weekend event planner

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

A holiday classic comes to life with the live-action Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Photo by Character Arts

The Christmas gifts have been opened. The dinner has been eaten. (The family arguments have been had.) Now, it's time to have some fun on this Yuletide weekend.

May we suggest these happenings:

Thursday, December 26

Spindletop Screening at Bar Boheme
Spindletop is a City of Houston-sponsored film production about the first oil gusher in 1901, which launched Texas into the petroleum age. After months of hard work by a record number of people, the filmmakers will be showing off the latest cut. This event will serve as both a celebration — complete with cocktails served all around — and a test screening, since the filmmakers will also be looking for feedback. All funds raised will be used for festival submissions and marketing for the movie. 5-8 pm.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical at Jones Hall
We all remember watching the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer animated special when we were kiddies, right? Just think back to that Rankin & Bass stop-motion animation, Burl Ives narrating the whole thing as Sam the living snowman, etc. Thanks to the Society for the Performing Arts, the beloved TV classic will be in live-action, stage musical form. The production features favorite characters like Santa, Hermey the Elf, Bumble the Abominable Snow Monster and, of course, Rudolph. 7:30 pm (1 pm and 6:30 pm Friday).

Friday, December 27

Melissa Villasenor at Improv Houston
In the always-cluttered lineup that is the Saturday Night Live cast, Melissa Villasenor has stood out by doing eerie, dead-on impersonations of such notable figures as Lady Gaga, Gwen Stefani, Owen Wilson, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and even her fellow castmate Kate McKinnon. She's also done voices for such animated shows for Family Guy, Adventure Time, and F is for Family. But she also has jokes to go along with the impressions, as she'll show this weekend at the Improv. 7:30 and 9:45 pm (7 and 9:30 pm Saturday; 7:30 pm Sunday).

Salsa and Bachata Mixer at DD Sky Club
New Midtown nightspot DD Sky Club is looking for those who love dancing to anything Salsa, Bachata, Cumbia, or Reggaeton-related. This weekend, the club will have a Salsa and Bachata mixer for anyone and everyone who loves latin music. There will be two dance lessons to break the ice and meet the attendees, while the DJs will keep the music flowing and the bartenders will be doing the same with the drink specials. General entry is $15, and that includes all dance lessons and the party afterwards. 8:30 pm-2 am.

Saturday, December 28

Trolls Live! at Hobby Center for the Performing Arts
If you got kids who can't wait for Trolls World Tour, the follow-up to the 2016 kiddie cartoon Trolls, to drop next April, you might want to take them to this live show. Poppy, Branch, Cooper, Cloud Guy, Smidge, Guy Diamond, Fuzzbert, Biggie, and, of course, Mr. Dinkles (honestly, these are the most arbitrarily named cast of characters we've ever seen) will be in the colorful world of Trolls Village for this interactive performance, jam-packed with music, glitter, humor ,and all kinda Troll-like stuff. 10 am and 2:30 pm (10 am and 6:30 pm Monday).

Archie Bell at The DeLuxe Theater
This weekend, The DeLuxe Theater will host a Houston Soul Music History Exhibition, highlighting some of the city's musical pioneers. But the centerpiece is a documentary short on Archie Bell, the iconic frontman for Archie Bell and the Drells, the group who gave us the classic dance hit "Tighten Up." This doc comes courtesy of DJ/filmmaker/ethnomusicologist Flash Gordon Parks, who will be taking part in a Q&A with Bell (moderated by film/video curator Peter Lucas) immediately after the film. 5 pm.

Sunday, December 29

“2020 Visions: Turn of the Decade Community Dream Nap” at Mystic Lion
Who doesn't like taking a nice nap? How would you like to take a nap with a bunch of other people — at the same time? Mystic Lion and artist/"Southern Naptist Minister" and "Naptician," Emily Sloan, will be hosting this "community dream nap." Pillows and blankets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors will close 10 minutes after the start time to avoid unsettling the nap time. Participants are also encouraged to bring their own favorite pillows, blankets, and journal or sketchbooks. 2 pm.

Make Way for Tomorrow at Alamo Drafthouse LaCenterra
It seems Alamo Drafthouse LaCenterra's Film Club wants you to have a good cry this holiday season. Considered one of American cinema’s purest tearjerkers, Leo McCarey's Depression-era love story from 1937 stars Beulah Bondi and Victor Moore as an elderly couple who must move in with their grown children after the bank takes their home, yet end up separated and subject to their offspring’s selfish whims. All we gotta say is there better be a box of Kleenex in every damn seat — you're gonna need it. 4:15 pm.

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Movie Review

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is technically stunning but lacks emotion

Photo by Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

Matt Damon in The Odyssey.

For a story that is 3,000 years old and has been referenced innumerable times since the advent of the moving picture, it’s striking that The Odyssey has not been adapted into a film more often. Christopher Nolan’s new film is, depending on your definition, just the fourth time in film history that someone has attempted to tell the original story (oddly, the third film — The Return — came out just two years ago).

Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, who has been gone from his home of Ithaca for over 20 years. Waiting at home for him is his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and son Telemachus (Tom Holland), as well as a hall full of suitors — most notably Antinous (Robert Pattinson) — who are hoping that Penelope will finally believe that Odysseus is dead and choose to marry one of them.

In typical Nolan fashion, the film goes back-and-forth in time often to show what has happened to Odysseus in the past two decades. His sea voyages with his crew have him attacking Troy using the legendary Trojan Horse; taking on the cyclops Polyphemus (Bill Irwin); trying to escape the clutches of the witch Circe (Samantha Morton); living with the nymph Calypso (Charlize Theron); communing with the vision of Athena (Zendaya); and more.

Nolan, who wrote and directed the epic film, has a clear reverence for the material and, perhaps more than any current filmmaker, has the chops to make the sprawling story feel coherent. With a plethora of characters who have names that take some time to understand for those not familiar with the ancient tale, it’s extremely tough to wrangle everything and everyone together, and Nolan and his team make that trick seem relatively easy.

However, there’s a difference between making the story comprehensible and making it compelling, and Nolan is not as successful on this front. As portrayed in this film, it’s difficult to care whether Odysseus ever finds his way home. His connection with Penelope and Telemachus is tenuous, at best, and his status as a hero is called into question on multiple occasions. Complicated protagonists are nothing new, but in a story where the hero’s journey is the whole point, Nolan fails to make the quest all encompassing.

That’s not to say that there aren’t some standout moments along the way. The sequence in Polyphemus’ cave is tremendous, as are a few other scenes in which Nolan’s reported reliance on practical effects make you wonder how the crew accomplished what they did. Damon has said this is the hardest movie he’s ever made, and that effort shows up in every scene, especially those on the water.

At 56 years old, Damon is getting close to elder statesman status in Hollywood, and he ably embodies the role of the respected and feared leader. Hathaway, Holland, and Pattinson get the next most screentime, and each makes their character interesting if not mesmerizing. The murderer’s row of the supporting cast — Theron, Lupita Nyong'o, Zendaya, Elliot Page, Morton, Jon Bernthal, John Leguizamo, and more — give each scene a nice sheen whether or not their individual arc makes sense.

While the technical achievements of Nolan and his team in The Odyssey are admirable and occasionally awe-inspiring, the story he lays out is not quite as overwhelming. The structure he chose to use doesn’t allow the story to overcome the episodic nature of Odysseus’ brutal journey, keeping big emotions mostly at bay.

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The Odyssey opens in theaters on July 17.

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Movie Review

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is technically stunning but lacks emotion