weekend event planner

Here are the top 9 things to do in Houston this weekend

Sinatra and Beyond brings Rat Pack charm to Houston.

It's a new year — and a new decade.

It's time to reflect on the past and think about the future. It's time to have a positive outlook, go outside and get some exercise, eat healthy, set new goals, lay off the social media, and do something meaningful with our time.

It's also time for some fun, especially on the first weekend of the New Year:

Thursday, January 2

13th Annual Houston Film Critics Society Awards
It’s time once again for the Houston Film Critics Society (HFCS) to hand out honors during the group’s ticketed, “awards-style” program. But not only will they be awarding the best films and performances of the past year. They will also honor B-movie legend Roger Corman. First, they’re gonna give him a lifetime achievement award. Then, the following night (also at MFAH), there will be a screening of his 1964 film, The Masque of the Red Death, at 7 pm. Corman will be around afterwards for a post-screening discussion/Q &A, moderated by longtime, local film scribe Joe Leydon. 7 pm.

Steve Byrne at Improv Houston
Coming from New Jersey (aka Springsteen territory), comedian Steve Byrne has built a nice career out of being a half-Irish, half-Korean comic for the people. He starred as a lawyer who goes back to his working-class roots and takes over his father's bar in the short-lived TBS sitcom Sullivan & Son (which he also co-created). And, since he's a big supporter of the troops, he's also headlined several USO tours in Afghanistan, Iraq, and more. Catch him doing some red-blooded jokes this weekend. 8 pm (7:30 and 9:45 pm Friday; 7 and 9:30 pm Saturday).

Bewitched '90s Goth Klub Party at Etro Lounge
Who wants to start off the New Year by going back in time to the '90s, when Houston kids were truly goth, reading Sylvia Plath, dressing in black and mostly hanging out at Numbers? Well, this retro party will be playing all things goth, industrial, darkwave, and more — from Nine Inch Nails to The Cure to Type O Negative to Siouxsie and the Banshees. DJs Damon & Franki will play the music, while art-house films, classic horror chillers, and music docs will play on the screens all night. 10 pm-2 am.

Friday, January 3

Every Night's a Saturday Night: The Bobby Keys Story at 14 Pews
Hailing from Slaton, Texas, Bobby Keys was considered one of the best rock-and-roll saxophonists in the world. He played with The Rolling Stones (that was him on "Brown Sugar"), John Lennon, Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton and a number of Texas musicians, including Joe Ely. He passed away in 2014 from liver cancer, at the age of 71, but you can find out more about the man and his musical legacy with this documentary, which covers everything from playing with Elvis to his heroin addiction to playing with the Stones in the last decade. 7 pm.

Sinatra and Beyond at Jones Hall
Who wants to ring-a-ding-ding the New Year in? Houston Symphony will be serving that up with a weekend of shows. Tony DeSare, one of today’s leading Sinatra interpreters, recreates the Rat Pack swagger and timeless magic of Ol’ Blue Eyes himself, delivering showstoppers like "Come Fly with Me" and "New York, New York." All we gotta say is if he doesn't do Sinatra's swinging, Quincy Jones-arranged version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "Wives and Lovers," we'll be really bummed. 8 pm (2:30 pm Sunday).

Saturday, January 4

Saturday Discovery Camp at The Health Museum
For kiddos between the ages of 5 to 13, The Health Museum will host a one-day, Saturday Discovery Camp for all curious youngsters. Participants will take part in a full day of science and medical-focused experiences, including viewing a real human brain, live dissections of a sheep brain, practicing basic surgical skills such as suturing and stitching, learning how to start an IV and take blood, as well as how to properly read and analyze x-rays, among various others. 9 am-3 pm.

"Urban Observations: Joel Anderson" at Archway Gallery
It seems Joel Anderson is a big fan of "encaustic painting" — beeswax mixed with damar resin — which was practiced by Greek artists as far back as the 5th century B.C., and later revived by Diego Rivera and Jasper Johns. Anderson incorporates modern digital methods in his new show, which captures his love for this city. He even became a FAA-certified drone pilot to get a bird’s eye view high above the power lines. Will run through January 30. 5-8 pm.

Sunday, January 5

Texas Center for the Missing Fundraiser at Poison Girl
Yes, Poison Girl is a nice, little hangout where people can go after work, drink and look at all the velvet paintings they have. But, once in a while, they'll put on a gathering that's more about doing some good in this community. This weekend, the bar will hold a fundraiser for Texas Center for the Missing, which provides crisis intervention, prevention and community education to the missing and their families. Food will be for sale between 4 and 7 pm. 3 pm.

Moonrise Kingdom at Alamo Drafthouse LaCenterra
While people may feel that The Grand Budapest Hotel, which won several Oscars in 2015, is the best film acclaimed filmmaker (and proud Houstonian) Wes Anderson dropped this past decade, excuse us for having a soft place in our hearts for this 2012 romantic comedy. An all-star cast (we're talking Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, etc.) basically turn a New England island upside down trying to find a couple of missing preteens in love. 3:15 pm.

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Movie Review

Heartfelt animal adventure Hoppers is another Pixar classic

Photo courtesy of Disney/Pixar

Mabel (Piper Kurda) and King George (Bobby Moynihan) in Hoppers.

For the first 15 years of their history, animation studio Pixar delivered one classic film after another, an astonishing streak that included their first 11 movies. Things got bumpy starting with Cars 2 in 2011, and even though the majority of their output has been good-to-great ever since, their releases are no longer considered slam dunks like they once were.

They’re back with an original film, Hoppers, trying to return to form by going back to the animal world. The film centers on Mabel (Piper Kurda), a 19-year-old environmentalist who’s trying to stop a new highway being built by Mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm) in the fictional city of Beaverton. Her activism has as much to do with helping displaced local animals as it does with being nostalgic for her youth, in which she spent years observing nature with her Grandma Tanaka (Karen Huie).

She finds an unlikely possible solution when she discovers that her college professors have created a system that allows them to transfer — or hop — their consciousness into animal-like robots. Hijacking a beaver robot, Mabel joins up with the local wildlife, including beaver King George (Bobby Moynihan) to try to convince them to help her execute her plan. But with the highway almost complete and Mayor Jerry willing to do anything to make it happen, Mabel might be too late.

Directed by Daniel Chong and written by Jesse Andrews from a story by Chong, the film cycles through a variety of genres in its 105-minute running time, including comedy, drama, thriller, and even a touch of Pixar-style horror. When Pixar has been at its best, it seamlessly goes back and forth between genres, trusting that audiences will go along with them for the ride, and Hoppers feels like a return to form in that respect.

Humor rules the day as Mabel adjusts to being part of the animal world while her professors desperately try to get her and their robot back. Mabel encounters not only wildly confusing things like “pond rules” (if a predator catches you, you don’t fight it), but also the existence of a hierarchy within the world that involves kings or queens from various animal classes like reptiles, birds, amphibians, fish, and insects. Her one-track mind and the way of the world she is invading clash in a variety of funny ways.

As the film goes along, Chong, Andrews, and the rest of the filmmaking team also find a way to burrow into the audience’s heart. There are many elements that threaten to tip into eye-rolling territory, but the filmmakers consistently pull back before that happens. The number of fun characters on both the human and animal side helps in that regard, as does the simple yet profound message they’re trying to convey.

Pixar has assembled one of the best voice casts in recent memory for this film, including such big names as Meryl Streep, Dave Franco, Melissa Villaseñor, Vanessa Bayer, and the late Isiah Whitlock, Jr. However, due to the sheer number of characters, only Kurda, Moynihan, and Hamm truly stand out. Still, they all fit together well and give the always-stellar animation even more life.

Since the pandemic, Pixar has only released one truly great film (Inside Out 2), but with Hoppers and the seemingly bulletproof Toy Story 5 coming within a few months of each other, they might go back-to-back on that front. Like the classic films from the studio, it has goofy, heartfelt, and exciting parts, mixing together for an enthralling time at the theater.

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Hoppers opens in theaters on March 6.

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