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

Adam Scott explores creepy Irish hotel in moody horror movie Hokum

Photo courtesy of Neon

Adam Scott in Hokum.

There are relatively few actors who can switch back and forth between comedy and drama easily, but Adam Scott is the rare exception. He’s equally as well known for starring in comedy projects like Parks & Recreation, Party Down, and Step Brothers as he is for dramas like Big Little Lies and Severance. He’s going the latter route again in the new horror film, Hokum.

Scott plays author Ohm Bauman, who’s trying to finish his latest book. In an effort to avoid distractions and also pay tribute to his parents, he retreats to an Irish hotel where his mom and dad spent their honeymoon. Bauman, who is about as stand-offish as you can get, and the staff of the hotel are at odds almost right away, although Bauman finds a kind of kinship with Jerry (David Wilmot), a seemingly-homeless man he meets in a nearby forest.

Bauman becomes intrigued with the story of the hotel’s closed-off honeymoon suite, which is said to be haunted. His curiosity, though, seems to trigger a variety of strange things, one of which ends with him in an extended stay at the hospital. He returns to the hotel determined more than ever to discover what’s really happening in the honeymoon suite, with things both normal and supernatural blocking his way at every turn.

Written and directed by Irish filmmaker Damian McCarthy, the film’s approach to horror is both subtle and overt. On the good side is Bauman’s story, which gradually gets deeper as more is revealed about his past, especially the premature death of his mother. Bauman’s trauma over her loss influences his thinking and actions, and a possible connection between his current situation and his personal history broadens the scope of the plot.

There is plenty of creepiness to be found in the film, starting with the dark and decrepit nature of the hotel itself. Any building where a particular room is off-limits naturally inspires intrigue, and McCarthy does a solid job of building tension. That’s why it’s strange and disappointing that he gives in to the lamest of horror tropes - a sudden appearance by an odd-looking person accompanied by a big screeching noise - on multiple occasions.

The film is at its best when it features weird moments that are never or only slightly explained. A dead body in a rabbit suit is echoed by the unexplained broadcast from Bauman’s youth featuring a terrifying TV host with bulging eyes and rabbit ears. Bauman’s explorations take him into the hotel’s basement via a dumbwaiter, where he encounters all manner of strange things, including what seem to be witches. Because most of these things are left to the audience’s imagination, they hit harder in the moment.

Scott is known to be understated in his acting, and that skill works well in this particular role. Although he clearly plays Bauman as freaked out, he never indicates panic, and that level-headedness makes his character someone you want to follow no matter how dark the path might be. The mostly-Irish supporting cast is not well-known, but Wilmot and Florence Ordesh make the most of their short time on screen.

Hokum — a title that is also not explained — is a horror film that earns its bona fides through mood more than action. Even though not much of consequence happens throughout the film, it still keeps you on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what will happen next.

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Hokum is now playing in theaters.

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