weekend event planner

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

Join CultureMap's Eric Sandler (not pictured) at the Montrose Crawl.

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
Walter 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.

event-planner

Movie Review

Reminders of Him taps into grief, grace, and the power of moving on

Photo by Michelle Faye / Universal Pictures

Maika Monroe and Tyriq Withers in Reminders of HIm.

Texas author Colleen Hoover has gone from being a popular writer to a full-on celebrity in the 2020s. The new film Reminders of Him marks the third adaptation of her books in just 19 months (a fourth, Verity, is scheduled for release in October 2026). All of her books that have been adapted so far — most notably It Ends With Us — are female-led stories that feature elements of romance and trauma, catnip for studios looking to appeal to the underserved demographic of women.

Leading the way in this film is Kenna Rowan (Maika Monroe), who returns to her hometown of Laramie, Wyoming after spending years in prison for killing her boyfriend, Scotty (Rudy Pankow), in a car accident. That relationship resulted in a daughter, Diem (Zoe Kosovic), whom Kenna gave birth to while imprisoned and is now being raised by her grandparents, Patrick (Bradley Whitford) and Grace (Lauren Graham).

Yearning to be a part of Diem’s life, Kenna tries to reconnect with Patrick and Grace, only to be rebuffed by Scotty’s best friend, Ledger (Tyriq Withers), a former NFL player who now owns a local bar. In running interference, Ledger starts to become closer to Kenna, discovering that her tragic mistake shouldn’t be the only thing that defines her.

Directed by Vanessa Caswill and written by Lauren Levine, the film features mostly surface level examinations of its themes and average performances, yet it winds up being effective thanks to a willingness not to rush through its storytelling beats. The filmmakers take the slow and steady approach toward the coupling of Kenna and Ledger, setting up their bond through a series of heart-to-heart conversations that makes any romance feel earned.

The majority of the focus is on Kenna reclaiming her place in the world, and on Ledger coming to terms with the fact that the person who killed his best friend is not inherently a bad person. The film definitely could have gone deeper in its explorations of grief and anger, but the sheer amount of time it takes in addressing the characters’ doubts and fears turns out to be sufficient for a film that’s not aiming to be considered a dramatic masterpiece.

It also helps that Caswill and Levine do a solid job of establishing the variety of characters that inhabit the film. Kenna and Ledger don’t always feel like fully-formed people, but they become so through their interactions with each other and the other townspeople. Lady Diana (Monika Myers), a girl with Down syndrome who lives in Kenna’s apartment complex, and Roman (Nicholas Duvernay), Ledger’s co-worker at his bar, help to broaden the appeal of the two leads.

Monroe has, to this point, been best known for starring roles in horror films like It Follows and Longlegs. While she does somewhat well in this role, her delivery is often more flat than you’d expect for a character going through what she does. Withers thankfully doesn’t remind viewers of his recent bomb Him, demonstrating a crossover appeal that should serve him well in the future. Whitford and Graham don’t get to do much, but their combined experience gives their roles exactly what is needed.

It may sound like damning with faint praise, but Reminders of Him is a competently made film that knows how to serve its core audience without insulting anyone who may not automatically be all-in for such a story. The filmmakers don’t try to force any of the key moments down the audience’s throat, and that stands out in a genre that’s not always known for its subtlety.

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Reminders of Him opens in theaters on March 13.

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