weekend event planner

Here are the top 9 things to do in Houston this weekend

Broken Bone Bathtub might be the most unique, theater-going experience local audiences will have this year.

Photo courtesy of Broken Bone Bathtub

Fans of the Conjuring universe who can't wait for Annabelle Comes Home to hit theaters this weekend: there is a truck tour coming to town that's just for you.

The Annabelle Comes Home Artifact Tour, which has already made stops in Las Vegas, Phoenix, and San Antonio, will be at Jones Plaza on Thursday and Friday, 1-9 pm. This tour will have a whole bunch of stuff ready to creep you out, including the Annabelle doll, which we believe will be available for photos.

If you prefer to have a scare-free weekend, here are some other fun events:

Thursday, June 27

Broken Bone Bathtub at a mystery location
Broken Bone Bathtub sounds like the most unique, theater-going experience local audiences will have this year. This one-person play takes place around a woman's bathtub, at an actual local private residence. Written and performed by Siobhan O'Loughlin, this production has her soaking in her tub after a serious bike accident, sharing her story to her close friends (played by the audience). The actual location of the event (which will run through July 7) will be released to ticket holders the day of the event. 7 and 9 pm.

Gentle/Men at MATCH
For the next three days, independent dance-producer John Beasant III will make his choreographic Houston debut with Gentle/Men. The show, which consists of contemporary dance suites, dance-film, and prose (featuring 10 Houston male dance artists) celebrates men in dance, aims to advocate for acceptance of the American male dancer, and brings awareness of the art form from a male perspective. 7 pm (7:30 pm Friday and Saturday).

Friday, June 28

Sweet Sweet Summer at SLTX Studios
Yet another pop-up exhibit/photo-op destination with a sugary theme has arrived this summer. So, what's so special about this one? For starters, it's at Sugar Land Town Square. Guests can “tropic like it’s hot” as they take part in snapping their best selfie at the pool scene or in the “you are my sunshine” room, along with more than 20 other Instagrammable installations. This will run through July 21. 11 am (noon Sunday).

Closing parties at Gravity
Some places can't go on forever — and Gravity is one of those places. The midtown Houston nightspot will be closing down, and it's going out with not one, but two final parties. The first one on Friday will have underground DJs Mateusz, Geez, Chaz Evertt, and John Stewart spinning those sweet dance grooves. The Saturday party will be known as "Event Horizon," with DJs spinning inside the club as well as on the patio. 9 pm (8 pm Saturday).

Saturday, June 29

City Acre Brewing Co.'s 3rd Anniversary
We don't know how Meredith Borders does it. By day, she's the managing editor of the new-and-improved Fangoria Magazine, writing and editing pieces for the legendary horror-movie periodical. But by night (and also part of the day), she's the co-owner of City Acre Brewing Co., a brewery/tavern she runs with husband Matt Schlabach. This weekend, the couple will be celebrating their third year of business with — what else? — a third-anniversary party. Noon to 5 pm.

Mexstep at Cactus Music
His name is Marco Cervantes, but dude goes by several names: Mexstep, MSG and — our favorite — Mexican StepGrandfather. The San Antonio rapper/producer/scholar will be in Houston promoting his 2018 album Resistir, which breaks down histories of colonialism in Texas and beyond and pushes education and awareness in these current times of continued occupation and violence. Joining him will be DJs Chicken George and Flash Gordon Parks. 1 pm.

Texas Music Festival “Grand Finale” concert
Lovers of classical music won't want to miss this. Celebrating its 30th anniversary season, the Immanuel and Helen Olshan Texas Music Festival one-month international music residency features rising stars around the globe. The festival has been going on since June 1 and closes its 2019 TMF Orchestra Series today at the University of Houston's Moores Opera House. This “Grand Finale” concert will feature the epic Mahler: Symphony 6, also known as “Tragic.” Josep Caballé-Domenech will conduct the dramatic four-movement work. The concert will kick off with pre-concert musical performances by members of Virtuosi of Houston and pre-concert lecture at 6:30 p.m., followed by the concert at 7:30 p.m. $25; students and seniors tickets, $15.

Sunday, June 30

Anita Baker at Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land
Back in the good ol' 80s, Anita Baker was the queen of R&B. When she broke out with her 1986 sophomore album Rapture, which featured the Grammy-winning hit "Sweet Love," Baker became the go-to songstress for both urban-contemporary and adult-contemporary audiences. Even though she hasn't dropped a new album since Christmas Fantasy in 2005, she still continues to tour, always giving us the best that she's got. 8 pm.

Black Dynamite at Rooftop Cinema Club
A decade ago, director Scott Sanders and actor/occasional action star Michael Jai White teamed up to make the funniest movie spoof since Airplane! But instead of mocking '70s disaster movies, the pair did a blaxploitation salute/sendup with Black Dynamite. White plays the title character, an Afro-ed killer of both ladies and bad guys who is a better Shaft knockoff than the one Samuel L. Jackson is currently playing in theaters. 8:30 pm.

event-planner

Movie Review

Comedic horror movie Y2K takes nostalgic trip with mayhem twist

Photo courtesy of A24

Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler, and Julian Dennison in Y2K.

Movies that rely on nostalgia can be successful if they’re timed right. Generally, 25-30 years seems about the right amount of time to try to take advantage of people’s fond feelings for a certain era, which is why movies/TV shows about the ‘80s have been prevalent for much of the 21st century, and ‘90s-set films started to pop up in the last 10 years.

Y2K, a horror comedy that plays on the fears of technological mayhem many people thought would happen at the turn of the century, is right on the cusp of that rule, taking place 24 years after its timeline. It centers on two teenage boys, Eli (Jaeden Martell) and Danny (Julian Dennison), who are opposite in demeanor but have an unshakeable bond. Eli likes a popular girl, Laura (Rachel Zegler), and Danny convinces him to crash a New Year’s Eve party where she’ll be.

As the clock strikes midnight and the year moves from 1999 to 2000, everything that uses an electrical current goes haywire, with many of them combining forces to attack the humans around them. Eli and Danny find themselves on the run with Laura, as well as two stoners, Ash (Lachlan Watson) and CJ (Daniel Zolghadri), with each of them trying to use their unique skillset to help defeat a growing robot army.

Directed by Kyle Mooney and written by Mooney and Evan Winter, the film lands some solid jokes about the era in its opening 20 minutes or so, whether it’s the extreme slowness of dial-up internet, the goofy user names from AOL Messenger, or the various high school cliques of the time. However, many of them seem to echo ones told in 1999’s American Pie, a weird kind of art-imitating-art moment instead of commenting on real life.

The jolt of the machines attacking partygoers seems to promise a fun — if bloody — romp, but Mooney and Winter don’t seem to know where to take the story. They establish the computer bona fides of Eli and Laura early on, but when it comes time for them to put their talents in action, it feels like two actors going through the motions instead of real people who know what they’re doing. Almost none of the characters are believable or entertaining, and the few that rise above are dispatched way too early.

And because the filmmakers don’t make you care about the main group, nothing they face is that interesting, either. The villainous robots are made up of a bunch of disparate parts, which would seem to offer the opportunity for funny sight gags. Mooney and his team fumble most of their chances, though, leaving that side of the story stuck in limbo where it’s not absurd enough to be hilarious or scary enough to really count as horror.

Martell, Dennison, and Zegler are each rising stars who have their individual charms, but only Dennison is able to make much of an impact. Zegler, who starred in West Side Story and will soon be Snow White, is especially misused. They try to shoehorn in a cameo by Limp Biskit lead singer Fred Durst, but his appearance makes little sense and adds almost nothing to the story.

Filmmakers who want to mine nostalgia, especially in a comedy, need to really commit to the bit instead of throwing in a few references and needle drops. Mooney, who’s making his directorial debut, demonstrates little feel for timing, and so most of the film is like a car spinning its wheels, going nowhere.

---

Y2K opens in theaters on December 6.

movies film