springtime on the rooftop

Houston's rooftop cinema unveils new spring lineup full of hot hits and cool themed nights

Rooftop Cinema Club Houston night skyline

Get ready for themed nights, special tributes, and even dog-friendly screenings on the rooftop.

Photo by Rooftop Cinema Club Houston

Spring in Houston finds locals looking to the al fresco life, as they jam pack venues offering sunny patios and cool rooftop views. Now, one of the Bayou City’s hottest rooftop spots has returned, offering a fresh new lineup of 2020 events.

Rooftop Cinema Club, the popular social/outdoor theater experience that mixes fun flicks and skyline views of Uptown (1700 Post Oak Blvd. in BLVD Place), kicks off its spring lineup on March 18 with a beloved Texas classic and Houston favorite, Urban Cowboy, at the height of rodeo season.

Doors won’t officially open till then, but fans can still grab advance tickets when they go on sale online at noon, Wednesday, February 19.

New for 2020, guests can plan their outdoor cinema experience up to three months in advance with films scheduled seasonally versus monthly.

Tickets start at $17 per person for a one-person lounge seat. A single person seat paired with bottomless popcorn is $20. Tickets for couples or anyone looking for a roomier love seat, plus bottomless popcorn, are $24 per person.

Here are some highlights of Rooftop’s spring season:

Fans can vote for and come dressed as their favorite character to celebrate their most-loved Tarantino film on his birthday on March 27
Monthly themed nights starring J-Lo, with Selena (for Selena’s birthday) on April 16 and Hustlers on May 21
Wooftop’s dog-friendly screening returns on April 11 with Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Honoring Kobe Bryant with Love & Basketball screening on May 1, including charity donation to Mamba Sports Foundation
Special prom-themed night on May 2 with American Pie (dressing up is not required, but prom attire is highly encouraged)
A special Mother’s Day screening of Steel Magnolias on May 10

Doors open at 6:30 pm and films begin around sunset at 8 pm. Here are the spring movie listings.

March 18 – Urban Cowboy
March 19 – Selena
March 20 – Do the Right Thing
March 21 – Poetic Justice
March 22 – Pretty Woman
March 25 – Grease
March 26 – Harriet
March 27 – Fan Choice: Quentin Tarantino film (T.B.D.)
March 28 – Menace II Society
March 28 – Miss Congeniality
March 30 – Troop Beverly Hills
March 31 – Pretty in Pink
April 1 – Sweet Home Alabama
April 2 – When Harry Met Sally
April 3 – Runaway Bride
April 4 – Love Jones
April 5 – The Princess Bride
April 6 – Cry Baby
April 7 – Pure Country
April 8 – Rodger's And Hammerstein's Cinderella
April 9 – Parasite
April 10 – Romeo + Juliet
April 11 – Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (Dog-friendly)
April 12 – The Notebook
April 13 – The Sandlot
April 14 – Clueless
April 15 – Grease (Sing-A-Long)
April 16 – Selena
April 17 – There's Something About Mary
April 18 – Empire Records
April 19 – Jerry Maguire
April 20 – Dazed and Confused
April 21 – Brown Sugar
April 22 – Anchorman
April 23 – The Time Traveler's Wife
April 24 – Dirty Dancing (Open captions)
April 25 – House Party 2
April 26 – Fried Green Tomatoes
April 27 – Stand by Me
April 28 – Friday
April 29 – The Best Man
April 30 – Pretty Woman
May 1 – Love and Basketball
May 2 – American Pie
May 3 – Pulp Fiction
May 4 – Easy A
May 5 – Pan's Labyrinth
May 6 – Back to The Future
May 7 – Soul Food
May 8 – Dirty Dancing
May 9 – Mean Girls
May 10 – Steel Magnolias
May 11 – Now and Then
May 12 – Selena
May 13 – The Wood
May 14 – The Breakfast Club
May 15 – Bridesmaids
May 16 – Grease
May 17 – Moulin Rouge
May 18 – Superbad
May 19 – Fight Club
May 20 – 10 Things I Hate About You (Open captions)
May 21 – Hustlers
May 22 – Crazy, Stupid, Love
May 23 – New Jack City
May 24 – Jurassic Park
May 25 – Save The Last Dance
May 26 – Love & Basketball
May 27 – Dirty Dancing
May 28 – Breakfast At Tiffany's
May 29 – The Big Lebowski
May 30 – Romy And Michele's High School Reunion
May 31 – The Princess Bride

movies

Movie Review

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 doesn't match the first movie's enthusiasm

Blumhouse

Five Nights at Freddy's 2.

Blumhouse Productions first made their name with the Paranormal Activity series, establishing themselves as a leader in the horror genre thanks to their relatively cheap yet effective movies. In recent years, they’ve added on “soft” horror films like M3GAN and Five Nights at Freddy’s to draw in a younger audience, with both films becoming so successful that each was quickly given a sequel.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 finds Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and his sister Abby (Piper Rubio) still recovering from the events of the first film, with Abby particularly missing her “friends.” Those friends just so happen to be the souls of murdered children who inhabit animatronic characters at the long-defunct Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, children who were abducted and killed by William Afton (Matthew Lillard).

A new threat emerges at another Freddy Fazbear’s location in the form of Charlotte, another murdered child who inhabits a creepy large marionette. Mike, distracted by a possible romance with Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), fails to keep track of Abby, who makes her way to the old pizzeria and inadvertently unleashes Charlotte and her minions on the surrounding town.

Directed by Emma Tammi and written by Scott Cawthon (who also created the video game on which the series is based), the film tries to mix together goofy elements with intense scenes. One particular sequence, in which the security guard for Freddy Fazbear’s lets a group of ghost hunters onto the property, toes the line between soft and hard horror. That and a few others show the potential that the filmmakers had if they had stuck to their guns.

Unfortunately, more often than not they either soft-pedal things that would normally be horrific, or can’t figure out how to properly stage scenes. The sight of animatronic robots wreaking havoc is one that is simultaneously frightening and laughable, and the filmmakers never seem to find the right balance in tone. Every step in the direction of making a truly scary horror film is undercut by another in which the robots fail to live up to their promise.

It doesn’t help that Cawthon gives the cast some extremely wooden dialogue, lines that none of the actors can elevate. What may work in a video game format comes off as stilted when said by actors in a live-action film. The story also loses momentum quickly after the first half hour or so, with Cawthon seemingly content to just have characters move from place to place with no sense of connection between any of the scenes.

Hutcherson (The Hunger Games series), after being the true lead of the first film, is given very little to do in this film, and his effort is equal to his character’s arc. The same goes for Lail, whose character seems to be shoehorned into the story. Rubio is called upon to carry the load for a lot of the movie, and the teenager is not quite up to the task. A brief appearance by Skeet Ulrich seems to be a blatant appeal to Scream fans, but he and Lillard only underscore how limited this film is compared to that franchise.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first film, but not by much. The filmmakers do a decent job of making the new marionette character into a great villain, but they fail to capitalize on its inherent creepiness. Instead, they fall back on less effective elements, ensuring that the film will be forgettable for anyone other than hardcore Freddy fans.

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Five Nights at Freddy's 2 opens in theaters on December 5.

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springtime on the rooftop

Houston's rooftop cinema unveils new spring lineup full of hot hits and cool themed nights

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