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    weekend event planner

    Here are the top 9 things to do in Houston this weekend

    Craig Lindsey
    Feb 27, 2019 | 5:00 pm
    Jameson's Block Party Houston
    Round up the crew and spread the love at the Jameson's Love Thy Neighborhood Block Party.
    Photo courtesy of Jameson's

    The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo is officially underway, which means many people and places around Houston will be getting into the rodeo spirit. One of those spots is B.B. Lemon, which is having a rodeo-themed party on Saturday and Sunday afternoon, where it will be launching its all-new brunch menu. (There will also be a raffle for someone to win four tickets to the George Strait show on March 17.)

    Aside from the rodeo, look for fun events, including a former first lady and a big, wild whiskey bash.

    Thursday, February 28

    Goethe Pop Up Houston presents Pop Up Kino: Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

    Thanks to Goethe Pop Up Houston, MATCH has been doing a monthly, German-movie night simply known as Pop Up Kino. The classic piece of German cinema that'll be screening this month is Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. Fassbinder's masterful homage to Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows follows a lonely widow who falls in love with a much-younger Arab worker and everyone and everything begins to turn against them. 6:30 pm.

    Friday, March 1

    The Rink Opening Party at Discovery Green
    The Rink, Houston's first outdoor roller rink, returns for a third season at Discovery Green, open daily through Sunday, April 21. Among the weekly events scheduled at the rink: Time Warp Tuesdays (skate to songs from past decades), Let the Good Times Roll Date Night (bring your date and request a special song via Twitter or Instagram), and Superhero Saturdays (roller-skate with some of your favorite superheroes and storybook characters). The party is free, but skating fees apply. 6-10 pm.

    Tommy Wiseau at Landmark River Oaks
    It's gonna get crazy at Landmark River Oaks this weekend. Not only will the theater screen the so-bad-it's-magnificent cult oddity The Room as its midnight movie on Friday and Saturday night, but star-writer-director Tommy Wiseau will actually be in attendance. The man whom James Franco captured flawlessly in The Disaster Artist (aka the making of The Room) will be in town to take questions and, most likely, act very, very weird. 11:59 pm.

    Saturday, March 2

    Spring Fest at City Acre Brewing Co.
    Apart from being the only craft-beer company/hall ran by the managing editor of Fangoria Magazine, City Acre Brewing has many fun events happening on their premises. One such event is their answer to Oktoberfest, called Spring Fest. This free garden party will be held at City Acre's robust garden, where guests are encouraged to feast on festive food (boudin balls, deviled eggs) and toss back exclusive beer debuts, including Holiday Hund cranberry kolsch, Ghost Prost Peaflower Pils, and Cedarbraish cedar-aged barleywine. 11 am-5 pm.

    Karina Nistal Album Release Party at The Pub Galleria
    For the past couple of decades, Karina Nistal has been literally singing and dancing her way in and around the Houston nightlife scene. She has dropped a couple of full-length releases in the past, albums that have shown off her aspirations as a dance-music diva. After trying to make a name for herself in Los Angeles, she's back in H-Town for the release party of her latest, crowd-funded album Je Ne Sais Quoi. Metanoia and DJs Joe B and BBC will also be on hand to provide some music. 8 pm-2 am.

    Michelle Obama at Toyota Center
    With the exception of Oprah and Beyonce, is there a more powerful, African-American woman currently rolling around than Michelle Obama? Witness the rapturous round of applause she received at this year's Grammys. Expect some more wild cheers from the crowd when she appear in Houston this weekend, having an intimate conversation with former NPR host Michele Norris, as part of the U.S. book tour for her memoir, Becoming. 8 pm.

    Sunday, March 3

    8th Annual Houston Kosher Chili Cookoff
    Known as the largest kosher food event in Houston, the Houston Kosher Chili Cookoff celebrates the fellowship of the Jewish community with a day of food, live entertainment, contests and family-friendly activities, while raising funds for nonprofit organizations in the Houston Jewish community. Cookoff attendees have the opportunity to sample an unlimited amount of Houston’s best kosher chili and enjoy live music, a moonwalk, climbing walls, balloon artists, a jalapeño eating contest and more. Noon-4 pm.

    Crawfish Season at The Rustic
    Crawfish season is here, which means everyone and their momma will be having crawfish throwdowns all over Houston. Every Sunday in March, The rustic (Pat Green's popular restaurant/music venue) will be serving up crawdads in four different ways: crawfish with corn and potatoes (2 pounds), crawfish etouffee, fried crawfish tails, and the good ol' crawfish po' boy. 3 pm.

    Jameson Love Thy Neighbor Block Party at 8th Wonder Brewery
    Jameson's Irish Whiskey and 8th Wonder Brewery have joined forces for the Jameson's Love Thy Neighborhood Block Party this weekend. They have a once-off collaboration brew aged in ex-Jameson whiskey barrels called the "White Tuxedo." This imperial Dunkelweizen, brewed with Texas honey and champagne yeast, was inspired by Robert Ellis’ new album Texas Piano Man, which nods to a true-to-Texas, “approachable fancy” lifestyle that encourages “champagne everyday." Jameson's throws these bashes nationwide, so be prepared for one raucous block party. 3-7 pm.

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    Movie Review

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

    Alex Bentley
    Dec 12, 2025 | 2:30 pm
    Emma Mackey in 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.

    ---

    Ella McCay opens in theaters on December 12.

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