weekend event planner

Here are the top 14 things to do in Houston this weekend

Opa! The Original Greek Festival returns this weekend.

Photo courtesy of St. Basil the Great Christian Orthodox Church

Fall is here, and that means festivals (Greek Fest), fashion (Fashion X), and...depressed cakes (?). We're curious about that last one too. Look forward to a weekend packed with fun, can't-miss events.

Thursday, October 4

Eat and be merry at the 52nd Houston Original Greek Festival
The Original Greek Festival, held at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral has been around for 52 years, hipping Houston folk to the delicious food (did someone say moussaka), festive dancing, and other fascinating facets of Greek culture. This year, there will be tours of the newly expanded Cathedral, live music from the Golden Greek ensemble, and an Athenian playground for the younger set. 5-10 pm (11 am-10 pm Saturday; Noon-6 pm Sunday).

The runway rocks at Fashion X Houston
Fashion X Houston is back, style-savvy, fashionista friends. For three nights, models will be walking the runway, decked out in duds from emerging and established Houston-based fashion designers, including winners and all-stars from that do-or-die reality competition Project Runway. Proceeds from each night will be donated to the event's VIP Style Setters' local Houston nonprofits of choice. 6:30 pm

Learn just how much damage humans can do in this new exhibit
Whether you want to accept it or not, humanity just has a knack for picking off species one after the next. Houston-based multidisciplinary artist/anthropologist Lina Dib is here to remind people of that with her new exhibit, aptly titled Like There is No Tomorrow. Created in collaboration with Taylor Knapps at Main Street Projects Gallery, this large-scale, interactive video instillation examines the decline of species caused by human interactions. 7-10 pm.

Friday, October 5

Join in on the jam-band love with ElectroLuv 2018
ElectroLuv 2018 may sound like a music festival where you'd hear nothing but EDM coming out of every nook and cranny of the place and see people dancing in one spot forever, zonked out of their minds on some substance. But this two-day live-a-palooza is actually devoted to jam bands and the fans who love them. You'll get groups with names like Drum Circle, Hell in a Bucket, Heights Funk Collective and — our favorite — PotRoast. 6:30 pm.

See the theatrical side of Snoop Dogg in his new show
Snoop Dogg has taken some odd detours in his life. You can currently see him on television, co-hosting the VH1 cooking show Martha & Snoop's Potluck Party with Martha Stewart and as host of the rebooted game show The Joker's Wild. But this weekend, you can actually catch him on stage — not at a live concert, but as the star of the stage show, Redemption of a Dogg. Not only will Snoop perform some of his classics, but he'll drop some tunes from his gospel album Bible of Love. 8 pm (3 pm Saturday and Sunday; 7:30 pm Sunday).

Saturday, October 6

Sip on wine and buy some art at the Texas Wine & Art Festival
Here at CultureMap, we love to attend art-exhibit opening receptions where you can look at art while drinking. So, of course, we're glad to hear that the Texas Wine & Art Festival is back. This two-day fest will highlight 15 Texas-based wineries, while artisan booths will be selling hand-crafted artworks, photography, fashion, crafts, and so much more. 10 am-6 pm (11 am-5 pm Sunday).

The MFAH has some kicks off its latest, royal-themed exhibit
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is going all out for its Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Exhibits from Holbein to Warhol exhibit, starting Sunday. But, before that, there will be a screening of The Queen, the 2007 movie that won star Dame Helen Mirren an Oscar. After that, there's a lecture, "Kings and Queens: Royal Portraiture at the National Portrait Gallery, Houston," presented by Louise Stewart, the gallery's curator of 16th-century to contemporary collections. 1 pm.

Return to David Lynch's strange world with Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
David Lynch wasn't done with Twin Peaks when his ultra-weird-but-buzzworthy nighttime soap was cancelled in 1991. The following year, he made Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, a prequel that fizzled at the box office mainly because it was even more baffling & strange than the original show. Now that Lynch gave us that Peaks reboot that aired on Showtime last year, it turns out this cult fave serves as the haunting bridge between these two shows. It's still weird though. 10 pm.

Stand-up comedy and rap join forces for The Krunk Komedy Tour
The Krunk Komedy Tour promises to be an evening of Southern-fried rap along with downright ignant (not "ignorant" — ignant) stand-up comedy. On the comedy side, look for headlining comedians Donnell Rawlings (Chappelle's Show) and Red Grant (Def Comedy Jam, Comic View), along with several other funny folk. And over on the rap side, expect the Ying Yang Twins, Lil Scrappy, Yung Joc, Travis Porter, Young Dro, and Houston's very own Trae tha Truth. 8:30 pm.

Sunday, October 7

Bike and learn about the city at this bike rally/scavenger hunt
The 13th Annual Houston Heights Bicycle Rally and Scavenger Hunt once again seeks out kids and families to have some heart-pumping fun, while also hipping them to local history along the way. The heart-pumping will happen during the bicycle rally, where riders can select from a five-mile, 20-mile or new stroller-and-bike parade. As for the hunt, it will highlight historical and notable landmarks throughout the ride. Prizes will be awarded during the after-party. 8 am-5:30 pm.

Sample baked goods at The Depressed Cake Shop
Okay, this sounds interesting. This sixth-annual event showcases donated cakes and desserts that could also double as art pieces. These baked goods are usually decorated in somber colors that "signify the gray cloud that can descend over a beautiful world when someone is struggling with mental issues." But don't worry — slices of these goodies will be available for purchase, as the proceeds will go to NAMI Greater Houston and The Montrose Center. Noon-4 pm.

Learn about Houston neighborhoods with Cigna Sunday Streets
Now in its fifth year, the monthly Cigna Sunday Streets returns to spotlight Houston's most unique neighborhoods, with a focus on hyping up alternative transportation as well as supporting neighborhood economies and a sense of community. This combination bike/walking tour will focus on three parts of town: Near Northside, Rice Village and Downtown Houston. First up is Near Northside, part of Mayor Turner's Complete Communities initiative. Noon-4 pm.

Feast on delicious meats at The Woodlands BBQ Festival
This has us salivating all over our keyboards. The third-annual barbecue throwdown will have a diverse collection of pitmasters grilling up a storm and serving all-you-can-sample portions. With all this artery-clogging goodness ready to go down, it's kinda ironic that this fest is also benefitting pulmonary hypertension. 1-4 pm.

Pets get blessed at St. Luke's Blessing of the Animals
Is there anything you wouldn't do for your dog? If you would like your dog to be welcomed into the kingdom of Heaven when he or she passes on, you can take your mutt to this special service, where people can bring their pets to be blessed. If all dogs truly go to heaven, this event is out to make sure of it. 4-5:30 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.

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Kraven the Hunter opens in theaters on December 13.

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