weekend event planner

Here are the top 9 things to do in Houston this weekend

Houston Family Arts Center's Third Annual Golf Tournament

Work on your swing and potentially win some serious swag.

Courtesy photo

Spring is here, which means the days will be sunnier (read: longer). So if you’re looking for something fun to do with your weekend days — and nights — we have you covered, with some great of indoor and outdoor activities.

Thursday, March 22

Jonathan’s The Rub celebrates its 10th anniversary
Jonathan’s The Rub will be taking a trip down memory lane. The restaurant is hosting a 10th-anniversary dinner where guests can dig into a throwback feast filled with original, past-menu faves. The dinner starts at 5:30 pm. Jonathan’s The Rub has also launched a five-week, fundraising effort benefiting the Houston Area Women’s Center through April, which is Sexual Abuse Awareness Month.

Houston Latino Film Festival at Talento Bilingue de Houston

Mexican filmmakers Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Guillermo del Toro have been snatching up Oscars left and right for their movies. (Earlier this month, del Toro won a bunch of Oscars, including Best Director and Best Picture for The Shape of Water.) So, if you’re looking for more cinematic work from promising Latino filmmakers, the Houston Latino Film Festival starts up its third-annual festivities this weekend. From Thursday to Sunday, features, shorts and documentaries will be shown by filmmakers from the U.S., Latin America, Spain, and Portugal.

Friday, March 23

Take a weekend art walk at Bayou City Art Festival
It’s spring, which means the Art Colony Association will be throwing its annual Bayou City Art Festival in Memorial Park. (The Association also has a Bayou City Art Festival during the fall, held downtown.) For 47 years now, the three-day fest has been about showcasing fine art from all over the globe. And, for this year, there will 300 artists whose works you’ll be able to view and even purchase. It starts Friday at 10 am, and runs through Sunday.

Doomsday Wrestling LIVE at Market Square Park
If the downright-ludicrous antics that happen on WWE’s Monday Night Raw and Smackdown Live shows don’t tickle you on a weekly basis (especially whenever wrestler-turned-movie star John Cena pops up and does his usual, smart-ass shtick), the comic wrestlers of Doomsday Wrestling LIVE are here to pile-drive some laughs out of you. This local crew of over-the-top bruisers have been making people of all ages get their chuckle on with their “comedy wrestling” since 2003, and they will be doing it with a free show at Market Square Park Friday, starting at 7 pm.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid at Landmark River Oaks
Has there ever been a more suave-ass pair of gunslingers than Paul Newman and Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? In 1969, the iconic, matinee idols teamed up with director George Roy Hill (who would direct them again several years later in The Sting) and screenwriter William Goldman (who won a Best Screenplay Oscar for his script) and created a funny, exciting, all-around classic Western based on the rise and fall of two real-life outlaws. It’ll be playing at midnight on Friday and Saturday at Landmark River Oaks.

Saturday, March 24

Get swinging at Precision Golf Academy
Precision Golf Academy is a brand-new spot offering up state-of-the-art technology for those who want their golf game to be super-tight. Saturday, the Academy will have its grand opening where there will be tasty bites and adult beverages, and everyone who attends will receive special, Early Bird Lesson rates. There will also be raffle prizes given out later that day, including a Tag Heuer Connected Modular smartwatch, valued at $2300. So, to paraphrase Bill Murray in Caddyshack, it’s got that going for them — which is nice. The opening starts at 1 pm. For more info, go here.

A Super Comedy Tour hits Stafford
Don’t let it be said that Muslims can’t be hilarious. From Aziz Ansari to Kumail Nanjiani (who was recently nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for his semi-autobiographical comedy The Big Sick) to The Daily Show’s Hasan Minhaj, Muslim comics are out here getting laughs and making moves. Perfect timing for this tour that gives you a heavy collection of Muslim comedians: The Super Muslim Comedy Tour. Among the comics performing: Aman Ali, Feraz Ozel, Travina Springer and Moses the Comic. It starts at 6 at Sugarland Ballroom.
For more info, go here.

The Lawn at Memorial City's big lawn party
The Lawn at Memorial City is a new, 7,000-square-foot greenspace that’ll be used to host a variety of events and festivals, along with being an open space where you can play lawn games like cornholing. Saturday, there will be a grand opening showcase, featuring music from The Voice finalist Stephanie Rice, local surf-rock band Phantom Royals and funky Houston outfit SoulDig!, which includes members from La Mafia. There will also be Art Cars on display from The Orange Show, face painting, street performers, food stations, and – maybe – cornholing. It starts at noon.

Sunday, March 25

Kite Festival at Hermann Park
You know what you don’t see a lot in the skies these days? Kites. Surely there was a point in your childhood where you went to the park, climbed up a hill in order to send your kite in the air, and navigate it while you ran all the way down. If you'd like to relive that moment again before you die, check out the fifth-annual, Hermann Park Conservancy Kite Festival. Kites will be soaring over Miller Hill and around the Jones Reflecting Pool. There will also be kite making, face painting, food trucks, and more. This event is free, and starts at 10 am.

Take a stroll and peruse art from more than 300 artists.

Courtesy photo

Take a stroll and peruse art from more than 300 artists.

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Movie Review

Houston native Wes Anderson shows off comedic side in The Phoenician Scheme

Photo courtesy of TPS Productions/Focus Features

Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton, and Michael Cera in The Phoenician Scheme.

If you were to do a poll of the best comedy filmmakers of the 21st century, writer/director Wes Anderson is not the obvious choice to come out on top, but there’s an argument to be made for him. His quirky style doesn’t yield the guffaws that more broad comedies do, but the absurd situations he creates in his films are often more consistently funny than anything else.

Anderson’s inimitable approach is once again on full display in The Phoenician Scheme. At its center is Zsa-Zsa Gorda (Benicio Del Toro), a much-hated businessman who’s looking to complete a number of big projects in the fictional country of Phoenicia. As he seems to be the target of multiple assassination attempts, he appoints his daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton), as his heir to try to ensure his legacy.

Both she and his new assistant, Bjorn (Michael Cera), accompany him around the country as he tries to enact a scheme to have others cover the bulk of the cost for the various projects. Those he attempts to convince include Phoenician Prince Farouk (Riz Ahmed), brothers Leland (Tom Hanks) and Reagan (Bryan Cranston), fellow businessman Marseille Bob (Mathieu Amalric), ship captain Marty (Jeffrey Wright), his Cousin Hilda (Scarlett Johansson), and Uncle Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch).

Put in Andersonian terms, the film is a mix between the madcap antics from The Grand Budapest Hotel and the impenetrable storytelling of Asteroid City. If you were to try to understand every detail of what’s going on in the story of The Phoenician Scheme, it might take three or more viewings to do so. But the film is still highly entertaining because Anderson fills its frames with his typical visual delights, great wordplay, and his particular version of slapstick.

Much of the comedy of the film derives from Anderson inserting moments that initially come as a surprise and then utilizing them as running jokes. The film features more blood than usual for the filmmaker, but each time a character gets wounded (or worse), it gets funnier. The assassination attempts get broader as the film goes along, and the matter-of-fact way in which they’re treated by Gorda and others is also hilarious.

Of course, Anderson is the cinephile’s comedy director, so the film is also full of high-brow things like allusions to paintings, tributes to other filmmakers, and classical music. Each time Gorda has an attempt on his life, he briefly finds himself in a version of limbo, depicted in black-and-white by Anderson. The cast of characters Gorda finds there - including Bill Murray as God - could come straight out of a 1950s Ingmar Bergman movie.

Del Toro has delivered some great performances over the years, but this one is near the top for him. This is his second Anderson film (following The French Dispatch) and he nails the deadpan method. Also great is Cera, who uses a ridiculous accent to make a big impression. Threapleton, the daughter of Kate Winslet, makes the most of her first big film role. The list of supporting actors is too deep to properly laud everyone, but they all fit in seamlessly.

Opinions will differ, but for this critic’s money, Anderson is at his best when he fully leans into the comedy of his films. He does just that in The Phoenician Scheme, to the point that it doesn’t matter that the story is overly complex. The combination of his eye for visual detail, a witty script, and committed performances make it a success.

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The Phoenician Scheme is now playing in theaters.

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