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    weekend event planner

    Here are the top 12 things to do in Houston this weekend

    Craig Lindsey
    Sep 23, 2021 | 6:00 am
    Doggy Party on the Plaza
    Celebrate all the floofers at Doggy Party on the Plaza.
    Photo courtesy of Doggy Party on the Plaza

    With these fresh fall temps getting no higher than around 84 the entire weekend, it's a great time to be out and about doing virtually anything.

    Perfect timing, then, for an outdoor tailgating contest, a massive dog party on the plaza, and a massive food festival featuring some top-tier chefs.

    Enjoy the weather, H-Town. Here are your best bets for the weekend.

    Thursday, September 23

    The Houston Seminar presents A House and a Home: Reckoning with Racial Disparity in Property Ownership
    For the next three Thursdays, this virtual event will have guest speakers helping viewers understand the legacy and cost of land inequality and why it matters to all of us. First out the gate will be Andrea Roberts, an urban planner who researches intentional communities built by Black people. Her experience in community development under Houston mayors Bill White and Annise Parker inform her efforts to move disappearing African-American communities—facing sprawl, gentrification and resource extraction—from the margin to the center of public discourse. 5:30 pm.

    Asia Society Texas presents After the Fall: Ben Rhodes on the Rise of Nationalism Across the Globe
    Ben Rhodes, national security expert and former White House aide to President Barack Obama, will discuss his new book, which focuses on the rise of nationalism around the globe, with a particular look at Asia. Informed by his travels around the globe, meeting with politicians, activists and dissidents confronting the same nationalism and authoritarianism experienced recently in the United States, Rhodes will share lessons the U.S. should learn in addressing nationalism’s root causes and effects. 6 pm.

    Echoes of DeLuxe Art Show
    A key part of the legacy of the DeLuxe Art Show (which happened 50 years ago) is the continued practice and expansion of Black modernism, breaking from forms and inventing new ones. These themes are represented in the program for this virtual, two-night event, including the documentary Time, directed by Garrett Bradley, the daughter of DeLuxe Art show curator Peter Bradley; and Stefani Saintonge’s F*cked Like A Star, part of a free virtual program with three short films representing 5th Ward, Black Invention, and Modernism. 7:30 pm.

    Friday, September 24

    Manhattan Short Film Festival
    The 24th Annual Manhattan Short Film Festival is a worldwide event taking place in over 400 venues across six continents, the only event of its kind. Going down locally this Friday and Saturday at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Brown Auditorium Theater, the final 10 films screen simultaneously across the world during a one-week period, with the Best Film and Best Actor awards determined by ballots cast by the audiences in each participating venue. By virtue of their selection by Manhattan Short, each short film is automatically Oscar-qualified. 7 pm.

    Social Movement Contemporary Dance presents Power to the People
    Through three world premieres, this live performance embodies the freedom from external control or influence. "The Culture" takes ownership of the now-global, hip-hop phenomenon through expression of hip-hop’s five pillars — breakdancing, MCing, DJing, graffiti and knowledge. In "Autonomy," artistic director Elijah Alhadji Gibson celebrates the strength, power and perseverance of all women, through a series of solos. To close the show, "We The People" conveys his observations of what happens when people’s daily lives are interrupted by the world's harsh realities and they begin to demand change. 7:30 pm.

    Houston Symphony presents The Artistry of Augustin Hadelich
    Amazing artistry and exciting new discoveries are all in store in these concerts, featuring Grammy Award-winning violinist Augustin Hadelich. The concerts begin with Bach’s Concerto for Violin and Oboe, spotlighting principal oboe Jonathan Fischer. Then, Hadelich performs Shostakovich’s Sonata for Violin, Percussion and Strings and the Prelude from Bach’s Partita No. 2. To close, Hadelich shares a concerto by Joseph Boulogne, the son of a slave who went on to become one of the most important violinists in Paris. The Saturday performance will be available to livestream. 8 pm (2:30 pm Sunday).

    Saturday, September 25

    Bobcat Teddy's 1st Annual Tailgating Competition
    If you love Bobcat Teddy's cook-offs, then you'll love this new competition, benefitting the Southern Smoke Foundation. Teams will be battling it out for the best tailgating team in town. First place will win $500, while second place will receive a $250 gift card to Texas Star Grill Shop. Come out for a fun-filled day of college football, taste some great grub, and watch your favorite teams compete. $7 will allow all patrons to taste and vote on their favorite tailgate team. Represent your alma mater, company, or yourself. Noon.

    Houston PetTalk Magazine presents Doggy Party on the Plaza
    This annual, fun-filled family day includes loads of activities, raffles, vendor sales, games, contests, and the Annual Doggy Party “Rescue Me” Parade. The event will feature shopping, food, games, artists, face painting, and more. Make sure you and your pooch come dressed to impress for this year’s Doggie Costume Contest — with prizes from Kendra Scott. Guests can rub noses with celebrity guests, get their photo taken in the free pet photo booth, have their face painted, enter giveaways for fabulous prizes, and more. Noon.

    ROCO in concert: Bursting at the Seams
    Conducted by ROCO’s artistic partner Mei-Ann Chen, this will feature the world premiere of the first movement of Maxime Goulet’s Ice Storm Symphony, Turmoil, telling the story of Canada’s historic, devastating 1998 ice storm, and also features the world premiere of Marcus Maroney’s OK, Goodbye. for flute, viola d’amore and chamber orchestra, inspired by the melting of the Icelandic Okjökull glacier, and highlighting soloists Matt Dane and Christina Jennings. Michael Abels’ Delights & Dances and Domenico Cimarosa’s “Il Maestro di Cappella” Overture complete the program. There will also be a ROCO surprise. 5 pm.

    Sunday, September 26

    Chef Fest
    Houston foodies, assemble. Chef Fest will feature nine Houston chefs (including chefs from Lucille’s Hospitality Group, Tatemo, The Sporting Club, etc.) who will showcase their passion and creativity around local produce while simultaneously raising awareness and proceeds for the Houston Food System Collaborative. Guests will wash down the day's bites with craft cocktails, local beer, and Texas wine while also immersing themselves in add-on tasting and family-friendly cooking experiences. 11 am.

    Main Street Theater presents Darwin in Malibu
    Malibu, California. The present. One hundred and twenty years after his death, Charles Darwin (aka “the Devil’s Chaplain”) is hanging out at a beach house overlooking the Pacific with a girl young enough to be his daughter. His peace is rudely disrupted when his old friend Thomas Huxley (“the Devil’s Disciple”) washes up on the beach, closely followed by the Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce. These three find themselves entangled in an enthralling and thought-provoking comedy about God and science. Running through Sunday, October 24. 3 pm.

    Daryl Hall & John Oates in concert with Squeeze and KT Tunstall
    “Private Eyes,” “Rich Girl,” “Sara Smile,” “One on One,” “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” — we could honestly spend this entire blurb listing all the classic hits from the legendary Philadelphia duo, the bluest of blue-eyed soul singers. Here are two men who spent most of their careers making sure their invitation to the cookout is always open. Check them out this weekend, where you know they’ll hit you with “She’s Gone,” “Kiss on My List,” “Everytime You Go Away,” and all the faves. 7 pm.

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    Movie Review

    Meta-comedy remake Anaconda coils itself into an unfunny mess

    Alex Bentley
    Dec 26, 2025 | 2:30 pm
    Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda
    Photo by Matt Grace
    Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda.

    In Hollywood’s never-ending quest to take advantage of existing intellectual property, seemingly no older movie is off limits, even if the original was not well-regarded. That’s certainly the case with 1997’s Anaconda, which is best known for being a lesser entry on the filmography of Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez, as well as some horrendous accent work by Jon Voight.

    The idea behind the new meta-sequel Anaconda is arguably a good one. Four friends — Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) — who made homemade movies when they were teenagers decide to remake Anaconda on a shoestring budget. Egged on by Griff, an actor who can’t catch a break, the four of them pull together enough money to fly down to Brazil, hire a boat, and film a script written by Doug.

    Naturally, almost nothing goes as planned in the Amazon, including losing their trained snake and running headlong into a criminal enterprise. Soon enough, everything else takes second place to the presence of a giant anaconda that is stalking them and anyone else who crosses its path.

    Written and directed by Tom Gormican, with help from co-writer Kevin Etten, the film is designed to be an outrageous comedy peppered with laugh-out-loud moments that cover up the fact that there’s really no story. That would be all well and good … if anything the film had to offer was truly funny. Only a few scenes elicit any honest laughter, and so instead the audience is fed half-baked jokes, a story with no focus, and actors who ham it up to get any kind of reaction.

    The biggest problem is that the meta-ness of the film goes too far. None of the core four characters possess any interesting traits, and their blandness is transferred over to the actors playing them. And so even as they face some harrowing situations or ones that could be funny, it’s difficult to care about anything they do since the filmmakers never make the basic effort of making the audience care about them.

    It’s weird to say in a movie called Anaconda, but it becomes much too focused on the snake in the second half of the film. If the goal is to be a straight-up comedy, then everything up to and including the snake attacks should be serving that objective. But most of the time the attacks are either random or moments when the characters are already scared, and so any humor that could be mined all but disappears.

    Black and Rudd are comedy all-stars who can typically be counted on to elevate even subpar material. That’s not the case here, as each only scores on a few occasions, with Black’s physicality being the funniest thing in the movie. Newton is not a good fit with this type of movie, and she isn’t done any favors by some seriously bad wigs. Zahn used to be the go-to guy for funny sidekicks, but he brings little to the table in this role.

    Any attempt at rebooting/remaking an old piece of IP should make a concerted effort to differentiate itself from the original, and in that way, the new Anaconda succeeds. Unfortunately, that’s its only success, as the filmmakers can never find the right balance to turn it into the bawdy comedy they seemed to want.

    ---

    Anaconda is now playing in theaters.

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