Weekend Event Planner

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

This upcoming weekend is full of events that will kick off the celebratory holiday season, as well as take advantage of the cooler weather we are finally experiencing.

The Houston Cinema Arts Festival, The Cellar Classic, and and the GR8 Taco Challenge are just a few of the events highlighted in this round-up. Our CultureMap Events Calendar has a full list of other events that you can sift through when planning out your weekend.

Thursday, November 10

Houston Ballet Nutcracker Market

"The 12 Days of Christmas" is the theme for the 2016 Houston Ballet Nutcracker Market. This yearly market, which continues through Sunday, plays hosts to over 280 vendors from across the country selling unique goods, gifts, food, jewelry, home decor and more. This year will see new vendors at the ,arket, but loyal visitors can expect to see mainstays like Toffee To Go and decorations from Clutter Yule Love.

Houston Cinema Arts Festival

Honky Tonk Heaven: Legend of the Broken Spoke is the opening night film for the 2016 Houston Cinema Arts Festival with a live performance by Dale Watson following the screening. This eight-day festival features a wide array of films and other events at various locations like The Menil Collection, The Museum of Fine Arts, the Asia Society Texas Center, and the Museum of Natural Science.

Friday, November 11

Children's Museum of Houston presents Mission After Dark

Kids take on their R.I.V.A.L. as agents on a special task force, S.E.C.R.E.T., at the Children's Museum. The covert mission gives these undercover agents the opportunity to collect intel, shoot down security bots, track down and block subsonic emitters, and so much more as well as offering a entertaining, learning experience.

Saturday, November 12

AIA Houston Heights Bicycle Tour

This bicycle tour will explore the Houston Heights from a point of view that many may not have stopped to experience yet. The Heights is home to 120 of the 215 National Register of Historic Places that can be found in Houston and is the first mixed-use community in Texas. Historic and contemporary architecture and how it fits into the fabric of the Heights will also be explored on the tour.

Hermann Park Conservancy: Run in the Park

Run in the Park at Hermann Park starts at the Molly Ann Smith Plaza and circles the park on the Marvin Taylor Trail. This annual run is for the entire family, with a 5k walk/run and a 1k kids fun run. After you've finished the race, while being cheered on by family and friends, join in the post fun party with music, food, and drinks.

2016 Genesys Works Houston Cellar Classic

The 2016 Houston Cellar Classis features samples from over 100 of the finest wines from around the world and food provided by some of Houston's most popular restaurants. While you wine and dine, keep in mind that 100 percent of the net proceeds will benefit Genesys Works Houston, a non-profit that offers skills training and internships to disadvantaged high school students. CultureMap food editor Eric Sandler is one the judges to decide the Media Favorite and there will be a People's Choice, too. To keep the evening rolling, The Revelators will provide live entertainment.

The Galleria Tree Lighting and Ice Spectacular

No holiday season in Houston is complete without the lighting of the 55-foot tall Christmas tree at The Galleria ice rink. Houston-raised Mary Sarah, finalist from Season 10 of The Voice, will perform for guests as they watch the tree illuminated with over 450,000 lights. A skating Santa, fireworks, face painting, and other in-store retailer activities will also entertain shoppers.

Sunday, November 13

EaDo Vintage Fest

Selected local vendors will be featured for a day of vintage fashions at the EaDo Vintage Fest. Vistiors will find everything, ranging from '50s to '90s vintage streetwear, as well as music, food, and beer.

GR8 Taco Challenge

Some of the city's top restaurants, including State Fare, Americas, and Bernie's Burger Bus, will battle it out to produce the best "taco" in H-Town using 8th Wonder beer as an ingredient. Tickets include 4 beer tokens, a souvenir pint glass, 1 taco sample from each challenger, and access to a premium Michelada bar (what goes better with tacos than a great Mexican beverage of beer, lime juice, and assorted sauces, spices, and peppers?). A portion of the proceeds will benefit Kids Meals, Inc.

Have fun this weekend at this events around town! And let us know about your experiences.

The holidays are just around the corner with the Galleria Christmas tree lighting.

Photo by Gary Fountain

The holidays are just around the corner with the Galleria Christmas tree lighting.

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Movie Review

Dark satire Digger could bring an Oscar nomination for star Tom Cruise

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Tom Cruise in Digger.

For most of the 21st century, and especially the last 15 years, Tom Cruise has been a “movie star” rather than an “actor.” That’s not to say he’s a bad actor, but rather that his focus has been on making blockbuster movies where his unique ability to go all-in on action supersedes any need for introspection. Now perhaps past his action movie days, he’s giving full-on acting another try in Digger.

Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an eccentric oil baron whose current project is drilling for oil in Greenland. Turns out that’s a bad idea in multiple ways, most significantly when an explosion at the site manages to calve an ice shelf five times the size of Boston. That humongous piece of ice then starts on an inevitable collision course with mainland Europe, where it is predicted that there will be hundreds of thousands of deaths and uncountable property damage from the ensuing tsunami.

That sounds bleak, and it is, but the film plays the scenario for laughs thanks to over-the-top characters like Digger, his sister Emma (Sandra Hüller), U.S. President Compson (John Goodman), and the unnamed Vice President (Michael Stuhlbarg). As those people and others try to spin the disaster of epic proportions, others like the scientist Ganesh (Riz Ahmed) try to get the leaders to see reason or to take responsibility for their actions.

Written and directed by Alejandro Iñárritu and co-written by three others, the film has more than a few surprises in store, including one big one that will go unspoiled here. Suffice it to say that for anyone who might be put off by how Cruise (who seems to be channeling his Les Grossman character from Tropic Thunder) and others are acting in the trailers for the film may change their minds about the performances after actually having seen the complete product.

What can be said is that the film is a wild, wacky, and occasionally disorienting experience that also doubles as a cogent critique of the governments and corporations responsible for climate change and unchecked capitalism. Digger is a motormouth who often cuts off people with relevant information to impart, having already determined that he knows all he needs to know about a certain topic. He’s stuck in his ways in many respects, including trying to keep alive a 20-year-old cat that clearly wants to die.

Once the full scope of the story is revealed, it becomes easier to understand what Iñárritu and Cruise are trying to accomplish with the film. It has some similarities to Stanley Kubrick’s dark satire Dr. Strangelove, but it also tries to stay grounded in certain ways. The push-and-pull between those who only seem to be out for themselves and those who want to get to the truth of the matter is played out on different fronts throughout the film. Not all of it lands, but enough does to not make the film seem completely unhinged.

Cruise has been nominated for three Oscars, and it’s clear he’s aiming for a fourth nod with this performance. He does his best to sell every quirk and aspect of the character, epitomized by a gonzo speech that utilizes every mental and physical skill he can muster. The supporting actors are hit-and-miss, but Ahmed comes off the best as a person serving as Digger’s moral conscience. He’s an antidote to Cruise’s mania, but then turns it up to 11 when needed.

Not everything is as it seems in Digger, and the out-there approach by Iñárritu and his team falls into the love-it-or-hate-it dichotomy that applies to many of his films. The very fact that everyone involved was willing to dedicate their whole selves to such an off-the-wall concept makes it deserving of attention, even if not everything is a success.

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Digger opens in theaters on October 2.

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Movie Review

Dark satire Digger could bring an Oscar nomination for star Tom Cruise