weekend event planner

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

In case you haven't heard, Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival goes down this weekend.

Photo by Julian Bajsel

If you haven't heard from your teenage kids yet, Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival will be back at NRG Park on Saturday.

Yes, the festival created and curated by the superstar Houston rapper, which was a smashing success when it debuted last year, will go down once again near the land where AstroWorld once stood.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of other offerings for what promises to be a gorgeous weekend.

Thursday, November 7

Houstonia Burger Bash at CityCentre
Now in its fifth year, a dozen of the city's top restaurants and chefs (from B & B Butchers, Buffburger, Bosscat Kitchen, etc.) go head-to-head to take home the coveted Best Burger title. There will also be beer, cocktails, cars on display, live entertainment, and a huge raffle benefitting Kids Meals, Inc. 6-9 pm.

An Evening with Gloria Steinem at Congregation Emanu El
As one of America's most iconic, contemporary, feminist crusaders, Gloria Steinem can still give the patriarchal powers that be hell — even at the age of 85. She'll be in Houston this weekend to promote her latest book, aptly titled The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off. It's a collection of Steinem’s lifetime of quotes — powerful and wise, funny and outrageous — complete with an introduction and essays by the feminist writer and activist herself. 7 pm.

Friday, November 8

Archival Screening Night: The Roadshow at MFAH
For the first time, the Association of Moving Images Archivists (AMIA) is touring a compilation that samples films restored by film archives around the world. Featuring some 20 films, in genres spanning jazz, animation, comedy, history, ethnography, dance, and more, this program shows that the efforts of the preservationists are a cause for celebration. Sandra Yates, who manages the preservation and access to the Texas Medical Center Library's special collections, will introduce the collection. 7 pm.

David Spade at Improv Houston
David Spade has made a nice living for himself by being a smart-ass. After making a snarky splash on Saturday Night Live, usually roasting celebs on his "Hollywood Minute" segment, he went on to do buddy comedies with the late, fellow SNL-er Chris Farley and steal every moment as the sarcastic receptionist on Just Shoot Me. He's back to dragging the rich and famous on his nightly Comedy Central show Lights Out with David Spade. But you can catch more of that snarkiness this weekend at the Improv. 7:30 pm (7 and 9:30 pm Saturday).

Saturday, November 9

Freddy Cruz at Barnes & Noble Baybrook
KRBE 104.1 personality Freddy Cruz has just recently added novelist to his list of titles. He recently released When America Fell Silent, his debut work of fiction. It's a dystopian, political thriller about a retired Navy SEAL who will do anything to defend his country and restore the nation’s freedom. And that also includes going after her ex, who stages a coup and takes control of the U.S. government after her presidential parents are assassinated. Cruz will be signing copies of his book over at Baybrook this weekend. 1 pm.

A Woman's Life: The Diary of Virginia Woolf at Hobby Center for the Performing Arts
Da Camera continues its 2019–20 season with this performance of two exquisite song cycles depicting radically different views of a woman’s life — a century apart — featuring Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano and Da Camera artistic director Sarah Rothenberg. The program juxtaposes Robert Schumann's Fraunliebe und Leben, a romantic vision of wife and mother; and Dominick Argento's From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, musings of a literary genius struggling to find her voice and place in the world. 7:30 pm.

Sunday, November 10

Foamhenge Music Fest at Karbach Brewing Co.
Hard rock and great beer — that's really all you need in life (besides money, food and shelter, of course). You'll get both things at this third-annual music festival, where the headliners will be Ace Frehley, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and KISS guitarist, and German heavy metal legends Accept. High on Fire, Pat Travers, Narcotic Wasteland, and Dallas thrash band Power Trip will also be on the bill. Karbach will have a wide array of its craft beers available, including a new release of its barrel-aged Hellfighter series. 12:30-10 pm.

Oxtail Mash Up at Project Row Houses
This celebration of competitive international flavor and festivity is returning for its second year. This event has some of Houston’s most well-known and highly respected chefs going head-to-head in making this traditional dish rooted in rich and vast, cultural flavors. Guests will also enjoy an open bar of craft beer, cocktails, and Hot Toddies, while DJ Big Reeks and DJ Sun will provide music. This also benefits Texas Children’s Hospital’s Sickle Cell Program. 7 pm.

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Movie Review

Meta-comedy remake Anaconda coils itself into an unfunny mess

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.

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Anaconda is now playing in theaters.

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