RodeoHouston

RodeoHouston reveals genres for highly anticipated 2019 concert calendar

Let the speculation commence.

RodeoHouston gave fans a sneak-peek at concert calendar lineup today, announcing which genres will be featured throughout the 2019 season, which runs from Monday, February 25 through Sunday, March 17. It already has been announced that country legend George Strait will close out RodeoHouston on the final day. Now we have an idea of what to expect on the other days. The full lineup will be announced on January 3, 2019.

As always, country music will be front on center, on tap for 13 of the 20 nights, including opening night. Organizers have always attracted the biggest, best, and buzziest upcoming country acts to the Stars Over Texas stage, so expect a massive roster with some major home runs as well as a few up-and-comers once the final line-up is announced.

Most interestingly, the rave will return to NRG Stadium when EDM will get a chance to wave its glowsticks on Friday, March 8. This is a smart choice following the success of The Chainsmokers two years ago and a Friday night makes it an attractive family draw. CultureMap predicts Martin Garrix, Diplo, or Marshmello in this slot, but this one is a toss up and hardest to speculate on.

After last year's controversial decision to give the lone hip-hop slot to Leon Bridges, who is definitely not hip-hop (but still great), will organizers give an actual hip-hop performer a shot on Friday, March 1 or will it be an R&B act that lives in that music sphere? There are a multitude of acts that could fill this role, clean enough to live up to the rodeo's standards, from The Weeknd, Migos, Post Malone, or DJ Khaled. Hint-hint to the powers-that-be: Rhianna has a huge catalog of hits, the cred, and would bring in fans in droves.

Other nights include Spanish pop on Tuesday, February 26; pop-rock on Sunday, March 3 (almost always a family-friendly, Top 40 artist); pop on Tuesday, March 5 (think a young performer making waves); norteño on Sunday, March 10; rock on Tuesday, March 12 (Maroon 5 or Imagine Dragons would make sense and both don't have shows booked on these dates); and classic rock on Wednesday, March 13 (Def Leppard? Bon Jovi? Journey?).

Visit the RodeoHouston website for a full rundown of the genre calendar.

CultureMap's predictions for country performers at RodeoHouston 2019 include the following:

Carrie Underwood
We would be shocked if Underwood didn't appear on the Stars Over Texas stage this year. The massive star just released her latest album, Cry Pretty, and back to performing live after a horrific accident. She'd make a great RodeoHouston 2019 opener.

Kasey Musgraves
She's been everywhere with her album Golden Hour, including Saturday Night Live, and is a contender for the biggest music awards this year.

Eric Church
His album, Desperate Man, is a 2018 critical and commercial smash and he's been headlining festivals. He has big gaps in his early-2019 tour schedule and no Texas dates currently booked. He also played RodeoHouston in 2015. Call this prediction a shoo-in.

Sam Hunt
He's about to release new album and opened for Luke Bryan this summer.

A miscellaneous country legend
RodeoHouston always books one or two favorites to perform. Take your pick of Wille Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Travis Tritt, Vince Gill, or Reba McIntire to run through their hits.

Return performers
Repeat performances are not uncommon. Acts that played last year that would be welcomed back include Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, and Chris Stapleton.

Dolly Parton
Okay, this is a long shot, but she would be a much-talked-about, instant sell-out and would attract a wide range of music fans. Make this happen RodeoHouston.

Of course, guessing who will play is part of the fun.

Country legend George Strait will close RodeoHouston 2019 on Sunday, March 17,

Photo by Michelle Watson/CultureMapSnap

Country legend George Strait will close RodeoHouston 2019 on Sunday, March 17,

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Movie Review

Meta-comedy remake Anaconda coils itself into an unfunny mess

Photo by Matt Grace

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda.

In Hollywood’s never-ending quest to take advantage of existing intellectual property, seemingly no older movie is off limits, even if the original was not well-regarded. That’s certainly the case with 1997’s Anaconda, which is best known for being a lesser entry on the filmography of Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez, as well as some horrendous accent work by Jon Voight.

The idea behind the new meta-sequel Anaconda is arguably a good one. Four friends — Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) — who made homemade movies when they were teenagers decide to remake Anaconda on a shoestring budget. Egged on by Griff, an actor who can’t catch a break, the four of them pull together enough money to fly down to Brazil, hire a boat, and film a script written by Doug.

Naturally, almost nothing goes as planned in the Amazon, including losing their trained snake and running headlong into a criminal enterprise. Soon enough, everything else takes second place to the presence of a giant anaconda that is stalking them and anyone else who crosses its path.

Written and directed by Tom Gormican, with help from co-writer Kevin Etten, the film is designed to be an outrageous comedy peppered with laugh-out-loud moments that cover up the fact that there’s really no story. That would be all well and good … if anything the film had to offer was truly funny. Only a few scenes elicit any honest laughter, and so instead the audience is fed half-baked jokes, a story with no focus, and actors who ham it up to get any kind of reaction.

The biggest problem is that the meta-ness of the film goes too far. None of the core four characters possess any interesting traits, and their blandness is transferred over to the actors playing them. And so even as they face some harrowing situations or ones that could be funny, it’s difficult to care about anything they do since the filmmakers never make the basic effort of making the audience care about them.

It’s weird to say in a movie called Anaconda, but it becomes much too focused on the snake in the second half of the film. If the goal is to be a straight-up comedy, then everything up to and including the snake attacks should be serving that objective. But most of the time the attacks are either random or moments when the characters are already scared, and so any humor that could be mined all but disappears.

Black and Rudd are comedy all-stars who can typically be counted on to elevate even subpar material. That’s not the case here, as each only scores on a few occasions, with Black’s physicality being the funniest thing in the movie. Newton is not a good fit with this type of movie, and she isn’t done any favors by some seriously bad wigs. Zahn used to be the go-to guy for funny sidekicks, but he brings little to the table in this role.

Any attempt at rebooting/remaking an old piece of IP should make a concerted effort to differentiate itself from the original, and in that way, the new Anaconda succeeds. Unfortunately, that’s its only success, as the filmmakers can never find the right balance to turn it into the bawdy comedy they seemed to want.

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Anaconda is now playing in theaters.

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