weekend event planner

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

It's more bounce for the ounce at the Gazillion Bubble Show.

Gazillion Bubble Show/Facebook

What's poppin' this weekend? How about a gazillion bubbles — or so — as a popular New York bubble show bounces into Houston. A highly anticipated downtown park finally hosts a grand opening bash, while Houston Botanic Garden blooms with massive sculptures hiding in plain sight.

A major influencer beefs up a burger pop-up, comedian Jo Koy brings the funny, and a K-pop smash act hits town. Enjoy; here are your best bets for the weekend.

Thursday, January 26

State & Liberty Charitable Happy Hour

State & Liberty, a clothing retailer of men’s athletic-fit dress shirts, will be hosting a happy hour and charity shopping experience. Benefitting the Kyle Tucker Foundation, State & Liberty opens its doors to shoppers to peruse their wrinkle-free, lightweight performance fabrics. The brand offers suits, sport coats, polos, and casual stretch shorts. The store will donate 10% of sales to the Foundation during the event. While shopping for a cause, guests can also take in complementary whiskey tasting and live music, as well as a cigar gift with purchase. 5 pm.

Holocaust Museum Houston presents The Jewish Dog

In collaboration with the Consulate General of Israel to the Southwest, the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston and the ADL Southwest, Holocaust Museum Houston presents The Jewish Dog, in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Based on the book of the same name, this moving – and at times funny – one-man show tells the story of the Holocaust through the eyes of Coresh, a dog born into a Jewish Family in Berlin, 1933. 6:30 pm.

Moores Opera Center presents Die Fledermaus

Raise a glass to comedy and decadence with one of the most beloved operettas in the repertoire. What could be more fun than a show that revolves around practical jokes, disguises, and gallons of champagne? Audiences will attend the ultimate masked ball and discover not only why Johann Strauss Jr. is known as the Waltz King, but also just how far some people will go to exact their revenge. 7:30 pm (2:30 pm Sunday).

Friday, January 27

Trebly Park Grand Opening

Located in southern downtown, in the Central Business District, Trebly Park is a neighborhood park that features dog runs, a large lawn, Tout Suite and more. At the Trebly Park Grand Opening, experience “three times as much” fun. Visitors can get sweet macaroons at the park restaurant, Tout Suite, visit the dog parks, listen to live music, and play carnival games at downtown Houston's new neighborhood park. And it’s all free. 2 pm.

Houston Botanic Garden presents Intertwined, Wined & Dined

Houston Botanic Garden will host Steve Tobin, the creator of Intertwined: Exploring Nature's Network, for this exclusive happy hour and dinner, where guests will learn directly from Steve about these sculptures. Guests will also get to take a stroll after-hours at sunset with a private tour of the Houston Botanic Garden and its newest sculpture exhibit. Executive chef Thomas Stacy will host the five-course immersive pop-up dinner and wine pairing, featuring garden grown heirloom collard greens, selected veggies and robust herbs. 5 pm.

Reeves Art + Design presents "Houston, We Need a Title" opening reception

The gallery returns to its eclectic roots with a show that incorporates everything but the kitchen sink. Bringing together work from over 25 Texas artists, they aim to take a step back from traditional curation with this show and simply allow their clients to experience a plethora of art and explore their own tastes and preferences. Featured artists include those making their Reeves Art + Design debut, including Gary Griffin, Holland Geibel, Wood Francher Anthony, Jessica Simorte, Hector Hernandez, and more. Through Saturday, February 18. 6 pm.

Houston Grand Opera presents Werther

The lovesick yearnings of the tortured young poet Werther lead to his tragic fate in Massenet’s lush opera, which returns to HGO for the first time in 40 years with this production from French director Benoît Jacquot, making his HGO debut. Matthew Polenzani, one of the world’s most distinguished tenors, leads the cast as Werther in his Houston debut. With mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard debuting alongside, audiences won’t want to miss this chance to see legends perform a rare psychological drama. Through Friday, February 10. 7:30 pm (2:30 pm Sunday).

Saturday, January 28

Performing Arts Houston presents Gazillion Bubble Show

After 20 years as a Master of Bubbles, in 2007 Fan Yang brought his unique brand of bubble artistry to the Big Apple and has since wowed bubble lovers of all ages. The Gazillion Bubble Show truly is a family affair for Fan: his wife Ana, son Deni, daughter Melody, and brother Jano all can be found on stage in New York and around the world performing their bubble magic. Audiences are delighted with an unbelievable experience, awash with a bubble tide, and some even find themselves inside a bubble. 11 am and 3 pm.

Queen of Hearts: Griff’s Employee Relief Fund

Memorial Trail Ice House will have a Queen of Hearts benefit for the Griff’s employee relief fund. Griff's Irish Pub has been a Houston landmark for many years, and the news of the fire that happened earlier this month has affected a lot of people – especially the staff and owners. Come support the employees as they rebuild, while getting a chance to win 50% of the pot. Tickets are $20 with no purchase limit. Slim Chance Bistro will be on site until 4pm. Noon.

Harris County Public LIbrary presents Holocaust Remembrance Day Concert

Apollo Chamber Players and Harris County Public LIbrary will reflect Holocaust Remembrance Day with a program of multicultural new music by Sephardic scholar Isabelle Ganz and Rice University faculty composer Richard Lavenda. Guest collaborators include vocalist Ceclia Duarte, percussionist Jesus Pacheco, and bassoonist Benjamin Kamins, former principal of the Houston Symphony and professor at The Shepherd School of Music. 2 pm.

Toyota Center presents Jo Koy

After proving he could headline a big-screen comedy with last summer’s Easter Sunday, Jo Koy and his Jo Koy World Tour will feature all-new material. One of today’s premiere stand-up comedians (dude has a bunch of specials on Netflix), Jo’s uniquely relatable comedy, which pulls inspiration from his colorful family, has reached all kinds of people and has translated into sold-out arenas around the world. 8 pm.

Sunday, January 29

Rahim Mohamed “Ocky Way” pop-up at Burger Bodega

Burger Bodega will host the famous TikTok influencer and viral internet sensation Rahim Mohamed for a one-day pop-up. Mohamed will take over the parking lot with his exotic "Ocky Way" chopped cheese sandwiches. With his enormous following, Mohamed has coined the term "Ocky Way" and has taken it to new heights at his sandwich shop Red Hook Food Corp in Brooklyn. Rahim's unique style of sandwiches helped him gain a following of over 4 million followers with millions of views overall. 1 pm.

Ars Lyrica presents From China with Love: Musical Chinoiseries in 17th- and 18th-Century Europe

Exotic decorations on cabinets, porcelain vessels, and embroideries imported from China inspired a popular design trend in Baroque Europe, one reflected in various objects in the Rienzi collection and on the harpsichord featured on this program. Musical selections by Teodorico Pedrini, Henry Purcell, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and Christoph Willibald Gluck illustrate how composers of this time created equally lavish-sounding textures. 4 and 5:30 pm.

ONEUS in concert

After a triumphant U.S. tour last year, the hottest Korean boy band since BTS is back to prove they’re still the most electrifying act on the world stage today. The five members of ONEUS have a fresh, vibrant sound and attitude that sets them apart from all other pop acts. The group’s songs, music videos, and stage show often draw inspiration from traditional Korean instruments, fashion, and culture, but are also forward-looking with intriguing themes, inspired couture, and modern-day sounds like trap, hip-hop, and futuristic funk. 7:30 pm.

Movie Review

Meta-comedy remake Anaconda coils itself into an unfunny mess

Photo by Matt Grace

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda.

In Hollywood’s never-ending quest to take advantage of existing intellectual property, seemingly no older movie is off limits, even if the original was not well-regarded. That’s certainly the case with 1997’s Anaconda, which is best known for being a lesser entry on the filmography of Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez, as well as some horrendous accent work by Jon Voight.

The idea behind the new meta-sequel Anaconda is arguably a good one. Four friends — Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) — who made homemade movies when they were teenagers decide to remake Anaconda on a shoestring budget. Egged on by Griff, an actor who can’t catch a break, the four of them pull together enough money to fly down to Brazil, hire a boat, and film a script written by Doug.

Naturally, almost nothing goes as planned in the Amazon, including losing their trained snake and running headlong into a criminal enterprise. Soon enough, everything else takes second place to the presence of a giant anaconda that is stalking them and anyone else who crosses its path.

Written and directed by Tom Gormican, with help from co-writer Kevin Etten, the film is designed to be an outrageous comedy peppered with laugh-out-loud moments that cover up the fact that there’s really no story. That would be all well and good … if anything the film had to offer was truly funny. Only a few scenes elicit any honest laughter, and so instead the audience is fed half-baked jokes, a story with no focus, and actors who ham it up to get any kind of reaction.

The biggest problem is that the meta-ness of the film goes too far. None of the core four characters possess any interesting traits, and their blandness is transferred over to the actors playing them. And so even as they face some harrowing situations or ones that could be funny, it’s difficult to care about anything they do since the filmmakers never make the basic effort of making the audience care about them.

It’s weird to say in a movie called Anaconda, but it becomes much too focused on the snake in the second half of the film. If the goal is to be a straight-up comedy, then everything up to and including the snake attacks should be serving that objective. But most of the time the attacks are either random or moments when the characters are already scared, and so any humor that could be mined all but disappears.

Black and Rudd are comedy all-stars who can typically be counted on to elevate even subpar material. That’s not the case here, as each only scores on a few occasions, with Black’s physicality being the funniest thing in the movie. Newton is not a good fit with this type of movie, and she isn’t done any favors by some seriously bad wigs. Zahn used to be the go-to guy for funny sidekicks, but he brings little to the table in this role.

Any attempt at rebooting/remaking an old piece of IP should make a concerted effort to differentiate itself from the original, and in that way, the new Anaconda succeeds. Unfortunately, that’s its only success, as the filmmakers can never find the right balance to turn it into the bawdy comedy they seemed to want.

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Anaconda is now playing in theaters.

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