10-stage Mania

The Insider’s Guide to iFest: Five things you can't miss this weekend, includingfree kids day

On the Bud Light World Music Stage, Saturday’s lineup includes gospelpedal-steel shredder Robert Randolph and the Family Band.
Explore the 23-foot-tall Trojan Horse.
Photo by Kristen Brown
Featured performers include one of the best new rock en espanol bands inHouston, Los Guerreros de la Musica.
Photo via Los Guerreros de la Musica/Facebook

The first weekend of the Houston International Festival is in the books, but there’s still plenty of fun to be had, as the second and final weekend of iFest is about to get underway Saturday in downtown Houston. As you make your take-two iFest plans, here are five options to consider.

1. Take a Musical Journey

From funk and soul to hard-driving roots rock, there are plenty of options for music lovers this weekend at the festival’s 10 performance venues.

On the Bud Light World Music Stage, Saturday’s lineup includes gospel pedal-steel shredder Robert Randolph and the Family Band, followed by the buoyant reggae vibe of rebel rocker Michael Franti and Spearhead.

Sunday’s bill on the World Stage features critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, and closing out the night will be Texas firebrand Joe Ely with a rocking band that includes guitar ace David Grissom and the Rolling Stones’ long-time sax player Bobby Keys. For a complete schedule, go to ifest.org.

2. Bring Mom (The Kids Are Free!)

In celebration of Mother’s Day, children 12 and under get in free to iFest on Sunday, thanks to a grant from ConocoPhillips.

After you’re done exploring the 23-foot-tall Trojan Horse and 100-foot-long replica of the Great Wall of China in the Chevron Silk Road Living Museum, head to the Kids Zone, where the Creative Kids Corner offers tons of free arts and crafts provided by Houston-area community groups.

Special bonus if your Mom happens to be in another country: You can wish her a happy Mother’s Day free at the Cricket Wireless International Calling Kiosk in the Latin Zone on Sunday!

3. Laissez les bons temps rouler…

Can’t make it to Jazz Fest in New Orleans this year? No need to despair. First, a number of this weekend’s featured artists at Jazz Fest are also performing at iFest (including Michael Franti and Spearhead, Lucinda Williams, and Robert Randolph and the Family Band).

Second, the Houston International Festival offers its very own retooled Louisiana Zone, complete with Jackson Square, the Bacardi Gras Bar, and the Louisiana Stage sponsored by Green Mountain Energy, featuring Jazz Fest favorites like “The Crown Prince of Treme” Glen David Andrews (6 p.m. Saturday) and Buckwheat Zydeco (8:15 p.m. Saturday). Pull up a plate of crawfish and enjoy … you never know when a spontaneous Second Line brass band parade may pop up.

(P.S., don’t forget to say hi at the CultureMap booth at the entrance to the Louisiana Zone — we know where to find a party!)

4. Don’t Miss the Azerbaijan State Dance Ensemble

For a remarkable slice of the rich, vibrant culture of Azerbaijan, be sure to check out the Azerbaijan State Dance Ensemble, which will perform on Asia Society Texas Center Stage at 4:30 p.m. Saturday and at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

This internationally acclaimed group, known for their beautiful choreography and colorful costumes, will perform traditional Azerbaijani dances in a rare Houston appearance.

5. Celebrate Cinco de Mayo

The Houston International Festival will feature special Cinco de Mayo programming on the RoomStore Latin Stage all weekend. The action gets started with Danza Azteca Teokalli and Mariachi MECA, and featured performers include top Latin ska/cumbia club band Los Skarnales, local legends the Norma Zenteno Band, and one of the best new rock en espanol bands in Houston, Los Guerreros de la Musica. Check out the entire schedule.

The second weekend of the Houston International Festival will take place from noon until 10 p.m. Saturday, and from noon until 8 p.m. Sunday.

Darrow works with the Houston International Festival staff and freely admits she is not exactly impartial. However, she points out she was a fan and dedicated festival-goer long before joining the iFest team.

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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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