weekend event planner

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

Urban South brews up some fun this weekend.

Film fans can expect a horde of film-related things popping off this weekend.

The first Houston Horror Film Fest will be happening at Houston Marriott South. Pride 2021, Houston Cinema Arts Society and Goethe Pop Up Houston will present a backyard screening of the 1989 German film Coming Out. At 14 Pews, there will be Bunny Lady's Crash Film Series on Friday and the Houston Underwater Film Festival on Saturday and Sunday.

And remember when we hollered at one of the filmmakers of the movie Drunk Bus last month? They will be having a Sunday-night screening of the movie at Moonstruck Drive-In, followed by a Q & A.

Non-cinephiles can enjoy these fun, weekend offerings.

Thursday, June 24

Ars Lyrica presents A Bach Keyboard Extravaganza
Ars Lyrica Houston’s harpsichordist and conductor Matthew Dirst will collaborate with The Baroque Music Festival, Corona del Mar, and the San Francisco Early Music Society to offer an immersive concert experience to an international audience through an online program. The performances and commentary were captured in May at Rienzi, the MFAH House Museum for European Decorative Arts and at St. Philip Presbyterian Church, Houston, where Dirst serves as organist. 7 pm.

Shenandoah and Collin Raye in concert
Fueled by Marty Raybon’s distinctive vocals and the band’s skilled musicianship, Shenandoah became well known for delivering such hits as “Two Dozen Roses,” “Church on Cumberland Road,” and the Grammy-winning “Somewhere in the Vicinity of the Heart” duet with Alison Krauss. For this show, they'll be joined by '90s hitmaker Collin Raye, who continues to crank out soulful, heartfelt material with the honesty and richness that is signature to his vocals alone. 8:30 pm.

Friday, June 25

Regent Square presents Market Days
Kick off the last weekend of Pride month at this pop-up evening art market, in partnership with The Art Center of Houston. There will be food trucks and beer from 8th Wonder Brewery as guests peruse local artisans selling jewelry and accessories, artwork, candles, apothecary, and culinary treats. The first 50 attendees will receive complimentary, tie-dye T-shirt art kits. Additional tie-dye art kits will be available for purchase for the remainder of the evening. 5 pm.

Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts presents Texas Music Festival: Jazz Institute Concert
The Texas Music Festival presents an all-star high school jazz orchestra, directed by Noe Marmolejo. This event will be presented live and in person. Live events will be performed without intermission and seating will be assigned by ushers upon arrival to ensure proper social distancing between parties during the performance. The performance will also be livestreamed for patrons and supporters who prefer to enjoy the concert from the comfort and safety of their homes. 7 pm.

Improv Houston presents Christopher Titus
Christopher Titus is a prolific stand-up comedian, writer, actor, producer and podcaster. He is currently performing his ninth, 90-minute special Stories I Shouldn't Tell, while his most recent hit special Amerigeddon, is available on Amazon. Most recently, Chris wrote, produced, directed and starred in the feature Special Unit, about a team of special-needs people who form an undercover police unit. 7:30 and 9:45 pm (7 and 9:30 pm Saturday; 7:30 pm Sunday).

Saturday, June 26

"Jagdeep Raina: Bonds" at Blaffer Art Museum
Jagdeep Raina illustrates and reimagines stories and scenes from across the Kashmiri and Punjabi Sikh diasporas. Through drawings, writings, paintings, weavings and videos, Raina examines diverse histories of transnational migration and mobility and their effects on contemporary life. The exhibition marks Raina’s first solo museum presentation in the United States, featuring a selection of artworks made over the last six years. Through Sunday, October 24. Noon.

Urban South HTX presents Boom Shaka Lager Fest
Urban South HTX will present a new beer festival showcasing lager beers from more than 15 different craft breweries. The event will feature unique lagers from Texas breweries, including Urban South HTX, Great Heights Brewing Co., Celestial Beerworks, Holler Brewing Co., Ingenious Brewing Co. and oh-so-much-more. Tickets are priced at $25 each, come with a commemorative seven-ounce Urban South tasting glass and include five pours during the event. 2 pm.

Hennything HTX at Bayou Event Center
Are you a fan of all things Hennessy? Well, check out this celebration of the world's most popular cognac, along with food, culture and entertainment. Come thirsty with friends and the fam to a Henny function for the books. Enjoy live entertainment including local bands, DJ's, vendors and interactive games. They will be pouring beer, spirits and, of course, all your favorite Henny concoctions. And let's not forget about the twerk contest! 3 pm.

Sunday, June 27

Mr. Magoo's Sunday Sunday at Bayou Event Center
Get ready for an afternoon of fun, food and drinks, to raise money for the four-legged critters at Citizens for Animal Protection. We're talking a live and silent auction, vendor booths, a snow cone truck, a face painter and a caricature artist for the kiddos and, of course, mimosas, beer, and wine for the adults — along with some great food too. There will also be the announcement of the celebrity pet of the year candidates for this year's November gala. 2 pm.

Beer-Jam at Karbach Brewing Company
One of Houston's most popular breweries is hosting a country music jam starring Jason Allen, Sarah Hobbs, Clay Hollis, and Andrew Millsaps — plus some potential surprise guests. The free show also offers a VIP experience ($55) with heavy hors d'oeuvres, a meet & greet with featured talent, an exclusive beer-tasting experience with a special release, a private pre-show performance, swag bag, VIP seating, and club access that includes a private tent with covered seating for the main stage performance. Free; VIP is $55. 2 pm.

event-planner

Movie Review

Meta-comedy remake Anaconda coils itself into an unfunny mess

Photo by Matt Grace

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda.

In Hollywood’s never-ending quest to take advantage of existing intellectual property, seemingly no older movie is off limits, even if the original was not well-regarded. That’s certainly the case with 1997’s Anaconda, which is best known for being a lesser entry on the filmography of Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez, as well as some horrendous accent work by Jon Voight.

The idea behind the new meta-sequel Anaconda is arguably a good one. Four friends — Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) — who made homemade movies when they were teenagers decide to remake Anaconda on a shoestring budget. Egged on by Griff, an actor who can’t catch a break, the four of them pull together enough money to fly down to Brazil, hire a boat, and film a script written by Doug.

Naturally, almost nothing goes as planned in the Amazon, including losing their trained snake and running headlong into a criminal enterprise. Soon enough, everything else takes second place to the presence of a giant anaconda that is stalking them and anyone else who crosses its path.

Written and directed by Tom Gormican, with help from co-writer Kevin Etten, the film is designed to be an outrageous comedy peppered with laugh-out-loud moments that cover up the fact that there’s really no story. That would be all well and good … if anything the film had to offer was truly funny. Only a few scenes elicit any honest laughter, and so instead the audience is fed half-baked jokes, a story with no focus, and actors who ham it up to get any kind of reaction.

The biggest problem is that the meta-ness of the film goes too far. None of the core four characters possess any interesting traits, and their blandness is transferred over to the actors playing them. And so even as they face some harrowing situations or ones that could be funny, it’s difficult to care about anything they do since the filmmakers never make the basic effort of making the audience care about them.

It’s weird to say in a movie called Anaconda, but it becomes much too focused on the snake in the second half of the film. If the goal is to be a straight-up comedy, then everything up to and including the snake attacks should be serving that objective. But most of the time the attacks are either random or moments when the characters are already scared, and so any humor that could be mined all but disappears.

Black and Rudd are comedy all-stars who can typically be counted on to elevate even subpar material. That’s not the case here, as each only scores on a few occasions, with Black’s physicality being the funniest thing in the movie. Newton is not a good fit with this type of movie, and she isn’t done any favors by some seriously bad wigs. Zahn used to be the go-to guy for funny sidekicks, but he brings little to the table in this role.

Any attempt at rebooting/remaking an old piece of IP should make a concerted effort to differentiate itself from the original, and in that way, the new Anaconda succeeds. Unfortunately, that’s its only success, as the filmmakers can never find the right balance to turn it into the bawdy comedy they seemed to want.

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Anaconda is now playing in theaters.

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