weekend event planner

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

Sebastian Maniscalo brings his brand of kooky comedy to town.

This weekend, cosplayers and comic-book will be flocking to Comicpalooza on Saturday and Sunday. Expect downtown Houston to be a straight-up geekapalooza.

However, for those with — shall we say a more "refined" — taste, Sunday is National Caviar Day. Several spots will be taking advantage of this with special caviar-related events, including The Annie Cafe and Bar, Turner's and Uchi Houston. Also, check out our National Caviar Day coverage here.

Also this weekend, look for a local theater's big event, beer-fueled bashes, a bar anniversary party, fun markets, and a red-hot comic coming to town. Here are your best bets for the weekend.

Thursday, July 15

Express Theatre presents Rhyme & Reason
This virtual event will feature music, dance, and performance poetry, presenting Black history from ancient Africa to today. The production features poetry by Houston Poet Laureate Emeritus Deborah DEEP Mouton and members of her slam poetry team, with a special appearance by Lauren Anderson, the world’s first African American prima ballerina, from the Houston Ballet. There will also be a short Q&A with the cast. 10 am.

The Riot Comedy Show presents The Interruption with Tre Tutson
For those who have ever checked out went to LA and checked out The Benson Interruption, where comedian Doug Benson would interject other comics doing their sets on-stage, The Riot Comedy Show has something just like it. A hand-selected lineup of comedians have agreed to be interrupted in the middle of their performance by Tru Tutson, one of the most flippant, unfiltered, abrasive, and hilarious Houston comedians who always gets the last word in with these comics. 7:30 pm.

Friday, July 16

Big Trouble in Little China Watch Party & Beer Release
To celebrate the 35th Anniversary of John Carpenter's wacky 1986 adventure, Eureka Heights is showing the film on their new titan screen. Come early and grab yourself a good seat and pint or a 4-pack of their new Golden Six Shooter Golden Ale. They worked closely with co-star/man of many weapons himself Gerald Okamura on this brew. They will also be giving away autographed items and swag to a few lucky fans in attendance. 7 pm.

Sebastian Maniscalco: Nobody Does This Tour
Along with being perhaps the only comic to have a obsessed fan in E! personality Giuliana Rancic, Sebastian Maniscalco has celebrated heights only a few comedians ever achieve. In addition to his stand-out stand-up career, which has seen him headlines at arenas across the country, he has appeared in movies like Tag, Green Book, and The Irishman. He's now on the road, ready to make a stop in Houston as part of his Nobody Does This tour. 7 pm.

Theatre Southwest presents All in the Timing
All in the Timing is a collection of one-act plays by David Ives. The short plays are almost all comedies, which such titles as Words, Words, Words, Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread, and Variations on the Death of Trotsky. These plays focus mainly on language and wordplay, existentialist perspectives on life and meaning, as well as the complications involved in romantic relationships. This will run through Saturday, July 31. 8 pm. (3 pm Sunday).

Saturday, July 17

Brews & Browse Art Market
Bring the family out to the Ingenious Brewing Co Brewing Company (where they have some monthly events as a night of beer and lobster!) and join them for this new, monthly gathering full of beer, food, art, and handmade fun. They will have a full selection of beer on tap, wine by the glass and bottled soda for sale. GastroCraft will be serving up some delicious grub to satisfy your hunger. And let's not forget all the art vendors that will be selling all their creative stuff. Noon.

Revelry on Richmond 7 Year Anniversary Party
Revelry is going all-in for their seven-year anniversary party this weekend. They'll also be celebrating surviving the COVID-19 pandemic, and want to give thanks to everyone that helped support them. The sports bar will turn into a casino for the night with fun games like blackjack, craps, roulette, and more. They will also be raffling off cool raffle prizes throughout the night, such as Astros tickets, a two-night stay at the Heights House Hotel, a foursome at Houston National Golf Club and much more. 7 pm.

Community Music Center of Houston presents Family Funk Festival
This funk celebration will be intergenerational, beginning in the 1970s to the present. Some of Houston’s great musicians, including Vivian Mosley and her band The Storm, will perform hits from Parliament, Funkadelic, George Clinton, and others. After intermission, Tweed Smith, a former member of the funk band War, will wow audiences with some of their greatest hits. The uniqueness of this concert is that it includes both classic and new songs in the world of funk. 8:30 pm.

Sunday, July 18

Legacy Community Health presents Mint Julep
For close to 40 years, Legacy has led the fight against HIV, opening its doors to the LGBTQ+ community in 1978 as the Montrose Clinic. Now in its 19th year, this legendary Houston LGBTQ event will honor Jani Lopez, a former Mint Julep chairperson and long-time supporter of Legacy's mission to drive healthy change. The event's integrated approach to care has helped give patients the opportunity to live healthier, more productive lives, and help end the spread of HIV. 10 am.

Cosmic Creature Events presents Solar Summer Food Fest
Located at the back patio of Social Beer Garden HTX, this is a celebration of all things: smoked and savory, spicy and sweet, cheesy and mouthwatering. But, mostly, this is an event made for Houstonians by Houstonians! They will have a plethora of local eats and sweets for you to enjoy. There will be plenty of options to fit every taste and diet. Bring your family and friends. Vegan options available. 6 pm.

event-planner

Movie Review

Avatar: Fire and Ash returns to Pandora with big action and bold visuals

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Oona Chaplin in Avatar: Fire and Ash.

For a series whose first two films made over $5 billion combined worldwide, Avatar has a curious lack of widespread cultural impact. The films seem to exist in a sort of vacuum, popping up for their run in theaters and then almost as quickly disappearing from the larger movie landscape. The third of five planned movies, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is finally being released three years after its predecessor, Avatar: The Way of Water.

The new film finds the main duo, human-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his native Na’vi wife, Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), still living with the water-loving Metkayina clan led by Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis). While Jake and Neytiri still play a big part, the focus shifts significantly to their two surviving children, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as two they’ve essentially adopted, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Spider (Jack Champion).

Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who lives on in a fabricated Na’vi body, is still looking for revenge on Jake, and he finds help in the form of the Mangkwan Clan (aka the Ash People), led by Varang (Oona Chaplin). Quaritch’s access to human weapons and the Mangkwan’s desire for more power on the moon known as Pandora make them a nice match, and they team up to try to dominate the other tribes.

Aside from the story, the main point of making the films for writer/director James Cameron is showing off his considerable technical filmmaking prowess, and that is on full display right from the start. The characters zoom around both the air and sea on various creatures with which they’ve bonded, providing Cameron and his team with plenty of opportunities to put the audience right there with them. Cameron’s preferred viewing method of 3D makes the experience even more immersive, even if the high frame rate he uses makes some scenes look too realistic for their own good.

The story, as it has been in the first two films, is a mixed bag. Cameron and co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver start off well, having Jake, Neytiri, and their kids continue mourning the death of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) in the previous film. The struggle for power provides an interesting setup, but Cameron and his team seem to drag out the conflict for much too long. This is the longest Avatar film yet, and you really start to feel it in the back half as the filmmakers add on a bunch of unnecessary elements.

Worse than the elongated story, though, is the hackneyed dialogue that Cameron, Jaffa, and Silver have come up with. Almost every main character is forced to spout lines that diminish the importance of the events around them. The writers seemingly couldn’t resist trying to throw in jokes despite them clashing with the tone of the scenes in which they’re said. Combined with the somewhat goofy nature of the Na’vi themselves (not to mention talking whales), the eye-rolling words detract from any excitement or emotion the story builds up.

A pre-movie behind-the-scenes short film shows how the actors act out every scene in performance capture suits, lending an authenticity to their performances. Still, some performers are better than others, with Saldaña, Worthington, and Lang standing out. It’s more than a little weird having Weaver play a 14-year-old girl, but it works relatively well. Those who actually get to show their real faces are collectively fine, but none of them elevate the film overall.

There are undoubtedly some Avatar superfans for which Fire and Ash will move the larger story forward in significant ways. For anyone else, though, the film is a demonstration of both the good and bad sides of Cameron. As he’s proven for 40 years, his visuals are (almost) beyond reproach, but the lack of a story that sticks with you long after you’ve left the theater keeps the film from being truly memorable.

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Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19.

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