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    weekend event planner

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

    Craig Lindsey
    Oct 25, 2018 | 6:00 am
    Montrose Crawl group costumes
    Join CultureMap's Eric Sandler (not pictured) at the Montrose Crawl.
    Photo via montrosecrawl.com

    There are a couple of interesting days worth celebrating this week. Thursday is National Greasy Food Day — or, for many of you, Thursday — where restaurants will most likely be serving up their food with a lot more oil than usual. Sunday is Patriot Golf Day, where golf courses all around the country (including several in Houston) will hold tournaments to benefit scholarship provider Folds of Honor, as well as the Bush Initiative.

    Here are other fun events happening between those days.

    Thursday, October 25

    Kids will be pumped to see Lil Pump
    If you haven't heard by now, it's all about Lil Pump. This facially-tatted, racially ambiguous, usually multicolor-haired MC has been winning over the young folk with such tunes as "Gucci Gang" "Esskeetit" and the recent hit "I Love It," that rather oddball, wholly profane collabo where he and Kanye West had on gigantic suits in the music video. While all his fans are waiting for his new album Harverd Dropout to come out next year, they will most likely catch him on his latest tour. 7 pm.

    Meet acclaimed mystery writer Walter Mosley
    W
    alter Mosley is one of our finest mystery writers. He's written book after book of amazing crime fiction, usually starring his most prized protagonist, African-American detective Easy Rawlins. (Years ago, Denzel Washington starred as Rawlins in the film adaptation of Devil in a Blue Dress. Why there hasn't been a Easy Rawlins movie since remains a mystery.) Mosley will be in town to talk about his latest book John Woman, and will be interviewed by Houston Chronicle's Joy Sewing. 7 pm.

    Friday, October 26

    Paint your own mural with the pros at a new pop-up
    GONZO247 is a Houston street artist who has been pulling out the spray paint and producing streetwise works of art since the '90s. This weekend, he'll be taking part in an interactive art demo with another local artist, Shelbi Nicole, and anyone who shows up and is in a creative mood. This will all happen at the new, three-day Cafe Bustelo pop-up, which will include such artistic activities as the demo, digital finger painting, and collaborative chalk murals. 8 am-7 pm.

    Attend the annual Umbria in Sugar Land Italian Film Festival
    Earlier this month, we had the Turkish Film Festival at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. And now, to close out this month, the second annual Umbria in Sugar Land Italian Film Festival will feature some films from that land of delicious pasta, great wine, and lovely ladies. This three-day fest actually brings in five award-winning films from this year's Festival del Cinema Città di Spello ed i Borghi Umbri (also known as IFFS), including the world premiere of the movie The Awful Wars on Saturday. 6 pm (9:30 am Saturday; 1 pm Sunday).

    Watch the bewitching Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman
    Twenty years ago, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman played love-starved sisters with Wiccan tendencies in the supernatural rom-com Practical Magic. Why are we talking about it now? Well, all this talk in the news about "witch hunts" has got us wanting to see an actual witch movie. Secondly, this screening Alamo Drafthouse is having will include a menu made up of intoxicating draughts and heady potions. 7:30 pm.

    Saturday, October 27

    Feast at the Saturday Farmers Market
    During Urban Harvest's Fall Festival, there will be a new demo series kicking off at the Saturday Farmers Market. This new, quarterly series will have Houston chefs cooking with local, seasonal produce from Urban Harvest vendors and grocery favorites from Kroger, which is also presenting the series. First up is Avondale Food & Wine chef Olivier Ciesielski offering up a holiday-inspired, butternut squash ravioli. 8 am.

    Get ready for tipsy hijinks at the 12th annual Montrose Crawl
    All of your favorite Montrose haunts will definitely be haunted this weekend, as the 12th annual Montrose Crawl descends onto the hip neighborhood. Many of the area's most popular eateries and watering holes, including Brasil, La Grange, Boondocks, Slick Willie's, and — our favorite — Poison Girl, will open its doors to the roving throngs of possibly inebriated people who'll be bouncing from each spot. Our own esteemed food editor Eric Sandler will serve as the honorary Grand Crawler. 6 pm.

    Ladies, don a mask and head to this stylish social
    While there will be Halloween shindigs all over the place in the next several days, where people will most likely be in either their cheesiest or sluttiest outfit, there is a gathering that's geared for the ladies. Called the 300 Women in Mask Social, this event calls for women to show up in chic, stylish clothes and an exotic mask (men aren't required to be masked), so they can enjoy an evening of art, live music, and other classy stuff. 7-10 pm.

    Sunday, October 28

    Catch DJ (who knew?) Erykah Badu
    How many of you knew that Erykah Badu is also a DJ? Dallas's very own neo-soul queen has been doing turntable gigs for several years now, under the name DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown. Houstonians have a shot to see her in the DJ booth this weekend, as she's the headlining performer at the Good Vibes Only Block Party. It's all about good art, good food, and, of course, good vibes at this event, which will also have music from Rob G, Soul Control, and others. 3-7 pm.

    Sunday Thai dinner at Camerata at Paulie's
    If you're in the hankering for some Thai this weekend, Camerata at Paulie's will have a Thai street food-inspired dinner that will be paired with wines from all over the world. Chef Benchawan, a veteran at Thai food who also has a pop-up business called Street to Kitchen, will make a five-course dinner that uses ingredients from local farmers, ranchers, and fisherman all over the city, while beverages will be doled out by Camerata wine director Chris Poldoian. 7 pm.

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    Movie Review

    Star TV producer James L. Brooks stumbles with meandering movie Ella McCay

    Alex Bentley
    Dec 12, 2025 | 2:30 pm
    Emma Mackey in Ella McCay
    Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios
    Emma Mackey in Ella McCay.

    The impact that writer/director/producer James L. Brooks has made on Hollywood cannot be understated. The 85-year-old created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, personally won three Oscars for Terms of Endearment, and was one of the driving forces behind The Simpsons, among many other credits. Now, 15 years after his last movie, he’s back in the directing chair with Ella McCay.

    The similarly-named Emma Mackey plays Ella, a 34-year-old lieutenant governor of an unnamed state in 2008 who’s on the verge of becoming governor when Governor Bill (Albert Brooks) gets picked to be a member of the president’s Cabinet. What should be a happy time is sullied by her needy husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden), her agoraphobic brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), and her perpetually-cheating father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson).

    Despite the trio of men competing to bring her down, Ella remains an unapologetic optimist, an attitude bolstered by her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), her assistant Estelle (Julie Kavner), and her police escort, Trooper Nash (Kumail Nanjiani). The film follows her over a few days as she navigates the perils of governing, the distractions her family brings, and the expectations being thrust upon her by many different people.

    Brooks, who wrote and directed the film, is all over the place with his storytelling. What at first seems to be a straightforward story about Ella and her various issues soon starts meandering into areas that, while related to Ella, don’t make the film better. Prime among them are her brother and father, who are given a relatively small amount of screentime in comparison to the importance they have in her life. This is compounded by a confounding subplot in which Casey tries to win back his girlfriend, Susan (Ayo Edebiri).

    Then there’s the whole political side of the story, which never finds its focus and is stuck in the past. Though it’s never stated explicitly, Ella and Governor Bill appear to be Democrats, especially given a signature program Ella pushes to help mothers in need. But if Brooks was trying to provide an antidote to the current real world politics, he doesn’t succeed, as Ella’s full goals are never clear. He also inexplicably shows her boring her fellow lawmakers to tears, a strange trait to give the person for whom the audience is supposed to be rooting.

    What saves the movie from being an all-out train wreck is the performances of Mackey and Curtis. Mackey, best known for the Netflix show Sex Education, has an assured confidence to her that keeps the character interesting and likable even when the story goes downhill. Curtis, who has tended to go over-the-top with her roles in recent years, tones it down, offering a warm place of comfort for Ella to turn to when she needs it. The two complement each other very well and are the best parts of the movie by far.

    Brooks puts much more effort into his female actors, including Kavner, who, even though she serves as an unnecessary narrator, gets most of the best laugh lines in the film. Harrelson is capable of playing a great cad, but his character here isn’t fleshed out enough. Fearn is super annoying in his role, and Lowden isn’t much better, although that could be mostly due to what his character is called to do. Were it not for the always-great Brooks and Nanjiani, the movie might be devoid of good male performances.

    Brooks has made many great TV shows and movies in his 60+ year career, but Ella McCay is a far cry from his best. The only positive that comes out of it is the boosting of Mackey, who proves herself capable of not only leading a film, but also elevating one that would otherwise be a slog to get through.

    ---

    Ella McCay opens in theaters on December 12.

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