Stick the landing

How to watch Houston Olympic G.O.A.T. Simone Biles' big gymnastics comeback this weekend

Simone is back.

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Two years after her historic and headline-making run at the Tokyo Olympics, Texas gymnastics icon Simone Biles is returning to competition. She — along with Olympic teammates Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, and Jade Carey — will go head-to-head at the 2023 Core Hydration Classic, August 4-6, in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

The competition will be the final qualifier to the 2023 U.S. Gymnastics Championships, one of the biggest indicators of who might get picked for the 2024 Olympic team. (Biles, Lee, Chiles, and Cary all have declared their Paris Olympic intentions.)

It will be Biles' first competition since being sidelined with "the twisties" at the 2020 Olympics (in 2021), and her first since her high-profile wedding this spring.

Gymnastics fans don't have to book a flight to Chicago to catch all the vaults, leaps, and flips this weekend. The entire event will be live-streamed, and highlights will air on major network television. Competition organizers have released the following viewing schedule, all times local to Fort Worth:

Saturday, August 5: Two sessions of women’s competition will take place, with Session 1 at 1-3 pm and Session 2, featuring all Team USA Olympic and World Championships medalists, at 7-9 pm.

Women’s sessions on Saturday will be broadcast live on CNBC and streamed live on Peacock.

Both sessions also will stream live on USA Gymnastics’ YouTube channel.

Sunday, August 6: NBC will air a highlight package of the women's competition at 2:30 pm.

Also on Sunday, the men's competition will take place in two sessions, at 10:45 am and 4:45 pm. They will stream live on USA Gymnastics’ YouTube channel.

In addition to headliners Biles, Chiles, Lee, and Carey, the women's competition will include 2021 Worlds all-around silver medalist and floor bronze medalist Leanne Wong, 2021 Worlds all-around bronze medalist Kayla DiCello, and 2022 Worlds team gold medalist Skye Blakely.

They are all names Fort Worth gymnastics fans will recognize from both the 2021 U.S. Gymnastics Championships held at Dickies Arena (at which Biles won her record seventh national title) and from the Biles-led "Gold Over America Tour," which stopped at Dickies Arena in fall 2021.

On the men’s side, competitors will include 2020 Olympian, 2017 World Championships floor bronze medalist and eight-time Pan American gold medalist Yul Moldauer, 2015 Worlds vault bronze medalist and 2014 team bronze medalist Donnell Whittenburg, 2021 World pommel horse gold medalist Stephen Nedoroscik, and 2020 Olympian and three-time NCAA champion Shane Wiskus.

A junior competition also will be contested. For more information on the event, schedule, and competitors, visit the competition website.

As CultureMap was first to report, Biles married her former Houston Texans safety Jonathan Owens in April at a secret downtown location. The power couple then headed to Cabo San Lucas for a destination wedding.

After Owens signed with the Green Bay Packers, the duo has traveled back and forth to Green Bay (hardly the food capitol Houston is, clearly) where Owens is readying for the 2023 NFL season. Doting wife Biles even asked fans for Green Bay food tips and must-do activities.

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Movie Review

Shaun the Sheep welcomes spooky season with PG-scary new movie

Photo courtesy of Aardman / Sky UK LTD / StudioCanal 2026

Shaun the Sheep in Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom.

Since his introduction over 30 years ago, the Aardman Animations character Shaun the Sheep has been almost as popular as the studio’s flagship characters, Wallace and Gromit. There is never a shortage of trouble Shaun can get into as he leads his flock and proves to be a thorn in the side of his farmer and Bitzer, the farmer’s loyal sheepdog.

His antics lead everyone down some slightly spooky roads in the new film, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom. At first, things are only slightly awry as Shaun and the flock are growing a secret pumpkin patch to have their own jack-o-lanterns. But when the farmer accidentally destroys the pumpkin patch, Shaun tries to regrow it quickly with a Frankenstein-esque experiment.

However, disaster looms when Shaun uses an old bottle of Hair-Gro as the container for the serum he creates. Naturally, the balding farmer uses it on his head, and everyone soon discovers how truly successful it is, with pumpkins growing out of control and the farmer sprouting hair all over his body. Through a series of mishaps, the farmer becomes the titular beast, creating mayhem while Shaun and others try to stop him.

Directed by Steve Cox and Matthew Walker, and written by Mark Burton and Giles Pilbrow, the film goes down just as easy as every other Aardman project has. They get the Halloween vibes started from the opening credits, with things like the sheep doing the “Thriller” dance, and continue the fun throughout, referencing everything from Psycho to Friday the 13th in a nice, PG way.

With no script — every character is mute save for reaction noises — the movie relies on sight gags for its humor, and the Aardman team is endlessly inventive in that respect. Sometimes it’s small things like a sheep using toilet paper rolls as binoculars, and sometimes it’s something like forcing the Bigfoot-like farmer to be shaped into a rectangle as he escapes through a window. But there’s a never-ending stream of such moments, so even if one doesn’t tickle your funny bone, chances are the next one will.

The biggest benefit of the characters not talking is that there’s no need for deep character development. The filmmakers do a great job of giving the basic traits of each character, and then use those attributes to color everyone’s actions for the rest of the film. Shaun is the troublemaker, the farmer is a bumbling fool, Bitzer is preternaturally smart, and the town’s vet is empathetic, and the combination of those characters and others makes for a highly entertaining blend.

Like all Aardman creations, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom is a fun lark that doesn’t make its audience think too hard. With just enough references to keep viewers engaged but not so many as to be overbearing, the film puts its well-worn characters to good use once again, delivering a Halloween season story that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

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Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom is now playing in theaters.

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