weekend event planner

These are the top 15 things to do in Houston this weekend

A lot of good music will be played this weekend, ranging from the electronic rock of Courting to the celebratory jazz of Camille Thurman and Darrell Green to the sexy soul of Maxwell to the kooky alt-country of Houston’s own Lyle Lovett. And, if you want it in musical form, there will also be a double shot of Rocky Horror.

Also going on these next few days: a Japanese sake and food festival; a very gymnastic show starring hometown girl Simone Biles; an Energy Day fest for the kiddies; and a Day of the Dead celebration for those who can’t wait until next month to celebrate Dia de los Muertos.

Thursday, October 17

H-E-B Wine Walk at Market Street
At the 20th annual H-E-B Wine Walk at Market Street, foodies, wine enthusiasts, and Wine & Food Week fans can sip and stroll their way down Market Street all while supporting worthwhile charity organizations like New Danville, The Woodlands Waterway Arts Council, and Montgomery County Food Bank. The event will cover three blocks of Market Street and will be packed with a cornucopia of culinary creations, wine displays with industry experts, craft beers, live music, and wine experiences. 6 pm.

Courting and Vundabar in concert
It looks like we have another foursome from Liverpool coming to America, ready to make a big splash. This will be electronic rock band Courting's first ever U.S. tour, as they open for Boston indie rockers Vundabar. Named a Band to Watch by Stereogum, their latest album New Last Name received critical acclaim from NME, Paste, and more. The record really dials up the guitar-pop element of the band's sound, firing them into a world also occupied by the likes of Sports Team, English Teacher, FEET, etc. 7 pm.

Live at the Founders Club: Celebrating Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln with Camille Thurman and Darrell Green
Camille Thurman has cemented herself as not only one of today’s most important saxophonists, but also one of our most skilled vocalists. Drummer Darryl Green has been called for years to perform with today’s most iconic musicians. Together, they’ll be celebrating jazz drummer Max Roach and vocalist/actress Abbey Lincoln with an evening of soulful sounds which spotlights both the centennial year of Roach and the music that he and Lincoln (his wife) made together. 7:30 pm.

Friday, October 18

Rice University Moody Center For The Arts presents Monuments Symposium With Paul M. Farber
Rice University Moody Center For The Arts will explore the history and future of monuments at this special symposium. Speakers include Paul Farber, Director of Monument Lab; art historian Kirk Savage, University of Pittsburgh; Houston-based artists Jamal Cyrus and Tiffany Chung; and Rice members of the Task Force on Slavery, Segregation and Racial Injustice W. Caleb McDaniel, Alexander Byrd, and Fabiola Lopez-Duran. Lunch is included with registration. 9 am.

Art Factory presents The Rocky Horror Show
If you’re a fan of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the River Oaks Theatre will finally have a midnight screening with burlesque revue The Sisterhood of Lil St Cyr overseeing the madness. But, if you remember when the show started out as a legit stage musical, Art Factory will be doing a fabulously freaky production. Costumes and call-outs will be encouraged, making this production a fully immersive and high-octane night of zany, sexy fun. Intended for mature audiences only. Through Thursday, October 31. 8 pm.

Lyle Lovett in concert
We’ve been down with Houston-born Lyle Lovett for a long time. Way before the marriage to Julia Roberts. Way before he became a repertory player in Robert Altmen films. We’ve loved his goofy pompadour and quirky country-blues stylings ever since we saw him perform “Here I Am” on Carson. (There’s another live version where he performed the song with comedian Steven Wright, but that’s been taken off YouTube.) He'll perform with His Large Band as part of The Woodlands 50th Anniversary Free Concert. They'll be joined by Hayes Carll. 7:30 pm.

Maxwell in concert
Neo-soulster Maxwell is finally out of hiding and touring the country, as part of The Serenade Tour. Even though he hasn’t dropped a new album since blackSUMMERS'night in 2016, he’s ready to perform smooth R&B ditties for all the fans who’ve been with him since his 1996 debut Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite, as well as the grown children those fans most likely created while listening to his music. He'll be joined by Jazmine Sullivan and October London. 7:30 pm.

Saturday, October 19

The Toasted Coconut 5th Anniversary Celebration
Montrose restaurant The Toasted Coconut is turning five this weekend, and the spot will be celebrating with a wild-and-weird, all-day celebration. First up, drink specials that might have you feeling bewitched will be served. Then, they’re roasting a pig. Other details include a mechanical shark, face painting, a dunk tank (chef Martin Stayer will be in it!), snow cones, and a live DJ. ⁠And don’t forget about the limited, spooky ceramics created by local talent Lorita Makes. 10 am.

Houston Energy Day Festival
Energy Day is like a giant science fair mixed with a festival, and it’s all designed to show kids how fun and exciting STEM can be. Visitors can explore, create, and discover new things while playing outside. Plus, they’ll be able to meet lots of other kids who love science and technology just as much as they do. The event will be full of experiments, hands-on activities, and exhibits where kids can explore and learn about the energy that powers the world around us. 11 am.

Monster Jam
Monster Jam will be an adrenaline-charged weekend featuring heated rivalries, high-flying stunts, and fierce head-to-head battles. It will feature the Texas debut of four new Marvel Monster Jam trucks: The Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man, Black Panther, and Thor face off for the first time against fan favorites like the legendary Grave Digger. We’ll also get the Houston premiere of the all-new Sparkle Smash and more in freestyle, skills, and racing competitions. 7 pm.

Athleta presents Gold Over America Tour
Gold Over America Tour is a pop concert-style spectacle that will showcase the athletic brilliance and championship journeys of Spring-born-and-based gymnast Simone Biles and cast members Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, Katelyn Ohashi, Peng-Peng Lee, Shilese Jones, Fred Richard, Mélanie Johanna De Jesus Dos Santos, Kayla Dicello, Brody Malone, Paul Juda, and more. The event will showcase tumbles, twists, and gravity-defying tricks. 7:30 pm. Get a behind-the-scenes look at the show with one of the cast members in this story.

Sunday, October 20

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents "Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery" opening day
"Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery" will foreground Pueblo voices and aesthetics and will offer a visionary understanding of Pueblo pots as vessels of community-based knowledge and personal experience. The exhibition is the first Native-curated exhibition at the Museum and features more than 100 historical, modern, and contemporary items in clay. Through Sunday, January 12. 12:30 pm.

Japanese Sake & Food Festival
The Japanese Sake & Food Festival, initially established in Tokyo in 2015, will make its way to America for the first time, offering an opportunity to explore the pairing of Japanese sake and culinary delights. The festival will feature over 30 exhibitors, including sake brewers, distributors, and local food vendors offering various products ranging from sake to shochu and local cuisines. Other highlights include a sake seminar by special guests, Japanese stage performances, a Japanese activity and photo area, and more. 2 pm (Noon on Saturday).

Intempo Dance Ensemble presents Day of the Dead Celebration
Intempo Dance Ensemble presents an evening of dance and music inspired in the whimsical world of the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). The event is a Mexican celebration of pre-Hispanic origin that honors the deceased on Saturday, November 2. The festivities begin on Friday, November 1 and coincides with the Catholic celebrations of All Souls and All Saints. In Mexico, it is a celebration of life remembering loved ones who came before us, dedicating an altar to welcome them back for their visit to the world of the living, once a year. 6 pm.

Korn in concert
Credited as one of the pioneers of alt-metal — the radio-friendly genre that counts Limp Bizkit and P.O.D. among its members — the band is celebrating their 30th anniversary with a 25-city tour that stops in The Woodlands on Sunday. Known for hits such as “Got the Life (Follow the Leader)” and “Falling Away From Me,” expect a high energy show that makes attendees feel like they’re back in 1994. Gojira and Spiritbox open. 6:30 pm.

Photo by Vivian Leba

Celebrate five years of The Toasted Coconut.

event-planner weekend events

Movie Review

New horror film M3GAN 2.0 turns up the campy fun of the original

Photo by Geoffrey Short/Universal Pictures

M3GAN in M3GAN 2.0.

When a studio releases a movie in January (aka Dumpuary), the general rule of thumb is that they’re trying to get rid of a movie that isn’t very good. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, as M3GAN was in 2023, which rode the comedy of a killer AI robot who likes to dance to over $180 million worldwide.

A sequel was a given, and now with a built-in fanbase, M3GAN 2.0is a prime summer release. After running into trouble with her robot invention, Gemma (Allison Williams) has seemingly seen the error of her ways, now focused on creating things like a mechanical exoskeleton that can benefit society. Little does she know that the code she used to create M3GAN (aka Model 3 Generative Android) has been co-opted to create AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno), a new robot which is being used for nefarious purposes.

Naturally, the only thing to do is to bring M3GAN (played by Amie Donald, voiced by Jenna Davis) back from the “dead,” which is easy to do because — surprise! — she has been lurking inside the smart house in which Gemma and her niece Cady (Violet McGraw) now live. The inevitable showdown between the two robots is alternately helped and hindered by people like billionaire Alton Appleton (Jemaine Clement), fellow tech entrepreneur Christian (Aristotle Athari), co-worker Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez), and others.

Written and directed by Gerard Johnstone, who also directed the first film, M3GAN 2.0 doesn’t stray from the original formula, delivering way more laughs than scares. Because there’s a familiarity with the character, Johnstone leans into the campy side of things, essentially winking at the audience for much of the film. Whether it’s temporarily imprisoning M3GAN in an innocuous desktop robot or a number of one-liners, there is a lot of comedy to be found.

The film is a type of horror, though, and it delivers in the mild, PG-13 way that won’t offend non-horror fans. AMELIA (aka Autonomous Military Engagement Logistics and Infiltration Android) gives off Terminator vibes, and she lays waste to virtually all challengers. M3GAN doesn’t get to show off her skills as much as she did last time, which might be a tad frustrating for some, but she gets in enough punches and kicks for the experience to be worth it.

The story itself starts off strong before devolving into an overly complicated mess. The arc of AMELIA is particularly strange, as the strength of her powers and the level of her autonomy seem to change at will in the second half of the film. Gemma develops a rivalry with another character that might have worked better if it had been hinted at early in the film instead of being dropped in as a surprise.

Davis’ voice performance as M3GAN is once again fantastic, as she delivers sarcasm and menace equally well. Sakhno isn’t asked to do much but look terrifying, and she accomplishes that job. Williams is up and down in her role, stronger in the moments when she’s not being asked to prove her tech bona fides. Clement is his usual over-the-top self, which suits his character.

As with the first film, if you go into M3GAN 2.0 not expecting anything more than some goofy violent robot action, you’ll walk away satisfied. The unlikely breakout hit for Blumhouse Productions may not be able to support a good story, but it entertains in the way it’s supposed to do.

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M3GAN 2.0 is now playing in theaters.

movies film