weekend event planner

Here are the top 12 things to do in Houston this weekend

Galleria Houston Christmas tree lighting ice spectacular

The Galleria lights its 55-foot tree this weekend.

Photo courtesy of Uptown Houston

As Veteran’s Day approaches, several spots are honoring our heroes.

Lone Star Flight Museum will waive veterans and active military admission fees. All veterans will also receive a free patriotic pin. Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille will be giving away one complimentary dinner pork chop to active or former military members when they’re accompanied by a guest that purchases a dinner entrée while dining in.

Dickey’s Barbecue Pit will have a free pulled pork sandwich to veterans who use the code VETFREE. Willie’s Grill & Icehouse will honor veterans and active military by inviting them to try the icehouse’s brand new sandwiches for free.

And the Original Ninfa’s will salute the nation’s veterans and active-duty military with free chili con queso.

We thank our members of the armed forces. Here are your best bets for the weekend.

Thursday, November 11

Blossom Hotel Houston presents A Night Under the Stars
Blossom Hotel Houston will host their first “Lunar Evening” in partnership with the Houston Astronomical Society. Attendees will be invited to view the moon through the high-powered telescopes as well as various stars and planets visible at the time. The event will include a welcomed reception with food and beverages followed by an “Introduction to Moon Watching” discussion provided by representatives of the Houston Astronomical Society. The event is free to attend and open to guests and the public. 6:30 pm.

American Cancer Society presents Fork Cancer
American Cancer Society's inaugural party with a purpose will showcase small bites from top restaurants, cocktails, a silent auction, and live entertainment. Hosted by the Society’s Associate Board of Ambassadors, the event will honor 12 "Tastemaker" nominees and award the ACS Tastemaker of the Year. Proceeds will fund the lifesaving work of the American Cancer Society including transportation grants to assist Central Texans in getting to and from their life saving cancer treatments. 7 pm.

Mildred's Umbrella Theater Company presents El Huracán
Cuban-American playwright Charise Castro Smith’s play honors four generations of Cuban-American women who navigate life’s tempests together. Valeria drifts as dementia floods her mind. Ximena sinks as unforgiveness surges inside her. Miranda wades through the torrential mistakes of her past. And Val searches through the rubble to piece together her identity. Their family may be adrift in time and history, but they are bolstered by their memories and magic, and their eternal connection to each other. Through Sunday, November 21. 8 pm (2:30 pm Sunday).

Friday, November 12

The Houston Seminar presents Under the Radar: Tracing Houston’s Music History: The Houston Hip Hop Collection
Houston hip-hop has a unique sound that has influenced contemporary artists such as Beyoncé, Drake, and Solange Knowles. Among the riches of the Houston Hip Hop Research Collection are original mixtapes created by DJ Screw (1971–2000), notebooks of rap lyrics by the late rapper HAWK, promotional photographs, fliers, T-shirts, and recordings. Julie Grob, the founder and curator of the collection, will present materials that capture the creativity and drive of the musicians, producers, visual artists, and entrepreneurs who built an independent music scene of global influence. 10 am.

Creative Learning Society presents A Clueless Christmas
Creative Learning Society presents a murder mystery dinner theater that will feature the audience playing an interactive role with the actors to tell the story and solve the crime. The audience will complete goofy challenges to win clues and discover hidden evidence, and some audience members even become characters in the story. It's the perfect evening for those who like to solve crimes and those who love to participate in some seriously bad acting. Through Saturday, December 18. 7 pm.

DJ Pauly D at Sekai Night and Day
This weekend, Sekai Night and Day will host DJ Pauly D, with an opening set by Mr Ease. Located in EaDo at 1505 Saint Emanuel St., Sekai Night and Day is Houston's newest night club. The 26,000-square-foot, luxury mega club is the largest indoor/outdoor space of its kind in the city, complete with cutting-edge and immersive technologies, plus a 1,000-square-foot, resort-style pool surrounded by two floors of cabanas. Tickets for DJ Pauly D start at $30, with VIP tables available.

Saturday, November 13

The Galleria presents 32nd Annual Ice Spectacular and Tree Lighting
The Galleria's 32nd Annual Ice Spectacular will kick off the holiday season with the lighting of its 55-foot Christmas tree, featuring 450,000 twinkling lights and 5,000 ornaments in a variety of colors and shapes. The 45-minute tree-lighting show will feature a performance by Houstonian Dana Monique, a fan favorite and top finalist from Season 20 of The Voice. The event will culminate with the lighting of the tree by Skating Santa and a fireworks display. Noon.

Zine Fest Houston
Zine Fest Houston is an annual, all-ages festival dedicated to promoting zines (self-published magazines), mini-comics, and other forms of small press, alternative, and underground DIY media and art. Zine Fest is the sole event in Houston that specifically provides a platform for emerging and established regional and national zine makers in the DIY community to exchange new work and create meaningful relationships that lead to productive collaboration. Noon.

San Jacinto Museum of History presents Texas Memorial Illumination
San Jacinto Museum of History will present Texas Memorial Illumination, where volunteers will place and light 21,500 luminaires on the fields of San Jacinto Battleground in remembrance of those Texans who have given their lives in armed conflict from the Texas Revolution through Afghanistan. Participants will be led along a driving luminary lit path through the woods then around the San Jacinto Monument, which towers 567 feet and is the tallest column monument in the world. 6 pm.

Sunday, November 14

“Breaking Bread” Fundraiser at 8th Wonder Brewery
8th Wonder Brewery and its in-house food truck the Eatsie Boys will host a gathering of Houston’s favorite food trucks for a day of community and giving. Held in the brewery’s one-acre WonderWorld backyard, the coalition of eight chef-led mobile kitchens will raise funds for the families of those tragically affected by events last Friday at the AstroWorld Festival. A portion of Sunday’s sales from the 8th Wonder Brewery Taproom will also be set aside for that purpose. All donated funds will be given to verified GoFundMe fundraisers for the victims’ loved ones. 1 pm.

Revelry on Richmond 4th Annual Chili Cook-Off
This weekend, Revelry on Richmond will be hosting its fourth annual chili cook-off. For all participants, $50 will reserve your spot for your team. The $50 will go to your team's bar tab. All participants must bring their own supplies to set up for the event. The chili must also be cooked on-site and ready by 1 pm for the judges and guests to try. For all guests in attendance for $5 they will receive a wristband and ballot to be able to taste and vote for all their favorite chili. 1 pm.

International Risotto Festival
The 15th Annual International Risotto Festival will be an outdoor strolling event with Italian creations from top Houston chefs, wines, music, entertainment, exotic cars, a charity auction, designer showroom tours, and activities for kids. This year’s festival will benefit Second Servings of Houston, the city’s only prepared and perishable food rescue organization. The local non-profit is on a mission to fight hunger and end waste in the community by picking up unsold and unserved food from food businesses, such as distributors, retailers and manufacturers. 2 pm.

event-planner

Movie Review

Houston native Wes Anderson shows off comedic side in The Phoenician Scheme

Photo courtesy of TPS Productions/Focus Features

Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton, and Michael Cera in The Phoenician Scheme.

If you were to do a poll of the best comedy filmmakers of the 21st century, writer/director Wes Anderson is not the obvious choice to come out on top, but there’s an argument to be made for him. His quirky style doesn’t yield the guffaws that more broad comedies do, but the absurd situations he creates in his films are often more consistently funny than anything else.

Anderson’s inimitable approach is once again on full display in The Phoenician Scheme. At its center is Zsa-Zsa Gorda (Benicio Del Toro), a much-hated businessman who’s looking to complete a number of big projects in the fictional country of Phoenicia. As he seems to be the target of multiple assassination attempts, he appoints his daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton), as his heir to try to ensure his legacy.

Both she and his new assistant, Bjorn (Michael Cera), accompany him around the country as he tries to enact a scheme to have others cover the bulk of the cost for the various projects. Those he attempts to convince include Phoenician Prince Farouk (Riz Ahmed), brothers Leland (Tom Hanks) and Reagan (Bryan Cranston), fellow businessman Marseille Bob (Mathieu Amalric), ship captain Marty (Jeffrey Wright), his Cousin Hilda (Scarlett Johansson), and Uncle Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch).

Put in Andersonian terms, the film is a mix between the madcap antics from The Grand Budapest Hotel and the impenetrable storytelling of Asteroid City. If you were to try to understand every detail of what’s going on in the story of The Phoenician Scheme, it might take three or more viewings to do so. But the film is still highly entertaining because Anderson fills its frames with his typical visual delights, great wordplay, and his particular version of slapstick.

Much of the comedy of the film derives from Anderson inserting moments that initially come as a surprise and then utilizing them as running jokes. The film features more blood than usual for the filmmaker, but each time a character gets wounded (or worse), it gets funnier. The assassination attempts get broader as the film goes along, and the matter-of-fact way in which they’re treated by Gorda and others is also hilarious.

Of course, Anderson is the cinephile’s comedy director, so the film is also full of high-brow things like allusions to paintings, tributes to other filmmakers, and classical music. Each time Gorda has an attempt on his life, he briefly finds himself in a version of limbo, depicted in black-and-white by Anderson. The cast of characters Gorda finds there - including Bill Murray as God - could come straight out of a 1950s Ingmar Bergman movie.

Del Toro has delivered some great performances over the years, but this one is near the top for him. This is his second Anderson film (following The French Dispatch) and he nails the deadpan method. Also great is Cera, who uses a ridiculous accent to make a big impression. Threapleton, the daughter of Kate Winslet, makes the most of her first big film role. The list of supporting actors is too deep to properly laud everyone, but they all fit in seamlessly.

Opinions will differ, but for this critic’s money, Anderson is at his best when he fully leans into the comedy of his films. He does just that in The Phoenician Scheme, to the point that it doesn’t matter that the story is overly complex. The combination of his eye for visual detail, a witty script, and committed performances make it a success.

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The Phoenician Scheme is now playing in theaters.

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