The Dallas Museum of Art has announced the 27th season of Arts & Letters Live, the museum’s literary and performing arts series, running from January to June 2018. The series will feature 25 events with award-winning and bestselling authors, actors, and musicians.
It's hard to find a non-winner on the list, as it includes appearances by New York Times bestselling authors, Pulitzer Prize winners, a Booker Prize winner, a Peabody Award winner, a Newbery Medal winner, Emmy Award winners and nominees, a Grammy-winning vocal ensemble, and a Tony Award winner.
The season will kick off on January 18 with Daisy Goodwin, the creator, producer, and screenwriter of the acclaimed PBS television series, Victoria.
Among the other big names appearing will be Maria Shriver, David Sedaris, Jane Kaczmarek, Michael Cerveris, Jojo Moyes, and more. Locations will include the DMA, First United Methodist Church of Dallas, Temple Emanu-El, Moody Performance Hall, McFarlin Memorial Auditorium, and First Presbyterian Church. For the full season schedule, go DMA.org/ALL.
In addition to the events themselves, the DMA will present a variety of ancillary events, including a writing workshop with author Bret Anthony Johnston and a poetry workshop with poet Naomi Shihab Nye.
Tickets for all events are on sale now and can be purchased online at DMA.org/tickets or by phone by calling 800-514-3849.
Maria Shriver will talk about her new book, I've Been Thinking..., on March 6.
Photo courtesy of Genesis Women's Shelter
Maria Shriver will talk about her new book, I've Been Thinking..., on March 6.
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.
---
The Magic Faraway Tree is now playing in theaters.
