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.

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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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