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Your weekly guide to Houston: Five (plus) don't-miss events

Houston Ballet's The Nutcracker. Dancer, Emily Bowen.
Photo by Amitava Sarkar
At the TXU Energy Turkey Trot benefiting Sheltering Arms Senior Services,runners or walkers can take on the 5K, 10K or wheelchair run/walk, either timedcompetitive or non-competitive. The kids or seniors 1K run/walk is also anoption.
Paul Hazelton, Dust Pan, 2012, household dust, adhesives and dried moss, 5 1/4by 3 1/4 by 3 1/2 inches
Photo courtesy of the artist and Anya Tish Gallery
Small business owners and creatives will offer records, cards, jewelry, zines,terrariums and vintage clothing as part of the Houston Holiday Pop Shop.

On tap for this thankful week are events that give back, shopping affairs, interactive theater for the whole family, artsy cinema, a solution for relatives who have overstayed their welcome and a popular holiday dance tradition.

Click on the links below each event to access pages with helpful features, like the ability to download the information to your electronic calendar, and information about your final destination in case you get hungry, thirsty or need a place to crash for the evening.

20th Annual TXU Energy Turkey Trot benefiting Sheltering Arms Senior Services

'Tis the season of weight gain and doing good, so here's an event that will allow you to keep the latter while ensuring the former doesn't pop up as a New Year's resolution that you're most likely to screw up anyway. Runners or walkers can take on the 5K, 10K or wheelchair run/walk, either timed competitive or non-competitive. The kids or seniors 1K run/walk is also an option.

For those familiar with the race, keep in mind there has been some changes to the route.

Procrastinators are welcome. You can sign up on race day — though it won't be timed — but it still counts for good karmic points as the 20-year tradition benefits a Neighborhood Center's nonprofit that cares for older adults and their caregivers.

The deets: Thursday, 6 a.m.; Dillard's parking lot; registration starts at $15.

Houston Holiday Pop Shop

Last week it was Fresh Arts' Winter Holiday Art Market that had Winter Street Studios buzzing with holiday shoppers on a mission to find one-of-a-kind, handcrafted gifts from local artists and artisans. This week the fun moves seasons to Summer Street Studios where renegade designers, small business owners and creatives will offer records, cards, jewelry, zines, terrariums and vintage clothing as part of the Houston Holiday Pop Shop.

Among the vendors are Tin Roof Soap Company, Nano Fiction, Magpies & Peacocks, Lisa Chow, Cutthroat Records and Lady Lazarus Press. Expect plenty of food trucks and live performances to jazz things up while you spend your cash.

The deets: Friday and Saturday, 2-10 p.m.; Summer Street Studios; admission is free.

Stages Repertory Theatre presents Panto Mother Goose

Like a good shampoo that does what it's supposed to do, Stages Repertory Theatre recognizes that if something leave audiences teased, it's time to rinse and repeat. The "Panto" series, not to be confused with pantomime, transforms popular fairy tale stories into interactive, hilarious — and sometimes naughty — productions where there's more than one lesson to be learned and where audiences will, most likely, be a part of the on-stage action. It's rowdy, in-your-face fun.

Mother Goose Island will be forever changed — for better or for worse — though I am certain that by the end, Jack and Jill will return poetry to their fantasy world. Suitable for kids and adults.

The deets: Friday through Jan. 6; Stages Repertory Theatre; tickets start at $21.

Film screening: Beauty Is Embarrassing

Among Wayne White's credits are painter, sculpture, cartoonist, puppeteer, set designer, art director, animator, illustrator . . . the list goes on and on. He layers comedy onto fine art, morphs cartoons into sets and turns sets back into paintings. You may not know his output by name, but you know his work in Pee Wee's Playhouse, The East Village Eye and The New York Times. Or the giant head of George Jones he installed at Rice University in 2009.

His life is chronicled in the film Beauty is Embarrassing. White says his life isn't interesting, but art critics disagree.

The deets: Friday, 7 p.m., and Sunday, 4 p.m.; 14 Pews; tickets are $10, free for 14 Pews members.

Messina Hof Winery & Resort Fall Wine Appreciation Classes

If your relatives are still in town and getting on your last nerve, I'm offering a solution here: Send them away and get them drunk. You can camouflage your true feelings by visiting a vineyard that's fabulous — which it is — has a lovely terrain — which it does — and the restaurant is first rate — which it is.

In this fall wine appreciation class, wine aficionados and beginners will learn about Texas Bordeaux and taste Messina Hof's varietals.

The deets: Sunday, 3 p.m.; Messina Hof Winery & Resort in Bryan; $19.95 per person plus tax and gratuity.

Staff writer and savvy Houston explorer Whitney Radley's pick: Houston Ballet presents The Nutcracker

Whitney says: "Many consider the bird to be the best facet of the Thanksgiving holiday, but for me, it's what comes after — not Black Friday, but the go-ahead to get into the Christmas spirit, which isn't complete without a Houston Ballet performance of The Nutcracker. Load up the fridge with eggnog, turn up those yuletide tunes, bring out your heirloom ornaments and prepare for dreams of sugar plum fairies."

The deets: Friday through Dec. 30; Wortham Theater Center, tickets start at $19.

Arts smarty pants and in-the-loop creative maven Nancy Wozny's pick: Homage to Domestic Familiarity II at Anya Tish Gallery

Nancy says: "Dust, light switches and toilet paper aren't your usual art materials, but they sure look fantastic at Homage to Domestic Familiarity II, which explores the value of inconsequential objects in our consumerism-driven lives at Anya Tish Gallery. Tommy Gregory's toilet paper column, Temporary Comfort, is pure cleverness while Danish painter Christoffer Munch Andersen's painted can tops and bottoms are sensuous in their detail.

"Russian photographer Vadim Gushchin's envelope and egg cartons are yet another example of elevating familiar objects to something sublime. Anya Tish has put together a sensation show and you should go see it."

The deets: Through Dec. 31; Anya Tish Gallery; admission is free.

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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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