weekend event planner

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

Miller Outdoor Theatre summer outdoor concert

Will things get tense during this classic music face-off? Find out this weekend.

Photo courtesy of Miller Outdoor Theatre

Even though the summer season won't officially be done until late September, for a lot of people, summer is done when Labor Day Weekend rolls around.

This weekend is usually the last, fun-filled hurrah before fall and windy-to-freezing weather. Here's our usual rundown of noteworthy, weekend happenings:

Thursday, August 30

Truly special art at the Center of Art and Photography
The Celebration Company is an outfit that's making sure adults with disabilities can also create and explore art. With the new exhibit "The Art of Celebration: Through the Lens of Discovery," 23 of the Company's employees (along with guest photographer Michael Duke) get to show off the images they've captured using adaptive cameras. This exhibit will run through November 2. 6-8 pm.

Take in Mexico's unique and exotic beauty
The Houston Public Library isn't just for books, you know? It can drop some pretty historic art on folks too, as evidenced by the Library's newest exhibit, "South and North of the Border: Houston Paints Mexico." It features works of early-1920s artists who were inspired by their travels to Mexico. The exhibit just opened, but the opening reception is this weekend. It will be on display until November 10. 6-8 pm.

Bun B's big, trill record release show
On Friday, Bun B, one-half of the iconic, Port Arthur rap duo UGK, releases Return of the Trill, his first solo album in five years. So, of course, dude is going to celebrate by having a record-release party/concert. Technically, Bun B "and friends" are listed to be performing at the show. But we wouldn't be surprised if Big K.R.I.T., who serves as the album's musical coordinator, showed up for a few songs. 8-11:55 pm.

Friday, August 31

Craft beers at the 9th Annual BrewMasters Craft Beer Festival
Now in its ninth year, the BrewMasters Craft Beer Festival gives something special to people who attend: a three-day chance to get messed up on beer. People will be able to choose from hundreds of craft beer at this throwdown. But there will also be other things planned, like "Taste It First" selections, seminars and discussions by people on how to make it in the craft beer biz and — our favorite — a "Brew-B-Que." 11:30 am.

Discover who is the master in Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon
If you've never seen Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon, then you've never witnessed the only martial-arts musical from the '80s, produced by the man who created Motown. This 1985 relic is pure what-the-hell?, with the late Prince protege Vanity as a VJ caught in the middle of a feud between rival, inner-city, kung-fu fighters. Co-star Taimak, who plays one of the men, will also be there for a live Q & A afterwards. 7:30 pm.

Saturday, September 1

Exquisite, ceramic pieces at the Rienzi Collection
It's the 20th-anniversary opening of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston's Rienzi Collection, and a new exhibit will delve deep into the extensive selection that sits in this location. Called "The Connoisseur's Eye: New Perspectives on Ceramics in the Rienzi Collection," this exhibit expands the story of 18th-century ceramics in Rienzi's collection. This will be on display until February 3. 10 am.

Sip and paint to your favorite K-pop stars
If you listen to the youngsters today, it's all about K-pop. All those highly populated groups from Korea are now beginning to make a splash in the States: BTS, EXO, Girls' Generation, Momoland, etc. Local sip-and-paint crew Beats & Paint is capitalizing on all this K-pop love with an "I Love K-pop Sip Paint Party," where you can down some wine and most likely do portraits of your favorite K-pop singer. 6-8 pm.

Miller Outdoor Theatre's fierce classical music face-off
Miller Outdoor Theatre has been out there dropping free stage productions for nearly a century, and the place certainly isn't stopping anytime soon. For its 95th anniversary season, the theatre is kicking things off with chamber ensemble Mercury staging the multimedia orchestral showdown Vivaldi vs. Paganini. Finally, we will find out who's number one. (Dun-dun-duuuunnnn...) 8 pm.

Sunday, August 2

Find your peace with tai chi at Discovery Green
Are you getting too stressed out these days? Wanna take some time to do things in a slow, calming manner? Luckily, for you, a new tai chi class is popping off this weekend. Part of Sprouts Farmers Market's free fitness series, this class of slow, meditative movements will be taught by Chinese martial arts expert Trey Dick. These classes will run every Sunday through November 11. 9:30-11:30 am.

Kids can find their zen with "Yoga First Sundays"
You know, people, kids need to get some stress out their lives too, sometimes. If you're the parent of a child who needs to chill out (and you don't want to hit the young one with meds just yet), Children's Museum of Houston is starting up a children's yoga class this weekend that'll be on the first Sunday of every month. Kids will get to have a relaxing, 30-minute yoga session — and you can probably go and drink wine. 2:30 pm.

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Movie Review

Rachel McAdams goes feral in Sam Raimi's gory new comedy Send Help

Photo by Brook Rushton

Rachel McAdams in Send Help.

Director Sam Raimi has gone through different phases as a filmmaker, including leading the first Spider-Man trilogy and joining the MCU with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. But he first gained notice with the gory and funny Evil Dead movies, a sensibility he’s returning to with his latest film, Send Help.

Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) is a meek and eccentric middle manager at a financial firm that’s just named Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien) as its new nepo CEO. Bradley’s dad had promised Linda a promotion to vice president, but she gets passed over in favor of one of Bradley’s frat buddies, sending her into a mild rage. Still, she gets invited along on a planned business trip to Thailand, during which she hopes to prove her worth.

Unfortunately for most of the passengers on the private plane, it crashes into the ocean, leaving only Linda and Bradley alive on a deserted island. Linda, who has privately developed survival skills, adapts quickly to the forbidding environment, while Bradley tries to revert to bossing her around. But Linda quickly understands the power dynamic has shifted, and she uses this knowledge to try to keep Bradley in line, turning their stranding into a battle of wills.

Directed by Raimi and written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, the film is the classic “so bad it’s good” kind of experience. McAdams, inarguably an attractive and charming person, is given stringy hair, an antisocial personality, and quirks like eating tuna fish at her desk to make her as off-putting as possible. Bradley, along with almost everyone else at her office, is stereotyped just as hard in order to set up the twist of fate.

When the action shifts to the island, things get even more over the top. The audience has already been primed for Linda to demonstrate her survival expertise, but the film does way more than just show her making fire. Whether it’s flawlessly building a shelter or hunting a wild boar, everything Linda does is portrayed in a slightly off-kilter manner. Then they turn everything up to 11, indulging in gore that is so unnecessary that you can’t help but laugh.

The filmmakers prove they’re in on the joke the rest of the way, including a variety of preposterous but hilarious scenarios that would cause massive eyerolls if they were actually trying to take the film seriously. While they do a great job of showing Linda’s ability to handle herself in the wild, they also show that she is somehow the only person in the world who could get a glow up after a plane crash and weeks living in nature.

McAdams, an Oscar-nominated actor for Spotlight, is way too high class for a movie like this, which makes her presence here all the more interesting. She is all-in on whatever Raimi wants her to do, and she’s at her most fun when she goes the animalistic route. O’Brien, who was great in the recent Twinless, doesn’t get as much of an opportunity to show his range, but he still proves to be an interesting foil for her.

Were it released in any other month, Send Help might be looked at as bottom of the barrel material. But with the movie year just getting started, it’s easier to forgive its outrageous plot twists and just have fun, especially since Raimi and his team put the rest of the film together so well.

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Send Help opens in theaters on January 30.

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