weekend event planner

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

Shop for last-minute, vintage gifts at Winter Flea by Night.

Photo by Morris Malakoff, The CKP Group

The holidays are here. And if you need a break from wrapping presents and picking up relatives, these events will help you kick back and recharge your yuletide battery.

Thursday, December 20

Pop-Up Fundraiser at The Marquis II
West University will be getting some pop-up love from The Original Ninfa's on Navigation and Antone's Famous Po' Boys. The restaurants will be hosting a fundraiser, to be held at longtime West U bar The Marquis II. This neighborhood spot closed last week after more than 30 years in business at its current location, citing financial difficulties caused by ongoing street construction, only to be purchased by general manager Al Jara and reopened two days later. All proceeds will go to the bar. 6-9 pm.

Screw Cancer Charity Concert
Another benefit will be going down over at Satellite Bar, a charity concert bluntly called Screw Cancer. This show will feature live performances from LYTA, Atwood, MIEARS, Alii Michele, and Indigo Young. Proceeds and donations will go towards helping the Acevedo Family and their matriarch, Ilayahu, with her fight with stage 4 endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinoma, which is a severe type of stomach and ovarian cancer. 7-11 pm.

Friday, December 21

Hale County This Morning, This Evening at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
In a year that has had many fascinating documentary films, a favorite of ours that definitely deserves more attention will be playing this weekend at the MFAH, as part of its Filming America series. It's basically 76 minutes of filmmaker/photographer RaMell Ross capturing every nook and cranny of Hale County, Alaska, taking the mundane, small-town minutiae of the area’s predominantly black residents and transforming it into arresting visual poetry. We can't recommend it enough. 7 pm.

Rob Baird at The Heights Theater
Described on his press page as "a gambler of wit," Austin-based artist Rob Baird will be in town — opening up for Jack Ingram — to promote his latest album After All, which comes out next month. Recorded to tape in East Nashville, All is a concept album that has been called "a love child of Austin songwriting meeting Nashville collaboration." Rolling Stone has already called his new single "Burning Blue" "heavy new folk-rock" — so dude must be doing something right. 8 pm.

Saturday, December 22

Winter Flea by Night and Skate with Santa at Discovery Green
It's gonna be two scoops of ice, cold fun over at Discovery Green this weekend. First off, we got Winter Flea By Night, the Green Mountain Energy-presented flea market, coming back to the grounds. You can hunt for vintage, handmade, recycled, repurposed and renewed goods, plus enjoy live music and food trucks. Before that, you can get in some skating time — and say what's up to Ol' St. Nick — over at the Skate with Santa event at The ICE outdoor skating rink. 5 pm.

Goodnight Charlie's Honky Tonk Anniversary Party
Goodnight Charlie's is celebrating its one year of business the only way it knows how, with a free, day-long, honky-tonk anniversary party. There will be an anniversary cocktail menu and a roasted pig, which will be used for $1 roast pig and tromp tacos. Of course, there will also be live music from Eric Woodring, William & the Texas Starlight, Garrett T. Capps, Mayeux and Broussard, and Folk Family Revival. 1 pm-1 am.

Sunday, December 23

Festivus at Holler Brewing Co.
Any Seinfeld fans in the house? If you are one, you must know how important the nonexistent holiday known as Festivus is around the (very loud) Constanza household. It's also important over at Holler Brewing Co., since the beer spot will be having its third-annual Festivus celebration. The Festivus pole will be there for people to take photos with, along with the Airing of Grievances and Feats of Strength. More importantly, Festivus MiracAle and spiced Belgian Tripel Festivus MiracAle will be on tap. 3-7 pm.

Need a Break from Your In-Laws Happy Hour
Looking for a respite from the relatives and in-laws this holiday season? Local record rustler DJ Abrahan is here to give you some soothing sounds. He'll be spinning at Little Dipper Bar's recurring All-Vinyl Happy Hour, doing three hours of dark wave, new wave, dance and '80s club classics and basically taking you back to your high school years. As for booze, they'll have $2 Lone Star Beer and $2.50 you-call-it well drinks. 3-6 pm.

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Movie Review

Over-the-top thriller The Housemaid revels in camp, chaos, and excess

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney in The Housemaid.

Both Amanda Seyfried (the upcoming The Testament of Ann Lee) and Sydney Sweeney (Christy) are starring in movies with Oscar ambitions this year. By sheer coincidence, the two actors are also co-starring in The Housemaid, a thriller coming out within weeks of their more ambitious works, one that is likely to be seen by many more people than those prestige plays.

Sweeney is given top billing as Millie, a down-on-her-luck ex-convict looking to land any type of job so as not to break her parole. She finds a too-good-to-be-true lifeboat with Nina (Seyfried), who hires her to be a housemaid for her large house on Long Island, where she lives with her husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), and daughter, Cecilia (Indiana Elle).

After a warm interview, Nina almost immediately becomes highly erratic, whipping back-and-forth between happy-go-lucky and rageful. It seems clear that Nina is suffering from mental health issues, as she’ll often accuse Millie of misplacing or stealing items that she didn’t take. Andrew, apparently used to Nina’s tirades, tries to protect Millie from the worst, something that grows increasingly difficult as Nina ups the ante.

Directed by Paul Feig (A Simple Favor) and adapted by Rebecca Sonnenshine from the bestselling book by Freida McFadden, the film is likely the trashiest mainstream movie to come out in 2025. The first half of the movie relies not on story but on moments as Nina embodies the word “hysterical” to an unbelievable extent. The resigned acceptance of the abuse by Millie, as well as the saintly patience of Andrew, make almost every scene laughable, as nobody seems to be acting anywhere close to how a person would normally react to such extreme situations.

The scenes and the performance of Seyfried are so over-the-top, in fact, that it’s clear that the filmmakers are in on the joke. It’s next to impossible not to have a little bit of fun while watching the actors react to outrageous incidents as if nothing is out of the ordinary. The worse Nina acts, the more Millie and Andrew retreat into their chosen roles, and the funnier the film becomes.

Fans of the book will know that the story changes course, eventually turning into a more stereotypical thriller that also has some relatively gnarly visuals to offer. But the trashiness continues, with Sweeney’s, um, assets repeatedly on display in both clothed and unclothed ways. The sex appeal of the R-rated movie makes it an outlier, as recent studio films have shied away from asking their big stars to disrobe completely.

Both Seyfried and Sweeney are far from their Oscar hopeful roles here. Seyfried is given free rein to act as brazenly as she pleases, and she takes full advantage of that ability. Sweeney seems to have been told to be much more reserved, and unfortunately that results in too many wooden line readings. Sklenar continues his breakout streak (It Ends with Us, Drop) with a role that allows him to show more range than either Seyfried or Sweeney.

The Housemaid is an unusual type of movie to be released at a time of year when most films are either those aiming for awards or more family-friendly fare. Despite its many flaws, it’s still an enjoyable watch that features a variety of crazy scenarios not typically seen in movies nowadays.

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The Housemaid is now playing in theaters.

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weekend event planner

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

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Over-the-top thriller The Housemaid revels in camp, chaos, and excess

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