weekend event planner

Here are the top 10 things to do in Houston this weekend

The holidays are over, the weather is agreeable, and if traffic is any indicator, Houston is back in the swing of things. That means a slew of events for you to enjoy this weekend. Look for artful affairs, a rockin' Texas band, a food fest, and a fab dance party.

Thursday, January 10

Trans Film Series presents The Music Man
The Station Museum of Contemporary Art and Gender Reel Houston are in the middle of their Trans Film Series, a three-part series of films selected and presented by local trans individuals. This month's selection is the 1962 film adaptation of the Broadway musical The Music Man, selected and presented by Alexis Melvin. Melvin is president of the Transgender Foundation of America (TFA) and has been active in equality and transgender activism since the mid '60s. 7 pm.

Friday, January 11

Tapestry Players presents Little Women: The Broadway Musical
Written some 150 years ago, Louisa May Alcott's semi-autobiographical novel, Little Women, is a pioneering, feminist classic. The Civil War story of love and family deftly and subtly presents ambitious women in a way that's charmingly relatable more than a century later — to wit, a movie version starring Greta Gerwig is slated for next year. Alcott's tale has seen myriad adaptions on screen and stage, including a popular Broadway musical. Local fans can delight in Tapestry Players' presentation of the musical, which starts Friday and runs through Sunday. Directed by David Gow, with musical direction by Sid Davis. 7:30 pm Friday and Saturday; 2:30 pm Sunday, January 13.

Judy Ledgerwood: Power Pose at Barbara Davis Gallery
It's the third solo exhibition at Barbara Davis Gallery for Midwestern artist Judy Ledgerwood. Her latest collection features paintings that, while small to monumental in scale, are still vigorous, richly layered and fiercely colorful. While her painted shapes reference tapestries or quilts, she also exploits the unique material qualities of paint to position questions of value in the painterly tradition. It will be on display through February 9. 6-8:30 pm.

Rebecca Morris: The Ache of Bright at Blaffer Art Museum
With a title coming from a poem by Martha Ronk, in which she describes the affective qualities of sunlight in Los Angeles, abstract-painting Angeleno Rebecca Morris will give spectators 10 large-scale paintings, made by the Guggenheim Fellow over the last four years. This will be Morris’ first solo U.S. museum presentation since 2005 and the first time her work has ever been exhibited in Texas. It will be on display through March 16. 6 pm.

Rainbow on ICE at Discovery Green
Expect a very flamboyant — but still eco-friendly — evening with this annual LGBTQ celebration/ultimate dance party. DJ Joe Ross will be providing the music, while Drag Houston will come with some hellafied entertainment. (They are scheduled to reenact the music video for Ariana Grande's "thank u, next.") There will also be a mini-fashion show featuring costumes by Yahaira Dehill, made from recycled materials. 7-10 pm.

Culture Wars at Warehouse Live
Culture Wars isn't the current state of our country, but rather, an edgy, electro-rock trio from Austin that's poised to hit the big time. That should be enough for curious, local music geeks to step away from their burgeoning vinyl album collections and check them out live. Speaking of albums, serious music fans should check out the band's self-titled, debut EP, produced by longtime collaborator Robert Sewell and mixed by Manny Marroquin (Kanye West, Imagine Dragons) and Alan Moulder (The Killers, Nine Inch Nails).

Expect a raucous show and songs with an '80s new wave twist — like the catchy single “Money (Gimmie, Gimmie)” — that will get into your head and stay there. SWELLS and No Rehearsal will also be on the bill. 8 pm.

Stacyfest: a benefit for our friend Punk Rock Stacy at Rudyard's
For three nights straight, Rudyard's will be holding a series of benefit shows for a good friend of theirs. Stacy Hartoon, better known as Punk Rock Stacy, has been a fixture in Houston's punk rock scene for years. Last November, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor and, now, several bands in and around H-Town (The Beaumonts, Denim Demons, Project Grimm, etc.) will be performing to raise money for her medical bills. And if you can't turn up at any of the shows, there is also a GoFundMe page. 8 pm (5 pm Sunday).

Saturday, January 12

Hops n' Hot Sauce Festival at SpindleTap Brewery
When you partake in something very spicy, don't you feel the first thing that will, if not alleviate the pain, then make things slightly buzzed is a nice, cold beer? Well, this fest will offer both piping-hot delicacies from food vendors as well as foamy, satisfying ale from SpindleTap Brewery. There is also a hot pepper eating contest, a spicy food challenge, and a silent auction. And don't forget that a portion of ticket sales go to Addi's Faith Foundation. 11 am.

Le Jardin de Nicole presents The Mad Hatter's Luncheon
Le Jardin de Nicole (aka Nicole's Garden) is organized exclusively for charitable purposes. So, here we go with this luncheon, which will be a grand affair as ladies and gentlemen showcase fancy, creative hats that are as big as Texas. The luncheon will also honor some cutting edge change-makers, whose impact have positively affected the lives of Houstonians and exemplified healthy living. All proceeds will help Nicole’s Garden underwrite Health Fest Houston. 11 am.

"Sharon Kopriva: Meditations, Migrations and Muses" at Deborah Colton Gallery
Yet another female artist will be showing off a solo exhibition for the third time this weekend. This multimedia production is the work of Houston artist Sharon Kopriva. Her career has taken her through investigations of Pre-Columbian cultures in Peru, exclamations of her Catholic faith, inspirations from the spiritual forest of the Pacific Northwest and, most recently, an exploration of Muses of the Visual Arts. It will be on display through February 23. 6-8 pm.

Sunday, January 13

Senso at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
The MFAH's "Discovering the Passionate Films of Luchino Visconti" film series will be closing up shop this weekend. There will be screenings of essential Visconti films Death in Venice (Morte a Venezia) on Friday and Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) on Saturday. On Sunday, there's a last-chance screening of his 1954 period costume drama Senso, about a married Venetian countess (Alida Valli) whose allegiance to her Italian people during wartime gets sidetracked when she has an affair with a caddish Austrian officer (Farley Granger). 5 pm.

Tapestry Players present the charming Little Women: The Broadway Musical.

Photo courtesy of Tapestry Players

Tapestry Players present the charming Little Women: The Broadway Musical.

event-planner

Movie Review

Cheesiness undermines Whalefall's intense survival story

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Austin Abrams in Whalefall.

Austin Abrams has been a professional actor for 15 years, but the 30-year-old seems to just now be getting his due. After years of mostly supporting roles in films like Paper Towns, Brad’s Status, and Weapons, he has been charged with leading two films in 2026 where he’s largely acting by himself: First Resident Evil and now Whalefall.

Abrams plays Jay Gardiner, who has returned home to California a year after the death of his hard-ass father, Mitt (Josh Brolin). The two had a tempestuous relationship, and while his mom (Elisabeth Shue) and sisters (Jane Levy and Emily Rudd) reminisce fondly about him, Jay finds it difficult to come up with good memories. The two did share a connection with the ocean, and Jay decides to honor him by going scuba diving.

Ignoring warnings of whale activity in the area, Jay makes his way out into a notoriously dangerous part of the ocean near their home. Soon after he starts swimming, he encounters a sperm whale chasing after a giant squid. Jay inadvertently gets sucked into the enormous creature’s mouth and, ultimately, inside its body. Faced with a seemingly inescapable situation, Jay’s only hope lies in the lessons his father taught him.

Directed by Brian Duffield and adapted by Duffield and Daniel Kraus from Kraus’ book of the same name, the film is at its best when it depicts Jay struggling to survive within the whale. The claustrophobic nature of the setting and the various obstacles (multiple contracting chambers, the squid, and more) he faces make every scene inside the whale feel as intense and cover-your-eyes scary as any great horror movie.

Naturally, the entire movie can’t be about his survival efforts, and so the filmmakers toggle back and forth between Jay’s ordeal in the whale to memories of times with his father. Not so coincidentally, these remembrances come with subtle or overt wisdom from Mitt that would serve Jay well in his current situation. More often than not, these flashback scenes are so on-the-nose that they come off as cheesy instead of inspirational.

It’s also difficult to derive any big emotions from the story other than revulsion at the way Jay’s body is brutalized while he’s inside the whale. None of the characters in the film receive a notable introduction to the audience before big events start happening. It’s next-to-impossible to be invested in their stories when their personalities are being revealed in bits and pieces throughout the movie.

Abrams does well enough in bringing out the terror Jay feels in the whale and the sullenness/anger he has toward his father in other scenes. But whether it’s because his lines in the whale are hard to understand (he’s often talking around a scuba mouthpiece) or the disconnect the character has with father, there’s just something missing in his performance. Brolin’s performance is one-note, and Shue, Levy, Rudd, and John Ortiz don’t appear enough to make a big impact.

With Kraus onboard as the co-writer of the film, it may be the case that Duffield was not given leeway to change the story of Whalefall too much. What might have worked in the book doesn’t seem to translate equally to the film, and while Jay’s nightmare in the whale is effective, the rest of his story doesn’t come across as successfully.

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Whalefall is now playing in theaters.

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