FLICKS AL FRESCO

14 best Houston-area spots showcasing summer movies under the stars

Catch the family-friendly Lilo & Stitch at Levy Park on June 28.

It's the summer, which means it's time again for various parks, urban spaces, malls, and other open areas to pull out the giant screen, fire up the digital-cinema projector and play some after-dark, outdoor movies for families.

For fans who want to skip the jam-packed indoor movie multiplexes, here are 14 places that are hosting free, open-air picture shows this season.

Axelrad
In honor of Pride Month, this Richmond spot has been having LGBTQ-themed screenings every Monday this month. The next one will be Rent (June 17) and Pride (June 24). 8:30 pm.

Baybrook Mall
The shopping center will have bi-weekly screenings out on the lawn: The Lego Movie (June 18), Incredibles 2 (July 16), Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (August 6), and Zootopia (August 20).

Discovery Green
The Green will give us only one Screen on the Green movie this summer season, and it's Mean Girls (June 29). So, whether you were a friendly high schooler or — gasp! — a Plastic, take a trip down memory lane and check this out. 9pm.

Dow Park
The park at Deer Park will host outdoor screenings of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (July 16) and Flubber (August 12). In case of rain, the screenings will move over to Earl Dunn Gym, and the Citizens Police Academy will be selling concessions. Begins at dusk.

Heritage Place
Over in Conroe, this park has an all-age screenings lined up: The Boss Baby (June 14). If you prefer to lounge in a pool while watching a flick, Conroe Aquatic Center will screen Toy Story (June 14) and the Oscar Johnson, Jr. Community Center Pool will host The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (July 12). 8:15 pm.

Historic Tomball Depot
Every second Saturday this summer, the city of Tomball will have a night of games, crafts, and a movie under the stars. Next month, there will be a Christmas-in-July screening of The Grinch (July 13), followed after that by Incredibles 2 (August 10). 6 pm.

Levy Park Conservancy
The urban space, located in the Upper Kirby District, will have Family Movie Night on the last night of every month this season. First up, there is Lilo & Stitch (June 28), followed by Trolls (July 26) and Solo: A Star Wars Story (August 30). 8 pm.

Market Square Park
This park's summer movie series was supposed to kick off on the 5th with Little Shop of Horrors, but that was cancelled due to rain. Thankfully, it has moved over to June 19. As for later in the season, they got screenings of Spaceballs (July 3) and the not-so-family-friendly Forgetting Sarah Marshall (August 7). 8:30 pm.

Midtown Park
This park will have monthly, first Saturday screenings up until the end of the year. This summer, there will be screenings of Dirty Dancing (July 6), everybody's favorite Patrick Swayze movie (next to Road House, of course), and Central Intelligence (August 6). 7 pm.

Miller Outdoor Theatre
The legendary outdoor theatre will be dropping a few outdoor screenings this summer. This month, there will be a screening of Crazy Rich Asians (June 14). There's nothing in July, but the following month will give us Black Panther (August 20) and Top Gun (August 21). 8 pm.

Saengerfest Park
The Galveston park will have Movie Nite on the Strand on the first Friday of the summer months, with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (July 6) and Ralph Breaks the Internet (August 3). There will also be a special, Apollo 11-anniversary screening of First Man (July 20). 8 pm.

The Square at Memorial City
At the moment, this spot appears to only have one Friday Family Movie Night planned this summer: The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (June 14). You can bring your blankets and lawn chairs, or grab a patio seat at Maggiano's Little Italy or The Cheesecake Factory for a dinner-or-a-movie experience. 7 pm.

Sugar Land Town Square
This location's Movies Under the Moon is another series that will go on right up to December. As for what they have for the summer, there will be second-Saturday screenings of Smallfoot (June 15), The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (July 13), and Christopher Robin (August 10). 8:30 pm.

VFW Park
The City of Katy launches its Katy Summer Nights movie series with a screening of The Emperor's New Groove (June 15) and plenty of yummy popcorn. Other as-yet-determined movies will unspool on July 12 and August 8. 8 pm.

movies

Movie Review

Jessica Chastain gets in a tangled love story in new drama Dreams

Photo courtesy of Teorema

Isaac Hernández and Jessica Chastain in Dreams.

The opening scenes of the new drama Dreams are bracing, fictional sequences that call to mind real-life scenarios. In them, a young Mexican man named Fernando (Isaac Hernández) goes through a somewhat harrowing journey from the back of a semi truck in South Texas all the way to San Francisco. It’s a familiar immigrant story that seems to set the stage for a film with something interesting to say.

It turns out, however, that Fernando has not made the long and arduous trek for a job. Instead, it’s to be with Jennifer McCarthy (Jessica Chastain), a rich woman who helps lead a foundation dedicated to multiple things, including funding dance academies. Fernando, a talented dancer, and Jennifer have been in an off-and-on affair for years, with Jennifer wanting to keep their relationship a secret.

Although both are drawn to each other in an inexplicable, lustful way, their bond is tenuous, with each of them dissatisfied for different reasons. Fernando clearly sacrifices much more of himself than Jennifer, who wants for nothing except maybe more affection from her father, Michael (Marshall Bell), and brother, Jake (Rupert Friend).

Writer/director Michel Franco seems to try to inject tension into Fernando and Jennifer’s relationship from the start, an attempt that is only halfway successful. It’s clear from the way they greet each other - not to mention a steamy sex scene shortly thereafter - that they have known each other for a good length of time. Franco is able to get across this familiarity with an economy of scenes, and the intensity of their bond holds for a while.

But as the film progresses and both of them grow disenchanted with their arrangement, Franco starts taking the story in some odd directions. The biggest issue is that it’s never clear at what point in time the story is taking place. Fernando ends up making multiple trips back and forth across the border, with Jennifer doing the same at one point, and Franco’s use of flashbacks muddies the waters, wrong-footing the audience when he should be trying to draw them further into Fernando and Jennifer’s complications.

Revelations in the final act make the story even more confusing, as both main characters start saying and doing harsh things that seem to come out of nowhere. That would be all well and good if Franco actually committed to their changes of heart, but he keeps things wishy-washy for most of the final 15 minutes, resulting in an ending that makes little sense for either character.

Despite the story issues, both Chastain and Hernández give compelling performances. Chastain has been a little under the radar since winning an Oscar for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, but she keeps this character interesting longer than it should have been. Hernández has limited credits and appears to have been cast for his dancing ability, but he goes toe-to-toe with Chastain on more than one occasion and acquits himself well.

Dreams had all of the ideas to explore a more in-depth story about the complicated immigration policies between Mexico and the U.S., or how wealthy people take advantage of those less fortunate. But Franco never finds the right footing, settling instead for a titillating and somewhat mystifying relationship story that feels half-baked.

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Dreams is now playing in select theaters.

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