weekend event planner

Here are the top 14 things to do in Houston this weekend

Say cheers to the beloved Betty White this weekend.

This weekend sees a diverse array of events for your pleasure. Look for some Harry Potter-themed fun, a Betty White-themed party — and ye-yeah! — Lil' John in town. Speaking of visiting celebs, Jake and Logan Paul are coming to town.

For family fun, don't miss the Fort Bend home show, an MLK Day party, and a cake sale and chili cookoff. Here are your best bets for the weekend.

Thursday, January 13

Dave's Hot Chicken Grand Opening
The scrappy, late-night pop-up-turned-hot chicken sensation will open its latest restaurant in Missouri City this weekend. The location features more than 75 indoor and outdoor seats, a drive-thru, and custom artwork throughout the restaurant. The fast-casual concept specializes in Halal-certified, hot chicken tenders and sliders, along with sides of house-made kale slaw, creamy mac n’ cheese and crispy french fries. 11 am.

Asia Society Texas Center presents 'You Can't Be Serious': A Conversation With Kal Penn
Known best as the star of the Harold and Kumar franchise, House, and Designated Survivor, Kal Penn’s life has taken him on a surprising journey. In his recent memoir, You Can’t Be Serious, Penn shares a series of funny, consequential, awkward, and ridiculous stories from his colorful life, including growing up with immigrant parents and how he rejected doing “something practical” to become an actor, confronting racism in Hollywood, meeting his future husband, and working in the Obama administration as a White House aide. 6:30 pm.

4th Wall Theatre Company presents The Lifespan of a Fact
This recent Broadway hit, inspired by John D'Agata's and Jim Fingal's debate-style book of the same name, brings to life the arguments of its original authors. Fingal is a fresh-out-of-Harvard fact checker for a New York magazine. D'Agata is a writer with a transcendent essay, about the suicide of a teenage boy, that could save the magazine from collapse. When Fingal is assigned to fact-check D'Agata's essay, the two come head-to-head in a hysterical yet gripping ethical dispute over facts versus truth. Through Saturday, February 5. 7:30 pm (3 pm Sunday).

Friday, January 14

Houston Symphony presents Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in Concert
If that Harry Potter reunion show on HBO Max has gotten you all nostalgic for some Hogwarts-related stuff, the Houston Symphony has got you covered. The Harry Potter Film Concert Series returns with the sixth film in the Harry Potter series. Constantine Kitsopoulos conducts the Symphony in performing Nicholas Hooper’s score live, while the entire film plays in high-definition on a 40-foot screen. 2:30 pm (7:30 pm Saturday and Sunday).

The Riot Comedy Show presents Caitlin Peluffo
Originally hailing from San Francisco, Caitlin Peluffo is a comedian currently living in Brooklyn. After a six-year stint in art school where she studied performative video art, she has expanded her talents to the stage. She's opened for comedians like Maria Bamford, Gilbert Gottfried, Gary Gulman, Colin Quinn, and the late Kevin Meaney. She’s also done clubs nationwide, talking about how she came to be such a lovable loose cannon. 7:30 pm (10 pm Sunday).

Cheers to Betty White!
Join Eureka Heights Brew Co. to celebrate the ambassador of animals, the most golden of The Golden Girls and everyone's favorite game-show panelist, who filled our years with laughter, spunk, and grace. They will be toasting with two Betty IPAs, a commemorative gold-rimmed glass, a plethora of Betty White raffle prizes, and rose cupcakes. Your best Golden Girls or Betty White-themed attire is only appropriate to honor her remarkable self. 3 pm.

Lil Jon at Sekai Night & Day
Okay, so Lil Jon, who has been dropping crunk-rap hits (full of his trademark "Yeah!" and "Okaaaay!" ad-libs) since the early aughts, will be coming to town to celebrate his "first annual 35th birthday." Even if you remember when Dave Chappelle used to make fun of the hard-partying rapper/producer on Chappelle's Show — way back in 2004! — and know the dude is getting up there in age, this still might be an interesting event to check out. 10:30 pm.

Saturday, January 15

26th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration
Children’s Museum Houston and the Houston Defender newspaper have joined forces to honor civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., during the Museum’s 26th annual MLK celebration. Brought to you by State Rep. the Honorable Garnet Coleman, the event commemorates Dr. King’s legacy and his powerful call for equality, justice, and the end of racism in America during the civil rights movement. The event will also commemorate the Defender’s 90-years of service. 11 am.

Small Business Saturday with The Plant Project Houston & Athleta
The Plant Project Houston and Athleta are teaming up for a special Small Business Saturday designed to start your new year off right. Plant Project founder Bree Clarke will be hosting a pop-up at Athleta featuring mood-boosting houseplants, instruction and care, to help brighten up your home and provide some excellent, physical and mental-health benefits to chase away the post-holiday and winter blues. 11 am.

Houston Center for Contemporary Craft presents Limitless Virtual Tour
HCCC Curatorial Fellow Cydney Pickens and exhibiting artists will be part of this virtual tour. As the exhibition’s curator, Pickens will lead a tour of the works on view, followed by a conversation with featured recipients of ClayHouston’s inaugural Award for Texas BIPOC Ceramic Artists. This award provides funding for ceramic artists in Texas who self-identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color, as part of an ongoing effort to cultivate greater diversity in and access to the field of ceramics. 3 pm.

KING OF THE RING! Cle’ Bottle Wars
Jake Paul, rising boxer and your teenage babysitter's favorite social-media star, will join his brother Logan Paul to host this first-ever, themed event at Cle' — the Midtown hotspot. Patrons will compete with one another to see who will purchase the most bottles throughout the night and claim the "King of the Ring" title. Rumor has it that Cle’ has a custom title belt going to the winner. 10 pm.

Sunday, January 16

Fort Bend Home & Garden Show
This Saturday and Sunday, the Fort Bend County Home & Garden Show will feature everything dedicated to home improvement, decorating and interior design, landscapes, and outdoor entertainment. It will also feature a Winter Gift Market, beer and wine sampling, plus an entire building filled with food samples. The Gift Market will feature a wide range of specialty gifts and décor including farmhouse décor, clothing, jewelry, monogram children accessories, handmade local crafts including hand-blown glass, and much more. 11 am.

Cake Life Co. Bubonic Bake Sale and Art Market
Sunday will be the last chance to check out this wacky, sweet-as-hell event, located at this downtown "cakery." (Is that what we're supposed to call them now?) From Friday through Saturday, the establishment will host this combination bake sale/art market, complete with delicious desserts, delicious works of art and live music from Navers. And the first 20 customers will get $8 off their next purchase. Noon.

Hop Topic World's Annual Chili Cook-Off
Hop Topic's annual chili cook-off — hosted by Holler Brewing Co. — is back! If you think you can make some chili, you are in serious demand. Make a team, earn your bragging rights and get some swag if you win best chili. However, if you're a connoisseur who just wants to sample some chili, you're also welcome to the party. Come through, taste all the good chili and, of course, some delicious craft beer. Noon.

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Movie Review

Avatar: Fire and Ash returns to Pandora with big action and bold visuals

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Oona Chaplin in Avatar: Fire and Ash.

For a series whose first two films made over $5 billion combined worldwide, Avatar has a curious lack of widespread cultural impact. The films seem to exist in a sort of vacuum, popping up for their run in theaters and then almost as quickly disappearing from the larger movie landscape. The third of five planned movies, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is finally being released three years after its predecessor, Avatar: The Way of Water.

The new film finds the main duo, human-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his native Na’vi wife, Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), still living with the water-loving Metkayina clan led by Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis). While Jake and Neytiri still play a big part, the focus shifts significantly to their two surviving children, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as two they’ve essentially adopted, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Spider (Jack Champion).

Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who lives on in a fabricated Na’vi body, is still looking for revenge on Jake, and he finds help in the form of the Mangkwan Clan (aka the Ash People), led by Varang (Oona Chaplin). Quaritch’s access to human weapons and the Mangkwan’s desire for more power on the moon known as Pandora make them a nice match, and they team up to try to dominate the other tribes.

Aside from the story, the main point of making the films for writer/director James Cameron is showing off his considerable technical filmmaking prowess, and that is on full display right from the start. The characters zoom around both the air and sea on various creatures with which they’ve bonded, providing Cameron and his team with plenty of opportunities to put the audience right there with them. Cameron’s preferred viewing method of 3D makes the experience even more immersive, even if the high frame rate he uses makes some scenes look too realistic for their own good.

The story, as it has been in the first two films, is a mixed bag. Cameron and co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver start off well, having Jake, Neytiri, and their kids continue mourning the death of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) in the previous film. The struggle for power provides an interesting setup, but Cameron and his team seem to drag out the conflict for much too long. This is the longest Avatar film yet, and you really start to feel it in the back half as the filmmakers add on a bunch of unnecessary elements.

Worse than the elongated story, though, is the hackneyed dialogue that Cameron, Jaffa, and Silver have come up with. Almost every main character is forced to spout lines that diminish the importance of the events around them. The writers seemingly couldn’t resist trying to throw in jokes despite them clashing with the tone of the scenes in which they’re said. Combined with the somewhat goofy nature of the Na’vi themselves (not to mention talking whales), the eye-rolling words detract from any excitement or emotion the story builds up.

A pre-movie behind-the-scenes short film shows how the actors act out every scene in performance capture suits, lending an authenticity to their performances. Still, some performers are better than others, with Saldaña, Worthington, and Lang standing out. It’s more than a little weird having Weaver play a 14-year-old girl, but it works relatively well. Those who actually get to show their real faces are collectively fine, but none of them elevate the film overall.

There are undoubtedly some Avatar superfans for which Fire and Ash will move the larger story forward in significant ways. For anyone else, though, the film is a demonstration of both the good and bad sides of Cameron. As he’s proven for 40 years, his visuals are (almost) beyond reproach, but the lack of a story that sticks with you long after you’ve left the theater keeps the film from being truly memorable.

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Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19.

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