august on the rooftop

Houston's rooftop cinema reveals romantic August lineup full of sultry summer hits and themed nights

Rooftop Cinema Club Houston night skyline

Have the time of your life with your sweetie on the rooftop.

Photo by Rooftop Cinema Club Houston

If summer movies have taught us anything, it’s that the sweltering season is ideal for a sizzling romance. Now, Houston’s Rooftop Cinema Club is taking that theme to heart with the announcement of its new August lineup.

The popular outdoor movie experience, located in Uptown Park at BLVD Place, has unveiled a month of what’s dubbed as “Rooftop Romance” for August. The celebration of love and film features romantic comedies, musicals, and iconic love films for an ultimate date night under the stars, or a special night out with the girls.

Couples (and would-be couples) can look forward to an August 12 special Single’s Night paired with a screening of Hitch. Guests can get some advice on ways to spice up their love life and answers to burning romantic questions. Sure to spark some intrigue is the Rooftop’s version of Love Connection.

In what promises to be a memorable Instagram or Facebook story, urbane cowboys and cowgirls can hop on a mechanical bull at the August 31 screening of Urban Cowboy, which features a countrified, Insta-worthy setting that pays homage to John Travolta and Debra Winger, plus themed cocktails (perfect to down after a sweaty bull ride).

This month, the club leads up to the romantic August theme with a weekly “date night” giveaway; guests can win one of Rooftop’s coveted “love seats” by following the official Instagram page, posting a photo with their favorite movie companion, and tagging #RooftopRomance. (The contest ends July 31.)

Fans can expect a return of the rooftop cinema’s sing-along nights, with chances to belt out choruses to fun flicks such as Grease.

Tickets for the August lineup go on sale online at noon Wednesday, July 10. To paraphrase ’80s icon Ferris Bueller (and CultureMap food editor Eric Sandler): Tickets move pretty fast: If you don’t stop and look, you could miss them.

Prices start at $17 per person for a one-person lounge seat. A single-person seat with the addition of bottomless popcorn is $20. Tickets for couples, or a roomier love seat, plus bottomless popcorn, are $24 per person. New for spring is a student discount ticket starting at $15.30, with valid ID required the night of the event.

As always, the cinema will serve up movie grub from Good Dog Houston, which offers three dogs: the Picnic Dog, the Uptown Dog, and The Dude. Additional fare includes fruit and cheese plates, frito pie, and chili cheese nachos. Adult beverages include a full bar with craft cocktails, local beer options, and an assortment of wines.

Here is the full August movie lineup, which features screenings every night (doors open nightly at 6:30 pm) throughout the month:

August 1 – Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets
August 2 – Dirty Dancing
August 3 – Love & Basketball
August 4 – Selena
August 5 – Higher Learning
August 6 – Casablanca
August 7 – Bohemian Rhapsody
August 8 – A Star is Born
August 9 – The Notebook
August 10 – Closed for private event
August 11 – About Time
August 12 – Hitch
August 13 – The Wood
August 14 – 8 Seconds
August 15 – Pretty Woman
August 16 – La La Land
August 17 – Closed for private event
August 18 – Maid in Manhattan
August 19 – My Best Friend's Wedding
August 20 – Selena
August 21 – Brown Sugar
August 22 – Say Anything
August 23 – The Proposal
August 24 – Hope Floats
August 25 – Grease (Sing-along)
August 26 – A League of Their Own
August 27 – 500 Days of Summer
August 28 – True Romance
August 29 – A Star is Born
August 30 – Bohemian Rhapsody
August 31 – Urban Cowboy

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Rooftop Cinema Club is located at BLVD Place above Whole Foods, 1700 Post Oak Blvd. For tickets and information, visit the official site.

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Movie Review

Feuding couple fights for survival in dark comedy Over Your Dead Body

Photo courtesy of IFC Films

Jason Segel and Samara Weaving on Over Your Dead Body.

When dysfunctional couples are depicted in movies, about the worst that typically happens is an acrimonious divorce. But in the new comedy/thriller Over Your Dead Body, the husband-and-wife have already gone way past that point by the time they’re introduced to the audience, with their plans leaning toward murder.

Dan (Jason Segel) is a low-level filmmaker relegated to directing pop-up ads, while Lisa (Samara Weaving) is an actor making do in small theater productions. The film finds them heading toward a rare getaway to a remote lake cabin, but it’s clear from the start that the married couple has been at odds for months, if not years. As the film begins, Dan clumsily drops hints at an alibi for his planned murder of Lisa to his ailing dad (Paul Guilfoyle) and others.

His shoddy planning was already sussed out by Lisa, who turns the tables on him when he tries to attack her, revealing a plan of her own. The situation naturally heightens their shared enmity of each other, but their blind hatred turns out to reveal the presence of Pete (Timothy Olyphant) and Todd (Keith Jardine), two escapees from a nearby prison who were helped by guard Allegra (Juliette Lewis). What was once a shared murder plan turns into a fight for survival, forcing Dan and Lisa to work together.

Directed by Jorma Taccone (The Lonely Island) and written by former SNL writers Nick Kocher and Briand McElhaney, the film aims to mine comedy out of darkness. Dan and Lisa’s ire for each other is palpable, and their interactions early in the film are uncomfortable. As the film turns increasingly violent with the introduction of other unsavory characters, most of the humor is derived from the creative ways people are attacked and the ultraviolence that results from them going after each other.

It’s a little tough to get fully invested in the story when the filmmakers throw the audience directly into the plot with almost zero setup. There’s not even a cursory montage of Dan and Lisa being in love, so it’s hard to care a lot about their current hate for each other. Likewise, the presence of the prison guard and escapees is completely random, and the three of them aren’t utilized well in the story despite having a couple of well-known actors portraying them.

The saving grace of the film, though, is the twists and turns it takes in the final act. Everyone on screen is put through the wringer, with each of them suffering multiple injuries or worse. The mayhem becomes so chaotic that it’s almost impossible to tell what’s going to happen next, which slightly makes up for the fact that the story as a whole is lackluster. Even though the audience knows they’re being manipulated, the sequences are entertaining enough to overcome that fact.

The cast as a whole is solid. Segel (How I Met Your Mother, Shrinking) uses his comic sensibility to keep the proceedings light. Weaving (Ready or Not) has done multiple movies in this vein, so she knows how to navigate the comedy/thriller waters. Olyphant feels a little out of place, but he has a presence that elevates his part. Lewis goes a little too manic in her part, and Jardine ably embodies the dumb brute.

The comedy history of Taccone, Segel, and Weaving keeps Over Your Dead Body as a positive experience even when the story doesn’t quite measure up. The film never becomes fully predictable, giving the audience a great dose of pandemonium that lifts it up despite its other faults.

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Over Your Dead Body is now playing in theaters.

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