a totally lit yuletide

Downtown Houston lights up the holidays with 8 winter wonderlands, ice skating, markets, and more

Every great city boasts a great downtown holiday celebration — take Christmas in New York City, for example. The Bayou City is no different, as it toasts the 2022 yuletide season with a downtown, stroll-worthy event.

Aptly titled City Lights Downtown Holiday Magic, the holiday fun offers up eight unique, themed villages/venues located across downtown. Visitors can enjoy holiday markets, winter lights, a hot chocolate bar, roaming carolers, movie nights, sweet treats, and more.

Things kick off at 5:30 pm on Friday, November 18 with an official, ceremonial lighting at Avenida Houston's plaza. These experiences are mostly free, open to the public, and run through January 2, 2023 — just in time for nights out, weekend fun, staycations, or a trip for visiting friends and family.

Visitors are encouraged to visit the official site regularly, where they can sign up for the free City Lights Pass and even enter a drawing to win holiday-themed experiences every week.

“This will be an exciting holiday season as downtown Houston transforms itself into a signature wonderland unlike anything we have seen in years past,” said Michael Heckman, CEO of Houston First Corp., in a statement. “From the elaborate holiday villages to skating on the largest outdoor ice-skating rink in the southwest, families and visitors will now have multiple opportunities to make new holiday memories.”

Here's what to expect with the holiday village fun downtown, per organizers Houston First Corp. and Central Houston, Inc.

Plaza at Avenida - Deck the Trees and live music

The Grand Holiday Window at the George R. Brown Convention Center facing Avenida de las Americas is beginning to look a lot like Christmas, with 30 artfully decorated holiday trees — all perfect for those Instagram moments. Live music from the Avenida Concert Series will add to the ambience; check the performance schedule here. This event benefits the Alley Theatre’s educational community and artistic initiatives.

Marriott Marquis - Texas Winter Lights

One of Texas' most picturesque hotel rooftops is bringing back a poolside tradition. Each year, fans pack Texas Winter Lights, an interactive walk-through - or float–under–lights experience at the Marriott Marquis Downtown's Altitude Rooftop & Pool. Visitors can enjoy more than 30 festive beverage offerings, a new interactive graffiti wall, and nightly snowfall, or a poolside movie every Thursday at nightfall. More fun includes the Marriott’s Grove of Trees, the Archway of Lights, and the lazy river, which is heated to a perfect 80 degrees all winter long. Tickets start at $25 for non-guest days (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday only); event runs through January 8, 2023.

Discovery Green - Holiday Ice Village

An icy Houston downtown tradition returns in the heart of Discovery Green. Ice skaters of all skill levels can look forward to quirky and cool, themed skate nights (many set to a DJ) and even a chance to hit the ice with Santa. Tickets are $17 per person and include a skate rental. More options at the Green include a enjoy a holiday movie under the stars every Thursday night and the park's Solstice Art Installation. Every Saturday in November and December, shoppers can hit Flea by Night for a diverse offering of vendors selling interesting holiday gifts. Check the official Discovery Green site for details.

Hilton Americas - Land of Sweets

The lobby of the Hilton Americas brings back its sweet holiday fun. This year’s chocolate display features hand-sculpted and Minion-themed masterpiece encompassing more than 2,000 pounds of chocolate. To sweeten the deal, the hotel is offering themed packages for potential guests, including treats, ice skating packages, and more.

Wortham Theater – Sugar Plum Plaza

Visions of sugarplums to dance in the iconic Fish Plaza at the entrance of the Wortham Theater. This ode to a holiday classic also presents cheerful tunes amid the Sugar Plum Plaza to gaze at its larger-than-life, custom-built ornaments.

Market Square Park - Mistletoe Square

Downtown's Market Square Park own state bragging rights with Texas’ biggest mistletoe installation, cleverly named Mistletoe Square for the holidays. Grab a loved one (or anyone who'd up for a peck) and smooch under this 150-inch ball of greenery hanging from a giant, 15-foot candy cane — perfectly made for an IG Boomerang. For more date night fun, craft a gingerbread house with Phoenicia Specialty Foods or catch a holiday movie under the lights. Check www.marketsquarepark.com for details.

Main Street Square – Santa’s Village

Here comes Santa Claus — specifically, to Main Street. Score a photo with Kris Kringle every Friday and Saturday starting at 6 pm at Santa’s Village in Main Street Square, which is centered by lit, 40-foot water bursts and a 250-foot-long, eight-inch-deep reflecting pool. After hanging with Mr. Claus, explore a series of holiday markets happening every Friday and Saturday.

Winter Wanderland on Bagby Street

The totally lit fun on Bagby Street is highlighted — literally — by some 100,000 twinkling LED lights that span from the newly updated Bagby Street and Lamar to Preston. Don't miss the giant angel wings, constellation arches, and an 80-foot light tunnel across from The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts for those picture-perfect holiday photo opps.

Photo courtesy of Central Houston

Take a walk in the Winter Wonderland.

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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