As promised, American Idol Top 3 finalist Jack Blocker performed a show at the Annette Strauss Square in the Dallas Arts District on May 14, drawing a standing room-only crowd.
With the downtown Dallas skyline as a backdrop, more than 2,000 North Texas fans cheered on the "Blocker Hometown Hero Concert." The performance was being taped in anticipation of the series finale, to air on May 19.
Blocker is the 25-year-old graphic designer from Richardson who has been on the show since February. He has survived eight rounds of eliminations and was selected as a finalist on May 12 where he was awarded the second highest score.
Blocker was originally rejected by judges at the start of the season, but judge Lionel Richie changed his mind, allowing him to move forward.
Blocker attended Trinity Christian Academy in Addison, then the University of Arkansas, and currently resides in Nashville. Portions of Blocker’s Hometown Hero Portions of the concert will air Sunday, May 19 at 7 pm on ABC/WFAA-TV.
Warren Tranquada, President and CEO of the AT&T Performing Arts Center says in a statement that they were elated to get the call to host the event.
“Our mission includes supporting local artists and bringing the best talent in the world to Dallas, and with Jack we got to do both," Tranquada said.
Dallas Arts District
Thousands turn out to see American Idol contestant Jack Blocker.
Photo by Andrea Resmini / courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
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The beauty of movies is that they can often expose a mass audience to stories that would otherwise be forgotten. The tale told in The Penguin Lessons is not that remarkable on the surface, but it holds a deeper meaning to it that the film demonstrates through its relaxed but insightful storytelling.
Set in Argentina just as President Isabel Martínez de Perón is being overthrown in 1976, it centers on Tom Michell (Steve Coogan), who arrives as the new English teacher at St. George’s, a school in Buenos Aires. His initial teaching style is, shall we say, lacking, as he shows little interest in making the boys in his class behave or learning the proper way to coach them in rugby.
When unrest related to the military coup forces the school to go on break, Tom travels to Uruguay for an unplanned vacation. An attempt at picking up a woman there instead leads to a discovery of an oil-covered penguin on a beach, which immediately bonds with him. Essentially forced to bring it back with him, the presence of the penguin at the school changes his teaching and much more.
Directed by Peter Cattaneo and adapted by Jeff Pope from the book by the real-life Michell, the film is a crowd-pleaser with political undertones. The character of Tom is a misanthrope, so it’s easy to predict early on that the penguin will not only thaw his somewhat frozen heart, but also open up his eyes to how he could be living his life in more meaningful ways.
But the inherent politics of the story changes the dynamics of the film. Tom strikes up a friendship with Maria (Vivian El Jaber) and Sofia (Alfonsina Carrocio), a grandmother and granddaughter who are housekeepers at the school, and when Sofia is kidnapped off the street for protesting against the new government, it alters the tone of the film considerably. The lighthearted nature that comes with the presence of the penguin is juxtaposed with much more serious situations, providing an interesting balance to the movie.
Of course, most of the charm of the film comes from how they use the penguin, and that aspect never gets old. There’s just something about seeing the (well-trained) penguin following Tom around, gobbling up fish fed to it by the students and others, or just standing benignly as multiple people pour out their feelings to it that brings a smile to your face. The filmmakers succeed in avoiding sappiness, proving genuinely heartfelt sentimentality instead.
Coogan’s career has featured a number of zany characters, but he plays this role with a good amount of subtlety. Even when Tom softens over time, Coogan keeps him stoic, which works well for both the character and the film. Jonathan Pryce gets a few good scenes as the school’s headmaster, but El Jaber winds up as the heart of the film as the bond between Maria and Tom evolves.
The Penguin Lessons is an easy watch with lots of superficial pleasurable elements. It’s not designed to be an ultra-dramatic story, but when it chooses to go down that road, it’s equally effective in those moments as it is when it just wants to show viewers a cute penguin.
