittance at 1:30 pm to a VIP event, access to rare tappings, the ability to go in and out of the venue, plus a patio to sit on and access to indoor bathrooms.

There’s an All-In-Brewsive ticket for $99 that gives you everything from the VIP tickets as well as access to the Express Lane at 1:15 pm, plus a side stage and complimentary VIP parking, a collectible glass and poster, and 20 percent off all other merchandise. There aren’t many of them, so it’s only for the presale.

The beer and concert ticket is $30 presale and $35 after and provides access to the concerts beginning at 3 pm, plus 12 two-ounce beer samples and an Untapped tasting cup.

The general admission ticket is $22 presale and $28 later on and gives you access to the concert but no beer, so you shouldn’t buy this ticket because, seriously, no beer.

Dallas Untapped is the second such event of the year. The first was in Fort Worth in late April and had several thousand in attendance. There's no word yet on where it will take place except that it will most likely be somewhere in Uptown.

Delta Spirit headlines the Dallas Untapped Festival on September 7.

Photo courtesy of Qantas

Delta Spirit headlines the Dallas Untapped Festival on September 7.

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Movie Review

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

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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