weekend event planner

Here are the top 10 things to do in Houston this weekend

Houstonopoly boasts a 10,000-square-foot game board with Houston-themed stops.

Courtesy of Houstonopoly

This weekend's forecast predict soggy days, but before the rain sets in, look for some events.

Expect a fun summer kickoff event with beach volleyball, water games, and more, steak night, Houston-themed Monopoly, a filthy-mouthed TV dad, and a juicy tomato festival.

Here are your best bets for the weekend.

Thursday, June 3

Balmoral Summer Kickoff Event
Balmoral has already opened up its lagoon to the public for this week-long, summer-kickoff event. Tickets include access to a free seating area, beach volleyball, lawn games, hammock, and putting green. Premium seating and water activities are available for an additional fee, including cabanas, beach umbrella set-ups, stand-up paddle boards, Hobie boards, kayaks and an inflatable trampoline. 11 am.

Thursday Steak Night at Axis Sports Bar
If you’re in the mood for some hearty cuts of meat this weekend, Axis Sports Bar has got you covered with its weekly steak night. We’re talking filet mignon, ribeye, salmon — all that good stuff. You can also get a steak and a beer for $15 or steak and lobster for $30. DJ Aggravated will be around to provide music for your certain-to-be-amazing dinner. No reservations are necessary. 6 pm.

Friday, June 4

Frost Bank presents Drive-Thru Spring Fling - Third Ward
Frost Bank will present a drive-through, socially distanced, Spring Fling event. There will be free breakfast tacos from Brunch Box and cookies from Ella Russell’s Crumbville, TX bakery. (We hope there will be some of those delicious, Amazin’ Craisin cookies around.) Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Houston/Galveston will provide games and a DJ will be on hand with music. 7:30 pm.

Houstonopoly Summer Pop-Up Exhibit
This fun, kid-friendly, summer pop-up will feature a 10,000-square-foot game board where visitors become the actual game pieces, traveling from space to space, with nods to the Bayou City at each stop along the way. Houstonopoly will feature more than 13 stops for photo ops, from Houston’s favorite music artists and events to iconic landmarks like the Historic Third Ward. Through Saturday, July 31. 10 am.

Improv Houston presents Bob Saget
Yes, America’s favorite, filthy-mouthed dad is coming to town, people! Bob Saget has starred in the successful TV shows Full House and America's Funniest Home Videos, but he’s also been an out-of-his-mind, Grammy-nominated standup comedian for over 30 years. From his cable specials to his scene-stealing cameos in Entourage and The Aristocrats, it’s always effective as Saget embraces his dark side. 7:30 and 9:45 pm (7 and 9:30 pm Saturday).

Saturday, June 5

Urban Harvest Farmers Market’s Annual Tomato Festival
Celebrate the peak of the tomato harvest with this annual fest. Tomato expert Dr. Bob Randall, will be on hand answering tomato questions. Guests can stop by the info booth for a specially curated tomato recipe from Tony’s chef Austin Waiter. They will be giving away olive oil from Tony's to the first 5 customers who come to the booth and sign up for the newsletter with their email address. There will also be live music from Dem Roots. 8 am.

Archway Gallery presents Joe Hale Haden: "Found Objects" opening reception
Joe Hale Haden grew up in Houston and has been making art ever since he can remember, obtaining degrees in both mechanical engineering and visual communication. He spent much of his adolescence creating drawings of life around him, as well as highly detailed blueprints for imagined homes. In this exhibition, Haden juxtaposes organic and non-organic shapes, marrying their superficial differences. Through Wednesday, July 7. 10 am.

ElectroBounce - 6 Year Anniversary of Soul Control
After a year-plus-long hiatus, the “movement-based healing” known as ElectroBounce is officially back in action this weekend, over at Shrine of the Black Madonna. This party also serves as this six-year anniversary of Soul Control, aka the ruckus-bringing duo of DJ Anarchy and DJ Elevated. It’s going to be an eclectic dance party, complete with an open bar. 10 pm.

Sunday, June 6

Children At Risk presents Big Brunch: "Bright Futures"
At this event, guests will enjoy a brunch with fried chicken, champagne & other delicacies, wine tasting games and more, all to raise support for children. The gathering will also honor some special heroes who have made extraordinary efforts throughout their careers to serve children. Special honorees include Dr. David Callender, president and CEO of Memorial Hermann Health System, Stephen Williams, director of the Houston Health Department and others. Noon.

Sunday Fund Daze Pop-up Volume 2
It’s volume two for the Sunday Fund Daze Pop-Up shop, a collabo between All Blaq Everythang and Cassy’s Kitchen. They will be rounding up local, Black-owned businesses to showcase their products and services and spotlight the incredible brands that some of their favorite entrepreneurs have built. There will be vendors, food (from Cassy’s, of course), a live DJ and a cash bar. Noon.

event-planner

Movie Review

Aaron Pierre gets revenge on corrupt cops in Netflix film Rebel Ridge

Photo by Allyson Riggs/Netflix

Aaron Pierre stars in Rebel Ridge.

There have been a number of films in the past decade or so that have confronted police brutality and/or corruption, detailing both fictional and real-life events. The seriousness of the topic has mostly kept stories confined strictly to the drama category, but the new film Rebel Ridgedares to take things into the action/thriller genre while still remaining thoughtful about the larger subject at hand.

As the film begins, Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre) is traveling by bicycle down a country road when he is followed and then crashed into by a police cruiser. Over his objections, the two officers conduct a search of his backpack, where they find a large amount of cash that Terry was going to use to bail his cousin out of jail. Without due cause, the cops confiscate the money and leave Terry to fend for himself.

While clearly upset about his mistreatment and the injustice heaped upon him, Terry continues to try work within the system to get his cousin released, only to be stymied at every turn. Left with no other option, Terry decides to confront the small-town police department, led by Chief Sandy Burnne (Don Johnson). His background in the Marines, especially a certain set of skills he learned there, make him a formidable threat, even in the face of a group of highly-armed men.

Written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier (Green Room), the film is striking in how calm Terry remains, even when he decides to resort to violent means. In his multiple interactions with the police in the first half of the film, he remains in control of his emotions at all times, refusing to give the cops any extra reason to take their anger out on him. This behavior rings true to life, a subtle but strong commentary on the expectations put on Black people in such situations.

With a low-but-pulsating score and a carefully-crafted building of tension, Saulnier gives the audience permission to want to see Terry enact his revenge on the cops. And yet, the film is far from exploitative. At the same time as he’s growing angrier by the minute with the police, he’s working with Summer McBride (AnnaSophia Robb), a court employee, to free his cousin legally. The combination of the two storylines works well, especially when the story takes a turn in the final act.

Saulnier is careful to keep the action in the film relatively realistic. While there are some moments when Terry shows extraordinary abilities, they make sense given the character’s training and never turn him into an unstoppable superhero. Even more pointed is how Terry eschews the use of guns. There are multiple times when picking up a gun is an option, and yet he picks something else every time, a moral code not often seen in films such as these.

Pierre proves to be the perfect actor for this particular role. While he’s big enough to be intimidating and has eyes that seem to pierce the soul, it’s the level-headed demeanor that he brings to the role that makes it a great performance. Johnson has just the right amount of charisma and malevolence for his part, and Robb shows a maturity that may signal the start of the next phase of her career.

Rebel Ridge plays with ideas formed from real life and similar movies to become a stirring film that hits almost all the right notes. It doesn’t necessarily have any answers for the systemic problems it includes in its story, but the righteous anger it provokes make it highly memorable.

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Rebel Ridge is now streaming on Netflix.

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