weekend event planner

Here are the top 8 things to do in Houston this weekend

Things get buzzy at the Houston Zoo on Thursday.

Photo courtesy of Houston Zoo

In all likelihood, many Houstonians will be clogging up multiplexes this weekend to see Avengers: Endgame, the supposedly final chapter in the Avengers saga. (We've seen it, and let's just say it's the biggest — and longest — freakin' curtain call for a blockbuster franchise we've ever seen.)

For those not geeking out, look for a boozy zoo shindig, unique shopping experience, and a fun scavenger hunt. Here are your best bets for the weekend.

Thursday, April 25

The Peanuts Project: The Heavens and the Earth at Space Center Houston
If you're a fan of both Charles Schulz's Peanuts comic strip and space travel, there is an event happening that's tailor-made for you. Join the Peanuts Gang as they celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 10, featuring out-of-this-world festivities in this groundbreaking, arts initiative launch event. The event will unveil a temporary, new art installation of an ISS Module, wrapped in an original Charlie Brown and Snoopy motif by artist Kenny Scharf. You can watch Scharf paint a piece of art live, participate in hands-on Pop-Up Science Labs and meet Snoopy in-person. 10 am.

Brew at the Zoo at Houston Zoo
This event gives beer drinkers the opportunity to sample some delicious beers (and get a little buzzed) while looking at some exotic animals. Some of the best beers from Texas and surrounding areas will be highlighted. And, as you sip, stroll through parts of the Houston Zoo and check out some of your favorite animals. You can see special presentations with elephants, jaguars, sea lions, and more. Plus, enjoy live music by local artists. Pub-style grub will also be available for purchase throughout the event. 7 pm.

Friday, April 26

Soliloquy at 14 Pews
Here is something for African-Americans quietly struggling with their mental health. In observance of National Sexual and Domestic Abuse Awareness Month, this performance art installation translates personal narrative to examine the complexities of the mental health as it relates to the African-American community. Four artists, through the mediums of visual art, song, dance and spoken word, will detail their experiences with anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and depression to engage the audience in a raw, transparent, and candid conversation about mental health. 7 pm.

Darlene Love at Miller Outdoor Theatre
If you're a fan of the great Darlene Love, you know that the '60s soul legend used to perform "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" with Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra on Late Show with David Letterman every holiday season. Letterman's not on the air anymore, but perhaps his successor Stephen Colbert could start a new yuletide tradition with Love and have her perform another Christmas tune she recorded, "Christmastime for the Jews," for Saturday Night Live in 2005. (Just throwing that out there.) 8:15 pm.

Saturday, April 27

So What?! Music Festival at White Oak Music Hall
The So What?! Music Festival began in 2008 in Dallas, back when it was called South by So What?!. For a decade, this rock fest was a usual spring attraction there until it took some time off last year to regroup. Now, the fest is back and will be taking over White Oak Music Hall this weekend. Among the bands that will be performing on Saturday and Sunday: Beartooth, Of Mice and Men, Parkway Drive, Killswitch Engage, Crown the Empire, Wage War, After the Burial, Fit for a King, and oh-so-much more. 4 pm.

Super Gayla 2019 at The Ballroom at Bayou Place
We have a fantabulous spectacle popping off this weekend. This soiree will allow participants to mix and mingle with over 500 community leaders and friends. There will be an open bar, wine and champagne, dinner with an inspiring program, and local and international talent on stage. Hosted by local performer Blackberri, the featured acts will include vocalist/songwriter Eric Michael Krop and world-renowned musical duo Amy and Freddy. Ticket sales and sponsorships will support rapid rehousing services for local LGBTQ homeless youth. 6 pm.

Sunday, April 28

The 2nd Annual MAI Outdoor Market at Houston Design Center
Memorial Antiques & Interiors is hitting folks with its second annual Outdoor Market, a unique shopping experience reminiscent of open-air European markets. Guests can shop premier vendors and designer goods, including antiques, art, furnishings, jewelry, textiles, and more. Look for more than 40 premier trunk show vendors and showroom surpluses, delicious treats from Picnic on the Green and Tila's Taco Truck, activities for kids (including face painting), pet adoptions benefiting a local charity, and more. 9 am.

Susan's Rally in the Fight Against Cancer
For the 26th consecutive year, drivers and their fun-loving passengers will set off for a combination scavenger hunt/historical tour in support of Susan's Rally and the fight against cancer. Susan’s Rally is a 501(c)(3) organization founded by Houston designer Bruce Roberson in memory of his sister, Susan Roberson Wade, whose life was taken by breast cancer. Supporters in teams of two or more, guided by written instructions, will follow a pre-determined route that will take them to some of the city’s best examples of art deco architecture and design. Noon.

event-planner

Movie Review

Meta-comedy remake Anaconda coils itself into an unfunny mess

Photo by Matt Grace

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda.

In Hollywood’s never-ending quest to take advantage of existing intellectual property, seemingly no older movie is off limits, even if the original was not well-regarded. That’s certainly the case with 1997’s Anaconda, which is best known for being a lesser entry on the filmography of Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez, as well as some horrendous accent work by Jon Voight.

The idea behind the new meta-sequel Anaconda is arguably a good one. Four friends — Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) — who made homemade movies when they were teenagers decide to remake Anaconda on a shoestring budget. Egged on by Griff, an actor who can’t catch a break, the four of them pull together enough money to fly down to Brazil, hire a boat, and film a script written by Doug.

Naturally, almost nothing goes as planned in the Amazon, including losing their trained snake and running headlong into a criminal enterprise. Soon enough, everything else takes second place to the presence of a giant anaconda that is stalking them and anyone else who crosses its path.

Written and directed by Tom Gormican, with help from co-writer Kevin Etten, the film is designed to be an outrageous comedy peppered with laugh-out-loud moments that cover up the fact that there’s really no story. That would be all well and good … if anything the film had to offer was truly funny. Only a few scenes elicit any honest laughter, and so instead the audience is fed half-baked jokes, a story with no focus, and actors who ham it up to get any kind of reaction.

The biggest problem is that the meta-ness of the film goes too far. None of the core four characters possess any interesting traits, and their blandness is transferred over to the actors playing them. And so even as they face some harrowing situations or ones that could be funny, it’s difficult to care about anything they do since the filmmakers never make the basic effort of making the audience care about them.

It’s weird to say in a movie called Anaconda, but it becomes much too focused on the snake in the second half of the film. If the goal is to be a straight-up comedy, then everything up to and including the snake attacks should be serving that objective. But most of the time the attacks are either random or moments when the characters are already scared, and so any humor that could be mined all but disappears.

Black and Rudd are comedy all-stars who can typically be counted on to elevate even subpar material. That’s not the case here, as each only scores on a few occasions, with Black’s physicality being the funniest thing in the movie. Newton is not a good fit with this type of movie, and she isn’t done any favors by some seriously bad wigs. Zahn used to be the go-to guy for funny sidekicks, but he brings little to the table in this role.

Any attempt at rebooting/remaking an old piece of IP should make a concerted effort to differentiate itself from the original, and in that way, the new Anaconda succeeds. Unfortunately, that’s its only success, as the filmmakers can never find the right balance to turn it into the bawdy comedy they seemed to want.

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Anaconda is now playing in theaters.

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