holidays on the rooftop

Houston's rooftop cinema reveals festive and jolly holiday lineup and themed nights

Rooftop Cinema Club Houston night skyline

Holiday time at Rooftop Cinema Club includes pet-friendly screenings and sing-along hits.

Photo by Rooftop Cinema Club Houston

Few things punctuate the start of the holiday season like a good holiday movie. (Who doesn’t love Will Farrell’s gleeful “Santa!” scream in Elf or the BB gun mayhem in A Christmas Story?) Now, Houston’s Rooftop Cinema Club has unveiled a festive holiday lineup full of flicks that are sure to get even Grinches in the seasonal mood.

In November, fans can look for seasonal classics, popular sing-alongs, and family-friendly screenings such as The Greatest Showman, Grease, Selena, Love & Basketball, Harry Potter, and more.

December brings all holiday feels with Home Alone, The Santa Clause, Elf, Edward Scissorhands, Die Hard, A Christmas Story, and more. The venue will be open seven nights a week during this time and for double screenings Wednesdays through Saturdays.

Tickets for the holiday season go on sale at noon, Wednesday, November 6, and are available online for all showtimes at Rooftop’s BLVD Place location in Post Oak.

Catch a film and give back
When fans purchase tickets to any December screening, they can add a donation to support Coalition for the Homeless’ efforts to prevent and end homelessness in the Houston area. Also, from December 3 through December 15, attendees are encouraged to drop off supplies for newly housed Houstonians and their families as part of a “12 Days of Giving” program.

Christmas classics
Fans who miss out on TV broadcasts of classics such as How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Year Without a Santa Claus, and A Charlie Brown Christmas are in luck, as the club will host special viewings. Guests are encouraged to dress up in matching pajamas.

“Wooftop” returns
It’s bring your dog to the movies with the pet-friendly screening of the 2000 Jim Carrey hit, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Viewers are encouraged to dress their pooches in their best winter sweater and dog treats will be available (should your furbaby not have a taste for popcorn).

Family screenings
Screenings on Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday are open to all ages 3 and up. Lounge seat tickets will be $12 for anyone 18 and under, versus our standard $17 lounge seat starting price. Children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

Prices start at $17 per person for a one-person lounge seat. A single-person seat with the addition of bottomless popcorn is $20. Tickets for couples, or a roomier love seat, plus bottomless popcorn, are $24 per person. Student discount ticket start at $15.30, with valid ID required the night of the event.

As always, the cinema will serve up movie grub from Good Dog Houston, which offers three dogs: the Picnic Dog, the Uptown Dog, and The Dude. Additional fare includes fruit and cheese plates, Frito pie, and chili cheese nachos. Adult beverages include a full bar with craft cocktails, local beer options, and an assortment of wines.

Here is the full list of November and December screenings.

November 19 – Dumb and Dumber
November 20 – The Greatest Showman* (Sing-along) and Beauty and The Beast
November 21 – Cool Runnings* and Sex and The City
November 22 – The Lion King (2019) and Selena
November 23 – Mean Girls and Grease (Sing-along)
November 24 – The Wiz*
November 25 – Love & Basketball
November 26 – Harry Potter & The Order of The Phoenix
November 27 – Planes, Trains & Automobiles
November 28 – Closed
November 29 – Closed
November 30 – Elf and The Holiday
December 1 – Home Alone*
December 2 – Love Actually
December 3 – Little Women (1994)
December 4 – The Santa Clause* and The Best Man Holiday
December 5 – A Muppet Christmas Carol* and The Preacher's Wife
December 6 – Elf and Edward Scissorhands
December 7 – It's a Wonderful Life and Home Alone 2: Lost In New York
December 8 – Christmas Classics*: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Year Without Santa Claus, and A Charlie Brown Christmas)
December 9 – The Holiday
December 10 – Die Hard
December 11 – Home Alone* and To Grandmother's House We Go
December 12 – A Christmas Story* and While You Were Sleeping
December 13 – Friday After Next and Gremlins
December 14 – Elf and Love Actually
December 15 – How the Grinch Stole Christmas*
December 16 – National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
December 17 – A Madea Christmas
December 18 – The Polar Express* and The Holiday
December 19 – Elf * and Love Actually
December 20 – Christmas Classics: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Year Without a Santa Claus, and A Charlie Brown Christmas; Die Hard
December 21 – Home Alone and It's a Wonderful Life
December 22 – Elf*

*Denotes family screenings.

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Rooftop Cinema Club is located at BLVD Place above Whole Foods, 1700 Post Oak Blvd. For tickets and information, visit the official site.

families movies

Movie Review

New Superman movie forges into the future while honoring the past

Photo by Jessica Miglio

David Corenswet in Superman.

When the character of Superman was invented in 1938, it was perhaps easier to see the world in good and bad terms. Fascism was already on the rise in Germany under Adolf Hitler, and the idea of an all-powerful superhero who stood up for people in need was a welcome one. In the nearly 90 years since, though, the world and the character have undergone multiple evolutions, and the thought of someone who is purely good is often met with cynicism or worse.

The new Superman, written and directed by James Gunn, puts the superhero (or metahuman, as the film calls him and similar creatures) squarely in the midst of the modern world, with geopolitical conflicts, mega-corporations, and social media all combining to make the altruism of Superman/Clark Kent (David Corenswet) questionable. That skepticism even extends to his coworker/girlfriend Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), whose knowledge of his exploits puts her in a tricky position personally and professionally.

Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) is out to dominate the world and take down Superman, with his eponymous corporation and vast group of underlings dedicated to doing both. Superman is generally a one-man fighting crew, but he’s occasionally aided by a group calling themselves the Justice Gang, comprised of heroes many have never heard of like Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), a version of Green Lantern; Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), a flying metahuman; and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), who knows all kinds of technology.

One of the best things about this new version of Superman is that it mostly dispenses with introductions, putting the audience in a world where Superman is already a well-known quantity who’s adored by many and hated by some. Gunn has used his new position as co-CEO of DC Studios to honor the past of the hero and take him into the future. With the 1978 John Williams theme song echoing throughout and Corenswet giving off Christopher Reeve vibes, it’s clear Gunn wants audiences to feel nostalgia while still getting something new.

He also appears to want viewers to fight against the negativity that the modern world can bring. The plot involves manipulation of the public, usually at the hands of Luthor, through bombastic talk shows, political theater, and social media, the latter of which — in a great joke — comes to involve hundreds of typing monkeys. The film could be read as a rebuttal of many real-world ills as, despite Luthor’s machinations, many choose to continue to believe in the goodness of Superman.

There is a lot going on in the film, but somehow it never comes off as overly complicated. Superman’s relationship with Lois Lane and Luthor’s attempts at taking him down are given the most prominence, with everything else supporting those two main things. The Justice Gang is a fun addition, with Mr. Terrific becoming the breakout hero of the group. The addition of the (CGI) dog Krypto provides levity, poignant moments, and unexpectedly great action scenes. The only part that gets somewhat short shrift is the crew of The Daily Planet, with everyone besides Lois and Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) getting little more than face time.

Being the new Superman is a lot to live up to, but Corenswet is completely up to the job. He, like Reeve, plays the character as someone who is earnest but not naive, a quality that comes through even when he’s in the middle of fight scenes. Brosnahan is also fantastic, providing a nice balance to the relationship while also proving the character’s own worth. Hoult makes for a great new version of Luthor, and Gathegi nearly makes the case that Mr. Terrific should get a starring film of his own.

Just as he did with the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, Gunn has shown that success can be found through making characters people want to see. Not everyone in this Superman will be familiar to viewers, but in the end a group of people working together toward a goal that serves the common good is one worth watching and cheering for.

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Superman is now playing in theaters.

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