weekend event planner

Here are the top 12 things to do in Houston this weekend

La Diabla Retro Bar opens this weekend.

La Diabla Retro Bar Houston/Facebook

This weekend marks the last of Mardi Gras! Galveston, as the party on the island wraps up on Fat Tuesday, February 21. Those is Sugar Land don't have to head to Galveston to celebrate the season, as Pardy Gras hits the 'burb on Saturday.

A cool retro bar dedicated to '80s and '90s Mexico City pop culture (how's that for niche?) opens this weekend, and a James Beard Award winner pops up for a special collab with a local restaurant. Look for some cool art openings showcasing Islamic and Asian art, plus an age-old comedy with a special twist for Valentine's Day.

Enjoy; here are your best bets for the weekend.

Thursday, February 16

Musiqa Mixer | New Galleries for Art of the Islamic Worlds at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

To celebrate the upcoming opening of the Hossein Afshar Galleries for Art of the Islamic Worlds, enjoy a free Musiqa Mixer concert in the Kinder Building, with music selections inspired by the art that will be on view in the Law Building. The program features music by Aftab Darvishi, Erberk Eryılmaz, Gity Razaz, and Kareem Roustom. Performers include Caio Alves Diniz, Jackson Guillen, Jacob Schafer, and Sergein Yap. 6:30 pm.

Cone Man Running Productions and Boiling Point Players present The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest is a trivial comedy for serious people, just in time for Valentine's Day. Do you want to know how important it is to be earnest when in love? First performed on February 14, 1895 in London, this is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fake alibis to escape social obligations. What happens when they fall in love and their fake alibis are discovered? This production from Cone Man Running Productions and Boiling Point Players will feature an all-female cast. 8 pm.

La Diabla Retro Bar Grand Opening

La Diabla Retro Bar by La Calle Tacos, a bold, new nightclub and bar from the authentic Mexican street food masters, will open its doors in Houston’s Market Square Park this weekend. At its heart, La Diabla is an ode to '80s and '90s Mexico City pop culture, joyfully expressed through cocktails, chelas (beers), music, and art. The grand opening will feature local music artists Jaky Alarcon, Stereo Cover, and DJ Cris, while guests sip frozen margaritas, mojitos and piña coladas, and enjoy mouthwatering flautas. 8 pm.

Friday, February 17

BBCC Artist Showcase Opening Mixer at Project Row Houses

This event will display artwork from seven Building Blocks of Creative Careers (BBCC) program participants and established local artists they were paired with, serving as mentors during this six-month process. Throughout the course of this program, the paired mentees and mentors have worked together to develop each mentees’ creative practice. Enjoy light bites by Shakti Baum, tunes by Mookie Copeland, and celebrate Cohort 2 and their growth in the Artist Mentorship Program. 6 pm.

Asia Society Texas Center presents Mekong: SOUL

In their new, multi-disciplinary performance piece, Emmy Award-winning musician Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ and composer Jonathan Berger tell three powerful and multi-sensory stories about life on the Mekong River in Southeast Asia. Joined by artists from Southeast Asia, Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ and Houston’s Apollo Chamber Players present stories about one of this planet's greatest natural phenomena, which sustains not only life, but also mind, body, and soul. 7:30 pm.

Houston Symphony presents Songs of the Earth Festival: "Debussy’s La mer"

Debussy’s La mer is one of classical music’s most unforgettable and immersive experiences. Fragments of La mer ebb and flow throughout Tōru Takemitsu’s haunting concerto for two pianos and orchestra, Quotation of Dream. The conclusion of the Songs of the Earth festival, these concerts also offer the chance to experience Toshio Hosokawa’s breathtaking meditation on nature, Autumn Wind, which features a solo role for the shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute). 8 pm (2 pm Sunday).

Saturday, February 18

Chef Robert McGrath at Leaf & Green

Local restaurant company Leaf & Grain will host chef/James Beard Award winner Robert McGrath for a special steak collaboration. The company is hosting a guest chef series to celebrate the return of steak to their menu next month. McGrath won the prestigious Best Chef: Southwest JBF award for his Roaring Fork restaurant, and will be collaborating with Leaf & Grain on a Texas "steak nicoise" salad, featuring a fire-roasted tomato vinaigrette. 11 am.

Pardy Gras at Sugar Land Town Square

Sugar Land Town Square will transform into the Big Easy for Party Gras! The Square is bringing the best of New Orleans with entertainment by Soul Rebels and DJ Flash Jordan, beverages and bites from The Rouxpour, a street art market, Mardi Gras style bingo, a king cake and oyster-eating contest, and more.Party Gras festivities will be located on Texas Drive. Admission is free, but an RSVP is required. 4 pm.

16th Annual Houston Film Critics Movie Awards

Now in its 16th year, the Houston Film Critics Society (HFCS) presents its annual “Oscars-style” event, where the critics vote on their year-end favorites in 17 categories. Hosted by local film critics and movie industry notables, the event also features live, abridged performances of the five Best Song nominees, the awarding of the Texas Independent Film Award, and a few surprises. 7 pm.

Sunday, February 19

Lake Houston Home and Outdoor Living Show

The 3rd Annual Lake Houston Home and Outdoor Show will feature special guest appearances and over 100 exhibitors with the latest in-home products and services on the market. Tom Tynan (HomeShow Radio), Randy Lemmon (host of AM 740 KTRH GardenLine), and Diane Cowen (Houston Chronicle) will all be present. The featured speaker will be Patric Richardson as the Laundry Evangelist, who will share tips on how to wash everything and never use a dry cleaner again. 9 am.

Alzheimer's Association presents Unforgettable Play

From the creators of the stage play Forget Me Not comes a story about one family’s journey when a loved one seems to be fading in front of their eyes. After coming to grips with the journey that they must face, life has a new meaning. They see the importance of paying closer attention to warning signs and the importance of taking part in clinical trials in an attempt to cure a disease that has forced them to live in the moment and make unforgettable moments that they can cherish forever. 5 pm.

Matt Andersen and Mariel Buckley in concert

Powerhouse vocalist Matt Andersen teams up with indie roots singer-songwriter Mariel Buckley for a show at Dosey Doe in The Woodlands this weekend. The two Canadians will be touring the western United States together to promote their most recent albums – Matt’s The Big Bottle of Joy, coming next month, and Mariel’s Everywhere I Used To Be, released last summer. 7:30 pm.

Movie Review

Cheesiness undermines Whalefall's intense survival story

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Austin Abrams in Whalefall.

Austin Abrams has been a professional actor for 15 years, but the 30-year-old seems to just now be getting his due. After years of mostly supporting roles in films like Paper Towns, Brad’s Status, and Weapons, he has been charged with leading two films in 2026 where he’s largely acting by himself: First Resident Evil and now Whalefall.

Abrams plays Jay Gardiner, who has returned home to California a year after the death of his hard-ass father, Mitt (Josh Brolin). The two had a tempestuous relationship, and while his mom (Elisabeth Shue) and sisters (Jane Levy and Emily Rudd) reminisce fondly about him, Jay finds it difficult to come up with good memories. The two did share a connection with the ocean, and Jay decides to honor him by going scuba diving.

Ignoring warnings of whale activity in the area, Jay makes his way out into a notoriously dangerous part of the ocean near their home. Soon after he starts swimming, he encounters a sperm whale chasing after a giant squid. Jay inadvertently gets sucked into the enormous creature’s mouth and, ultimately, inside its body. Faced with a seemingly inescapable situation, Jay’s only hope lies in the lessons his father taught him.

Directed by Brian Duffield and adapted by Duffield and Daniel Kraus from Kraus’ book of the same name, the film is at its best when it depicts Jay struggling to survive within the whale. The claustrophobic nature of the setting and the various obstacles (multiple contracting chambers, the squid, and more) he faces make every scene inside the whale feel as intense and cover-your-eyes scary as any great horror movie.

Naturally, the entire movie can’t be about his survival efforts, and so the filmmakers toggle back and forth between Jay’s ordeal in the whale to memories of times with his father. Not so coincidentally, these remembrances come with subtle or overt wisdom from Mitt that would serve Jay well in his current situation. More often than not, these flashback scenes are so on-the-nose that they come off as cheesy instead of inspirational.

It’s also difficult to derive any big emotions from the story other than revulsion at the way Jay’s body is brutalized while he’s inside the whale. None of the characters in the film receive a notable introduction to the audience before big events start happening. It’s next-to-impossible to be invested in their stories when their personalities are being revealed in bits and pieces throughout the movie.

Abrams does well enough in bringing out the terror Jay feels in the whale and the sullenness/anger he has toward his father in other scenes. But whether it’s because his lines in the whale are hard to understand (he’s often talking around a scuba mouthpiece) or the disconnect the character has with father, there’s just something missing in his performance. Brolin’s performance is one-note, and Shue, Levy, Rudd, and John Ortiz don’t appear enough to make a big impact.

With Kraus onboard as the co-writer of the film, it may be the case that Duffield was not given leeway to change the story of Whalefall too much. What might have worked in the book doesn’t seem to translate equally to the film, and while Jay’s nightmare in the whale is effective, the rest of his story doesn’t come across as successfully.

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Whalefall is now playing in theaters.

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