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    weekend event planner

    Here are the top 14 things to do in Houston this weekend

    Craig D. Lindsey
    Apr 27, 2023 | 6:00 am
    ​GONZO247

    Houston graffiti icon GONZO247 makes a splash this Saturday.

    GONZO247/Facebook

    This weekend presents a mix of art and food fun, as a vaunted steakhouse from Tilman Fertitta celebrates 20 years, and four OGs of graffiti get their due. Some cool comedians come to town, while Discovery Green makes STEM fun in a free event.

    Also look for erotic psychodrama at Houston Grand Opera with a world-class production, jazzy events, and a festive Eid event at Asia Society.

    Enjoy; here are your best bets for the weekend.

    Thursday, April 27

    The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents Latin Wave 16

    The annual Latin Wave series provides the opportunity for Houstonians to see new films from Latin America, and to meet internationally acclaimed filmmakers. The nature of the festival allows audience members to interact with the filmmakers in Q&A sessions and informal conversations. These dialogues enrich the understanding of contemporary filmmaking in Latin America. Screenings will take place in both the Brown Auditorium Theater and the Lynn Wyatt Theater. 5 pm (7 pm Friday; 1 pm Saturday and Sunday).

    Improv Houston presents Rosebud Baker

    Rosebud Baker is a New York-based comedian, writer, and actress. Her intensely personal, remorselessly dark brand of humor has not only made her a favorite on the comedy scene, but a sought-after TV writer. She’s currently a writer for both Saturday Night Live and That Damn Michael Che. Along with having a standup special, Whiskey Fists, she also has a recurring role on Amy Schumer’s Hulu series Life & Beth. She’s also gonna be a mom real soon! 7:30 pm.

    The Riot Comedy Club presents Sam Jay

    For the past two seasons, stand-up comic and Emmy-nominated writer Sam Jay was having a grand ol’ time on her HBO show Pause with Sam Jay. Unfortunately, HBO canceled it in February. She also has a sitcom on Peacock she stars and co-created, titled Bust Down, that’s now up in the air since co-star/co-creator Zak Knight tragically passed away last year. Nevertheless, the comedian charges on, ready to do several shows at the Riot this weekend. 9 pm (7 and 9 pm Friday and Saturday).

    Friday, April 28

    De de los Ninos 20th Annual Celebration

    AAMA – founded as the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans – will be celebrating this celebration (aka “Day of the Child”) at its main campus at 6001 Gulf Fwy. AAMA is the one of the longest-standing, Latino-operated nonprofit organizations in the city of Houston, this year celebrating its 53rd anniversary. Its programs and services reach 10,000 individuals annually in the state of Texas. This one-day family celebration is free, open to the public, and will include games, music, prizes and more for the entire family. 3:30 pm.

    Vic & Anthony’s Steakhouse 20th Anniversary Celebration

    Houstonians are invited to join Vic & Anthony’s Steakhouse as they celebrate its 20th anniversary with a champagne toast, craft cocktails, live music, exceptional food, as well as private barrel wines from Angel’s Envy and Whistlepig and opening up the cellar for 2003 vintage wines. Attendees will also receive an exclusive swag bag including an invitation to La Griglia’s grand opening party, a 'Weekend Staycation' special rate at The Westin, a pair of etched wine glasses, and a signature chocolate box. 5 pm.

    Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens presents David B. Warren Symposium

    The biennial David B. Warren Symposium addresses different aspects of the theme “American Material Culture and the Texas Experience” before 1900. The symposium was established in honor of David B. Warren, founding director emeritus of Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens. The presentations explore the ways images that were created in and of Texas, the Lower South, and the Southwest constructed, represented, dismantled, or concealed the identity of the people who lived there. 6:30 pm.

    Houston Grand Opera presents Salome

    Strauss’s erotic psychodrama returns to HGO with the U.S. premiere from Spanish director Francisco Negrin, who makes his company debut with this gripping production. Based on the scandalous play by Oscar Wilde, the opera recounts the story of a deeply disturbed princess who has fallen in love with Jokanaan (also known as John the Baptist). After he denies her advances, she performs the infamous and seductive Dance of the Seven Veils for King Herod, in exchange for John’s head. 7:30 pm (2 pm Sunday).

    Saturday, April 29

    12oz. OG’s Live Art Exhibition & Market

    Saint Arnold Brewing Company presents "12oz. OGs," a live painting exhibition featuring Houston graffiti art veterans GONZO247, Colors, Article, and Skeez181 at this live graffiti show at Saint Arnold Brewing Company. They spent their early years getting doors slammed in their faces, getting called gang members, doing work for free, still getting devalued, brushed aside at times. Now, they’re awarded with presence, love, and appreciation, because the scene has changed. Look for a cool art market during the five-hour event. 11 am.

    Skeeter’s Mesquite Grill 35th Anniversary

    Family-owned restaurant Skeeter's Mesquite Grill has been serving locals with its mesquite grilled burgers, salads and Tex-Mex favorites since 1988. To commemorate its 35 years of deep-rooted Houston history and community support, both Skeeter’s locations at West University and Kingwood are hosting an all-day celebration, where family and friends can take part in happy hour ($5 house margs, $1 off beer + wine), and complimentary servings of the signature chips and queso. 8 am (West University); 11 am (Kingwood; 9 am Sunday).

    Grand Central Park presents Jazz Fest

    Jazz enthusiasts can groove to the sound of local artists at Grand Central Park during Jazz Fest. Boomtown Band, Raquel Cepeda, and Bayou City Funk will take the stage during the festival, which also features food trucks, a balloon artist, face painters, and more. The first 100 families to attend will receive a free picnic blanket. Guests will also have an opportunity to tour Grand Central Park’s nine model homes. 1 pm.

    Nia’s Daughters Movement Collective presents “Shorts in Color”

    Discovery Green Conservancy welcomes back Houston organization Nia’s Daughters Movement Collective for this free, family-friendly event, which will showcase dance, film, STEM, and more with cultural awareness. Stacey Allen of Nia’s Daughters has curated a selection of diverse local filmmakers and creatives, making positive and empowering work for families to enjoy. The films feature stories that local families and children tell about themselves. 6 pm.

    Sunday, April 30

    Cool Bus Houston Brewery Tour

    Cool Bus will host a Houston brewery tour, visiting three Houston destination breweries: Eureka Heights Brewery, Frost Town Brewing, and Holler Brewing. The tour covers transportation on the Cool Bus, complimentary beer on the bus, one pint at each brewery, giveaways, and behind-the-scenes tours and visits with each brewery's staff. In addition to the complimentary beers on the bus, guests can BYOB. 1 pm.

    Asia Society Texas and the National Arab Orchestra presents An Evening of Eid Celebration: Art and Music with National Arab Orchestra

    Asia Society Texas and the National Arab Orchestra will celebrate Eid al-Fitr during Arab American Heritage Month, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan and is an occasion for peace, joy, and festivity. The event highlights the richness and beauty of the Arab world, where guests can enjoy a curated art show, as well as a ticketed reception and concert from the National Arab Orchestra Takht Ensemble, featuring vocalists Abdul Salaam al-Najjar and Hela Melki. 4 pm.

    Majority Rule AAPI Art Exhibit Opening Ceremony

    CARA, Matt Manalo, and Erika Mei Chua Holum are teaming up to host an Asian American and Pacific Islander art exhibition featuring AAPI artists. The exhibition draws on storytelling, myth-marking, and survival strategies of South and Southeast Asian artists in Houston to consider forms of connected knowledge in the Global South, such as warm-weather solidarities and tropical futures as a way to preserve and elevate artistic practices located within and along cultural and political peripheries. Through Sunday, May 21. 7 pm.

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    Movie Review

    Live action Lilo & Stitch remake offers up frenzied fun and nostalgia

    Alex Bentley
    May 23, 2025 | 2:30 pm
    Lilo & Stitch
    Courtesy of Disney
    Lilo & Stitch returns to theaters this weekend.

    The project to turn every single Disney animated movie into a “live action” film has rarely seemed like anything but a money grab by the movie studio. Most of the films have failed to update the original in any meaningful way, and in many of the cases, they’re almost shot-for-shot remakes, making the reason for the new film’s existence even more confusing.

    Having almost exhausted the supply of their 20th century movies, Disney has now remade 2002’s Lilo & Stitch. The film follows an alien experiment, originally known as 626 (voiced by Chris Sanders), created by Jumba ( Zach Galifianakis) for the benefit of an alien race led by the Grand Councilwoman (Hannah Waddingham). Unfortunately, 626 is too uncontrollable for them, and is banished to the faraway planet known as Earth.

    Landing in Hawaii, the creature soon to be known as Stitch gloms on to a young girl named Lilo (Maia Kealoha), who mistakes it for a dog while looking for companionship following the death of her parents. Tracked by Jumba and fellow alien Pleakley (Billy Magnussen), now in human form, Stitch leaves a trail of destruction wherever he goes, much to the chagrin of Lilo’s older sister, Nani (Sydney Agudong).

    Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp and written by Chris Kekaniokalani Bright and Mike Van Waes, the film will surely be a blast of nostalgia for anyone who was a kid when the original came out. The now-3D Stitch is just as chaotic as ever, and they even included cast members from the first film like Tia Carrere (now playing a social worker for the orphaned sisters) and Amy Hill as a kindly neighbor.

    But for all of the frenzied fun that Stitch offers, there’s very little else that holds the story together. For one, the Lilo character as a real person doesn’t work as well as she does in animated form, as there’s something fluid that happens in animation that feels stilted when it’s an actual little girl. Perhaps sensing this fault, the film is loaded to the hilt with bite-sized moments that try to make the audience laugh, but do little to give the story any meaning.

    The difference between animation and live action is never more evident than with Jumba, Pleakley, and CIA agent Cobra Bubbles (Courtney B. Vance). Characters that are goofy and enjoyable in animated form come off as weird and off-putting in human form. They’re supposed to bring a sense of fun and even suspense to the film, but instead they feel like characters who are getting in the way of a better story.

    Kealoha, making her professional debut, is definitely cute and offers up some interesting moments opposite Stitch and Nani, but her lack of experience shows. Agudong turns in the best performance, giving a bit of emotional weight to a film that needed more. Galifianakis and Magnussen would have been better served as voice-only roles; neither comes off well when their characters turn into humans. Hill is like a warm hug every time she comes on screen, and the story could have used more of her.

    The new Lilo & Stitch is not an abomination, but like most of the Disney live action remakes before it, it fails to stand on its own merits. Never given a chance to be its own thing and featuring storytelling too disjointed to be effective, the film is another so-so effort from a studio that knows how to make much better movies.

    ---

    Lilo & Stitch is now playing in theaters.

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