Hottest headlines of 2023

Hipster '80s roller rink skates into Dallas' most-read entertainment stories of 2023

New roller skating rink Ride On with '80s colors.

Courtesy rendering

Editor's note: Our most-read entertainment stories of 2023 spanned several "eras," from news of a hipster '80s roller rink, to a futuristic glow-in-the-dark playground, to - yep - Taylor Swift's own "Eras Tour" shows in Arlington. Readers also devoured roundups of spectacular Christmas lights, State Fair discounts, top spring festivals, and more.

Here were the 10 most popular entertainment stories of the year.

1. Hipster '80s-style roller skating rink to wheel into Dallas Design District. In March came the news that roller skating would be wheeling in to Dallas' Design District via Ride On, a new adult-oriented rink planned at 170 Pittsburg St., at the corner of Riverfront Boulevard.

2. Texas' first glow-in-the-dark playground to light up in Farmers Branch. Fair warning to parents: A new Dallas-area playground will have kids wanting to stay up past their bedtimes. Joya at Oran Good Park in Farmers Branch, set to open January 20, 2024, will be the first glow-in-the-dark playground in DFW and all of Texas.

joya glow in the dark neon Joya glow in the dark park in Farmers Branch. Courtesy rendering

3. 'Yellowstone' stars to greet fans at Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. Yellowstone fans got their comfy shoes ready for long lines when it was announced that Cole Hauser, a.k.a. "Rip Wheeler," and Taylor Sheridan, the show's co-creator, would meet fans and sign autographs at the 2023 Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo on February 3.

4. Where to see the most spectacular Christmas lights in Dallas-Fort Worth for 2023. Dallas-Fort Worth started decking the halls before Halloween, and when places around town started flipping the switch, we rounded up the area's most dazzling Christmas light displays. Among the most popular? A sensational new drive-thru Light Park that would electrify Frisco for the 2023 holidays.

The Light Park Frisco The new Light Park in Frisco will be on through January 1. Photo courtesy of The Light Park

5. How to get every possible discount at the 2023 State Fair of Texas. The 2023 State Fair of Texas started its 24-day run at Fair Park on September 29, bringing with it music, games, food, and more. There were a multitude of discount ticket options offered by the State Fair and other groups, meaning there was no reason to pay full price.

6. Check out these 28 festivals hitting Dallas-Fort Worth in spring 2023. There are a lot of things that spring brings to Dallas-Fort Worth, and at that top of that list are festivals. In early April, we rounded up dozens of can't-miss 2023 festivals, from film to nature to food to music to the environment.

Wildflower-Festival-4 Wildflower! in Richardson is always a can't-miss event. Photo courtesy of Wildflower! Festival

7. Controversial comedian Dave Chappelle plots out 4 Texas arena shows, including Dallas. Comedian/actor Dave Chappelle announced he would bring his "Dave Chappelle Live" stand-up comedy show to arenas in four cities in Texas, including American Airlines Center in Dallas, on June 29. He then added a show at Fort Worth Dickies Arena on the following night.

8. Busy Dallas hard rock music venue Amplified Live to close this week. A Dallas live music venue was shutting down: Amplified Live, which has been one of the city's most popular venues for live rock music shows for the past decade, said it would close its doors at the end of March, with the final show on March 31, featuring Exciter and Night Cobra.

Gas Monkey Amplified Live Amplified Live unplugged for good. Courtesy photo

9. Country's largest hot springs pool complex coming to Grandscape in The Colony. The newest attraction headed to Grandscape in The Colony is a wellness spa-amusement park: WorldSprings, a nine-acre outdoor mineral springs experience, will debut in spring 2024. Announced in September, it will be WorldSprings' first location in Texas and the largest experience of its kind in the country.

10. Taylor Swift wows crowd at first of three sold-out nights in Arlington. On March 31, pop megastar Taylor Swift brought the first of three sold out nights to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, delivering a three-hour show that spanned highlights of her illustrious career. The "Eras Tour" was part of a U.S. tour that began in March and serves as a career retrospective, featuring tracks pulled from key albums including Lover, Fearless, and Evermore.

Taylor Swift on the "Eras Tour." Photo by John Medina/Getty Images

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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