need for speed

New mega-gaming and indoor go-karting playhouse speeds into Katy

Orlando, Florida-based entertainment facility Andretti Indoor Karting & Games will be hitting the Houston area with thrilling attractions and racing experiences.

On Tuesday, March 3, the family entertainment and gaming center will open up a new location in Katy, located adjacent to the newly opened, University of Houston Katy campus and Katy Asian Town at the corner of Grand Parkway and I-10.

Named after the legendary Andretti racing family, the nearly 88,000-square-foot complex will showcase high-speed electric superkarts, laser tag, mini golf, VR gaming, a ropes course, unique dining options, over 4,600 square feet of exceptional event space, and more.

Here are the features and attractions attendees can look forward to:

Multi-Level race track
Experience the adrenaline rush of electric go karts on a ½ mile of multi-level tracks with sweeping downward spirals, multiple sharp turns, and long straightaways that take you all the way to victory lane.

Laser Tag
The two-story 2,053-square-foot black light battlefield transports you inside the engine of a race car with the latest laser tag technology from Delta Strike, the leader in laser tag equipment industry.

Arcade games
Guests can enjoy over 80 of the latest and greatest video, redemption and prize games in the state-of-the-art arcade. After racking up all of the tickets, guests can redeem their winnings at the Redemption Counter with a wide range of prizes for all ages.

Ropes course
Andretti offers an indoor high adventure ropes course which can be found well above the arcade with multiple challenging obstacles for both the beginner and advanced adventurer.

Hologate VR
Hologate is a four-player virtual reality attraction that takes you to a new dimension with advanced graphic technology and immersion. The open-air layout allows spectators to see the players and take in the action on the monitors above the playing space.

Hologate Blitz
This four-player virtual reality experience immerses players in full sensory heart-pounding thrills by combining state of the art virtual reality graphics with a motion simulator that rises a full meter in height and can tilt in every direction. The chance of motion sickness that some players may feel in other virtual reality attractions has been almost completely eliminated due to extremely low latency and next-level network and code design.

Omniverse
Explore virtual reality like never before with a 360-degree-moving treadmill platform, state of the art graphics optimized for multiplayer interactive gaming and an adjustable harness that allows players to move full speed without hitting walls. Guests can play for the sheer thrilling fun of the experience by participating individually or competitively as teams in weekly and monthly Esports world competitions.

Mini-Golf
Lucky Putt is nine custom high-tech holes of mini golf reimagined that blends the nostalgic joy of classic mini golf with exclusive technology to deliver an unforgettable social experience. The scoring system is digitized to streamline score tracking and allow players to focus on the experience. At the beginning of each hole, players select their names on a digital tablet, and sensors automatically track the movement of the ball and tally scores for each player. As for food, this spot offers several dining options including a Food Truck Plaza, sit-down dining, a dessert bar and two bars. The Indoor Food Truck Plaza will feature three different food trucks and a Dessert Bar:

Fusion Bowl featuring Asian cuisine including bowls hot off the wok, cold bowls and spring rolls.
Mama Andretti’s featuring Italian cuisine including salads and brick oven pizzas and calzones.
Let’s Roll Diner featuring American cuisine including wings, burgers, sandwiches and chicken tenders.

The Main Bar area will feature the full restaurant menu including salads, Asian bowls, burgers, sandwiches, brick oven pizzas & calzones, chef-crafted entrees and desserts, along with gluten-free bread, pasta and pizza dough for those with special dietary restrictions.

Andretti also welcomes corporate events, birthday parties and any special occasions of any size, offering a wide variety of birthday party packages and add-ons to customize each event. Event spaces include:

Total Event Space Grand Room & VIP Rooms: 307-person capacity
Mario Room: Viewing Area with two glass walls overlooking the Arcade and Track.

Andretti Karting is hiring for approximately 350 positions, including game and attraction attendants, culinary, janitorial, mechanics and much more. Applicants must be at least 18 years old. A job fair will take place at the Best Western Premier Energy Corridor on January 15 through February 21. The Job Fair hours will be Monday-Friday 9 am to 6 pm and on Saturdays 10 am to 4 pm.

For more information on open positions and to submit your application in advance, visit the official site.

The karts are electric.

Photo courtesy of Andretti

The karts are electric.

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Movie Review

Star TV producer James L. Brooks stumbles with meandering movie Ella McCay

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Emma Mackey in Ella McCay.

The impact that writer/director/producer James L. Brooks has made on Hollywood cannot be understated. The 85-year-old created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, personally won three Oscars for Terms of Endearment, and was one of the driving forces behind The Simpsons, among many other credits. Now, 15 years after his last movie, he’s back in the directing chair with Ella McCay.

The similarly-named Emma Mackey plays Ella, a 34-year-old lieutenant governor of an unnamed state in 2008 who’s on the verge of becoming governor when Governor Bill (Albert Brooks) gets picked to be a member of the president’s Cabinet. What should be a happy time is sullied by her needy husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden), her agoraphobic brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), and her perpetually-cheating father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson).

Despite the trio of men competing to bring her down, Ella remains an unapologetic optimist, an attitude bolstered by her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), her assistant Estelle (Julie Kavner), and her police escort, Trooper Nash (Kumail Nanjiani). The film follows her over a few days as she navigates the perils of governing, the distractions her family brings, and the expectations being thrust upon her by many different people.

Brooks, who wrote and directed the film, is all over the place with his storytelling. What at first seems to be a straightforward story about Ella and her various issues soon starts meandering into areas that, while related to Ella, don’t make the film better. Prime among them are her brother and father, who are given a relatively small amount of screentime in comparison to the importance they have in her life. This is compounded by a confounding subplot in which Casey tries to win back his girlfriend, Susan (Ayo Edebiri).

Then there’s the whole political side of the story, which never finds its focus and is stuck in the past. Though it’s never stated explicitly, Ella and Governor Bill appear to be Democrats, especially given a signature program Ella pushes to help mothers in need. But if Brooks was trying to provide an antidote to the current real world politics, he doesn’t succeed, as Ella’s full goals are never clear. He also inexplicably shows her boring her fellow lawmakers to tears, a strange trait to give the person for whom the audience is supposed to be rooting.

What saves the movie from being an all-out train wreck is the performances of Mackey and Curtis. Mackey, best known for the Netflix show Sex Education, has an assured confidence to her that keeps the character interesting and likable even when the story goes downhill. Curtis, who has tended to go over-the-top with her roles in recent years, tones it down, offering a warm place of comfort for Ella to turn to when she needs it. The two complement each other very well and are the best parts of the movie by far.

Brooks puts much more effort into his female actors, including Kavner, who, even though she serves as an unnecessary narrator, gets most of the best laugh lines in the film. Harrelson is capable of playing a great cad, but his character here isn’t fleshed out enough. Fearn is super annoying in his role, and Lowden isn’t much better, although that could be mostly due to what his character is called to do. Were it not for the always-great Brooks and Nanjiani, the movie might be devoid of good male performances.

Brooks has made many great TV shows and movies in his 60+ year career, but Ella McCay is a far cry from his best. The only positive that comes out of it is the boosting of Mackey, who proves herself capable of not only leading a film, but also elevating one that would otherwise be a slog to get through.

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Ella McCay opens in theaters on December 12.

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