weekend event planner

Here are the top 8 things to do in Houston this weekend

Enjoy the view and a final summer weekend happy hour at The Grove's upstairs patio.

Photo by © Debora Smail

Film fans can look for several throwback movies popping up in multiplexes this Labor Day weekend. At Edwards Marq*E and Edwards Greenway Grand Palace, three of Quentin Tarantino's most iconic works — Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill Vols. 1 & 2 — will be screening in the RPX auditorium from Friday through Wednesday.

And between Friday and Thursday, AMC theaters will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Matrix by showing it in their Dolby Cinemas, complete with state-of-the-art Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos audio.

Of course, there's plenty more happening this Labor Day weekend.

Thursday, August 29

Cultural Taste of Houston at Lynn Eusan Park
The University of Houston Council for Cultural Activities's Cultural Taste of Houston provides students, staff, faculty, and visitors the opportunity to experience the richness of flavors and sounds from the city of Houston. Attendees will be able to enjoy a variety of food from Houston's best restaurants for only $1 per sample and also get a free shirt. You will also get pop-up shirts and live performances. 11 am to 3 pm.

Garrison Brothers Pairing Dinner at Doris Metropolitan
Enjoy a sumptuous dinner while learning about the wide, wild world of bourbon. Doris Metropolitan will host a special pairing dinner where Garrison Brothers Distillery will be passing out samples of fine bourbon whiskey. Founder Dan Garrison will share the story of how Garrison Brothers became the first legal bourbon distillery outside of Kentucky. And if you're not feeling the whiskey, there will also be Texas wine on deck. 6:30 pm.

Friday, August 30

BrewMasters Craft Beer Festival at Galveston Island Convention Center
Now in its tenth year, the BrewMasters Craft Beer Festival is an immersive, multi-day event where craft beer fans flock to Galveston Island in the pursuit of hoppiness and a craft beer experience unlike any other. With hundreds of craft beers, rare “Taste it First” selections, beer education seminars, and a Brew-B-Que to boot, the three-day event offers endless opportunities to meet and learn from the men and women behind the craft. 7 pm (2 pm Saturday; 11:30 am Sunday).

Mo Amer at Improv Houston
Comedian Mo Amer may be of Palestinian descent, but he's a Houston boy through and through. His family fled Kuwait during the Gulf War and settled in H-Town, where he attended Piney Point Elementary. These days, he's been killing it on the stand-up scene. He dropped his first Netflix special The Vagabond last year, and he's also a co-star on Ramy Youssef's acclaimed Hulu show Ramy. Welcome Amer home by checking out his three-night stint at the Improv. 7:30 pm and 9:45 pm (7 pm and 9:30 pm Saturday; 7:30 pm Sunday).

Saturday, August 31

Free Chicken Sandwiches at Killen's Burgers
Chances are you're kinda over this whole chicken-sandwich war between Popeyes and Chick-Fil-A. (We at CultureMap recently had a taste test — and they were both ... a'ight.) If you're tired of waiting in line at a Popeyes, only to have them say they're all out when you get to the counter, Killen's Burgers in Pearland will be offering a free chicken sandwich — regular or Nashville hot — with purchase to the first 1,000 customers. It's one per customer, and you must be there to get it. 11 am.

Tree House Happy Hour at Discovery Green
When we first saw Discovery Green will be holding a "Tree House Happy Hour" at the Grove, our first thought was, "When did Discovery Green get a treehouse — and is it like the treehouse from that Ludacris video?" It turns out it'll be the final, summer happy-hour event at its upstairs, second-floor patio, which is usually reserved for private events. The Grove invites the downtown crowd and anyone checking out a certain boy-band concert this weekend to swing by beforehand and enjoy the view. 4-7 pm.

Sunday, September 1

Poison Girl Quinceañera Party
Montrose watering hole Poison Girl will be celebrating 15 years of business this weekend. So, how have they decided to celebrate it? Why, they're gonna have a quinceañera, of course. We don't know if this means women will be decked out in ornate dresses and beating on a piñata at some point, but there will be mariachis, an employee talent show, drink specials, and performances from such artists as Ruiners, Young Mammals, Platinum Trophy, Bodyfat, and Laser Kittenz. 3 pm.

Biz Markie at Alley Kat Bar & Lounge
Keep it real: Back in middle school, you couldn't stop singing "Just a Friend," the hilariously tone-deaf, she-done-'em-wrong rap classic from the one-and-only Biz Markie, huh? Well, for those who long for those good ol' days when hip-hop was simple and you could understand what the hell rappers were talking about, the Clown Prince of Hip Hop will be the headlining performer at a day party Midtown hangout Alley Kat Bar & Lounge will be throwing this weekend. 4-10 pm.

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Movie Review

Dakota Fanning-led The Sun Never Sets needs more direction

Photo courtesy of Independent Film Company

Dakota Fanning in The Sun Never Sets.

The movies of writer/director Joe Swanberg have always been an acquired taste, as he prefers to give his actors a loose framework of a story and let them improvise most of their lines to give the films a more natural feel. Sometimes that approach can yield great results, and sometimes — as in The Sun Never Sets — it can result in addled and maddening storytelling.

Wendy (Dakota Fanning) is in her early 30s and at a crossroads in her life. When a friend announces she’s pregnant, she starts to re-evaluate what she wants, including her two-year relationship with the older Jack (Jake Johnson). Although they love each other, their disagreements on having more children and extracurricular activities call their long-term viability into question.

Jack, not wanting Wendy to settle, encourages her to explore her options where they live — Anchorage, Alaska — telling her he’ll be waiting should she strike out. What he doesn’t expect is that Wendy’s ex-boyfriend, Chuck (Cory Michael Smith), has returned to the city, giving her an attractive alternative. The three engage in a love triangle that proves frustrating and confusing for both the participants and the viewers.

What works best about the film is its location in Alaska, which rarely gets showcased in movies, and even more rarely in the way it is here. The story takes place in warmer months, and Swanberg gives his characters multiple opportunities to be outside, showing off Anchorage’s harbor, surrounding mountains, and seemingly vibrant city life. The subtle but effective way Swanberg frames various scenes makes the landscape enormously appealing.

It’s too bad, then, that the story never measures up to its surroundings. Too often Fanning, Johnson, Smith, and others seem to be grasping for their next line, unsure of what they want their character to do or say next. That lets their scenes mimic real conversations, but you might not realize how much you want scripted dialogue until you see actors trying to come up with their own in the moment.

The larger issue is that there’s no consistency from scene to scene about where the plot is heading. The characters of Wendy, Jack, and Chuck are extremely wishy-washy about their desires, with each of them vacillating back-and-forth in just how much they want to be with each other. Depending on your experience, this may or may not be true to life, but watching it is excruciating and not enjoyable or romantic in the slightest.

As actors, Fanning, Johnson, and Smith are talented and interesting, with each capable of connecting with viewers in different ways. But working in improvisation is a different beast, and only Johnson — who has worked with Swanberg multiple times — seems truly at home. A few others, like Debby Ryan and Anna Konkle, do well in the format and maybe deserved bigger parts.

Swanberg has proven in the past that his method of filmmaking can be insightful and entertaining, but that is not the case here. In The Sun Never Sets, his hands-off approach is a detriment to the flow of the film and the story as a whole, resulting in an experience that is far from what most viewers will want to go through.

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The Sun Never Sets is now playing in select theaters.

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