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

Action-packed Kraven the Hunter showcases gritty Marvel antihero

Photo by Jay Maidment

Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Kraven the Hunter.

One of the oddest things about the blockbuster era we live in is that while Disney owns the rights to the majority of Marvel comic book characters, Sony Pictures owns the rights to Spider-Man and any affiliated characters. Since they’re sharing Spider-Man himself with Disney, Sony has been trying to capitalize on those rights by making stand-alone films using niche characters that only comic book fanatics would know.

Having exhausted Venom and whiffed on attempts with Morbius and Madame Web, they’re trying again with Kraven the Hunter. Also known as Sergei Kravinoff, Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is a self-styled vigilante who, as the film tells it, travels the world exacting vengeance on the truly bad people of the world. He’s the son of Nikolai (Russell Crowe), a hard-edged Russian oligarch, and brother to Dmitri (Fred Hechinger), who is relatively weak compared to the rest of his family.

The origin story has Kraven gaining his animal-like powers - including super-strength, speed, and jumping abilities - as a teenager from a mysterious serum given to him by a girl named Calypso (played as an adult by Ariana DeBose) after he was mauled by a lion. The two maintain a tenuous partnership as adults, with Calypso helping him hunt down other villains like Aleksei Sytsevich (Alessandro Nivola) and The Foreigner (Christopher Abbott).

Directed by J.C. Chandor and written by Richard Wenk, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway, the film looks and feels enormously lazy, something made merely to hold on to potentially valuable intellectual property. Other than the tense family dynamic between the Kravinovs, little makes sense in the story. Kraven has an indecipherable moral code that has him going after poachers - because he’s part lion? - in addition to other high-powered criminals, with no clear goal except to … get back at his father?

The laziness extends to the action scenes, which feature Kraven being mostly impervious to any damage, whether it’s hand-to-hand combat, knives, or guns. The CGI-heavy scenes don’t even allow moviegoers to enjoy an R-rated bloody free-for-all, as all of the blood splatter is computer-generated, too. Since apparently one Spider-Man villain is not enough, three others make appearances with abilities that are under-explained and CGI that is poorly done.

That’s not even counting Calypso, another Spider-Man villain whose purpose in this film is nebulous at best. Her early connection with Kraven is so coincidental as to be laughable, and her continued reasons for helping him as an adult strain credulity as well. The only saving grace of her presence is that the filmmakers don’t try to shoehorn romance into the plot; perhaps they’re saving that for the (inevitable?) sequel.

Taylor-Johnson has had one of the most prolific-yet-anonymous careers in modern Hollywood, with appearances in big films like The Fall Guy, Bullet Train, and Tenet that have made very little impact. Even as the star here, he fails to hold your attention, with the story and visuals doing him no favors. DeBose has followed up her Oscar win for West Side Story with schlock like I.S.S., Argylle, and this, which doesn’t bode well for her career. At least Crowe gets to chew the scenery.

With a contractual inability to mention the name “Spider-Man,” movies like Kraven the Hunter exist in a weird area that forces filmmakers to make up stories for characters to which most people have no attachment. And just like Sony’s previous efforts, it is a very poor way to spend two hours in a movie theater; avoid at all costs.

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Kraven the Hunter opens in theaters on December 13.

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