weekend event planner

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

Things go Overboard with NobleMotion Dance.

Photo courtesy of NobleMotion Dance

With the recent announcement of celebs — Lamar Odom, Dawson's Creek heartthrob James van der Beek, and former Trump press secretary Sean Spicer, among them — who'll make up the contestants for the next season (the 28th!) of Dancing with the Stars, now is a good time to tell you that Dancing vets Val and Maks Chmerkovskiy will be in town this weekend for Dance with Me Studios' Team Match events. They'll certainly be in attendance for the Jungle Wonderland gala, happening on Saturday night.

Dancing stars aside, as always, here's your list of weekend fun.

Thursday, August 22

Last Call Before Fall at Jack O'Connors
The For the Love of People Group will be having a nice celebration full of influencers, artists, brands, and businesses. Enjoy great music and sip on cocktails while indulging in shopping, networking, photo ops, beauty experiences, and fashion showcasing local brands. This event is all about beauty, fashion, and strong women celebrating each other, so bring your friends, your mom, your aunties, your uncles, your husbands, and boyfriends/girlfriends. 6-10 pm.

Friday, August 23

Warehouse 72 Grand Opening weekend celebration
Warehouse 72 Modern Bistro and Bar replaces the beloved Spaghetti Warehouse, which was lost during Hurricane Harvey. The new venue is hosting a weekend of grand opening events, including music and art offerings. Friday at 6 pm, California-raised musician, singer, songwriter, and producer, Madeline Edwards, will perform her Southern-soul-inspired new jazz-fusion sounds.

Saturday and Sunday from noon to 3 pm features the artist Sebastien “Mr. D 1987” Boileau and some of the muses portrayed in the larger-than-life murals that grace the walls of the restaurant. Nab screen print mural-inspired artwork on your own T-shirt, or on a complimentary tote bag or bandana, while supplies last. Musician Charlie Perez and friends will perform. On Sunday from noon to 3 pm, magician Michael Blanco will amaze and delight.

Nelly/TLC/Flo Rida at the Woodlands Pavilion
Let's all go back to the '90s and the aughts with this throwback package concert. First up, we got Nelly, the Band-Aid-wearing MC who took his St. Louis brand of rap and shot to the top of the charts. Then, we have TLC, the crazysexycool girl group who gave us such hits as "Creep," "Waterfalls," and "No Scrubs," the anthem for ladies who are tired of deadbeat dudes. Finally, there's Flo Rida, the Sunshine State rapper who has set off many a party with hits like "Low" and "Right Round." 7 pm.

Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am at 14 Pews
Earlier this month, Toni Morrison passed away at the age of 88. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author left an astounding body of work, from Song of Solomon to Beloved. She was also the subject of this recently released documentary, directed by photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. Oprah Winfrey, Hilton Als, and Angela Davis are a few of the people featured who sing the woman's praises. And if you can't make these Friday and Saturday screenings, the MFAH will also screen the movie on Tuesday, September 24. 7 pm.

Man Overboard! at the Hobby Center
Sam Houston State University associate professors of dance Andy Noble and Dionne Noble and their NobleMotion Dance company are celebrating their 11th season by presenting two cutting-edge evenings of dance at Zilkha Hall. This production, an examination of unintended consequences, whether it be political polarization, environmental issues, or the inundation of artificial intelligence, is composed of four distinct works. They feature innovative collaborations with artificial intelligence, industrial designers, and media artists. 7:30 pm.

Saturday, August 24

Peter Max: The Retrospective at Off the Wall Gallery
In case you didn't know, this month marks the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, the three-day music fest/disaster area where hippies descended to a farm in New York and watched dozens of musicians perform. Off the Wall Gallery will be celebrating the anniversary by hosting an exhibit featuring the work of legendary, psychedelic-art master Peter Max. After all, Woodstock was all about peace, love, freedom, and music — all significant sources of inspiration for Max. 5 pm (1 pm Sunday).

Brittmore Rescue presents Come Heels or High Water Soiree: Havana Nights
Over at the Decorative Center of Houston's Stetzel & Associates showroom, Brittmoore Rescue will be putting on its second-annual Come Heels or High Water Soiree. This year, it's a Havana theme, featuring a runway show by Lucho of Uptown. After the cocktail hour with light bites, libations, silent auction, and the "Little Havana Market," local philanthropists will be modeling the pieces. Proceeds raised are going to promote rebuilding homes around the community that were affected by disasters such as flooding. 7 pm.

Sunday, August 25

East End Brew Cruise
Kitschy watering hole East End Brew will have quite the party going on this weekend. It's billed as a family-filled day of beautiful cars, killer tunes, cool art, and more, hosted by the Veteranos Tejanos Car Club. There will also be a pin-up contest, hosted by local pin-up model Jacky Oh, where the winner will receive some swag from Cali-based, vintage-fashion boutique Revolver Clothing Co. DJs Simmer Down and Twinkle-Toes will provide the music. Noon to 6 pm.

Jax Grill 26th Anniversary
It's that time of year again where Jax Grill celebrates its anniversary with amazingly-discounted burgers. Since it's the 26th anniversary, the quarter-pound hamburgers and cheeseburgers at both locations — 6510 S. Rice Ave. in Bellaire and 1613 Shepherd Dr. — will be 26 cents. (It will be limited to the first 200 customers and one per customer.) There will also be drink specials, including $4 frozen house margaritas, $5 flavored house margaritas, $2.75 domestic bottled beers, and $3 import bottled beers. 4 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.

---

Kraven the Hunter opens in theaters on December 13.

movies film